Bicyclist rant # 5

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themiddle54
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Re: Bicyclist rant # 5

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AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:Right. It's what I always tell my wife who relies on the rules of the road when she's a pedestrian to 'protect' her. Yeah, you have the laws of the state on your side, but they have the laws of physics on theirs.
Very few bicyclists in Chicago care about the law of physics. They mostly believe in the law of their own morally self-elevated position as bicyclists.

The city has spent a lot of money and time in making the streets better for cyclists, which I'm all for. Bike lanes, lots of bike racks, we have bike red/yellow/green lights at some intersections now, we have the Divvy bike share program. That's great for greening the city, getting people exercising. It's kind of bad because it takes a TON of money out of our public transit system and leads to cutbacks of bus and train services--bad especially for the working poor in the outer neighborhoods who rely on those services to get jobs in the city center. The biggest problem is the cyclists don't have to have licenses, insurance, or licenses for their vehicles--they pay nothing into the system--and have no accountability. I was sitting at a light a few years ago in my car, a cyclist tried to squeeze between me and a cab that was in the right turn lane on my right, and she streaked down the side of my car, leaving a huge scratch along both doors and the front quarter panel while taking off my side view mirror. She hung a quick right at the intersection and was gone. If they had a plate and accountability on their bikes, I probably would have seen at least the first few numbers on the plate and not had to pay a $500 deductible to get my car fixed.

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