[*BCM*] Sharing the road vs. taking a lane?

[turtle]

I think the main problem is that people think of bikes as being somehow
different than other vehicles on the roads.  They aren't.  Not legally
anyway, and not practically, either.  No they can't go 60 mph except on
big hills (Right, Tom?), but then they aren't allowed on superhighways. 
And no, they don't take up 10 feet of space, which is why you are
legally allowed to pass other traffic in the same lane if it's a
suburban-type wide lane (14 feet at least).  But when it comes to
narrow, congested city streets, a bike is a car is a truck is a
horse-drawn-carriage: stay in the right lane except when passing or
turning left, yeild to others with the right of way, obey the traffic
signs and signals, take up as much space as you need, and don't hit
anyone.

Same roads, same rules, same rights.  The more you think of bikes as
being weird vehicles, the more people will treat bicyclists as being
weird.  And while sometimes being weird is cool, when it comes to
traffic, being weird just gets you squished or harassed.

When I get out their on my bike, I think like a motorist (a respectful
one, of course).  I don't make up my own rules, I don't cower in the
gutter like a rat, and I don't act like I own the road.  I just drive
normally.  And, as I said, the more bicyclists who drive normally, the
more other drivers will come to understand that bicyclists ARE normal. 
I know it's hard for some of us rebellious types to do.  But seriously,
if you want to drive like you're living in Grand Theft Auto, maybe you
could move to Beijing:

http://www.6foot6.com/fr/agfaimages/china/ChBeijing_Traffic.jpg

-Turtle


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"One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we
seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal.  We must
pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means." - Martin Luther King Jr.