What Bicycle paths is he referring to? I recently moved to Savannah from Dayton Ohio and I am unbelievably discouraged and disappointed in the utter lack of safe paths to ride on. I went yesterday to Jekyll Island to ride, which means I had to drive 1 1/2 hours just to ride my bike. If you check Ohio's bike paths you will see what I am talking about. We can ride safely there for miles and they are just completing the 325 mile cross state path. Wake up Georgians! You deserve better than this. The roads here are totally unsafe to ride on due to aggressive motorists and the amount of semi trucks. The "bike lane" on some of the roads is situated between the regular flow of traffic and the turn lane increasing your chances of being struck by a vehicle. There was money earmarked for bike paths, where did it get used? The idea that registering bikes and purchasing tags and insurance will help is ludicrous.We just need a safe place to ride!

Ryan, do you know where bike paths are in the Savannah area. Lisa, my son rides almost every day here in northeast Georgia and he too drives to one of the different bike paths to do it. It really just seems safer that way. I freeze when I see bikes on the road because I'm terrified of hitting one of them. I guess that means I'm aware of them.

To address the "cyclist should pay taxes" etc, argument....ok, let's do that...then EVERY SINGLE ROAD IN THE STATE needs to have a bike lane. Every road! Not just a few in select cities.

On the flip side, if cyclists would ride in a straight line rather than like an airplane formation, blocking people for a half mile behind them, there would be less of a problem as well. I'm just sayin'...

if it does not have a bike lane then no bikes shhould be allowed

no bike lane no bikes

Bike riders around Atlanta seem to have an "Attitude" that expresses their feelings of "rights" to ride wherever they want to and cars must submit to them! Today I passed a single rider about 3' out from the right side into the middle of the single lane street going about 10mph. To legally pass I would have had to cross the double yellow line into oncoming traffic. He knew exactly what he was doing to traffic as he gave each passing driver that famous international sign. Considerations need to run on both sides, but the hurt body will belong to the biker!
I ride occasionally around our neighborhood and I try to stay as far right as possible but when needed I pull completely over and yield to car traffic so I'm still safe. I understand why others choose not to do that, but that is a choice and I choose safety over being right and maybe dead.

NJ4America, thanks for the suggestion.

As a car driver and a cyclist I have always believed that cars and bicycles do not make a safe mix on a road. A car going 50 and a bike going 15 MPH ? Cell phones ? Stupid drivers ? Careless riders ? A 3 foot rule ? All the laws in the world will not stop cyclists from being hit by cars.

Come on, some of you can't be really as rude or ignorant as your comments here would lead one to believe. Roads are for travel - not cars/motorized vehicles. Interstates are for motorized vehicles only...and...ones that can go the minimum speed. It is illegal in GA, and most other states to ride a bike on a sidewalk. Sidewalks are for pedestrians and a bike is considered a vehicle in GA. If some of you weren’t so selfish and, well, maybe used some of the grey matter you are supposed to have, you realize that roads have been around long before cars and you don’t own them or have any greater right than anyone else to travel where you are going to and from on them than anyone else. Most people complaining about bikers being in the middle of the road are actually complaining because they are exercising their right to ride on the road at all and because they think the world revolves around them no one should interrupt their poorly planned travel as they might be late for their ….(pick it). Just because you are lazy, rude, late, overweight, smoke, uneducated, or just poorly informed doesn’t give you the right to endanger others’ lives who are exercising their rights within the law. And, speaking of the law, most people operating cars, minivans and SVR break some or many laws on a very regular basis so don’t get all holy about following the law when you clearly aren’t.

I don't understand the venom spewed on cyclists...but when gas goes to $5 a gallon or even higher, I imagine we will see more people walking and on bicycles. Whoever "R" is sounds downright aggressive. Sad.

I generally ride alone, on the country roads to the north, east, and south of Athens, and I have to say that I have had very few negative experiences with drivers. There are always a few that pass a little closer than I'm comfortable with, whether due to ignorance, lack of consideration, or inattention, and I'm always cautious at intersections and driveways to make sure drivers are seeing me, but 98% of the time drivers give me a wide berth when passing, pass at appropriate times, and treat me as a regular vehicle at intersections, etc. Maybe it's because I'm alone, or that I'm female, and maybe it makes drivers see me as just another human being rather than that faceless "other" that causes them problems.

It wasn't until a week ago that I encountered a driver with a clear, bike-specific animosity toward me. On a lightly-traveled country road, an oncoming vehicle drifted out of his lane about a third of the way into my lane as we approached each other. Oops, right? Then he showily veered back into his own lane and laid on the horn as he passed me. Clearly there was no reason for that but to intimidate me. Big man. *Those* are the drivers that scare me. The rest of us are just out there trying to get along.

My experience as an avid recreational cyclist is similar to Sarah's: 98-99 percent of drivers and cyclists behave like the decent people they are. I like to thank those who pass safely with a five-fingered wave, and the vast majority wave back. I cringe when I see my fellow cyclists running red lights, passing stopped cars on the right, and bottle-necking traffic when they could easily form a single line. I also want drivers to undersand that it's unbelievably dangerous to ride on a sidewalk: every single driveway and street cut is an opportunity to get run down because no motorist ever stops to check for bikes moving even 10 mph, much less 30 (a speed easily attained on hills). Bikes are vehicles for good reason: we're too fast to be pedestrians. I'd like to see cleaner road margins, stricter enforcement of existing laws, more bike lanes and paths, wider shoulders on all roads (which would improve safety for motorists, too), and more simple courtesy from everyone. I think bike insurance would be a racket because bikes are capable of causing comparatively little damage, but requiring adult road cyclists to have a license seems like common sense. Because most bikes have relatively low valuations, it would probably cost counties more to levy ad valorum taxes on bikes than the tax would bring in, but I wouldn't be opposed to it on principle.

Bicycle riders, do indeed, have the same right to the roadway as a car or truck driver; however, many of them do not exercise due caution and/or responsibility. We were behind a cyclist who appeared to be waving us to come around him. My husband did not attempt to do so. The cyclist made a left turn!! The waving "signal" was his idea of an "I am going to turn left" signal. They should be required to learn and employ proper hand signals. While we are on the subject of cyclists, I am sure everyone has seen the bumper stickers that say, "Look twice, save a life. Motor cycles are everywhere". Yes them are - cutting in and out of traffic. Running up the emergency lanes and up the left side of the roadway. Motor cyclists: We cannot see you as you dart in and out of traffic!! Bicycle riders and motor cycle riders, please observe the rules of the road and the rules of common sense!!

If bike riders have the same right to use the road, they should be required to pay taxes for a tag and insurance and a license. Some of these morons act like they own the road and disregard typical courtesy. Why should some bonehead on a two wheel aluminum can hold me up on my way to work?
When they act like an ass, I just lay on my horn until they move. I assume they surrender to prevent the headache.

How many people commenting here for bicyclists rights even ride a bike in traffic? Require these morons to pay to register their bike, pay for a tag every year and pay for liability insurance and this argument is over.

Agreed Kristi. I have yet to share the road with a cyclist that doesn't put me at risk having to go into the other lane to avoid being too close. It does make sense to make the case about MPH.

Regulate them the same as any other vehicle on the road. Violate the laws of safety and get a big ticket.

More often a motorist than a cyclist, but realizing there needs to be some accommodation for cyclists in our unfriendly bike zone, I tend to be much more obliging to a cyclist without the attitude.

Saw a (what I thought was) student on a bike on Dacula Road just at school release time. Crossed Winder Highway onto Harbins Road running a red light. I thought what would I say to the parents when I had to tell them their son had been killed running a red light at that location. How could you comfort the innocent motorist who expects people to stop for red lights and not to fatally encounter anyone much less a student bicycler.

I've been the bearer of that kind of bad news twice in my public career. It ain't easy. Please be careful and obey our traffic laws they are for your protection.

Funny. When I was a kid, only kids rode bicycles, and we knew to get out of the way when cars came by. My how times have changed.

Cyclists DO pay taxes!! I just use a different mode of transportation. I pay property tax, I pay for SPLOST that says they will construct bike lanes..but never do.

Now you demand I pay more?

They throw up a couple "Share the Road" signs, and the rest of the money goes toward building more and more roadways for single occupancy vehicles to commute 10-20 miles.

Gas prices are already high. They are going to get even higher. And when they do all the anti-cyclist types will be the ones marching on their local commissions demanding answers to why there is no infrastructure so they can get to work for less than $200.00 a week.

We are not the enemy here.

That being said, I'm all for tough enforcement for cyclists who break the law.

"I am too. They should be run over."

Wow. that's really profound.

I must say, you're off to a good start then. That seems to be a system that's working good for you out there. What's really frightening is that you are completely serious.

I'm not saying you threatened me. What I am saying is you are foolish to complain about cyclists then make a foolish comment saying they should be run over.

How dare someone get in YOUR way on YOUR roads that YOU pay for.

You would certainly feel different if it was a friend or family member.

Now I will gladly go into my hole.

Spokes, regarding NJ4America's comments to you, as I told my children when someone was being ugly to them, Don't get bogged down in it. Just rise above it. Rise above it and move on.