I live on the oregon coast and alot of our main highway is hilly curvy 2 lane with no shoulder. We have vacationers pulling campers mixed with log and chip trucks and guess what else? Share the road my ass. Can I drive my car on that hiway at 18 mph? furk no I will get pulled over and ticketed. They are a huge hazard that cause more near wrecks than anything else. Plus I have NO IDEA what pleasure these cross country bicyclists get pedaling on a road all day with trucks and cars passing them at 60mph 4 feet awa. I used to have a hot cummins powered 4x4 that could roll coal on demand. Used to give me some satisfaction.
A few things here. Do you have any data to support that they are a hazard? If you rolled coal on me, I'd invite you to come back and chat about it. Would you have the balls to come back?
yes and yes
Show me that data and no you wouldn't. Anyone who rolls coal is a pussy and a coward.
Paul:
Numerous studies done on
speed differences in vehicles using the same roadway have shown that such speed differences do cause more accidents. Much more so than absolute speed. For example, a stretch of road where the speed limit is 80mph and most the drivers stay near 80mph would see fewer accidents than if a goodly number of the vehicles traveled at 50mph and others at 80mph.
So, yeah, the presence of bicycles on a road (with speed limits that allows automobiles to move at significantly greater speed than bicycles can manage--most of htem) would likely cause more accidents. And cyclists would obviously take it harder than automobiles. But in some cases autos and their drivers would also be destroyed and/or injured.
One would hope that cyclists would use some common sense in route choice.
For my own part:
1. I used to bicycle commute to work and liked it, even in one of the least bike-friendly metro areas in the USA. Route choice is key.
2. No longer do as work moved out of cycling range.
3. I would commute to work again were it again feasible.
4. I have no problem taking the lane when circumstances require it for safety.
5. I have no problem with the majority of bicyclists I encounter on the road. Some are jerks, but I figure they'll end up road pizza for their lack of wisdom soon enough.
Oh, and rolling coal deliberately is asinine.
