I've been a member of the TBC for about 25 years and have ridden on group rides since about 1985.
For many years I think most of us were rather careless in our observance of traffic laws and safety concerns. But in recent years as traffic has increased on the roads we frequent, that has not been the case.
When Bill Cornelius, a local attorney, was our president, he took a stand with the club members that we obey traffic laws on our group rides for the reasons that you state. Since that time, on most of the group rides that I have participated in, there has been a marked difference in our observance of traffic laws, specifically, stopping at red lights, riding double file when there is no traffic behind us and singling up when we have a car back and generally being courteous and friendly to motorists.
That's the practice by most of us most of the time. We do need to be reminded occasionally because we all make mistakes, we can get complacent and not notice a car behind us as quickly as we should, but I don't know anyone who wants to force the issue with a motor vehicle. I don't know of anyone in our club or that participates in our club rides who makes a practice of ignoring or defying traffic.
If your motive was to remind us of our responsibilities and alert us to the fact that motorists are watching us, then I personally appreciate the head's up.
On the other hand if your intention was to accuse our club of habitually ignoring motorists or the law, I disagree.
I think if you spent some time in the pace line with our club, you'd see for yourself that we're a friendly, safety concious bunch.
Joe Cunningham is a good rider, a safe rider, a strong rider who takes (more than) his share of pulls at the front and knows how to ride a straight line. He has a distinctive way of saying "Car Back" that we are all familiar with because he says it often.
Granted, he didn't take your original post or your follow up flame too seriously. That doesn't mean that he doesn't take his own safety and the safety of others seriously on the bike.
He's not a jerk, he's a good guy.
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