Talk of The Villages Florida

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- The Villages, Florida, General Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/)

- - Share the Road (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/share-road-178464/)

"experto crede is a Latin motto which means Trust in one experienced; literally: "(the/an) expert trust". It is usually used by an author as an aside to the reader, and may be loosely translated as: "trust me", "trust the expert", "believe one who has tried it", or "have faith in experience".

A lot of these threads are about the law and using good judgement. One is fact and the other is opinion. You just need to accept who the experts are and sometimes forget the law.

It's a fact it's legal to bike without a helmet. Real bikers, the experts in the spandex know that's a stupid law. They all have cracked skull stories.

It's fact that taking over a road is not always legal. The experts know that you are more likely to get clipped by a car or truck mirror or run into debris than run over from behind. So even if it looks foolhardy to you, it's not.

It's a fact going through a stop sign is not legal. The experts know that if they have full visibility it is safer to roll through.

The people in spandex are just telling you what they are going to do.

The responses in this thread were far more kinder than I have read in similar threads 2 years ago. Am I seeing a shift in acceptance?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan (Post 1172861)

Wow!! By far the best post I've seen on this topic. :BigApplause:Now if we all could just accept the fact that there are cyclists on the road and they should be treated like a slow moving vehicle you'd pass safely then I've accomplished what I set out to do when I started this thread.:pray:

Although I would consider myself a recreational cyclist at best (probably could not go 25 downhill with a tailwind if my life depended on it) this thread has been somewhat educational to me. I will admit that I become somewhat irritated when I encounter bicycles in the traffic lanes along some of the primary roads in TV and did not realize that the traffic laws allowed them to travel in the middle of the lane. Despite my irritation, however, I have always given them ample room if/when I am able to pass safely. If this is what you were trying to accomplish then cudo's to you. Now, if you would just teach your cyclist friends and buddies that if they want to use the traffic laws to justify (rightfully in this instance) their actions they need to obey ALL of the laws and not just the ones that suit their purposes. This means stopping at all stop signs, giving the right of way to pedestrians in a crosswalk and (my all time favorite) illegal lane changes (I call this lane surfing) when entering/exiting the roundabouts. And for those of us that choose to stick to the MMP's when riding, please be aware that in this case pedestrians always have the right of way based on what I have learned from some of the information posted above.

Well we made it 18 days into 2016 before this came up again.

It is always a fight to the end with this type of thread,,, I am a serious cyclist as are most of the folks I cycle with here in The Villages. I have at times ran thru a Stop Sign, for the most part rolled up to it come almost to a stop but keep going if clear. I yell at the cats I ride with to stay single file unless we have a rather large group and we are approaching a roundabout, then we take the lane coming to the roundabout. If not a car or truck will move into the lane as we are already at the circle and push us off the road. Will try to anyway..

Just had this happen not long ago at a circle,, It was the roundabout going south on Morse from 466A at Pinellas.

I was in the right lane coming to the circle and a SUV change from the left lane into my lane on top of me as we entered the circles. I hit the side of his truck real hard and dented it as I hit the curb,, He stopped and I stopped,, called SCSO. He got a ticket for lane violation or violation of right-a-way. He told the Deputy He knew I was there but I have no right to be on the road. He is the one that called the LAW on me as he put it,, but he got the ticket,,

Bottom line is every time this topic comes up,, it turns into a cyclist bashing deal. There are plenty of cars, motorcycle, golf carts that do not obey the laws,, stop at every stop sign and so on,,, WHY BASH JUST CYCLIST.

There is always a argument on lane width and riding in the middle of the road, I will never ride in the middle of the road and no cyclist should. Like on Buena Vista and Morse south of 466,,, 2 lanes wide each side,,,we stay as far right as possible in the right lane and single file, except when the front rider is moving to the rear of the pack. and we average of 21 MPH most of the time. and will approach 30 MPH a lot of times,,,

I for one am not going to go out and measure the road width,, It does not matter. The only time I see it fit to take up a lane is entering a roundabout. We do it for safety as I mentioned above. This whole hem hawing back and forth on the Florida Law is for the birds,, One sees it one way and One sees it another. You got some who hate the idea of a cyclist on the road, and some who are down with it and enjoy seeing people out exercising.

The Bottom line is,, do we have the right to road,, HECK YEA,, should we always press that issue HECK NO. This is a retirement community, and all should act like it and be courteous to one another. No idea why so many people are in such a big hurry.

This is not New York City or LA. Cant we all just get along,,, SHARE THE ROAD. :beer3:

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfing eagles (Post 1173364)

Here are my musings on this subject, for what they're worth:

I'm only impatient with slow traffic when there is no reason for it.

After all the research I posted above, including walking out to the middle of Morse Blvd. with a tape measure, I feel cyclists should take over a lane for their own safety unless the lane is at least 14 feet wide, which is not the case in TV. I'm referring to serious cyclists who are riding in the 20-25-30 mph range, not a super senior tooling along at 8-10 mph--they should stay on the MMP. The roads were primarily designed for motor vehicles, the is no bike lane BECAUSE there are MMPs for vehicles travelling 20 mph or less.
Other legitimate reasons for slow downs include heavy traffic, construction zones and accidents. I don't get impatient with any of these, it's just a reality of driving.
Like you, I am not a "slow driver"--I don't speed in TV, I'm usually 1-2 mph under the 30 mph zones, 1-2 mph over in the 35 zones, and usually right at 45 in the 45 zones. Going any faster makes little sense, you gain a minute or so at best
Interstates are a different matter, especially on a long trip. I'll admit I set cruise control to 73 in a 65 zone and 78 in a 70 zone. At that speed, I'm usually passing 2/3 of the cars on the road and getting passed by 1/3. Which bring us to slow downs for absolutely no reason, which, like you, I get impatient with.
Number one pet peeve---some bozo chugging along at 55 in a 70 zone in the left lane. WHY? There are lots of these drivers on the interstates---even with no car for 1/2 mile ahead or behind in either lane, but there they are, just la-de-da-ing in the left lane. "Keep right except to pass" has a 2 syllable word in it--maybe it's too much for them to handle intellectually. I'll also admit that upon encountering these idiots, I pass them in a fashion that makes my displeasure pretty clear. I just wish a few of them would get cited by LEOs for failure to keep right, the word would get around pretty quickly and cut down on offenders. I'm always in the right lane, except to pass. Again, these people may not get into an accident themselves, but are likely to cause one in moderate+ traffic as the rest of the drivers make stupid moves to get around them.
Pet peeve #2---truckers that are going 56 pulling out in front of me to pass a truck going 55, especially when approaching an upgrade. 17 hours later and 10 miles of traffic back up and you may get past them.
Pet peeve #3. The guy who climbs up my back while I am passing slower traffic---even though I may have sped up to 80+ to pass and get over to the right to let him pass--then he passes me and drops down to 66, forcing me to get left and pass him---but upon noticing this he speeds back up, I drop in behind him and he slows down again---ARRRGHHH. The cousin to this guy is the one who comes up from behind like a bat out of he!! so I drop behind slower traffic that I had intended to pass, then he rides just off my back fender instead of passing, forcing me to brake for the cars ahead.
End of rant.

golfing eagles: I agree and my reference to the bad golf shot and the 10 seconds needed to let it go. One poster referenced cyclist as being our neighbors, etc. to me that is stating the obvious because most of us here are considerate because we are aware that they are our neighbors. But we also have neighbors like the guy in the grocery store who cuts in line the golfer at a golf course that deliberately is a slow player etc. People are not robots and to expect no reaction from things that annoy you is unrealistic. We address these type of situations here to pass the time and because we contribute to the thread but in actual practice most grin and bear it. Which leads me to say that some posters take this forum too seriously and hence too personally. And just because I say something annoys me doesn't mean I will act upon that thought. Its all good

I will not hold up people on the road or MMP, on the golf course and often let a customer with less items than me jump ahead in line

Left turn how to for bicyclists

Bicycle rider in front of me moves far right in intersection, slows down, raises left arm straight out, wobbles on bike, tries to look back, left arm goes to handlebar and back out straight. I pull up beside her, now on my right, and ask if she is trying to turn.
YES, she says, I signaled...right there, pointing across both of us.
I say...that is a left turn.
Oh.:loco::loco::loco: