Enough is enough!
Five minutes ago I was nearly killed on the Bedford Highway by a moron flatbed trucker who swerved across a double yellow line and into my lane to avoid somebody on a bike. (Not a motor bike…that’s a different rant)
Look, I’m all for avoiding paying gas taxes and fighting global warming, but the many, many bikes that now travel the Bedford Highway every morning during rush hour are creating some very stupid and dangerous behavior. Bikes going 10 or 15 k per hour in a 50 k zone are TRAFFIC HAZARDS for CHRIST’S SAKE!
That doesn’t excuse the Gomer flatbed truck driver. Remember fuckhead. Double yellow lines MEAN YOU CAN’T CROSS INTO ANOTHER LANE YOU STUPID MORON! Your life may be worthless, but I kinda like mine. WAKE THE FUCK UP and go back to Gomer Mountain you shit face son of a whore!
This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2008.
so you are blaming bikers for HRM’s lack of bike pathways? wow.. blame the rape victim for the rape while you are at it.i bike almost every day to/from work/the lake/gf’s place/anywhere i need to go, really. and despite biking everywhere from south end, to central, and to armdale, i have yet to come across a bike path i could incorporate in my commute. i am routinely ignored by cars pulling out of stop-signed side streets meters in front of me. frankly, i cant wait for the day someone actually hits me, so i can take them to court for all they are worth and then some. im just as much of a road user as you are. i signal my turns, obey all signs, and walk my bike across pedestrian crossings. yet i am disregarded by drivers as a nuisance. in fact i was yelled at by someone because i ‘was driving on the road’.well i got news for you. bikes on our roads are here to stay, and the sooner you, and all other disrespecful drivers out there (that does not include the flatbed driver, who did not feel like taking a life), get used to it, and being mindful of us, the greener minded people, the better it is for everyone.and HRM really needs to install more bike lanes. one spot in particular troubles me: the quinpool hill by the dingle. its not fun having cars going 100+ whizz a foot from you.
I love biking, but I would not consider commuting in this city. I’ll haul my bike to a trail someplace thanks.Yep a bike going 15 km in a 50 zone IS a hazard. But they aren’t allowed on sidewalks AND until HRM wakes up and accommodates with bike lanes or inner city bike trails for commuting, well we all have to share the road. There’ s just as many disrespectful bikers out there as there are motorists, as always its the “nut” in control.
im going to side with the two that have posted. You cant fault the bikers. It seems as thought people that have a car think the road solely belongs to them. If in fact you think because you are going 50 and the bike is going 15 that entitles you to the road over them, then you do not need a liscence.
“flatbed trucker who swerved across a double yellow line and into my lane to avoid somebody on a bike.”I think you mean “passed a cyclist in an unsafe manner”.
Do motorized vehicles not come with brake pedals anymore? It seems like its a real inconvenience to lift your paw off the gas and apply it to the brake for even 5 seconds these days.
I guess it was my fault on Saturday when some cunt in a big black pickup truck got right beside me at quinpool and oxford and turned right onto oxford right in front of me, eh? Yep, that was my fault. I think I’ll be more cautious in the future and take up whole lanes on my trips up and down quinpool. Thanks for making me see the light. No more hugging the curb for me, for now on its One Vehicle One Lane mother fuckers.
common trend around on this bitching thing when it comes to motorists..they seem to be inconvienced by pedestrians and cyclists. While i agree they might be a nusiance, 1) they are doing less damage to the enviroment, 2) they arent contributing to the pot hole situation,3) they are outside dealing with elements, that you are protected from in your car, 4) you will get to where you are going much faster than them since they are not wasting gas.really people, lets give these people a bit of slack. I was thinking that same thing as Trevor. It was the truck that was in the wrong, not the cyclist.They might be traffic hazards, but they are there legally. If you dont like it, too bad.
I didn’t get the impression that the OP was blaming the cyclist for this particular incident. It seems to me the blame was placed squarely where it belongs: with the truck driver who couldn’t spare 5 – 10 seconds out of his day to wait for an opportunity to pass safely.As a person who gradually made the transition from full time driver to full time cyclist over a period of a couple of years, I can see both sides. And I can say with authority that 90% of driver impatience results from having to wait mere seconds for an opportunity to pass that cyclist safely. Even if you encounter 20 cyclists on your morning commute, and each one of them costs you five or six seconds, that’s about two minutes out of your day. Two minutes. Seriously. You can’t leave two minutes earlier?
Well put Miranda!Oh and hey Grindcore…what you DON’T use the 100 meters of “Bike Lane” HRM so graciously provided that runs on part of Brunswick St?I find that spot just so fucking hilarious…NS Government in “action”…whoooo! They are so fast at taking “action” that I barely saw them even breathe…someone put a mirror under councils nose to see if they are still breathing!