The bike wars continue

Megan responds to my post; as I said in her comments section,

I would say this: of course I have sped before. I’ve also been pulled over before, one time, for (wait for it) speeding.

Now, did I get sanctimonious because a state trooper pulled me over at 1:00 in the morning on an empty byway on which neither I nor anyone in my car posed a threat, safety or otherwise, to anyone on the streets? Nope. I was annoyed, sure, but I took my medicine. By going 67 in a 55, I was breaking the law. It sucked; I dealt with it.

That’s the way breaking traffic laws work: you’re taking a chance with the law, if not (necessarily) your life. Bikers have no right whatsoever to expect exemption from traffic laws, regardless of the reasons they wish to be exempt (like, say, their own convenience).

So, you know, welcome to the roads. But I kind of wish that cops would start writing tickets for people who roll through stop signs/lights, be they car driver or bike rider.

I don’t have too much more to add–I think (for their own safety if no other reason) bikers should obey the rules of the road and face the consequences if they don’t; bike riders think they’re immune from the laws that inconvenience them. This is fine. I’ll leave off by linking to this P.J. O’Rourke piece entitled “A Cool and Logical Analysis of the Bicycle Menace, And an Examination of the Actions Necessary to License, Regulate, or Abolish Entirely This Dreadful Peril on our Roads.”

h/t Ed Driscoll