This is from a regularly scheduled Everglades Bike Club weekend ride in Key Biscayne, USA, on a 10km stretch of road, and all the drivers know to expect it will be there in the mornings.
Know what solves this. Protected bike infrastructure that segregates car and cycling traffic. You all are making good points on both sides. But if the two types of traffic never interact this becomes a non-issue.
Even with segregated bike lanes these people will still drive on the road. There have been many times people drove their cars into groups of them where I live because of frustration. (I live in Western Europe where there’s great bicycle infrastructure). So yeah, as long as they drive where they are supposed to drive it’s fine, but it doesn’t magically solves it.
That driver is obviously an idiot that needs his license revoked.
That said, as a fellow cyclist, you all need to do better as well. For this large an event, there should either be a road closure, or break it up into flights. If those aren’t feasible, restrict yourselves to one lane instead of taking up both. Not excusing the drivers carelessness at all, but judging from your reaction to other comments here, your ride group’s sense of entitlement is a problem as well.
No idea why that’s necessary. This is quite common in my country.
Allowed by law here, if you take certain precautions. Judging from the motorcycle, it seems this group also took precautions to keep the group safe.
It’s funny how you complain about entitlement.
Seeing how wide the road is, there’s no reason to block the whole road in one direction. This doesn’t seem to be a competition, just a casual ride. Block a single lane then.
It’s not my ride group. I’m not even in the same hemisphere, let alone the same ride group
Was anyone else hoping he would have hit a hidden ditch and wrecked his car?
Not wrecked, but I was kinda hoping itd be an open diff and get stuck with 1 wheel spinning when they tried to get back on pavement until a kind bicyclist helped weight it down.
The drivers a dickhead and I was secretly hoping they’d have a wheel ripped of by a hidden kerb or something and I hope they were at the very least arrested for that, but… well, let me come back to this thought.
Those cyclists are irresponsible pricks for riding in a pack like that. They look like they’re trying to buy the own little Tour de France but that’s clearly not a rally that was organised with cooperation of ANY relevant authority - council, highways, police, whatever - and just looks to me like a bunch of yuppies that decided to take over a highway. No pilot vehicles, no safety stewards, occupying the full width of both lanes for no reason other than that they can, just a rolling roadblock of self-righteousness and no consideration for other road users.
So, as I was saying: the drivers a dickhead and I was secretly hoping they’d have a wheel ripped of by a hidden kerb or something and I hope they were at the very least arrested for that, but… maybe they had a really, really good excuse for wanting - or needing - to get somewhere with desperate urgency and simply could not afford to be delayed at all, let alone by the arbitrary whims of a bunch of hobbyists. Or maybe everybody in the video was being a selfish-righteous prick.
Roads don’t belong to cars. If each of the bikers were in their own car for a 3 mile long traffic blob for some hobby event no one would have batted an eye.
So? I’m assuming you’re responding to the wrong comment or didn’t actually read mine at all.
Those cyclists are irresponsible pricks for riding in a pack like that.
I was replying to your comment.
Roads don’t belong to cyclists either. They belong to everyone. Common courtesy says everyone needs to be considerate of others on public property.
Also if each of these cyclists was in a car for a 3 mile long traffic blob and did this as a regularly scheduled event, it would get shut down by the authorities right quick for disrupting traffic and lots of people would be mad about it. I know this because “car enthusiasts” do exactly that kind of thing fairly frequently and that’s the response it gets.
“share the road” mfers when its their turn to share the road
it would get shut down by the authorities right quick for disrupting traffic and lots of people would be mad about it.
Tell that to the sports stadiums in my city.
All the LOCAL drivers know to expect it. If someone is from out of town they would have no way of knowing that happens on that road unless there are signs posted or something. The dude is still a dipshit though.
The cyclists have every right to use that road as cars.
End of story. Grow the fuck up, motorists.
You’re going to get where you’re going a minute or two later than you wanted. Big fucking deal.
They’re not using it like cars do though. They intentionally block all of it.
It’s interesting that you say this unironically. Have you ever driven through Dallas or Los Angeles?
Also, groups like this don’t have much choice but to take up the available space when riding as a group. Drivers do not navigate safely with people on two wheels, and often, drive aggressively and dangerously owing to entitlement.
Based on most of the comments here so far, you all hate cyclists more than cars.
What I really seem to hate is just people with zero situational awareness operating any sort of vehicle.
I’m a cyclist and when I’m on a bike I try to use the road responsibly. If I’m no a long climb going 10km/h with cars behind me I try to stop when possible and let them pass safely. I don’t ride next to someone else chatting and blocking the entire lane. I don’t ride on roads with speed limits over 60km/h. I would never do what they are doing in the video. It’s just disrespectful and causing unnecessary tension between drivers and cyclists.
If I’m no a long climb going 10km/h with cars behind me I try to stop
Imma stop you right there. That’s not “being respectful”, it’s being a fucking pushover. The last thing you want to do while on a climb steep enough to drop you to 10 km/h is pull over and stop. Pull across to the side of there’s enough room for them to pass, sure, but keep that momentum at all costs.
That said, if this ride is on open roads, then road rules should be followed. Where I live that means two abreast (plus more if overtaking), but a blob that’s at least 5 wide in parts.
keep that momentum at all costs.
Who am I racing? It changes absolutely nothing for me. I’m not stopping in places that are bad for it but if there’s a road where I can get of the road for 5 seconds and then start again it costs me absolutely nothing to do it.
Personally speaking because I am both. Cyclists don’t obey the rules of the road to the same rigor as a car. Both parties are open to hate.
Now that said, only one of them is in a 2 tonne death machine.
Cyclists don’t obey the rules of the road to the same rigor as a car
Bullshit
Most cars don’t obey the rules of the road for shit. Case in point above
Yeah and case in point a cyclist is rarely going to kill someone in a head on collision but a car will.
Indeed, why should they? The rules of the road where made expressly for cars, not bikes, and there are several states which sensibly make carve outs for bicycles and motorcycles.
But, as you point out, the risk for breaking the rules–real or perceived–fall entirely on the cyclist, so I absolutely see no equivalence.
Ya don’t break a rule; the car runs you over because distracted driver.
Ya break a rule to avoid distracted driver; you get ran over because your rule breaking in your tiny and light bicycle triggered the road rage of someone in a SUV whose control was entirely based on spite and the fact everyone else should follow rules without exception (that the state legislature carved for cyclists to try to minimize their deaths).
Being a cyclist commuter is fun, much recommended.
The problem with cars is that they immediately make every other form of transportation incredibly shitty.
Pedestrians and cyclists get killed. Buses get stuck in traffic.
I hate cars, but what am I supposed to do? Getting out of my car is just an invitation to get killed by one. And if I wanted to live entirely without a car, I’d have to move to a city, where I would never be more than 12-feet away from cars and have to cross a road every block, risking my life because of shitty fucking cars.
When we say, “We’re not saying get rid of cars, we’re just saying we need options”, to not scare the carbrains, well, the only way to have real options (ie safe roads) is to have roads entirely without cars.
I would love for my city center to become car free. There is like a square mile that would make so much sense.
maybe its my metro area but I feel motorists are more likely to not follow the rules. There is cyclists but its a pretty low percentage. The ones that do though really do and make themselves a nuisance. There was a guy that would just ignore the red light on a major intersection. like two four lanes. during rush hour because I guess he felt since everything is slowed up he can just fuck right through.
Nah, you’re correct. Any time a study is done on this it finds that either drivers and cyclists break the law at similar rates, or drivers break it more.
There’s also the difference in why they do it. Drivers break the law out of convenience. Because it’s easier to do, or because it gets them where they’re going faster. Cyclists sometimes do that, but far more than drivers, they’re likely to do it because it’s safer. Because laws are often made for car drivers in ways that aren’t appropriate to cyclists, and so breaking the law is often safer. The classic example is treating stop signs as give way signs in places that haven’t implemented an Idaho Stop rule.
Sources:
Depending on your local that could be perfectly legal. It’s called an Idaho Stop. You can treat stop signs as yields and red light like a stop sign. You’re not supposed to treat a red light as a yield so if he’s doing that it’s illegal everywhere as far as I know.
My 2 cents is the closer to a downtown you get the better the drivers are because of proximity however the cyclists are shit at obeying rules. Outside downtown cars are horrible in respecting cyclists who usually end up better at obeying laws because of the speeds.
I mean they didnt hit any of the cyclists now did they?
If someone shot a rifle past you, would you be ok because it didnt hit you?
yeah im built different
Actually admire some one taking a mini back to its rally roots
What a dickhead
When they close the road for races here the cops are on every corner. This dude would’ve gotten the shaft real quick.
That’s not a race, that’s just a big and well organised group ride.
Wouldn’t the road be closed for cars? At least no one died
That’s exactly what I was thinking how the fuck a car got in there the roads should be closed or marked. It seems to be a Highway to boot so there shouldn’t be a lot of options left. The guy in the car was dumb yes but the organization incompetent.
Yes I don’t know if this is a governmental issue or an issue with the event organizers.
Like obviously don’t drive in the median and break traffic laws, but this kind of event not being appropriately managed is going to increase the likelihood of accidents. Mostly from assholes driving poorly
Based on other comments in here, this isn’t an organized event. It’s just a group of bikers that do this every single weekend.
I’ve never seen a peloton just block the whole road like that. If you have to occupy all lanes you close the road. If you don’t have permission to close the road you use only one lane. It looks like the cyclists are doing this on purpose to make a point or something.
It looks like the cyclists are doing this on purpose to make a point or something.
Honestly if that’s the case, fair play to them. If it’s a ride for the sake of riding I agree, stocking to two abreast except when overtaking is what they should be doing. But if this is a mass rollout protest ride, with the aim being to get the council and state governments to build more dedicated bike infrastructure, fuck yeah you go guys.
You know what else would block that whole road? Two cars side by side.
Did you think this was a gotcha?
Have you seen how mad people get when cars drive side by side?
It’s funny how even people in cars want fewer cars on the road.
That’s why if two cars drive side by side way below speed limit people get angry too. Is this really news to you?
wait, what, so a couple cars in both lanes is ok but few 100 cyclists in two lanes is too much and fuck those guys ?
Two cars going well below the speed limit and blocking both lanes like those bikes are wouldn’t be ok either. In most places a couple of cars doing that would be pulled over and ticketed.
Swing and a miss there lol
Common sense would dictate two cars are not driving side by side for long the inner lane is reserved for faster cars and passing.
If this was not indeed a sanctioned cycling event where the road is shut down then common sense would dictate the cyclists should only be using the slow lane not both and if you want to be pedantic about following the rules there should be on bike single file in each lane with the exception of passing.
What you see here is cyclists packed like sardines together. Fine if the road is closed but Jesus Christ do they all not have judgement if the road is intentionally open?
If I’m driving or cycling my needs are the same. I need everyone else on the road to be predictable. Nothing in this video is predictable. If I had an opportunity to cycle in this event I’d nope the fuck out
Ok but why not block the road or have at least one lane open? No one’s using the right lane it seems.
Maybe they have to shit really bad.
