Share the road?

First I need to say that I have nothing against bicyclists. I ride a bike for fun but not for commuting. I'm just not completely green yet I guess.

I don't even mind sharing the road with bicyclists. They need to get places too. I do have a problem though with the bicyclists that don't feel the rules of the road and sharing don't apply to them.

Here in Washington most cities have designated bike lanes on the right side of the road next to the curb. I see them all over in my daily commute to and from work. Most bikes stay in their lane.

There's that occasional biker that rides in the road outside of the bike lane and holds up the car traffic because they think the lane designated for bikes doesn't apply to them somehow. These people are the same douche bags that will most likely end up a fixture in the grill of the Paisley's Subie. I did it before on a road trip with a few birds that didn't get out of the way soon enough. It's not called and Egg Crate grille for no reason folks!

There's a specific corner in our commute that has a free right and at least once a week there is one of these bike douches keeping us from making that free right because they're sitting on that corner waiting for the light to change. Move over!!! You're on a piece of light weight aluminum/titanium/carbon-fibre tubing that barely weighs 12-15 pounds and you can't move over a bit to let a 3000 lb car make a free right turn!!!!

Bicycles at lights is another issue. There are some (again the hardcore commuters) that don't wait for the light to change. They just cross the intersection when it's clear enough for them to go. Never mind that a car could come out of nowhere and toss them like a small boulder launching out of a catapult. Dumb asses.

A few years ago we had a bike come up on our right at a light and into the left turn lane and when it turned green, cut off the first car in line to make the light. Well when we made it through the intersection the Paisley put the window down and yelled at the biker that he should really obey the rules of the road. He wasn't going to have any of that. Next thing I know there's an angry biker coming up on my six to sweep up on my left and actually stuck his arm in our car and threatened us for telling him to obey the road rules!!! What a prat!!

Of course I pulled over and followed him at the snails pace and called the police. Do you know what those doughnut eating c***stains told me to do?! Pull over and wait for an officer to come to me! I told the dispatch that I could hand the phone over to my wife to let them know our direction of travel while I followed our biker, but they didn't want us to do that. I mean really. Use your common sense. It's not like bikes have license tags on them or that this biker was just going to provide me with his personal information as he's leaning in the car and threatening us. WTF!

Then there are the car slappers. You know, the ones that come up next to car and yell and slap the car when they think the driver hasn't shared the road or given proper right of way to the biker. What ever. I can promise that the first biker that slaps my car will be the last biker to slap my car.

I am a careful driver and I look out for bikes. This comes from being someone that has ridden motourcycles and knows just how dangerous it is out there for two-wheeled traffic.

If we're all careful then no one has to get rude and no one has to get hurt. I see it this way.........if bicyclists want to have cars share the road with them so bad then they should make sure that they are obeying the rules of the road and not pissing people off.

I think that bicyclists should also be paying for maintenance and up keep of the roads they use too. Gas is getting high (Washington state has one of the highest gas taxes in the nation, thank you) and the tabs for our plates are getting expensive as well.

There has actually been talk here in the Emerald City of imposing an annual $25 bicycle tax. Hey I can't make this one up. Read the article.

Seems ridiculous. I realise that we are in a severe economic recession right now, but taxing the shite out of us isn't going to solve that problem. On the other hand if bikers are paying a licensing fee annually then maybe they won't be assholes on the road and then whine about not be treated fairly.