Bicycles and cars are natural enemies.

This may not seem to apply to you, if you don't ride a bicycle, but you probably do drive a car. And you've probably seen a bicyclist sail through a stop light or stop sign and secretly wished that he/she would get smacked by a car, right? Just to teach him/her a lesson, right? Not your car, of course, but somebody's car.

If you reacted with horror to what I just said, then you are an honorable person who would never wish ill will on another person. Good for you. On the other hand, if you silently said "Yes!", then you are a driver of cars who resents bicycle riders who flaunt the traffic laws and drive you crazy and need their come-uppance . Maybe you've had one whiz by in front of you when you were trying to turn right or whatever. Maybe you had to brake fast to avoid running over one of them. Maybe you felt your heart race and cursed them, aloud or silently.

It's important to remember the difference between riders of bicycles and drivers of cars. First, the bicycle is a flimsy contraption made of tubes of steel or, more likely, aluminum or some other lightweight metal. The car, any car, is made of steel. The bike weighs, at best, twenty pounds. The car weighs two thousand pounds or more. If a biker runs a stop sign or a stop light and smacks into a car, or is smacked into by a car, who do you think is more likely to end up dead?



I ride a bike and also drive a car, so I can appreciate both perspectives.



Drivers of cars think that bicyclists should obey all the traffic laws that drivers have to. Fair enough, right? Well, yes and no.



It takes much more effort for a bicyclist to stop at a stop sign or stop light and then start up again than it does for the driver of a car. A cyclist has to stop, put a foot down on the pavement, then start to pedal again -- at what may seem to motorists stopped at the same sign or light as a snail's speed. Jeez, can't you just get going, dude?

The car driver has only to step on the gas to get going again, while the biker has to step on the pedal and try to get up enough speed to make it across the intersection before the cars start going again. So what if a biker approaches an intersection where no cars are present? Do you really think he/she should come to a complete stop? Why?

I think, as a bike rider and also a car driver, that bikers should treat stop signs as Yield signs: stop if someone is coming, but otherwise just go. Stoplights are a different story. All bikers should stop at them. And wait. But what if no car pulls up behind or next to you, and the light never changes? I've observed that stop lights don't change for people on bicycles. You can wait and wait and wait and never get a green light. So I would say that, after you've waited through what you think are more than a few light changes, with no change in lights, you have the right to dart across the street and continue on your way. Again, if you're hit by a car, it's your fault.

What drives drivers of cars crazy is bikers who show a total disregard for traffic laws: running stop signs and lights without even slowing down. And I agree on that. Anyone on a bike needs to show regard for prevailing traffic. No, we bikers aren't going to cause any car drivers serious harm if we ignore the laws, but if they do hit us, it's going to cause them lots of grief and sorrow and resentment and maybe legal problems. So we need to be mindful of cars -- and vice versa.

Let's all respect each other, okay? When I'm riding my bike, I will obey stop lights -- unless no car is there to trigger the mechanism that makes it change -- and I will treat stop signs as Yield signs: slow down, and if no car is present or coming, I'll go. I will ride on the right side of the road and will give arm signals when I'm turning. I will wear a helmet and bright-colored shirt so that you, the driver, can see me.

You, the driver, will recognize my right to share the road with you when there's no bike trail available and will do your best not to run over me, since I and my bike weigh about a tenth of what you and your car weigh. If I disobey the traffic rules and get run over by you -- assuming you were following the rules -- I will not sue you.

A deal?


One last note: There are drivers of cars who seem to resent people who ride bicycles. Many times I've had teen boys -- always a carful -- shout at me as I rode along in my bike lane. What their problem is I'm not sure, but I like to think that it has something to do with the idea that they know they should be out doing something physical themselves and don't like the sight of anyone actually exercising. Get over it, boys. And get a bike.

Excuse me now while I go fill up my car with $4 a gallon gas.