From Reuters:
As high gas prices force U.S. drivers to share city streets with a growing legion of cyclists, tensions are mounting between the two groups who blame each other for failing to find a peaceful balance.
A number of violent confrontations in recent weeks between cyclists and drivers have weighed on Portland’s reputation as America’s most bike-friendly city, while accidents and “road rage” incidents are prompting other cities to try and make the roads safer for bikes and ease the hostility.
In mid-July, an angry driver chased down a Portland cyclist and carried him for several blocks on the car’s hood. Before that, a cyclist, upset at a driver who yelled at him for riding through a stop sign, threw his bike at the car and then attacked the driver.
“We are seeing more bicyclists on the road because of the price of gas and we see more of these” problems, said Marni Ratzel, a bicycle/pedestrian transportation planner in Boulder, Colorado, which has more than 300 miles of city road outfitted with bike lanes.
In Louisville, Kentucky, the number of cyclists have doubled or tripled since last year, based on the estimates of Dirk Gowin, the city’s transportation planning administrator.
“Education is the real issue,” said Gowin. “We have bicyclists riding against traffic, on the sidewalk and without helmets. They don’t know what they are doing.”
A common complaint from motorists is that cyclists don’t obey traffic laws and ride recklessly, while cyclists charge that motorists don’t watch out or yield to them when required.
