You know that cyclists and drivers should share the road. Cyclists have every bit as much of a right to that space as any car. They need a safe space to ride.
That doesn’t mean they get it, unfortunately. Any cyclist can tell you plenty of stories about angry, impatient drivers, near misses, accidents and other such incidents. They happen constantly. Cyclists often bear the highest level of risk because they have the least protection in a crash.
One cyclist even said that he stopped riding on the road. He did not give up bikes altogether, but he stuck to trail riding. He just felt that road riding wasn’t safe anymore. He didn’t want to take any chances with his life.
The reason he gave was simple: distraction. He said that smartphones just make people irresponsible, dangerous drivers. He complained about people messing with the GPS or a map-like app, trying to change the playlist or skip a song on the go and, of course, sending text messages while they drive.
Those are just three examples. Smartphones offer a nearly endless string of potential distractions. Are there laws against it? Of course, but that does not mean that drivers follow those laws. It got so bad, from what he’d seen, that he opted to stay off the roads, rather than facing the risk.
As you can see, this is incredibly unfair. Drivers should never force cyclists to give up by putting them in danger. They have to follow the law and be held accountable. Cyclists who get injured, meanwhile, need to know all of the legal options they have to seek compensation.
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