Over 1100 participants were on hand for this event. All were told to obey the rules of the road and be courteous and they were anything but. Most (not all) violated more traffic laws in the space of 30 minutes than I have ever witnessed in a full day. Stop signs were treated as non-existent. I watched 25 to 30 riders blow through the red light at FM 1327 when cross traffic was coming and clearly had the right of way. Instead of staying to the right and allowing traffic to pass vehicles were blocked in for miles. When you were asked to move to the right you grudgingly did so and as soon as the officer was gone you moved right back out into the lane. One of the police motorcyclists that was shepherding the event had a cyclist pull in front of him and he wrecked his motorcycle rather than hit him. The cyclist involved continued to ride away even though he was clearly at fault in the accident. When I turned around at the county line and began to ride the route backwards checking to make sure things were fine I met several riders head on in a blind curve. Glad I was on my Harley or you would be a hood ornament (if you read this you will know who you are).

You say you want motorists to “share the road” with you yet you hold yourselves to a different standard. When confronted with your behavior you become indignant and use the “but I’m on a bicycle” line. Having ridden two wheeled vehicles most of my life (powered and pedaled) I understand the concept of not being seen and having to be hyper vigilant when I ride. In all of my years however I have never witnessed such a blatant disregard for the rights of other people on the roadway. If any of the foregoing applies to you, Grandpa said it best…”Practice what you, preach.” If it doesnt’ apply to you I’m sure you know riders that it does apply to maybe a friendly reminder from you might help.

I’m off my soap box.

I wrote: “These deaths are caused by motorists, plain and simple.” I won’t be able to provide a thoroughly nuanced explanation of this. My primary point here is that: 1) Nearly all multi-person traffic deaths only happened because of a motor vehicle (regardless of whether the motorist is at “fault”), 2) In addition, many or most multi-person traffic collisions require both/all parties to be doing something less than ideally safe in how they are driving/biking/walking — going too fast for conditions, not paying enough attention, not signaling intentions.

There is certainly no LOBV rep in that video. Watch it again.

http://lobv.org/

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Is the news story balanced? Ask yourself this: Would you expect to see a local Fox news story on how 95+% motorists, including the reporter, anchor, former mayors, need to start taking responsibility for 60 deaths/year and 20K injuries/year in Austin? These deaths are caused by motorists, plain and simple. Indeed, non-motorists play a role in a fraction of those, but it takes two.

Why not have a news story that frankly recognizes that the real danger to humans are cars themselves? Yes, it is important to emphasize that bicyclists need to follow traffic laws, but motorists and pedestrians in the UT area are just as misbehaved. The bicycle mode is easy to pick on.

That said, I’ve seen worse from local news stations and this particular Fox News story didn’t stand out as particularly bad.

So I pay $46.80 a year to register my car and you want me to pay $50 a year as well to register my bicycle. I’m sorry, but that’s unacceptable under any standard of fairness.

Since a public road is, by definition, for the benefit of ALL of the public, no matter what their mode of transportation, the fact that bicycles have “taken over” the county roads and Parmer Lane just means that, for a change, car drivers are in the minority out there. So drive carefully.

You might also reflect that, by living 30 miles out, you are part of the problem: part of the cause of the national trade deficit, part of the cause of the national military weakness, part of the cause of the region’s looming non-compliance with air quality standards, part of the cause of the regional traffic congestion, part of the reason for new public roads to be toll-ways. Be a patriot – move closer in. Be a superpatriot – ride a bicycle.

I get the sense that you’re so used to hearing cyclists bashed that the story has to actually favor cyclists and demonize automobiles for you to consider it to be balanced. Do we need affirmative action for news coverage regarding cyclists to reverse the wrongs?

If we expect others to be balanced and objective, we need to be, also. Complaints about a reasonably balanced story just hurt our credibility as cyclists.