Tim McNamara
Scott is fairly level-headed - it strikes me as odd that he is not completely familiar with the traffic laws in his own state.
In any case, plenty of otherwise level-headed folks have fits of apoplexy when they find themselves anywhere near a bicyclist. Having never been held up for anything longer than 15 or so seconds behind one, I cannot fathom the rage.
I used to ride on the road myself. But aggressive and malicious drivers gave me a reason to just stick with driving a car for transport.
I have seen about a million reasons for folks not wanting bicycles on the road, but mostly they boil down to envy of the invisibility of bicyclist traffic infractions. I mean, if I ran stop lights and signs with my car, soon enough I'd not have a license. Idiot bicyclists get away with this irresponsible crap all the time.
One of my very favorite rationales for eliminating road cycling is the myth of the oblivious bicyclist causing an accident and fleeing the scene. I have never found a single creditiable report of such a thing happening. I can guess that it may have happened somewhere out there - once or twice. But it's in the realm of winning the lottery. As a rationale for restriction or licensing, or requirement for insurance? LOL.
My second favorite is the canard about cyclists not paying for the road. Considering the damage cycles do to roadways, I'd say anything above zero more than covers it. When I go and buy gas for my lawnmower, the tax on that just covered my use of the roadway with a bicycle. In this state, roads are not completely covered by fuel taxes anyway. In AZ, where Scott is, that might not be the case. Here, sales tax covers part of it. So, if I buy non-food items, I'm paying for my bike use of the road.
'Round here, sewer grates and narrow travel lanes were part of the problem. After being brush-pbutted several times when a clear lane was available to the left, I started taking the lane where they were narrow, to avoid the brush-pbutting. Funny, riding just right of the oil stripe made the cars use the other lane for pbutting.
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Mostly, they think that roads are only for ICE-powered vehicles. Any other potential user is to be bullied off.
I find that most extremists don't understand anything very well. Mostly, they aren't very bright, and have fewer-than-normal critical thinking skills.
The bright ones just use the dogma to separate the dumb ones from their cash.
It is an interesting counter to the odd claim that "majority rules." Boy, but when bikes are in the majority, ever last ounce of rational thought goes right out the window for those who think they literally own the road.
Doesn't matter for me any more - I transport my bike on or in my car, and take it off when I want to go places cars can't. I'd rather get hurt crashing because I didn't have the technical skills to negotiate a section of trail than be injured by a fool who has no clue what the laws state about vehicular traffic on public roadways.
E.P.