Essentially what you're saying is "Because I am encased a ton of metal that could kill you as easily as swatting a fly, and you are unprotected and vulnerable, I don't have to obey the laws that are put in place to protect you from me". If you think that's morally acceptable, then you are seriously lacking in human decency.

Your analogy with a plane and a hang-glider is utterly nonsensical. A plane can't brake like a car can. A plane is supposed to fly at the same (extremely fast) speed for several hours at a time without changing direction. A car has to speed up, slow down, turn corners and look out for other vehicles all the time even when there aren't any cyclists around – that kind of thing is normal and expected when driving a car. Also, hang gliders do not fly at 35,000 feet, and are not allowed anywhere near airports where planes will be climbing to or descending from that height.

Car and bikes, however, are both constrained to operate at 0 feet above ground level, and have to share the same road space. This is why rules exist for both bikes and cars to show each other mutual respect for each other's needs. Cyclists are meant to keep as far to the side of the road as they can, out of the way of faster drivers, and to signal when they do have to go into the middle (e.g. to overtake a parked car or to turn into a minor road). Drivers, in return, are supposed to be aware that cyclists exist, try not to kill them, and give them the space they need in case they wobble in the wind or have to avoid a pothole. You may feel that cyclists should be somewhere other than the road, but the law says otherwise, which makes you simply wrong. If you don't like it, lobby to get the law changed; don't blame the cyclists who have to obey it. Believe it or not, we'd rather not be on the road either.

You say we shouldn't be anywhere other than cycle lanes. Well, in an ideal world that would be true. If there were cycle lanes everywhere, we would be happy never to cycle on a road ever again. But unfortunately, most of us don't live in Amsterdam. If there is a cycle lane beside the road, by all means suggest to any inconsiderate cyclists you may come across that they ought to be using it. But if, as on the vast majority of roads, there isn't, have a bit of goddamn respect for the guy who's forced to share the road with idiots like the one who yelled at Deadsy without a big metal cage and an airbag to protect him when those idiots forget to keep their eyes on the road.



If she wasn't wearing lights after dark, she deserved to be shouted at for not wearing lights, which is illegal and dangerous. But it's rather shitty of you to simply assume that she was breaking the law when you don't know. In fact, as has already been pointed out to you, she must have been easily visible because the idiot driver honked at her from quite a way back. If he has to slow down a bit and wait for a chance to get past, tough luck. It's not going to kill him to wait a few seconds. His "right" to go as fast as he legally can is not more important than a cyclist's right to be on the road at all without getting killed.



Maybe if the smallest accident could leave you paralysed for life instead of simply having to pay $100 for a panel beater, you'd be a bit more annoyed at inattentive drivers. A cyclist who did idiotic things like weave around in the middle of the road and deliberately slow drivers down just to piss them off obviously would have a yelling coming to him. But how often do you see that happening? I'll bet not very often at all.



This is very telling. You think cycling is a sport, by which logic it shouldn't be done in the road any more than football should. Well, this news might not have reached gas-guzzling America yet, but bicycles are a mode of transport. People use them to get to work in the morning. If everyone who lived close enough did this, the population of the world would be a lot fitter and healthier, have to spend less of their hard-earned money on fuel (a lot of which comes from countries which the West would rather not be so dependent on), and climate change would be less of a worry. I don't just cycle for fun; I cycle because a bus pass is expensive, I can't afford a car and would have nowhere to keep it if I did have one, and it's actually quicker than taking a bus or car because I don't have to wait in traffic jams. There's an incidental benefit that it helps me lose weight, but I'm not a sportsperson; I'm using the best means available to me to get around the city. If you don't like it, then buy me a motorbike.