You're missing the point. To say any of us are without sin in the driving or cycling arena....would be pointless. The point is there are people that take aggressive action intimidating and threatening cyclists because they don't like them being there. It has absolutely nothing to do with running stop sign or not. I've had beer bottles thrown at me for simply going straight down the roadway, minding my own business. If ANYONE takes these threatening actions against a cyclist, they can be arrested and charged with possible civil suits brought against them as well. A cyclist going through a stop sign is wrong....yes. If he is hit by a motorist because he ran the stop sign, it's the same as any other traffic accident and the cyclist should be held accountable. But, motorists making threats or deliberately harming or endangering cyclists...regardless of how you feel about them...can and most likely
will be used against you in court ..after you get out of jail for road rage or worse.
One last example....while driving, you see another motorist run through a stop sign. He doesn't hit you, but you are ticked off because he ran the stop sign. A few moments later, you pull up next to him. You scream at and threaten him. Guess who gets to go to jail for road rage?
There is anger and excuses made about threatening cyclists everyday. No matter if we do everything right or not. You don't like us on the roadway....we get it. Just remember, we all have cell phones and a good deal of us have GoPros. As in the case of the Fire Chief, a witness caught the action on his cell phone.
My intent is to inform those that don't know the cyclists' rights to the road in Florida are different than some States.
Whether motorists respect those rights or not, can make their life much more complicated.
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