I have been driving for over 40 years and I have been a cyclist also.
All I hear is about spending money on street improvements to save the bike riders. What about spending that money on teaching the bike riders how to ride their bikes safely.
I am so tired of having cyclists rush up the side of my car out of nowhere, and they have to be doing quite a bit faster than the posted speed. I watch the cyclists all the time running through red lights, not stopping at stop signs, cutting in front of my car out of nowhere, and speeding. The majority of cyclists are rude, inconsiderate and don't follow the laws.
How about spending that money on teaching these cyclists the Rules of the Road".
How about teaching them what drivers are taught "Drive Defensively".
Drivers, and Motorcylists have to pass tests on the "Rules of the Road", why don't Bike Riders. Maybe we could at least start with the ones that are caught riding wrong and go from there.
We have given cyclist and walkers so much freedom, they think they don't have to watch out for us. They think they have such rights that they don't have to LOOK before they cross the street. They may have the right of way at the time, but that doesn't mean we can see them.
I taught my children to watch out for themselves and not ASSUME they can be seen or that their "right of way" is going to be given to them.
Maybe it is time to make cyclist get riding licenses, and go through "training". I bet if you asked most cyclists if they thought they were supposed to stop at stop signs, or signal turns, they would say no.
I think it is about time we quit feeling sorry for all of the cyclists. It is time they started taking responsibility for their actions.
And before I start getting hate mail, I know there is a good part of the cyclists that ride responsibly, but it sure seems, as a driver, that the majority of them don't.
I for one have quit going across the Hawthorne bridge, because the stress of worrying about getting rear-ended stopping for the cyclists, was more than I wanted to deal with.
Making it harder for drivers to navigate the streets of Portland is not the best option. This will only irritate the motorists even more and they will feel more frustrated with the cyclists.
And Portland is not the only city with rude cyclists.