Road hoggers | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Bicyclists think they own the road. There may have been a time when bicycles and cars could share the road equally, but we live in a time when cars are the main mode of transportation and bicycles have their own designated area on the side of the road that is wide enough for cyclists to safely ride single file. But for many cyclists that is not enough.

From my experiences while driving on Saturday mornings, a popular day for bicycling, cyclists feel the need to be kings of the road.

When provided a striped lane, they don't ride on the side closest to the sidewalk or even in the middle. They prefer the edge closest to the white line, or even right on top of the line.

This causes drivers to dangerously swerve around them, disrupting and slowing traffic. This becomes more of a problem when two, and sometimes three, ride side-by-side.

Drivers know their place. If cyclists could learn theirs, a morning drive would be much less irritating.

Sarah Collins

South Jordan