Frazz by Jef Mallett for June 22, 2018

Probably in H.G. Wells’ day, bicycle riders didn’t wear those stupid multicolored clown suits, or act like entitled jerks,

Sadly where I live it is a two way street. Adults in cars act stupidly and adults on bikes also do. Both jump lights, go where they are not supposed to act dangerously (a bike the other day was riding at full speed down a footpath with the rider screaming abuse at any pedestrian daring to use it). Generally, people need to just be more polite and considerate to each other no matter who they are.

Maybe the morlocks were based on the bad drivers. They all have trouble seeing things.

I am usually puzzled to hear this argument play out in some form every once in a while. Here in India, we don’t seem to have this conflict, despite having far more bicycles on the road, and road manners are very questionable!

Remember, look both ways on a one way street because those on cycles don’t look at pedestrians or traffic signs.

This high-and-mighty attitude from bikers certainly doesn’t endear them with drivers.

I got hit once by a car making an illegal left turn. I was nearly killed once by a pick-up truck than ran a red light AFTER I was in the intersection. I also saw an SUV rear-end another SUV stopped at a stop light while I was in the next lane. Do you seriously think the SUV driver would have seen me? Yes, there are jerk cyclists. There are also jerk drivers. The difference is, a jerk cyclist pisses you off. A jerk driver kills you.

I get a chuckle every time this can of worm is opened. I’m a driver and an avid road cyclist. First, most drivers are unaware of the reality of cycling with traffic but are basically good people. Things are improving in our relationship. But drivers who expect cyclists to obey every traffic law are just frustrated and ignorant. Granted, a cyclist should not endanger his life and that of others by flaunting the rules and taking a right of way that belongs to someone else. But, to expect a cyclist to make a full stop at an empty intersection is just silly and dangerous. It won’t ever happen and in fact in Idaho, Delaware and soon in Colorado the “safety stop” recognizes the fact that bikes aren’t cars.

I finally aged out of cycling after over sixty years. I never tangled with a car. In later life, after a few close calls, I followed TWO rules. 1. Pretend you’re invisible to automobile crivers.2. On crowded streets and highways, pretend the automobile drivers might see you, but they are deliberately trying to run you off the road.

Our local government has made it a policy to take away car lanes and build bike lanes on existing streets. In some cases, bridges have a “bikes only” sidewalk, with the pedestrian sidewalk on the other side. However, I still see cyclists on pedestrian sidewalks and in car lanes, and yes, as a pedestrian I have occasionally been run into by them. The biggest problem is the bicycle couriers, will ride anywhere (even into buildings) to shave a few seconds off their delivery time.

I worked as a crossing guard, the same bike clown in his funny little pants rode through my stop signal often, and then weaved his way through the kids crossing the street. This stopped when I blocked him and he was forced to stop and listen to me rip him a new a-****, as I did he filled the back of his funny little pants. Never saw him again.

This strip looks to me like “virtue signaling”. Bicycles good, cars evil, bicyclists are never to blame? Jef, I try so hard to like you, but really . . . .

Drivers around here are pretty nice, but some bikers push the limits. Just like motorcyclists… When I see one acting like an idiot, I almost hope they pay the price for it. I am careful around bikes and motos, but some even make me angry.

Human personality changes when a driver hits the road. It seems defensive anger is the rule of the day. If someone passes you, they are &$!#! If a bicycle comes near, the driver is the tyrannosaurus rex! It seems people experience road rage as they slide into the driver’s seat and are ready to meet any challenge on the road with screaming, hollering, gesticulating and sometimes with guns. Among the cool-headed folk (and there are a lot of those repressing their anger), there are raging beasts out there. It’s just not safe for a bicyclist, no matter how polite.

I’ve seen my share of problem drivers/riders on both sides, like the bike rider who was talking on his cell phone while riding on the sidewalk (I almost got run over by that guy, and I was standing still at the bus stop at the time) and a driver who tried to use a bike lane to pass a bus as it was making a right hand turn.

Most of the threads about Frazz’s obsession with exercise I take as gently poking fun at the character, because he is more than a little over the top about it. Let’s face it, he is a caricature. Ms. Plainwell thinks so, and she’s in love with him. Even the mountain biking strips can be interpreted that way. It’s the road strips that are the problem.

The only strips I have issues with are the ones like today that are so unlike Frazz. He has great empathy most of the time, even if he is sometimes a bit of a brat, so the idea that he can’t understand how cyclists help initiate/perpetuate that Morlock-like behavior and just takes a holier than thou stance is more than I can swallow. Completely out of character.

In the 1979 film “Time After Time,” H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper into their future, my college years, to protect the Eloi he expected from him. Instead … well, at one point Jack comments, “Ninety years ago I was a freak. Today I’m an amateur.”

Just a general cycling note – it is legal (in CA at least) for bicyclist to ride side by side as shown in this comic.

I would like to see Mallett and Pastis locked in a room together.

One thing that strikes me about the occasional bicycling discussion here is that it is always about adult bicyclists. This seems odd for a strip mostly about children.