Rich Landers: Rude drivers need to change dangerous cycle

From the seat of a bicycle, the all-too-close-up view of vehicle drivers can be discouraging, if not horrifying.

I’ve enjoyed the freedom of pedaling my bicycle across the United States and on numerous other tours in dozens of states and four countries. In every tour, most motorists have approached me on the road with the same respect they’d extend to their friends or family.

But there’s always a certain percentage of drivers that regards cyclists as barely a heartbeat above roadkill.

I’ve seen a motorist brake hard for a cat on the road and then accelerate within inches of a cyclist — all in the distance of a city block.

I commute to work by bicycle as often as possible and I frequently take a spin just for fitness and recreation. Almost every ride adds to my still-accumulating insight into the shortcomings of humans under the influence of horsepower.

Fuel prices are around $3 a gallon and people continue to drive as though there’s no connection between the gas pedal and fuel consumption. From the seat of a bicycle you’re more aware of this silly waste of resources as you hear the car engines rev and see the brake lights flash.

Sometimes a cyclist is more than just an observer.

A hothead in a jacked-up red pickup nearly took me out last week as I was going down a hill at nearly 30 mph on a road with a 35 mph speed limit. He just had to get around me and never mind that solid double-yellow line down the middle of the road. Of course another car was coming up and around the blind corner, so the hothead accelerated to at least 50 mph and swerved in front of me with inches to spare only because I pulled on my brakes so hard I thought the cables were going to snap.

He wasted fuel and risked my life, the lives of the passengers in the other vehicle as well as his personal freedom outside of jail – all to get to the next intersection a whopping 5 SECONDS faster than I did.

Do you have to be on a bicycle seat to comprehend how stupid that is?

Everybody knows cell-phone distraction is an epidemic. The abuse seems more prevalent among those who drive the biggest vehicles.

One of the rules for surviving on a bike is to lock into eye contact with vehicle drivers at intersections before proceeding even if they are stopped at a stop sign. But eye contact with someone on a cell phone is no guarantee that they are registering your presence.

I’m not sure they’d hear the thump on the bumper.

The topic of bikes on roadways came up as I was getting my hair cut Wednesday. My barber gave the perspective from the vehicle driver’s seat, noting that he’s seen bicyclists ride almost in the traffic lane even when they have a bike lane.

“Why don’t they ride against the curb?” he asked.

“Road hazards,” I said. They come in several forms:

“Doors from parked cars could suddenly open in front of an oncoming cyclist and vehicles can suddenly emerge from driveways.

“Junk accumulations on the side of the road.

From the seat of a bicycle, you see what slobs Americans are. The amount of broken glass littering the roadways could be melted into enough bottles to quench the entire world’s thirst for beer. Then most of those bottles would be splattered on the roadways again.

The wind generated by passing cars blows the glass and other junk to the side of the road where motorists think all cyclists should ride and spend their free time patching tires.

From the seat of a bicycle, you learn that when there’s no bike lane or shoulder, a cyclist almost always needs to claim a lane of traffic for safety from roadside hazards or being squeezed off the road.

This is almost never an inconvenience for motorists. It could mean a delay of a few seconds, but the only extra effort would entail a driver moving his steering wheel slightly to the left and then slightly to the right to go around the slower cyclist.

Is that really so hard?

Eileen Hyatt, a Spokane bicycle safety activist who has received numerous awards and recognitions for years of volunteer effort, was taken to task in the letters to the editor page this spring after The Spokesman-Review quoted her in a story about effective bicycle commuting.

The letter was triggered by the line in the story that said, “Take the lane,” she urges when the roadway is too narrow for a car to pass.

The letter writer lambasted Hyatt for suggesting that “kids” ride their bikes out in a lane of traffic.

That letter says a lot about us.

The story was about bicycle commuting to work. Not once did the story mention “kids.”

But certain people have the narrow perception that a bike is a kids’ toy that should be relegated the bike paths and playgrounds.

It’s not.

Now more than ever, with obesity on the rise and skyrocketing fuel prices, it makes sense to leave the car at home in the driveway as much as possible and ride a bike to your next destination.

I am sick to read that a motorist struck and killed an experienced bicycle tourist Sunday on State Highway 23, a lightly traveled road near Harrington. Experienced bikers pick quiet backroads as often as possible, as this man did with his touring group headed across the United States.

I’m not going to second-guess how the unthinkable happened.

But the incident should be a wake-up call to everyone who gets behind the steering wheel of a vehicle.

A motorist who sees anything on the road needs to pay attention. I don’t care whether it’s a cow, a tractor or a cyclist. You’re driving a few tons of metal that’s every bit as lethal as a loaded gun.

You don’t bring back a dead father, mother or child with excuses.