Was waiting at a red light. A crowd (a dozen or more) cyclists – lycra shorts, jerseys, helmets – in other words, serious cyclists – came up behind me. OK, no problem, right?

Wrong. One of them decided that it was time to go, despite the red, yelled something about “let’s go” and this swarm of bikes passed me – on both sides – and proceeded to cross then turn right on a frontage road. As about half of them got in front of me, the light changed.

So I’m stuck with cyclists everywhere, trying to not run any of them over and yet still make it across the intersection before the extremely short light changed back to red. So i rolled down my window and yelled at them, something about either being proper vehicles or not.

I’m always very careful of these guys. On one of the routes I take a few times a week, there are always at least one or two around somewhere. No idea why, but there are. All I ask is that they use some sense, some courtesy, and follow the damn traffic laws.

That’ll teach them to use the infrastructure they don’t contribute to.

1) A busy 4 lane street with no bike infrastructure. Cars switching lanes, pulling into car parks, etc and traveling fairly fast say 60km/h (about 38m). In the middle of this is a cyclist who can’t travel at nearly the same speed as the nearby cars.

2) The same cyclist riding on the nearby footpath which is wide, mainly empty and has crossing lights at all intersections.

Both situations could obviously end in injuries or death, but in the first situation it is far, far more likely to occur. This is when and why I ride on footpaths.

Personally, I want my kids riding bikes as much as possible, but I don’t want them doing it on Melbourne roads where drivers often seem to be oblivious or very aggressive to cyclists.

And no, the light had not just turned. It had been red for a while.

If that’s my cognitive bias, it is having a remarkable impact on the movement of objects through real space.

Passing on the right at intersections

In Massachusetts, cyclists have the right to overtake on the right, and cars need to check for the presence of a bike before making a right turn.
Indeed, they recently amended the laws to include more protection for cyclists on the right, including

No person operating a vehicle that overtakes and passes a bicyclist proceeding in the same direction shall make a right turn at an intersection or driveway unless the turn can be made at a safe distance and at a reasonable and proper speed.

This all makes complete sense. If you relegate cyclists to the far right and don’t want them in the main road, you have to give them leeway for travelling on the right. You can’t have it both ways.

Number of drivers killed by moron cyclists in a typical year one.

I am usually more afraid of inattentive drivers talking on their phones or texting than I am of the shouting assholes – at least they can see me and know I am there.  My biggest fear as a cyclist is to be mowed over while some knucklehead is looking at their handheld..

Also, being on a sidewalk is far safer (overall) than being a sitting duck on the side of the road with asshole drivers who aren’t paying attention to the road. I’d rather take my chances crossing an alley using my own judgment (and eyes) than depending on assholes in cars, that’s for sure.

Disclaimer: I also drive a car and walk around.