I’m an avid bicyclist and it pisses me off to no end to see folks giving us a bad name. For example, I was driving through a small town on the coast last weekend, early in the morning. Probably about 6:30. This is in the tiny business district of a resort town, and I came to a cross section where cross traffic had the stop sign and I did not. I was already in the intersection when a cyclist came down from the right (he was on slight decline), looked me right in the eyes, and ran the stop sign. I had to slam on my breaks to not hit him. Now, if I had had more time, I would have gladly stopped and waved him through. But I didn’t, and he just assumed I’d be alert enough to save his ass.
As fate would have it, I was only going a few blocks away to get coffee and as I parked, the same guy rode right by me again. I looked at him and ask: Are you TRYING to get yourself killed? He knew exactly what I meant, but pretended to not see me.
Asshole. I don’t even care at this point if you get hurt. But you give the rest of us a bad rap. Asshole!!
We must be close. I live in Edgewater very near to your sighting.
I will say that it is a big city with a jillion people and a lot of them ride bikes. You are bound to see assholes same as when you drive. Most abide by the rules but some few don’t seem to care and they are the ones you notice.
In my experience the worst are the really young (read teens) and older people (read 65+). I ride on the lake to work every day and most people get on just fine. People pass and navigate with no trouble. It is usually some 14-year-old kid zooming along and weaving and doing who knows what that causes the problems. That and the old person ambling along and randomly swerving in their lane as they enjoy the sights.
To be fair not all young/old people are bad and not everyone in the middle is good. Bad apples in any bunch. But I probably encounter 75 cyclists every day and most days I don’t see a bad one is not bad odds overall. But if even 1 out of 100 suck I will see one more days than not.
I also wonder if things like El stops are a magnate since a lot of people ride to them and may cruise the last 100 feet on the sidewalk to the bike racks rather than walk it? I dunno…just speculation.
FTR I am scrupulous about the rules when riding (stopping at all lights and stop signs and not riding on sidewalks and so on) so it was not me you saw.
It has been a few times that if I moved two more inches over on the sidewalk the person would have ran right into me and I am confident I would have kicked their ass.
Here in Tel Aviv, all bike paths are just lines drawn on the sidewalk. Example(a block from my house). Sidewalk riding is legal, although if a bike lane is present you have to use it.
Fortunately, most of the bike riders here are of the slow-moving hipster variety, the kind who are regularly passed by joggers. The riders with modern bikes and helmets and shit tend to stick to the streets.
First, I wanna say that I don’t own a bike, and haven’t since middle school. So I’m not that asshole out there riding the bike in the wrong spot, I’m just curious.
Why is it better to have bicyclists in the street? I’m in Norway and a lot of the roads are very narrow, have no breakdown lane, and no sidewalk, and the bicyclists in the roads are a huge problem, it’s very dangerous, there’s no real room to pass them because if you try you’re halfway into the oncoming traffic lane.
My first thought is, having a separate lane for pedestrians and bicyclists makes sense (sidewalks) as long as the bicyclists aren’t being dicks.
I know that’s a big assumption, but… can someone walk me through what the logic is? Seems like they’re more of a problem in the street than not. So, I would love someone to help fight my ignorance on this issue.
(1) An individual operating a bicycle upon a sidewalk or a pedestrian crosswalk shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and shall give an audible signal before overtaking and passing a pedestrian.
(2) An individual shall not operate a bicycle upon a sidewalk or a pedestrian crosswalk if that operation is prohibited by an official traffic control device.
(3) An individual lawfully operating a bicycle upon a sidewalk or a pedestrian crosswalk has all of the rights and responsibilities applicable to a pedestrian using that sidewalk or crosswalk.
It seems to me that there are two types of bike riders: those who see riding as an alternative to walking, and those who see it as an alternative to driving. The former are generally safe to have on the sidewalk; the latter should stick to the road.
I guess those who appear to be practicing for the Tour de France are the latter? I’ve seen many of them zoom down this hill and blow the stop at the end. One nearly ended up as someone’s hood ornament.
Ignoring the fact that people whom don’t bike will pass 100s of other riders to notice one that is doing something wrong due to attribution errors and out groups and assign that trait to all bike riders. But I am willing to bet this is the source of most fast sidewalk riders (assuming any infrastructure and non-rec riders)
But I have saved the URL for this pitting for the next time someone bitches us riding in the road and taking the lane.
Note: riders not yielding to Peds is a huge pet peeve and I vocalize my disapproval when I see it. I also personally only ride on the sidewalk when forced as it adds risks to both Peds and my safety and makes it more likely that a car will hit me.
I don’t understand these people. I was on Clinton on Monday–this is a one-way street in downtown Chicago with a two-way protected bikeway on the left side. Vehicle left turns are controlled by dedicated signals, and those on the bikeway have separate signals from those in the main street; when left turners have a green, the bikeway has a red. I was on my bike in the bikeway, behind a dude, and we were coming up on a red light, while the cars in the street had a green with a green left arrow. You can probably guess what happens next.
Yep, the dude blows through the red, cutting off a taxi that slammed on its brakes and nearly hit him. He clearly was aware he didn’t have right of way–he slowed slightly and looked behind and to his right as he approached the intersection, and timed it so he entered the intersection exactly behind the turning car that was in line in front of the taxi. But he just didn’t give a shit. I can’t even begin to imagine the thought process that leads to such an action, unless one is suicidal or something. As the kids say, I literally can’t even.
As for the subject of the thread, sidewalk riders (in Chicago, anyway, where it’s illegal) are idiots too. But presumably they’re unaware of their idiocy. It’s the intentional idiots that really get my goat.
Oh ya the ultimate attribution error where you excuse and ignore in-group behavior but ascribe a moral failing to out-group behavior while also being hyper sensitive.
Mostly illegal. There are occasional places where you can ride on the sidewalk and are meant to in Chicago.
For instance if you are taking the lake bike path and need to cross the river you HAVE to ride on the sidewalk when crossing the Lake Shore Drive bridge. Also there is a tiny bit around Lake Point Tower (by Navy Pier) where the sidewalk is also a bike path because the streets are one-way and it would be hugely problematical for a bike rider to manage there on the streets (dangerous too). Fortunately there is not a lot of foot traffic there so it isn’t really a problem most times.
Also, as a driver, I don’t expect vehicles of a certain speed to be careening down the sidewalk. When turning from the street side into a driveway or crossing a road, it’s often hard to see bikes because of parked cars. When I’m driving my car across a pedestrian roadway/sidewalk, I generally expect potential hazards in the way of my car to be travellng at a max of 10 or so miles per hour (for runners), but more often in the 2-4 mph range. I don’t expect to see someone barreling at 20mph or more down the sidewalk. While I do my best to look far down the sidewalk because I know some jackasses do ride down on sidewalk, I have been surprised before at just how quickly a bike can come up on me that I didn’t see a second before, especially if the bike was screened by a line of parked cars or a group of pedestrians walking down the sidewalk. It’s up to me, as a driver, to pay attention to these things and not injure anyone with my vehicle, but it would be so much easier if bikes stayed in traffic where I expect to see vehicles riding at those types of speeds and which I can see clearly. Just be predictable.
As a pedestrian, there were a lot of bikers and roller bladers on my campus on sidewalks in the mid-90s, and both those annoyed the crap out of me, too, when either would come flying behind you, especially without any audible warning. Take one side step at the wrong time and both you and the biker/blader are hitting the pavement.
Did they also have the one about riding single file? 'Cause no one does that anymore. I live where the roads are narrow and bikers will cheerfully tool along two abreast chatting with each other, oblivious to the cars that are desperately trying not to kill them while not crossing into the opposing lane.
On a multi-lane road, I’d rather a group of cyclists just occupy the entire right lane; it’s easy enough for me to go around them. Otherwise, you get cagers in that lane “straddling” the dividing line if not encroaching into the next lane to try to give clearance to bikes.
