Posted on by B Spokes

I’m an ignorant driver and this is what I think (confessions of a reckless driver)

Attention cyclists; we motorists are NOT responsible for your safety. Want to ride on roads or streets not wide enough for both you and motorized vehicles or ride on congested streets with motorized vehicles, YOU ASSUME THE RISKS. Stop crying for special protection laws. PAVED roads were made for high speed MOTORIZED vehicles, not slow-poke pedals.
To the Legislature: you are setting up an (un)civil war between cyclists and motorized traffic of which the motorized car or truck will ALWAYS win. Stop putting more and more obstacles in the path of motorized traffic. Move over for this, move over for that. Pretty soon we motorists will nowhere else to drive if you keep squeezing us further off the pavement.
– Mark

https://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/2010/02/senate_wants_drivers_to_move_o.html#comment-5934902oldId.20100213122650468

2 Replies to “I’m an ignorant driver and this is what I think (confessions of a reckless driver)”

  1. People like that scare me. Not because they are going to go out and try to run down a biker, but because they feel an entitlement to the road. That means they’ll tailgate you, pass you with 6 inches space and turn right as if you’re not there. Drivers who drive like this greatly increase the likelihood of accidents. They are also often the drivers who don’t stop at occupied crosswalks or who would argue "I didn’t see cross hatching so it can’t be a cross walk" even though Maryland law is pretty clear that cross walks are still cross walks when unmarked. We can hopefully stop most of these people from acting badly but we also need good engineering–especially in cities–to calm traffic on some roads to make them safe for cyclists and pedestrians.

  2. My response is in two parts:
    1) We need better traffic law enforcement. It seems most of our enforcement efforts go to reducing crime and not traffic laws as if the 161 traffic injuries and almost 2 traffic deaths DAILY are of no concern and not to mention studies show enforcement of traffic laws reduces crime.

    2) Just because a vehicle is involved does not mean that standard criminal law no longer applies. If someone comes at you swinging a baseball bat saying “We don’t like your kind here.” they can be be charged with assault. But replace baseball bat with a car and you get “as long as there was no physical contact there is nothing we can do.” Further replace “you” with a group of kids and the police and community will be up in arms but with kids on bikes it’s more like “What were those kids doing out in the road, what’s wrong with their parents?” With the unspoken assumption: “Shouldn’t kids be home watching TV or on the internet?” And unfortunately it is kids who suffer the most from our dangerous by design roads.

    Or in the words of Bob Mionske:

    It was only a few short weeks ago, as the year changed, that somebody, somewhere, fired off a gun to ring in the New Year. The bullet rocketed skyward, until the inexorable pull of gravity slowed its ascent, and it arced back to earth. A mile away, it slammed into an innocent New Year’s reveler, killing him instantly.

    Police recovered the bullet, and based on tips, apprehended the shooter. Ballistics tests confirmed that the bullet came from the shooter’s gun. The only question now was whether the shooter should be charged with a noise complaint, or if he should be let go, perhaps with a warning to be more quiet in the future.

    We really need a makeover of the states enforcement of laws to help get rid of this kind of thinking.

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