Ahem:
You’re right. At the time I thought this person was either daft (the laws of physics didn’t apply) or had a death wish. Sanity didn’t figure in. Had to be there.
THE LAW can require some pretty dumb things, like taking a half-mile detour to avoid jaywalking in light traffic, or standing at an empty intersection waiting for the walk signal, or making drivers wait for you because you crossed when it was legal instead of when you had the chance earlier. THE LAW doesn’t necessarily proscribe what is safest and most convenient for other drivers. I am primarily concerned with safety and traffic flow. And it is not always safest or convenient for bicycles to fully stop at stop signs, or, at times, to take a hand off the bike to signal. That is why both situations are sometimes permitted where lawmakers have thought about it.
That doesn’t excuse unsafe behavior, but THE LAW doesn’t tell us what is unsafe. We have brains for that.
I would estimate that some 95% of drivers routinely speed - not just on the freeway but on city streets.
I would estimate a ridiculously huge percentage of drivers are talking into the cell phones, texting, or doing something else distracting with their technological toys.
I rarely see tickets handed for these violations.
Cars kill tens of thousands each year - many deaths directly attributable to these violations and other distracted driving.
Cyclists kill very few people. I’d say you are a classic case of complaining about the wrong issue. I’d also so you are painting with the broad brush as well.
I’d also like to know how cyclists can routinely go over a 25mph speed limit. Unless they are going downhill I doubt this is happening ‘routinely’.
Or maybe he was just fine and safe riding in heavy traffic but that upset you so much you wished he was dead.
Didn’t have to be there, just have to see what you write.
Sounds like you are blaming the woman for a massive error in judgement on the part of the cars. Who exactly had the right of way?
Well no one ever *has *it, obviously, but the cars are supposed to yield it. Crosswalk means do not proceed unless clear. But you know that, I know that, most people know that.
You mentioned upthread that the average speed is 40. That’s not congested as you claim. That’s also speeding. You’re breaking the law where the cyclist wasn’t.
The stretch from El Camino to where the road widens after passing under Alma St. is just over a half mile. At 35 mph, you will cover the distance in 51 sec. A cyclist, going 20 mph (given your description of his clothes, he’s most likely capable of this for at least that short stretch) will use 90 sec. You’re willing to maim or kill over a 39 sec. delay. You’re going to be delayed a shit-ton more than that just waiting to get on 101.
Wow, thanks for that. I was sort of sympathizing with the OP, maybe just a teeny, tiny little bit, even though I’m one of these cyclists he’d like to see run over. But 39 seconds? Wow. You need to relax a bit man.
But the seconds/minutes he loses trying to get onto a bike-free highway don’t count because reasons. See?
Motorists kill about 40,000 people every year, including many cyclists. So, while you may not have got your wish with this particular cyclist, I’m sure several will die this week, from getting run over by cars. So you can take vicarious pleasure from that.
You were in a car – that makes you much more important than the guy on the bike. Self-centered little twit indeed.
Well, to be fair, he DIDN’T actually wish death on the cyclist, just serious maiming.
Serious maiming comes real close to killing. Even moderate maiming can be near fatal.
As I’ve had personal experience with.
He said he’d pay for them to be creamed, and I doubt he means coffee. He also said he would like to them see the cyclist get run over. I’m not putting good odds on the cyclists’s survival after that.
Can you clarify this for me? Am I a jerk because I don’t come to a full stop when there is a car some distance away? Because otherwise I read this as you and I doing the same thing. I think I must be misunderstanding something.
With all of the cars swerving and braking in front of me trying avoid this clown, he could have caused a lot of injuries to others. But wait, he was on a bike, no, a rainbow covered unicorn, so he is forgiven… WTF.
No, it’s the inattentive morons who are unable to take a clue from the antics of the traffic in front who are to blame. If you see cars ahead of you swerving into the other lane, you might suspect there’s an obstacle there.
I drove for a living for 20 years and never saw mass braking and swerving due to a bicycle ( or anything else) like you describe. This was in the SF Bay Area so I know what heavy traffic is like.
She did no doubt. But she didn’t even look. I picked up on her right away but there are a lot of distracted drivers who probably would not have. One right next to me barely did. I guessed she missed that day in school when kids were taught to look both ways before crossing the street. Maybe that’s expecting too much from pedestrians nowadays. Whenever a ped gets close to a crosswalk, I just stop and wait for them to enter and cross through.
You were lucky. This thing doesn’t happen every day but I have experienced it numerous times, n the Bay Area, in Chicago, in Toronto…