Bicycle riders can suck, too

Just a quick update...

Today was one of the few days I was driving around in a motor vehicle. I ride my fixed-gear bicycle the five miles to work nearly every day, and love it. I usually find myself angry and irritated at car drivers who rarely see me (or the flashing LED's attached to my bike) and run me off the road or drive inches away from me when I'm driving in the roads which are rightfully mine to share.

But anyway, as I sat at a four-way stop in a company vehicle today, I waited for my turn to progress through the intersection. As I entered it, a guy on a bicycle sped up to the intersection and didn't stop. We both hit the brakes - me so I didn't kill him and he so that he would not become a hood ornament - at which point he made an obscene gesture and offered some sort of denigration at me as if I had blown the stop sign and was in the wrong.

Unbelievable!

I'm an advocate for bicyclists' rights. Nothing irritates me more than car drivers acting as if bike riders have no right to be on the road (it is actually unlawful to ride on the sidewalks, in case anyone was wondering). But come on! Bike riders need to obey the road rules, too, or expect to be treated like they don't belong. If you want equal treatment, bicyclists, follow the rules. If you don't want to be a hood ornament for a PT Cruiser, don't blow downtown stop signs.

Easy enough.