You have to admit, bicyclces do tend to cause some weird attitudes. Most people either hate them or just don't care, but with the few people who like them, they turn everything into a case of "I have a right so y'all can just take it!" Of course they have an utter fit if anyone says the same thing back to them. As for electric cars, that's probably just a combination of climate panic and typical early-adopternism. Some people just have to have the newest, shiniest thing "just because".
"Attention, drivers! Do you enjoy being prohibited, by your own conscience and on behalf of someone who is highly unlikely to actually be there at any given moment, from using a significant chunk of your own lane, let alone anything beyond that? No? Well to heck with you then because I have a right to ride this bicycle anywhere I want, anytime I want, including the Nordschleife itself, and if you object to my using that right then you're obviously both a fascist control freak and a selfish, unskilled driver! Bicycles were here first and were symbols of freedom before cars even existed and are actually normal traffic and the law is technically on our side and blah blah blah blah blah! But if it makes you feel any better, I'm totally pro-car in the abstract. Wait, that doesn't make you feel any better? Well to heck with you anyway then!" That's what you are saying to other road users when you willingly choose a bicycle over a car.
You probably would too, if your dear leaders didn't tax the ever-loving snot out of anything worth having or using to the point where no one below their own level can afford it. That's just the thing, though. Most people, to the best of my knowledge, either don't care about bicycles or outright hate them. Even the people who ride bikes, frequently don't seem to enjoy putting up with them while driving. It's just a few people here and there... but a few is enough to completely ruin every road within at least 30 miles of anywhere even vaguely important or populated. Add in people who are walking instead of biking (hitchhikers or otherwise) and you end up with a situation where not even going out well after midnight is enough to escape the plague of non-drivers on the road. Driving used to be a joy, now it's just a chore, constantly having to watch out for this. And the number of supposed car guys who are perfectly OK with this state of affairs is doing a number on my faith in humanity at this point.
Maybe people want some exercise, or don't want to buy a car, or don't have the money, or live close to work so you don't need a car, or... The reasons to use a bike are endless, and the fact that you think it's yet another one of your Alex Jones level theories or that all cyclists are "rarted daggum librals" is frankly laughable. Please respect cyclists space on the road.
I'm having a hard time even seeing this as a justification of any sort. [/quote]or don't want to buy a car, or don't have the money,[/quote] If this is the case, there are people selling surprisingly low cost kits to adapt a small (usually 50cc or 80cc) engine to a bicycle; one source has a selection of 22 kits, 14 of which cost under $200 and some of which are as low as $115; not sure how much top speed you'd get with one of those but they'd definitely help be less annoying to other road users (especially uphill). I haven't done much looking, it's possible that these kits require a specific make and model of bike, but this is definitely something I'll be looking into - and spreading the message about if I like what I see. Basically you'd be recreating the evolution of the first motorcycles, but for very little money, outside the regulatory framework that is now doing to motorcycles what it already has done to cars. In fact looking at the site I get the distinct impression that people tune and race those things, which you have to admit is pretty cool. Sounds like a fun little project, actually. If I didn't have my eye on some other spends right now I'd probably try to build one just to prove the point. Maybe next year... Of course, this probably means that if this workaround gets popular then the government will get involved anyway and ruin everything because they hate fun. These people are incredibly unlikely to be riding down the shoulder of a 50 mile intercity freeway (that's more likely to be the "can't afford/aren't allowed a car" one, but riding against traffic in a place where there are literally two frontage roads going to the exact same place is just inexcusable), or on a dead-end mountain road that leads to nothing but some trails, a lodge, and a dumb tourist trap. Well, and some mines waaaaaaaay further up, but I doubt a mine worker is going to be riding to work. As are the reasons not to if you have any other choice. I don't think it's a conspiracy... of the bicyclists themselves. I do believe there is a push on to kill cars and car culture but Adult Recreational Bicycling is more of a symptom than a source.
What's you real issue with cyclists? I cycle as often as possible and yield to other road users. Some give me lots of space, some don't. I don't hunt them down and stab them for using a car. In fact, people using the other lane to pass me annoys me. I'm just a bike, half a metre will do.
I don't mind cyclists as long as they are being reasonable about how they are riding. If they are on the shoulder I have no problems getting around them safely 99% of the time. What I hate are when cyclists violate the rules of the road just because they're not in a motor vehicle (i.e. running red lights, cutting me off, etc). I also hate it when they ride in MASSIVE groups and clog up traffic but thankfully that is really rare in my area.
It's a bit of a late reply, but my problem really does boil down to 1. the attitude and 2. the omnipresence. With me you can just rage about how the road isn't a racetrack, but there are plenty of other reasons not to walk or ride on the road. See that big rig? It's making huge amounts of wake turbulence and may also be carrying a wide load. See that place where the shoulder line has been worn faint or scrubbed off entirely? Just about everyone cuts that corner, whether they "should" or not. See that car coming the other way? It could veer out of its lane because of inattention/intoxication, thereby leaving the driver coming up behind you with nowhere to go - except straight over you. And on it goes. But road bicyclists (and walkers) don't seem to get any of that. They just sort of latched on to the fact that they have a right to ride on the road - and then they never thought beyond that. The ones who ride in the middle of the lane are so obnoxious that not even the hardcores can defend them, but even said hardcores will reserve the right to ride "just to the left of" the shoulder line if the shoulder in a given place isn't wide enough for them - so now the rightmost quarter (or more) of the lane becomes a de facto unmarked bike lane anywhere the forward visibility isn't perfect, and forget about gutter hooks. But at least they might be using some kind of light, unlike the late-night pedestrians who are guaranteed to materialize out of the darkness about 100 feet in front of you. Yes, I get it, a bicycle is technically a vehicle and people technically have a right to ride them on the road and the road is technically not a racetrack, as I have been reminded about 9,001 times so far by the Super Triggered Hardcore Libertarian Bicyclist Guy on another forum. However that's also not the point. Bicyclists are just plain freakishly annoying for everyone else on the road to deal with, the mere possibility of their presence turns driving from a joy to a chore (and night driving, which used to be twice as much of a joy, into twice as much of a chore), and the fact that they absolutely refuse to admit that any place on Earth might possibly be an inappropriate or even personally risky place to walk or ride, up to and including the Nurburgring Nordschleife itself, is rather telling. That's the attitude that motivates a lot of these people. Road is way too fast for a bicycle to keep up? "We stay off to the side so we shouldn't be a problem!" Road is also narrow? "We don't take up much of the lane, if you can't pass us safely you're a moron!" Road is extremely narrow and made of 100% blind corners and crests? "Not our problem, stop outdriving your sightlines!" Same road is popular with fast drivers anyway? "Too bad, the road's not a racetrack! Car culture isn't as important as MY RIGHTS!" Road is, as I said above, literally the Nurburgring? "Technically allowed so fair game, even if not worth the toll!" As far as they're concerned, their safety is everyone else's problem, and that's just how it is and always should be. If you tell them any of this, they will blame the police, slow drivers, wild animals, the government for making roads too narrow, the car manufacturers for making cars too wide (seriously?), literally anything else. They will hide behind the people who can't afford cars, and/or the cases where a freeway or mountain pass is the only decent way to get to a certain place, to justify their riding on the road despite already owning multiple functioning automobiles. If you continue to suggest that excessive nonmotorized road use is a bad thing they flip out because I HAVE A RIGHT YOU JUST WANT TO GO 80 IN A SCHOOL ZONE YOU'RE AN EVIL SELFISH FASCIST (continue to infinity). What really flabbergasts me is how many supposed car people are perfectly OK with this, or actually contribute to it themselves, and don't seem to see any inherent contradiction there. They may say they love cars, they may own a fast car, they may even have some old war stories to share, but as soon as someone threatens or complains about their bicycles, suddenly driving becomes an emotionless A-to-B transit activity, and so as long as it's still technically possible to drive (indifferently, without joy, doing around the posted limit and going no further right than the center of your lane) on the roads they infest, then they're not infringing on anyone's rights or even asking for anything at all! (This has rapidly become one of the main reasons why I freaking hate modernity). What it boils down to is this: you can come up with infinite justifications about how some people can't afford cars, and bicycles are technically vehicles, and "the public way" isn't a racetrack, and I HAVE A RIGHT!, and on and on and on... but when you go out walking or riding on a road which you know full well is dominated by and, depending on where you are, was probably designed mainly for motor vehicles, you are putting everyone else on the road in the position of having to babysit you constantly, even when you're not actually there. Plus, if someone does hit you, then they have to carry you on their conscience for the rest of their life, whether they were morally at fault or not and regardless of what the authorities say about it. Putting people in this position when you don't have to is just plain old obnoxious, as is hiding behind the ones who legitimately have no other choice.