Motorist, Heal Thyself !

[XLFD]

I normally don't get on here and whine about the motorists who put my life at risk every time I go out on the road with my bicycle, by failing to pass properly or safely, by driving in front of me and parking to check out their mailbox, by passing me just to make a right turn a few feet in front of me, by bypassing a 'stop' or 'yield' sign when I'm riding by on a thru-street, etc. etc.  Motorists are only getting worse on their etiquette, and our traffic volume currently is at its yearly maximum and nothing will be done about that until bicyclists, motorcyclists, and pedestrians are treated better by the law and its enforcers and the engineers of our roads.  But in many places, those are getting worse as well.

Anyway, this last Wednesday I was given some advice from three different motorists passing me as I was travelling down the PM Highway between the Dairy Queen and Iris Road, just past Nelson's Frontier Market.  I will presume the comments were well intentioned, and the people wished to be helpful, but to me they reflected their lack of knowledge about riding bicycles.

I was riding with a 13 year old boy on a 26" mountain bike, and an 8 year old girl on a 20" kid's bike.  I was riding my usual road bike, and we had just travelled to McDonald's and DQ after a couple of days/nights of suffering through camping food while staying out at Buttersville Park in tents.  We had made it there without incident, we were travelling back to camp.

I was riding my brakes down the railroad hill, so as to help them cross the First Street intersection safely.  My spiffy bike has little road resistance, so I need to coast and brake to stay with the group.  Anyhow, while coasting along, I was about a city block away from Sixth Street, when a car pulled alongside and a lady reproachfully said that I should not ride so far ahead of the kids.  They were about a city block behind me. 

This is a good point; but we would be regrouping at the intersection, and I was close to the point where I would apply the brakes to reduce my speed to accomplish this.  If she was concerned about the welfare of the kids and my apparent negligence, maybe she should have slowed her speed to theirs to wetnurse them all the way to the next intersection, was my first thought.  

But the kids have been properly trained in on-the-road biking, they know not to ride to close to each other and to use momentum to their advantage.  They know in such situations I will coast ahead, and eventually wait up for them when needed, for safety and efficiency.  Constantly braking, half-pedalling and wavering around at a slow speed is dangerous for a bicyclist on a road bike and his companions. 

We then got to the valley where the twin bridges are, and we began the descent of it, me first, the boy second, and the girl third.  Due to the addition of the latest 'safety feature' fad for vehicles, the side rumble strips, you cannot ride side by side on the shoulder of that road, which also means you cannot pass a bike without going into the road, dancing around the strips.  Therefore, logic dictates you put the fastest in front and keep some distance between each of you as you descend. 

If you dare to actually use the road to travel by on your bicycle, be prepared to die, as the vehicles will want to pass you on the narrow road without crossing the median's rumble strips even if the opposing traffic is not there (which it always is in summer).  But as I was coming up to the first bridge, two motorists in two cars told me two things.  The first righteously said that the girl behind me was driving in the street, and the second informed me stridently that I really needed to be back helping the kids, as the girl was having problems, and almost went out in front of them.

What happened, I learned later, was that the girl had avoided some rocks on the shoulder (the shoulders along streets with rumble strips are usually cluttered with debris as the road traffic moves such stuff about a yard or so into the shoulder) but ran over the rumble strip to do so, where her chain had come off, and she drove erratically through the shoulder.  Both kids noted she had never enterred the road.  I looked back and stopped past the bridge and noted they were both still coming down the hill, but the girl was frustrated, and I had to put on her chain when she got to me.

The first motorist doesn't seem to recognize the bicyclists right to be on the road.  The girl doesn't ever like being on the road when there is shoulders or sidewalks, so if we don't believe her, and she was, it was because of the damnable rumble strips which could have easily forced her to lose control of her bicycle and fall in the road.  It definitely made her chain fall off and ride erratically.  The second motorist didn't take into account that one of the main reasons we can't ride together safely on that stretch is those same confounded rumble strips and our different inherent speeds.

The traffic code says that a driver has a duty to exercise due caution when they see a young or incapacitated person near the road and has penalties for not doing so.  If you see me or others out on a soiree on our bicycles in a group, perhaps you might want to figure out how to protect them from you and your fellow motorists, rather than carp at someone who has to deal with the shortcomings of the society that doesn't adequately think of or protect the vulnerable users of our roads.  We seriously need to consider to remove those rumble deathstrips from the side of the PM Highway, they have ruined one of my expensive tires, and nearly killed this young lady.