Entitled Douchebag SF cyclist HITS AND KILLS A MAN, gets probation.

Had that happen once on a motorcycle. Extra large McD's soda with 8 ounces of ice square in the chest some asshat in a minivan pitched out the window.

I'm guessing he hadn't been looking or noticed me when he tossed it, because the look of terror on his face was priceless.

LITTERBUGS.

I've stopped being able to follow the actual argument here, but just wanted to say how weird it is that people keep talking like Omaha is rural.

In my book, you're not in a rural area unless you can start from the center of town, get in your car, and be surrounded by corn in less than five minutes.

what's outside of Omaha city limits?

I've never been there, aside from driving through the Omaha-Council Bluffs area on the way back to Eastern Iowa from Colorado, but as far as I can tell from the map... suburbs. Well, and the Missouri River.

Plus, I doubt you can get from downtown to the city limits in five minutes.

Just thinkig that might be the margin there... the suburban buffer zone.
Rural might actually be better substituted with "isolated" or insulated in this case?

Fuck. Warren Buffet runs his empire out of Omaha.

That's dependent on the state. And, in probably all 50, bicycles are likely allowed on highways. Freeways/tollways, not so much.

On this side of the Mississippi, most western states allow bikes on the Interstate outside of cities. For example, in Oregon, I-5 is off limits in Medford, Eugene/Springfield, Salem and the Portland Metro Area beginning in Tualatin out to the Columbia River. I-82 is completely accessible. I-84 is off limits west of Exit 16 in Troutdale. I-105 in Eugene is verboten, as is I-405 in Portland. I-205 does allow it between I-5 and West Linn.

Non-interstate freeways: OR 126 in Springfield, off limits. OR 22 on either side of Salem, accessible (OR 22's surface highway in Salem). OR 217, completely off limits. US 26, one of the major freeways going from downtown toward the coast, designated bike route except in the tunnel, where bikes are forbidden. US 30 stub freeway, off limits, otherwise follows I-405, I-5 and I-84's guidelines. US 97 in Bend, off limits.

I'm on a 4 lane 45 MPH speed limit road for part of my daily, but I certainly wouldn't get on the interstates. Surface roads and arteries, fuck ya - and I'll take the whole lane if I feel I need it - especially on 4 lane roads, there's an entire fucking lane to pass me if you just have to drop Johnny off at his soccer game a precisely 4:15, and get off your damn phone while you're at it whore.

I bang on hoods and flip drivers off with nary a concern, cars don't own the road any more than 18-wheelers do.

This isn't privilege; its fact. Now if I'm actually tying up traffic for more than a couple of cars I'll also move the fuck aside like I was a farm vehicle or whatnot. You give me mine and I'll give you yours; but you dick around and I'll sit in the middle of the lane and just I dunno relax a bit.

What I've learned over 4 months of bike commuting is that 5 seconds to a driver is like minutes to a cyclist. I'd get (and still get) bent out of shape in a car for something I'd just brush off as a cyclist (someone slowing me down, merging oddly, or weird pedestrian behavior). How many times do you think "You better not try to turn now" when approaching another driver who's making a right into your lane? I almost never think that on a bike.

However, fucking drivers are idiots the lot of them when I'm on my bike. Half of them are busy texting and the other half are trying to pay attention to their brat in the back. The best advice I got was, cycle like every driver wants to kill you. Because yes, they do.

I'm not "entitled" when I'm on the road - I pay for it same as anyone else and I definitely require less maintenance for my usage. If I slow your ass down its because I don't think you can pass me responsibly, so I'm going to wait until I feel comfortable enough to give you leeway. You make eye contact with me, you give me space, and yeah I'm likely going to trust you - you're in a minivan or a big ass truck with your cellphone out and you can just sit on my ass until I get up the hill.

I can at least agree with this much.

Well, when I can weave around in my lane the way I have seen WAY too many bicyclists do, and not get pulled over to breathe into a balloon and walk a white line, maybe I will agree that I can be the same as a bicyclist.

Sorry, I've seen them weaving, barely able to stay on the bike, or even more fun, drive against traffic in the middle of the car lane, NOT the bike lane. I've seen them ignore red lights, forcing traffic with the right of way to slam on their brakes and nearly cause an accident. I've seen them side swipe cars as they move on the lane line instead of staying in their lane.

And nary a one was pulled over by a cop of any kind for nearly causing accidents.

So tell me again that they have the same rights on the road as I do in my car. Seems like they have MORE.

That's...another reason I prefer empty bike trails at unpopular times of day. Sobriety optional.

The problem you describe is one of enforcement, and has nothing to do with whether the laws on the books are sensible. Most of what you've described is illegal and police should indeed cite the cyclists. I do want to be clear about one thing, though. A cyclist may not operate under the influence or ride contra to the flow of traffic* but s/he is not obligated to stay in the bike lane.

* some cities have installed contra-flow bike lanes on one way streets. That's an exception to the rule, but these are clearly marked with directional arrows.

How many times do you see car drivers weaving in and out of traffic, drive at reckless speeds, not stop but slow and roll through a stop sign, not pay attention when changing lanes almost or actually side swiping other cars, make horrible turns, turn left from the right lane, turn right from the left lane, turn right on red while not paying attention to cars coming from the left and towards them, not staying in their lane but hugging the lane line or crossing over it while driving because they are fucking stupid and not paying attention, forcing other traffic with right of way to slam on their brakes to avoid an accident, putting on make up while riding, shaving while riding, reading while riding, among a whole host of other stupid things things that drivers do?

And nary a one was pulled over by a cop of any kind for nearly causing accidents.

The one thing that I'll give you is that too many cyclists do ride against traffic and create a hazard for themselves and drivers. Most of it is ignorance of the laws requiring you to ride with the flow of traffic. Thankfully drivers don't drive the wrong way that often but I have seen it several times.

Beyond that all the bullshit coming out of your mouth is just that: BULLSHIT!

Everything that you can lay at the feet of cyclists as being wrong can be laid just as fast at the feet of drivers.

And like Gul said you are not obligated to stay in the bike lane if conditions warrant leaving the bike lane. (hazards, safety, turning left etc etc)

Personally I think bike lanes should be removed because too many stupid people think cyclists must be in that lane at all times when the law is quite clear that cyclists don't have to be.

And you can be arrested for riding a bicycle drunk but the penalties depend on the state.

http://bicycling.com/blogs/roadrights/2012/05/14/know-when-to-say-when/

They'll have to catch me, first!



Actually, drinking and biking isn't really a viable option most of the time. I get plenty dehydrated riding 20+ miles without it. The one time I did that was around 4th of July 2012, and it was the wee hours of the morning, almost 100% on dark bike trails. Could've killed myself somehow, I suppose, but nobody else.

I've only ever ridden drunk once, way back when I was in grad school. Fair amount of beer at a cookout before having to meet a study group on campus. It was only a mile-and-a-half, but much stupidity went in to that decision. I should have just blown off the group or walked and gotten there late. Thing is, I kind of didn't realize I was drunk until the blood got flowing from riding up the first hill. By then I was on my way, weeh!

My big bitch about cyclists involves the ones who ride at speeds that would allow them to ride with traffic -- on the sidewalk. At night. With no lights. Making not a sound. 20-25mph on a sidewalk is fucking dangerous in broad daylight and with plenty of warning, but we get bicyclists around here who do it with zero warning to pedestrians. Those are the ones who should be clotheslined and, if they survive that, beaten to death with their bicycles. If you're gonna ride at traffic speeds, ride in traffic. Or at least in the bike lanes, which every street here has but which they all refuse to fuckin' use.

I want to violently skullfuck any cyclist I see on the sidewalk.

You come and fucking try it, Mr. Internet Badass.

I will for the rest of my life cherish the memory of a time I was walking down a long hill and, purely by accident, actually did clothesline a teenager on a bicycle doing about 30. Fucker was pedaling just as fast as he could, decided it'd be fun to pass me on the right (street was to my left, slight embankment to my right). He had to have been doing at least 30mph, pedaling full out, but I pulled a yawn and stretch about half a second before he got there.

He yelled, I didn't know what he was yelling for, or even that it was a person -- meanwhile, one arm out to each side, then my right arm gets thwapped back against my chest and there's a teenager and his bike imitating FAIL for a good long crashy distance further down the sidewalk and embankment.

And there was a bike lane right next to the sidewalk. So fuck that kid. That was my thinking then, it's my thinking today, it will remain my thinking for-ever.

Where do you live? PM me your address.

Good thing you're bald, we can get right down to business.

One less entitled sidewalk cyclist the better.

The intersection of 114th and Dodge streets in Omaha will get you close enough. You fuckers are not getting my address.

You dipshits with your mindless "no sidewalks EVAR" bullshit are making about as much sense as a car signaling a turn in a vacant parking lot. If it does not harm, endanger, or inconvenience others, you have no reason to object, period. There is no value, no utility, in defaulting to mindless obedience for the sake of itself.

"Dodge Street." Sometimes the material just writes itself.

Or the "Grand Imperial Highway," if you prefer.

No, really. Look it up. I shit you not.

Fuck a sidewalk riding bike fruit.

The only bicyclists on the sidewalk I don't object to are those with full lighting on the bike who are traveling no faster than pedestrian traffic.

And while I don't object to that subsection of bicyclists, I still think they're fuckin' stupid. Why creep on the sidewalk when you could go a lot faster in a bike lane. No bike lane? Tough fuckin' titties. Stay on the asphalt, keep to the far right, use as many reflectors and lights as you can get ahold of for night riding, and otherwise suck it.

It's a side walk. You wanna be on it? Get off that fucking bike and walk on it.

Sidewalks and trails (even "bike trails") the rules are pretty clear - cyclists/skaters/bladers have to give way to everything else. Peds give way to horses, and horses do whatever the fuck they want to do.

If I'm on the sidewalk and some brat takes off from its mother into my path (even if I've announced myself) and I plaster the kid, its on me. Hell if the ped sees me coming and doesn't give way and I hit them, it is still my fault.

There aren't any entitled cyclists on the sidewalk - any accident they're involved in is almost certainly their responsibility. The only scenario I can think of where this wouldn't be the case is when a ped is being malicious (and that happens often enough that its a concern).

Now, there are cyclists that do stupid things on sidewalks, but there are idiots walking their dogs with 25' leads too so whatchagonna do?

Explain to me the harm in riding on an empty sidewalk.