Re: Montana: "Let's make stupidity mandatory!"

Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 1/13/2025 5:44 PM, NFN Smith wrote:

Roger Merriman wrote:

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

Some Montana legislators are wanting to make wrong-way riding mandatory.

For non-riders (or novice riders), especially if they've been trained to always *walk* facing traffic, there is frequently a fear of the speed of vehicles approaching from the rear (and not visible) even if the speed differential is far less than facing traffic.
>
For the purposes of public policy, this is an ongoing tension that probably never be resolved, the difference between the bicycle being regarded as a pedestrian and the bicycle regarded as a vehicle, and for the latter, where despite the speed differential with motor vehicles, the bike should have all the rights and responsibilities as a motorist.

On reflection, something else that I could have mentioned is that in this circumstance (especially Montana) is the common idea that roads are for cars, and that anything that impedes that is considered to be evil, and must be removed.  In other words, "you're in the way, get off my road!".  I've seen aggressive motorists that go so far as to assert this claim with "I pay taxes" (e.g. motor fuel).
One other effect of this that I've seen is that when I'm on my bike, it's worth being cautious around cars that have a lot of stickers on the back.  It's not just the obvious ones that indicate that the motorist may be hostile to cyclists, but multiple stickers (regardless of content) may be an indicator of "turf marking" and where the drive is proportionally less friendly to having a cyclist too close to their vehicle.  And sometimes, the implied aggressive behavior is little more than mere bullying.
Smith