anselan

And behold on this narrow bumpy road there are a group of 15 roadies riding on this road (like they own it) this road has no shoulder, and has very litte space for cars to pass safley through the oncomming lane holding up a group of 6 cars behind them. OK, so I'm not defending *some* road cyclists' arrogant attitude, but seriously... Why can a car not SLOW DOWN for a few seconds, wait for a decent time to pass, and do so safely? Why do 15 cyclists have to squash themselves into some long thin line or take a totally different route altogether, just to save some motorist 30 seconds on their trip?!?

Doesn't the width also have a bearing on aerodynamics? But guess this is not as crucial with MTB as with road bikes?

I think it depends on context to a certain extent. My "base case" is always to obey the rules of the road. In certain special cases, e.g. when there is absolutely nobody else around and it is perfectly safe for me to "skip" the robot without annoying, inconveniencing or risking the safety of other road users, then I will "skip" the traffic light. But generally, I think we will go a long way to improving the cyclist/motorist "problem" by showing respect for one another.

I can't agree with you more. The scariest thing on the road has to be an over-nourished' date=' over-groomed female in a Prado. Taxi drivers are cool, if a bit dumb sometimes.[/quote'] At least they SEE me some of the time, which is more than I can say for most drivers - especially the ones with cellphones attached to the sides of their faces. I have often have taxi drivers APOLOGISE for blocking me or making me wait (!) or even WAIT for me to pass them before they pull into the lane (!). How often do other drivers do that kind of thing?? Not all taxi drivers are like this, obviously. But I have had so many good experiences with taxi drivers vs other drivers that I am starting to wonder if is more than a coincidence... Maybe because taxi drivers are looking out for potential passengers, they are more aware of what's going on on and around the road - not just blindly looking at the brake lights of the car in front of them, like the usual braindead commuter.

No, not saying that... Personally, I always ride with a helmet, but I place about 1% of my "feeling" of safety in that particular piece of equipment. The other 99% comes from avoiding accidents through awareness and style of dealing with traffic. I'm just saying that the helmet is an overrated piece of safety equipment, to the detriment of some riders who neglect to do all the other important things to avoid accidents.

Traffic light stopping - and general good, vehicle-like behaviour on the roads - much more important than helmets, IMHO.

Hey don't knock the taxis. They treat me better on the road than the Sandton mommies in SUV's.