The law treats bicyclists and motor vehicles differently in many ways already. For example:

* Bicyclists are required to ride "as far to the right as practicable". No such requirement exists for automobiles.

* Bicyclists are prohibited from certain roads, like freeways, unlike automobiles.

Of course, in these cases it is the motor vehicles that are allowed to do things bicyclists aren't allowed to. I suppose for consistency you are arguing that these these rules shouldn't exist either?

From: http://vespamotorsport.com/?p=654

In California, any scooter with 150cc of displacement or more is legally classified as a “motorcycle” and all motorcycles are freeway legal (see California vehicle code section 400). Any scooter with less than 150cc of displacement is not freeway legal, therefore, even though you still need a motorcycle license to ride a scooter in this class.

Incorrect. Cars are required to drive at the speed of traffic or get off the road. Example: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.425

Bikes have the extra privilege of using the road at slow speed.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/vctop/vc/d11/c...

also, tag them like cars. no reason they should not have tag fees if they want to use the road

Not the interstate, which is not allowed in many places (but is in some!) but highways, which are a different thing.

People just need to get over the goddamn fact that sometimes another traveler is in your way, and that doesn't mean they're doing anything wrong. The person in front of you turns left and needs to wait for other cars. The person in front of you turns right and needs to wait for pedestrians in the crosswalk. The person in front of you uses a slower vehicle.

(incidentally, i believe the same in the pedestrians vs. cyclists argument: they too should be separated. But i didn't want to get too off-topic)

EDIT: grammar

EDIT 2: Another point: it's not as simple as you are saying, where people should just be more patient if they're in a car behind a bicycle. That may be true, but when a cyclist falls, for example, and a car "rear ends" them, they are going to be dead with a non-zero probability. The other way around (i.e. a car stalls and a cyclist rear ends them -- this has happened to me) then it's again the cyclist who ends up somewhere between just embarrassed and in the hospital.

If the cyclist passed you and even more cars already at the stop sign, that implies that if, instead of passing him, you simply followed him as you would have any other vehicle, you would have ended up in the same place in the queue of motor vehicles at the stop sign. Thus you saved zero time by passing the cyclist.

In city traffic, the average speed of a cyclist can easily be greater than the average speed of motor vehicle, yet many motorists, perhaps not understanding the difference between maximum speed and average speed, insist on rushing past cyclists at the first opportunity, safe or not, just to stop and wait at the next intersection.

To belabor the point, you would be said to have the same mean velocity, but different peak velocities.

Then appeal for that to be made the law. Otherwise what are you doing deciding who should and shouldn't be on the road? Usually 45 mph roads are 2-lane, there is a perfectly serviceable extra lane for all the car drivers in a hurry.

> The other day everyone was patiently waiting to get around this guy going 15mph on his bicycle, and once we did, at the next stop sign he just cruised to the stop sign in the 2 foot space between the cars and the curb and blocked slowed down even more cars.

You were probably driving too close to him (with your rant, I wouldn't be surprised) and pushed him into that space.

> If you want to share the road you should be held to the same standards. Bicycles yielding at stop signs isn't right.

I agree, on a road that is open to both motorists and cyclists, no one should be forced to ride in the narrow space between the rightmost lane and the curb. Cyclists should be given the use of a specific lane, just like all other vehicles.

Most city streets have a speed limit of 25 mph, though drivers often go dramatically faster. (On my semi-arterial residential street, the speed limit is officially 25 mph, but between midnight an 6 AM, especially on the weekend, Uber cars and taxis tend to go 50–60+.)

Reminds me of the beginning of this video in California: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u64SFHVYyyg