Motorist misbehavior

Patrick H. Crowe (8/30, Letters) is certainly correct that bicyclists are required to follow traffic laws. However, the behavior he has observed at a stop sign, from his office window, is hardly unique to bike riders.

As I ascend or descend in the Hallmark elevators at 26th and McGee each weekday, I see behavior at a four-way stop just outside the glass wall of the elevator, and I can’t remember seeing a single car come to an actual stop at any of the four unless a pedestrian or a car was crossing in front of them. In fact, I’ve seen a number of drivers blow through the intersection without so much as slowing down — not even close to a so-called “rolling stop.” And this is during busy weekdays.

I doubt that many adult cyclists in Kansas City aren’t also car drivers, so the behavior Mr. Crowe is describing is really general traffic behavior. At least cyclists pose less risk to others on the road when they sail through a stop sign, especially if they have looked for oncoming traffic first (which cyclists usually have plenty of time to do, given how much more slowly they usually travel).

David N. Johnson
Gladstone

Comments

[devin]

Yes, and I can only imagine the horrific damage this cyclist would have done to you and your vehicle by his irresponsible behavior (eyes rolling...).

Humans of all modes of transit will sometimes engage in irresponsible behavior. The difference between cyclists and motorists is that irresponsible cyclists pose a risk primarily to themselves alone, while motorists pose a serious risk to everybody around them. When was the last time you heard of somebody being killed by an irresponsible cyclist running them over? Motorists do this to pedestrians and cyclists just about every day.

[ScooterJ]

A couple of weeks ago I was nearly hit by one of the spandex-clad cyclists downtown as he attempted to blow by me on the right shoulder while I was making (and signaling) a right turn. I don't think that's typical motorist behavior. (Neither is riding the wrong way on a one way street, as I so often see them do, unless you are drunk or from Johnson County.)

Maybe at the stop signs near those giant surface lots at Crown Center they can see whether traffic is coming, but downtown you cannot tell me they have x-ray vision and can see through buildings to spot traffic around the corner as they blow through every red light over and over and over.