That happened to me once. I was left turning and this bike just turned right in front of me even though she was on red light.

Also grrrr for the whole “pedestrians have the right of way” crap. 99% of them don’t even look before they cross.

As a long distance cyclist and bike commuter I agree. Share the road works both ways. Cyclists damn well need to signal their turns and ride appropriately to interact with cars. They also need to have the handling skills to ride in traffic ’cause the cars aren’t going to vanish.

I try REALLY hard to obey all the rules of the road and when I see other cyclists fly across an intersection against a red light it infuriates me.

They also need to learn to ride with the traffic. I recently almost hit one (once in my car and twice on my bike) when I began to turn left and the cyclist crossed in my path from the right in the near lane.

My only quible would be where the cyclist has to ride in a lane of traffic. I’m told that the law here in Norfolk is that cyclists CAN’T ride on the sidewalk (it’s for pedestrians) and I know the law is to ride as close to the right side of the lane as you can. Personally, I would LOVE to ride in the middle of the lane, but I find that it makes it harder for cars to pass me and definitely elicits more angry horn honking.

My wife and I refer to people on bicycles as “the lawless hord.” This is not really a new phenomena, just more pronounced because it seems more people are on bikes. I remember back in the early 80s almost killing one at night because they could not be bothered with the red light.

I hate when they do that critical mass shit.

The best cyclists are the ones who manage to annoy both cars and pedestrians.

“Oh look , that light’s turning red. Let me ZOOM up here on the sidewalk and run over 3-4 people so I can get the walk sign for pedestrians”

“Great, I’m across, now, let’s whip it back out on the road.”

This is even better in a college town, since it exponentially increases the numbers of hippies on bikes. It almost makes me want to go out and buy a massive-fuck-SUV just to rack up “hit the hippie” points.

In “hugging the curb” they may actually be riding in the “bicycle lane” that’s painted on some roads. Personally, I always ride my bicycle on the sidewalk because the ‘bike lane’ is TINY and there’s no guardrail or anything… at least on the sidewalk, I have a chance of seeing a car coming over the curb and to escape.

I think it may be technically be illegal to ride on the sidewalk… but what police officer is actually going to issue a citation for it, and is it really worth getting run over?

I don’t know what state you’re in, but in Minnesota the law is that cars must stop for pedestrians who are trying to cross at an intersection. It’s amazing how few drivers really know the laws they claim to follow.

I’m fairly sure that is the case for every state, but we aren’t talking about pedestrians. The route of the word, PED- means feet. Someone walking, jogging, running. Bicyclists do not fall into this category as they are on a “motored” vehicle.

And, yes, I know that. I have no qualms with waiting for those on feet as they aren’t walking in the middle of the fucking road. They are merely crossing it — quickly, I hope…and at marked intersections with crosswalks. Crossing anywhere else is called jaywalking — and is a ticketable offense.

Juuust watched a biker cut across two lanes of traffic, then ran the red across an intersection of one major road and half major-half highway road. The cars that had the right of way had to stop dead because of this asshole.

Amen brother!!!I have always wanted to put a cattle scoop on the front of my car

Say, I’ve never in my life seen a car break the law! Not once!

Yes, I agree, too many cyclists _do_ break the law.

However, threatening all cyclists with death even when they are law-abiding is an attitude that immediately yields away your moral right to life. You say that if the cyclist gets in front of you, you will kill them. And then later you say that you want them to ride in the middle of the lane. What’s it going to be?

So go ahead and kill a cyclist. If their family catches up with you, they have every moral right, if they so choose, to hold a gun up to the side of your head and blow your brains all over your windshield.

Or how about this — cyclists get to declare open season on autos. Anyone they see breaking any law, just blow ‘em away. Sound good? A little tit for tat?

Maybe it’s better to take the log out of your own eye before taking the splinter out of others. You don’t exactly sound very law abiding, yourself.

And frankly, I feel sorry for anyone who goes to your pharmacy. What do you do, spit in the cough medicine for chuckles? Get yourself a different job, one that you like, and maybe your life will improve.

Wow — bicyclists are angry little motherfuckers. You guys need to band together and start a blog. You don’t allow any questioning of what you do…I recant, you’re WORSE than Christians. Did you really take the statement that seriously? If a bicyclist gets hit by a car in your town, are you going to hunt down the driver thinking it was me? Good luck chasing my shadow.

Ohh, and enjoy your ban.

Yep, that guy on a bike blew a red light. Let’s kill ‘em!

Just a thought, you may want to be a bit more circumspect in announcing your plans to kill someone. It might endanger your state licensure, as well as leave you open to charges of premediation if you follow through. Some jurisdictions with their fancy lawyers pay attention to stuff like that.

Oh, I know, “Bring it on” and all that.

Enjoy the ride.

It was a fucking joke. I realize that tone doesn’t come through written word via a website, but I can’t believe you would take my “I’m going to run your ass over” so literally.

Bicyclists are like Christians. If you like them and what they do, they love you and want to praise you for understanding them and their plight. If you question them or call them out, they team up on you and try and beat you down with their wrath and vengeance…

dont worry, soon you will all be riding bikes or walking, either that or horseback. then we can all cut each other off on our bikes fair and square. [sentence edited out because only I get to be vulgar on this website]

After more than thirty years of riding the bike, I finally got a car.

After driving for a few days in my own car, I have come to realise how much of a pain in the arse I was.

I will never ride push bikes on the road again, but I definitely wont kill any cyclists.

You’re right. You should start running over people on bikes with your car and killing them, tough guy. What a badass.

OK, fair enough. I will (I DO) obey stop signs, red lights, and all other rules and laws of the road (which, in my state, means that it’s illegal to ride on the sidewalk).

Now, I can guarandamntee you that I’ve seen a lot more cyclists obeying the rules of the road than I’ve seen cars OBEYING THE FUCKING SPEED LIMIT. Those signs on the side of road are indicating a MAXIMUM, not a MINIMUM. Oh, and if you drive in my city, it’s also THE LAW to HANG UP your CELL PHONE.

Congrats on your council having the balls to pony up on cell phone law. I agree with the speed limit. Another commenter said something about the freeway being for cars…I follow the speed whereever, and of course, take the interstate when possible because it’s faster. Unfortunately, the interstate doesn’t go directly from my house to my place of employment.

personal anecdote:

I ride a bicycle and drive a car in my city. I’d say there seem to be a higher percentage of angry, inattentive, dangerous, “how DARE you!,” pugilistic, self-absorbed, bad attitudinists (just coined that one!) in cars than on bicycles, but it’s probably pretty close since our society has replaced values of good citizenship and friendliness with attitudes of angry entitlement and immediate self-gratification.

Your mileage may vary.

I just don’t want to pay for your funeral because you decided to blow through a red light.

I guess I got up on the right side of the bed, but cyclists don’t bother me. I figure it’s another car not clogging up the streets. When I last checked it was cars that are clogging up the road, not bikes.

Sure, cyclists bend the rules sometimes, but not any more than drivers do. A bike rolling a stop sign at 5 mph isn’t nearly as dangerous as a car doing the same, so I don’t think there’s anything to get too worked up about.

Conceded. But, if there’s a car wanting to go across their path. They should stop.

I ride my bicycle to work everyday.

And from this point forward, I WILL ride in front of you and I WILL keep running stop lights and stop signs and I WON’T signal. And YOU won’t do a fucking thing about it except take it.

People in cars break laws every day and no one does anything about it. Then when a bicyclist does it, they get all up in arms like someone raped the Pope or something. Here’s a tip: Mind your own business on the road and STFU.

Fuck you. The rant was designed to alert you jackasses to the danger you are putting yourselves into. I don’t care how entitled you think you are, just follow the fucking laws. Enjoy your ban.

I stop at %90 of stop signs and when a car is already at the stop they wait for me to go. So I have to get off my bike and wait until they wave me on or they finally go. I think these drivers think they are doing cyclist a favor but they are not they are just making every once lives that much more annoying. So don’t get mad at cyclist for going through stop signs. If an accident is there fault then they will pay the price. And if your road rage kills someone thats something you will have to live with the rest of your life. So please find a productive way to release your angst thats not behind the wheel.

It was a fucking joke. Do you honestly think I’d risk everything I have to smear a queer?

The only reason I ride my bike is because I can break the law. Traffic laws were written because drivers, which have the PRIVILEGE of using the road, are for the most part incapable of transporting themselves without them.

Pedestrians don’t cause thousands of dollars of damage when they bump into each other in a line, rollerbladers only hurt themselves when they trip over their own feet, but drivers tend to damage much more than themselves when they aren’t forced to act in a certain way.

I only wish my bike had enough mass and airbags to protect me when I forget to look where I’m going. I run lights and stopsigns, but I do signal, and I almost never speed. I’m sorry when I do inconvenience you on our commutes to work. It’s the least I ask until our country decides to provide the infrastructure to separate us. Oh, wait, they already did, it’s called a Freeway. Otherwise, try some empathy and get on a bike and see it from the other perspective, there’s probably just as many assholes on bikes (percentage wise) as there are drivers in autos. There’s still no way to solve that, and no law that I know of will prevent someone from breaking it.

All we can do is not get angry at each other, accidents do happen, but war is preventable.

Fuck you, prick. BANNED.

You should call this website “American Internet Tough Guy Pill Counter Blog”

“grr!”

The domain name would be too long to register. Think you could do better? Fucking go for it…

happy go lucky…. just wow
ur gonna deliberately ignore the laws, which are there for ur safety, just because they were pointed out to u? thats mature. and fyi… “minding ur business on the road” entails getting pissed off when u have to stop short cuz some jackass ran a red light and almost got hit. if a biker gets hit because he ran a red light, he should just be arrested for being a goddam dumbass. i completely agree with this guy when he says bikes should have to obey the laws of the road

I rode a bike to university every day for four years (couldn’t afford a car) and the last day I rode my bike (about 10 years ago) I was going straight, in a bike lane, and was hit by a car that tried to get past me in time to turn at the next corner (a few feet away). I saw him come up on me and was suspicious, but he had no signal on and when he got beside me he moved a little to the side - away from me. This was of course so he could rip around the corner at full speed. Without signaling. With me between him and the turn. Luckily I was only airborne across two lanes of traffic before landing on my feet in the crosswalk. Ah… the good old days.

Personally, I was always conscious of cars and did my best to obey the rules and stay out of their way. Unlike these obtuse lolly-fuckers that ride today with something to prove. My favourite (the ‘u’ is supposed to be in there) is when they travel in pairs, side by side, so you can’t just move a bit over to go by them. The laws here state that you have to keep your bike within 1 meter (this is a magical distance that is approximately 3 feet) from the curb and you can’t ride on sidewalks - those are on the side, and for walking. So yes as a former rider, death to the ass-clowns who ride wherever they want and by whatever rules they want. :-)

But we shouldn’t be so prejudiced against bikers. Open season on jaywalkers as well!!

Are you peeved because you aren’t as fast as cyclists? Even behind the wheel?

Now I’m laughing.

Seriously: this is not funny. This is not a joke. Cyclists are killed every day because some idiot will reads some kind of inflammatory nonsense.

Worse yet, your little friend there who has never seen a motorist break the law (a blind driver?) will drink a beer, get behind the wheel, and remember this post.

Words have power, friend.

Yes, and websites have disclaimers. If anyone reads this posts and runs somebody over because of anger, do you really think I would blame?

Words have power you know — Hopefully I don’t “fuck bike” like the other commenter said I should.

YEAH! YOU’RE RIGHT YOU FUCKING FAGGOT! HIDING FROM YOUR FLYING FUCK RIDE! GO FUCKING RIDE YOURSELF FUCK MODDAFUCKER!

I LOVE MY BIKE, YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS FUCK BIKE! IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD A BIKE, GO CONTINUE FUCKING IN YOUR FUCKING MORTGAGED RIDE!

As we can see from this comment, professionalism isn’t taught in bicycle skewl.

OHH NOES! I ACCIDENTALLY FUCK BIKE! WHAT DO I DO?

You say this rant is a joke, yet you ban people who disagree with you. Says a lot more about you than those who disagree.

The rant is not a joke. The comment threatening to run over cyclists was — do you honestly think someone would have the lack of moral compass to say they were going to run over cyclists and mean it? It was a fucking joke — you cyclists just have the seat shoved too far up your ass to realize it.

I ban people who are not constructive with their comments. Your little dickweed friends that say “cycling r0x go fux0rz urself d00d,” get the banhammer. Those that say something pertinent — without being flat out hateful — don’t have any problems.

Running red lights is probably the worst cycling behavior I’ve seen, but it is rare when I see it.

I ride my bike more than I drive the car and try to set a good example by being courteous. This has worked better for me than chastising cyclists who do run the red. Let’s face it. No one likes being caught breaking the law.

But it is good to understand that it’s not just safety at stake. What we’re talking about is respect for other human beings whether they are in a car, on foot or on a bicycle.

All this boils down to is giving and receiving respect, right?

You can say that your threats were jokes all you want to. But if you do hit a cyclist, your peevish rant is going to be admissible against you as proof that you intended to do it. Instead of just a civil case, you’ll also have a felony prosecution to deal with. This is the law in every state and in the federal courts. Have a nice day.

Yes, because I carry a card in my wallet that says, “I am TheAngriestPharmacist. Read the vaguely worded (and clarified) death threat that I made against everyone that rides a bicycle on my website.”

You fucking cyclists are getting dumber as the days go on. Give it a rest.

[...] the entire cycling community has burned an effigy of me. My recent post is all over the cycling message boards. I’ve received threats, promises, and plenty of [...]

Most of the cycling blogs I follow haven’t seen this. Would you like me to invite them over? ;-)

It’s a little late in the game for me to want to deal with more hate-mail (especially when it’s not related to pharmacy or my pharmacy-geared posts). Judging how the small few of you are completely irrational dickheads, I’d rather no more of your buddies come over…

“So go ahead and kill a cyclist. If their family catches up with you, they have every moral right, if they so choose, to hold a gun up to the side of your head and blow your brains all over your windshield.”

Will the fictional family be chasing him on their bikes? ‘Cause they might be chasing him for a long long time…

(Can you imagine if the imaginary biker was in his/her 50’s… They have an 80-90 year old relative chasing after you with a gun in one hand, and a cane in the other, and thus have to drive without hands on the wheel… Sorry, image made me giggle…)

Your scenario makes absolutely NO fucking sense. Because someone in your family is killed whether it be a murder, accident, or vengeance — you have no right to kill them back. Sorry, Hammurabi, an eye for an eye is no longer the way justice is done in civilized countries. Now, if someone breaks into your house and has a weapon, you have the right to protect yourself accordingly (even some states have stepped back from this — meaning you can shoot but not to kill). Come back [from Babylon] to the 21st century. While some people may agree with your slanted opinion, it definitely is NOT a “moral” right.

The other day I was stuck behind a bicyclist on a narrow road through a park, and the BIKE PATH was 5 ft from the road. People like that deserve to be run over. Maybe if people in automobiles just hit the bikers not obeying the rules of the road, the smarter ones would learn their lesson, and if they didn’t there would probably be less stupid people in the world to put our lives and possessions at risk.

Ohh no! Another death threat. Watch out! If some guy in spandex knocks on your door, watch out — he might try and kill you first!

I swear a lot then ban you from my “club” if you don’t agree with me. I teach middle school…you’d fit right in.

I have banned people that agree with me too — read some other posts, assface. I’m just liberal with my banhammer, since I bought it and had it engraved and all. A lot of it is based on how someone approaches the situation. If users post angrily and vengefully coupled with swears and provide nothing to the discussion — essentially, just swearing at me rather than discussion — they will get the ban. There’s no point for that…no cause. Can you support that? Of course not. It’s obvious that those people don’t agree with me on this matter. So, saying I only ban those that don’t agree is unfair. People that agree with me haven’t posted, “Fuck you twat-nugget. You suck dick!” — Only cyclists that don’t agree with me. That, of course, is a prime example of a post that will get you banned.

I’ll pump out a new post tonight making up some rules/requirements. I assume outlining them and discussing them is necessary. Judging how bicyclists follow ZERO laws on the road because they are inconvenient, I assume the same will go here. But, hopefully through education and encouragement, we can teach the dimwitted bicyclers something.

Sorry to imply that my buddies are the ones who reply to this post. My buddies have you pigeon-holed pretty much the way you have cyclists pigeon-holed and won’t be interested. It looks to me that you’ve picked up on the guys that respond to the word “fuck” instead of ones whose vocabulary doesn’t rely on that word.

Let me be more clear: If you’re interested in some meaningful conversation, I’ll be happy to supply some.

I’m pretty much done with the topic. I’ve exhausted all of my sources and opinions on the matter. All that’s going to be said is the same bullshit you guys have already said (which is valid, nonetheless):
- Drivers are dangerous too. Drivers break laws as well, like speeding, rolling stops, and turning on red (when it’s posted not to) which causes many collisions — because the bikers run the light and get hit of course.
- Drivers have more distractions like kids, radios, cell phones, and passengers.
- Weight difference between the two is dangerous. Since cars weigh 1000+ (up to 3k) pounds and a biker weighs 200, it’s not fair. If bikers could go 45, there would be no issue. It’s the speed difference that irritates drivers.
- Drivers not signaling their intentions is unnecessary, dangerous and retarded since all we have to do is move a fucking finger (as opposed to a biker’s entire arm).
- Cars hit something (say a building or pillar), more damage is done because of said weight difference. Biker hits it, he just hurts himself.
- Road rage by drivers is documented, but based on the overwhelming angry biker response, I’m sure there’s bike rage as well.
- Etc.

Point is, further discussion is moot. Alert who you want to my opinions, but I seriously doubt I’m going to give a shit what they have to say.

This goes out to all the cyclists:

I used to ride a bike a lot up until I was about 19. I have done more stupid things on that bike that have left scars, broken bike parts, and just plain hurt than I care to count. I loved riding, and yes I have done stupid things. One stupid thing I never did though was forget that A CAR IS A LOT FUCKING BIGGER THAN I WAS (end cruise control).

I rode in the road when I felt it was safe, I would go on the sidewalk only if it was clear and no one was walking on it and it was usually at a coasting pace. When it comes down to the law, I usually followed it(except for the sidewalk thing which I explained above). The last thing I wanted to do on that bike was get hit.

In my opinion; if you don’t follow the law, and you think that every driver should just get the fuck out of your way, and you end up getting hit because of it you deserve it. Everyone has a brain that is capable of logic, reason, foresight, etc. USE IT! Don’t be the asshole that can’t figure out why he was hit even though he didn’t obey the law.

The bottom line is that the law applies to you too and that following the law greatly increases the chances that an accident will not occur. If you choose to disregard the rules, your chances of an accident increase. So just remember, that car that is next to you/behind you is A LOT FUCKING BIGGER.

And another thing, like another blogger named Tucker Max always said: “Fuck you if you can’t take a joke.”

How about taking a look at one of the points where cyclists agree with you:

- Following the laws is safer than not following the laws.

How do we best educate the cyclists who don’t follow the laws?

Understand that most cyclists are motorists too and see the same behavior from behind the wheel of a car that you do.

That’s a good point. We have driver education, maybe we should have bicycle education (for those riding in the middle of a metropolitan area) — maybe we could require bicycles be registered with the DMV and sport a tiny license plate. It could be cheap and come with an exam (written +/- practical).
Of course, we can’t expect a 7 year old who’s losing training wheels to take a test over bike safety — this would be more for adults who plan on riding on the city streets where cars are present. More definition would be necessary than what I can dream up…

I’m sure that’s been tried — do you know where? Any success/failures of note?

Our posts crossed.

It looks like you have picked up much of a cyclists’ perspective. I’m happy about that.

I hope that many of my fellow cyclists also see that scoffing laws is not only dangerous, but rude and — my personal peeve — gives a bad name to those of us who do follow the laws.

I like the licensing idea. I think it would do a lot to legitimize cycling in the eyes of motorists and would provide an opportunity for two other things: 1) effective cycling training and 2) recording offenses against laws. One of the problems with enforcement is there is no license to take away.

There are Effective Cycling Courses taught by the League of American Bicyclists. In Atlanta, the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign has a version called Confident City Cycling: http://atlantabike2.org/view/education.

This is good discussion. You’ve given me some ideas for a post on my blog.

Lest we not forget, the money paid for the licensure also goes into the transportation budget. It can go towards more bike lanes, road repair, etc. It would give cyclists a sense of buy into the use of the road — that’s a consistent complaint, “why are you on the road? The taxes I pay for my car license pays for these roads.” — Of course, that only applies to cyclists only as most are drivers as well — so that point is sorta void. But the money would help, I’m sure.

One other point that has been touched on but could use be expanded somewhat: the mismatch in speed between autos and bicycles.

Many new cyclists (lots in the past few months) often choose their route based on the one they would take in a car. Generally, the cyclist can choose a route on side streets that carry much less traffic, make for a more pleasant ride and avoid the higher-speed traffic.

Route selection could make everyone happier.

http://www.theangriestpharmacist.com/2008/05/03/damn-bicycles/

I’m the guy from the “I hate bicyclists” post you mention.

I AM a bicyclist, and I was hit last month (if you look at some of my recent posts).

And you’re right, I don’t see any fellow bicyclists following the rules. I feel alone out there when it comes to this.

I DO follow the rules, and I still got hit by a friggin cab. Go figure, maybe I should be an asshole like the other bicyclists I see ;)

Ha - point taken. If someone hits you, and you were following the law, you have my permission to beat the piss out of them in pure AngriestPharmacist fashion.

Holy Hell, its like everyone whoever rode a bike in their life has lost the ability to understand sarcasm. Do people not read the name of the website?

Can’t afford a bike LOL! Yeah, on a pharmacists income you can’t afford a bike…that guy must ride his bike without a seat on it!

I must say TAestP of all the groups for a pharmacy blog to start a war with I think this is even more amusing than dealing with addicts posting on your site.

[...] from the Philadelphia area. He’s one of those cyclist freaks still pissed off about the recent spat I had with them. You can see his craptastic website at TrophyBikes.com — Anyway, here’s [...]

I make it really easy for you to figure out when it is safe to pass or not, I ride in the middle of the lane. Wanna pass me? Suck it up and change lanes already!