SlickGT!:
I see that you felt so strongly about your points that you said them twice
Your assumption is correct, I do not own any guns.....
Yet as a young teenager I was on a couple of rifle teams (22's) and became a NRA-registered expert marksman, shooting at paper targets. While I am not a hunter, I appreciate the sporting aspect of gun use and ownership in this country. Yet I also believe that the US Constitution's 2nd Amendment has been grossly misinterpreted by many in this country, warping its original intention by our founding fathers, to rationalize and justify the "right" to own semi-assault weapons and large capacity magazine clips. While I believe this is foolish and wrong, it is currently legal in many states.
Too many people, motivated by fear, have purchased guns legally with the stated purpose for possible protection. That is their right, however flawed you or I may think it is.
But this thread is not about gun rights, so let me get back to the point I made in an earlier post. For anyone to say they would consciously use their vehicle as a weapon, to consciously hurt any of these swarming motorcyclists, they would have had to have "snapped", lost all rational decision-making ability. They would no longer be fearful of any sort of retaliatory actions by the bikers, including the very real possibility of one or more of them pulling out a gun and using it. This form of
Road Rage, has happened before in this country and I wonder if it will start to occur more frequently.....???
Also, it can work both ways, as reminded in the scene from the movie EASY RIDER.
I appreciate your concern that a few "bad apples" of cyclist can tar and feather the perceptions of many people, to the point that it diminishes your joy and satisfaction of riding your motorcycle. That is a shame but certainly understandable.
It has been my experience as a NJ resident who commutes M-F by car into Manhattan, that many motorcyclists disobey a number of traffic laws. Most commonly it is when vehicles are in stop-and-go traffic leading into the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels and the cyclists just drive between the two lanes of stopped cars in order to get farther ahead.
Then once in the City, we drivers now have to be extra cautious to drive and gingerly navigate alongside and around the many new bicyclists riding on the streets. Most of them are either clueless about traffic laws or just decide to disregard them entirely, by riding through red lights, ignoring designated bike lanes, let alone riding without any helmet.
But that is what driving in NYC is all about today....