I live in NYC and thoroughly despise the MTA (that could merit a pit thread of its own) and am also friends with a group of bike messengers due to the nature of my job. Those two circumstances combined finally drove me to purchase a bicycle of my own for the purpose of commuting. Riding my bike to and from work (for those familiar with the city, I ride from Harlem, down the trail next to the West Side Highway, to the West Village) I have discovered a number of hazards that make me want to scream, “I PIT YOU!!” but I suppose they wouldn’t understand what that means.
So in no particular order…
DON’T STAND IN FRONT OF MY FUCKING BIKE, ESPECIALLY WHILE IT’S IN MOTION. I am actually very polite while riding and frequently yell, “On your left!” or “Excuse me!” rather than cursing people out…“DUDE!” is as extreme as I get. But people will ignore me…do you not hear me screaming from 3 inches behind you?? You’re not even wearing earbuds!! Do you just assume it’s not going to hurt when I crash into you because I’m not a car? I really need to get a bell, but my voice is pretty damn loud!
I briefly touched on this in the other thread, but DO NOT LET YOUR CHILD LOOSE ON THE BIKE PATH. This is not your friendly suburban trail through the woods…we’re going slightly less fast than the cars right next to us…we will gladly yield if you’re crossing with your light at the crosswalk, but otherwise, your child is a menace to both us and itself. I was recently riding and dismounted because a child was wandering aimlessly in front of me while mom and grandma chatted. Grandma glared daggers at me despite the fact that a) I had the right of way and b) I was the one watching the child and taking responsibility for its safety. Nobody seems to do this with dogs interestingly enough.
Don’t swerve your car for no reason, tailgate bikers, honk for no reason…this is obviously self explanatory…it’s usually cabs who do this and I honestly think it’s to intimidate bikers and in some instances harass female ones. I guess they think they’re not accountable if they hit someone?
Bikers need to realize that they can be the ones putting themselves/others in danger as well. Don’t be a dick to other riders. I nearly hit a guy head on who was going too fast in the wrong lane at a blind turn where there are big signs saying “slow down.” I had to abruptly stop and came close to falling. I actually did yell at this guy…he ignored me though. Riders need to pay attention to their surroundings and be aware of the obstacles that come with a crowded trail.
So yeah…luckily I’ve been able to ride safely and navigate obstacles/not get run over…let’s hope with me being observant and riding carefully my luck won’t run out because other people are assholes.
DISCLAIMER, I’m NOT in NYC and have nothing against whatever rules may apply regarding sidewalks and bikes. Nor do I have a clue if you have multi-use trails there.
However, as a walker, I’ve often been the near victim of rude bikers. So, stay the hell off of the sidewalks and quit “cutting streets” or whatever it’s called (that crossing diagonally across an entire intersection), we pedestrians DO have the right of way when we’re crossing at an intersection without a light. You are either a vehicle or a pedestrian, you don’t get to switch on and off as the mood strikes! I can’t magically beam out of your way because you shot out from around a building while riding the sidewalk and didn’t see me.
Thank you for being so polite – I was ready with invective when I saw that woman’s “opinion,” but your reasonable attitude is calming.
That said, it is the pit, and I am a pedestrian, and I now own a vintage golf putter, which I carry with me. Nothing would please me more than to watch the teeth go flying out of some crotch-bit meth-head speed freak cyclist as I jam the business end of my putter into their spokes.
I don’t have to disclaim about NYC either – I lived there for plenty of years, and with few exceptions, bicyclists in the city, especially the OP’s “friends” the messengers, are a menace who should be tried for at least manslaughter (if they are caught) for the many deaths they cause by collision each year.
I don’t know if I want to take a blowtorch to the trachea and fuck the gash of a menacing driver or a cyclist more. I’d beat the driver to death, of course, happily, but I’d relish seeing the latter suffer more, and their fey posturing will make them easy to catch and drag, jaw first, to the curb. Maybe after the curbie they wouldn’t be up for a throat fucking with a barbed-wire-covered baseball bat, though.
I wonder what her “job” is, anyway – crackwhore handjobber? bartender at a scummy bar?
giving bikebos rimjobs in the back of an alley in exchange for weed during her breaks from molesting children in a clown suit? sandwich board holder? bicycle thief? writer for the NY Press?
Hee, I thought I was being rude and mean there! (unless you’re whoosing, and then …why yes, I AM calming :D).
I’m a former resident of Anchorage Alaska, and many of the downtown bikers are as dangerous as you describe here. And those on the multi-use trails were downright assholes. I hope a horse kicks in your teeth you jerks! Oooooh, or better yet a moose.
The Seattle bikers seem much more skilled, though no less alarming when they appear out of nowhere from around the corner of a building.
I had a new one today. Anyone who drives in a downtown area has plenty of stories about asshole bike messengers, so I’ll just leave that alone.
Today, I’m driving along a street along I use fairly often. It’s a fairly steep ascent considering the ‘zone’ it’s in (for the Milwaukee dopers, this is where Water turns into Brady). Up ahead there’s road that shoots off to the left. About half the cars go that way. Normally, the other half of the people pay attention, watch for blinkers and if they see them they check for bikers (a lot of ‘non-messenger’ bikers in this area) and go around the people shooting off to the left. No big deal, I do it all the time. Well, today, the person in front of me either didn’t use their blinker, didn’t turn it on soon enough or I just didn’t notice it. Either way, I found myself to close to him to get around so I had to wait for him to turn before I could continue driving straight. Again, not a big deal, happens all the time.
What bugged me was the biker behind me. My first thought was “Wow, buddy, you’re lucky I don’t still have my 5-speed. I’m a really good stick shift driver, but this hill is steep and you’ve got to be less then a foot of my bumper” My second thought was “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING !??!?” As I was waiting for the guy in front of me to turn so I could continue, and just as he was starting to turn, the biker, that was behind me, came around my right and made his left in front of me. If I hadn’t noticed that he wasn’t in my rear view I likely would have plowed right into him. He really had no business being there.
I just thought of another one, but this guy was on a moped. In Wisconsin, pedestrians have the right of way in a cross walk. That means that when they start crossing the road, the traffic has to stop. It’s still something a bit new to us and we’re still getting used to it*. Anyways, moped needs to turn left, so what does he do? He drives up on the sidewalk, goes to the nearest crosswalk and darts across the road forcing the traffic to stop for him.
*I’m sure it’s always been a law, but it’s something they’re recently started enforcing and putting up signs for in an effort to make certain areas more pedestrian friendly…We still have some troubleshooting to do IMHO.
I walk nearly every day, and I probably encounter nine cyclists on the sidewalk for every one I see on the road. Cyclists are considered vehicles here, and are (legally, but it’s not enforced) restricted by all the laws of motorized vehicles, but they pick and choose the few laws that they acknowledge, and pretty much do whatever they please regardless of my safety as a pedestrian or their own safety.
Last week a cyclist here went around lowered crossing arms and got himself smucked by a commuter train. He held up tens of thousands of commuters from getting home for hours with his selfish stupidity. That, to me, is a typical cyclist here.
Just curious here. How much to cyclists pay in taxes to support the bike paths created for their exclusive enjoyment, or the roads that they use? I’m thinking almost nothing. Maybe it’s just me, but I think cyclists should consider themselves lucky and grateful for the infrastructure that was created for their benefit.
Buy a bike and you never pay taxes again. In fact, they give you back every tax you ever have paid in your life. Anyone who doesn’t ride a bike is fucking stupid for not taking advantage of this.
WTF, dude? I have 5 bikes and I still pay a shitload of taxes. Cause you know, I’m like everyone else.
FYI, roads aren’t funded solely by gas taxes and registration fees; much of the cost of construction and maintenance is covered by the general fund. Cite.
Consider this: Your 1000 lb. car costs taxpayers significantly more in road maintenance and infrastructure than my 35 lb. bike. Maybe you should be paying cyclists for the privilege of driving your dirty, costly behemoth.
Dedicated use infrastructure that safely supports pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers is a benefit to everyone.
do traffic laws in the US not apply to bikers and pedestrians?
Or do they apply, but police choose not to enforce them?
(option 2b: police would like to enforce, but there are not enough cops in this district)
Because the behaviour you describe would get both asshole car drivers and asshole bikers and asshole pedestrians get a severe fine from the next cop.
My city calls itself the “bike capital” (a bit hyperbole of course), which means they build nice bike paths and label them and are open for suggestions to improve biking - but every spring, when the bike season starts, cops line the main paths and pull out every biker who breaks traffic laws. Small things are given a stern talking-to or small fine of 10-50 Euros; but serious offenses can get 200 Euros and more. Quite right, both for the safety of the bikers and the rest of the traffic participants they have to obey the rules same as everybody else.
The only thing that pisses me off WRT bikes, ignoring pedestrian crossing and sailing through a group of people trying to cross. In Dublin City Centre this seems to be standard operating procedure for cyclists.
I guess you could say there’s not enough cops, but how many cops do you have in Germany if all traffic violations are caught? I mean, it’s pretty easy to look around, make sure there are no cops around, and then do whatever you’re going to do.
Heck, a lot of people I know have radar detectors so they know if cops are around, so they can speed otherwise. We’re not exactly a nation known for following rules.
Yes I am a crackwhore and therefore have no opinions and no actual friends (I guess that’s what the quotation marks meant?).
I am on my way into work now (we whores start early) so can’t go into more detail and find cites, however I thought I’d drop by and let you guys know that a) riding on the sidewalk is illegal and incredibly dangerous…any cyclist who does such a thing is breaking the law and deserves to be duly ticketed.
A cyclist who hits a pedestrian is generally held accountable in the same way a motor vehicle is, unless the pedestrian is clearly at fault. Even if a pedestrian does walk into the bike lane, for example, a responsible cyclist should obviously avoid them and yell that they are passing/ring their bell.
Cyclists also pay taxes like everyone else…I believe the taxes were addressed below your post.
Traffic laws apply to bikes at least, not sure about pedestrians. Cops do enforce them, but obviously there are plenty of people who don’t get caught breaking the law. That’s not an excuse for breaking it, however.
When I’m riding my bicycle, I find myself bitching about all the asshole drivers. When I’m in my car, I find that I am hyper-aware of all the insane cyclists.
In general, (and maybe this is just Chicago), I think the asshole cyclists outnumber the asshole drivers, at least as a percentage of their respective populations. At least twice this week I’ve had someone attempt suicide using me as the means of their demise. My favorite was the cyclist who came up my left side and turned to the right in front of me just after the light turned green for me to go forward. As with many others, if I hadn’t caught a glimpse of motion in my side mirror I would have likely hit this cyclist dead center, and spilled her out into the intersection.
I think reasonable people can go along with cyclists “fudging” some of the traffic laws, if traffic is light to non-existent, or if such “fudging” doesn’t impede or interfere with vehicular traffic. But, cyclists, you’ve got to understand that just because your conveyance is smaller and more maneuverable than an automobile, it doesn’t mean you can take it anywhere you want, any time you want. You and your bicycle are much more fragile than me and my car; if you screw up it’s going to hurt you a lot worse than it’s going to hurt me.
People are so hostile to bikers but there are those of us who do follow all of the laws. I do see people running the lights while I am waiting at one, and it pisses me off, but what can i do? All I can do is follow the laws myself.
I do get really annoyed when people honk at me though. I’m sure part of it is intimidation by jerky men but the other group who honk are soccer moms in their minivans…go figure.
Bikers who do the kinds of things carlb noticed are crazy though, and have a deathwish. Turning right in front of a car that is going straight? How stupid can you be?
Just in the last week I have seen a couple decide that riding on the sidewalks in our crowded downtown is better than waiting at the lights with the cars, someone riding in the crosswalk as they switched between pedestrian and vehicle mode, a bike passing me on the right then darting left in front of me, a person who I just about hit as I turned left into a parking lot and they were riding full tilt on the sidewalk, numerous bikers deciding they had the right of way as I used a crosswalk, not to mention all the people deciding stop signs and red lights are optional.
The kicker was the guy with the sticker citing the Oregon law that bikes have a right to occupy a full lane. OK, that’s cool. Now STAY THE FUCK OUT OF MY LANE. It’s as though bicyclist want all the privileges and none of the responsibilities of operating a vehicle. I can’t even report violators to police as they have no fucking license plates.
I like bikes, but a large percent of the riders are fucking assholes.
I didn’t say all traffic violations are caught: when people get together, bikers tell how much the car drivers are assholes to them, while car drivers tell how much bikers are assholes to the rest of traffic. (Sadly despite there being a huge overlap, that is, car drivers also often ride a bike or walk on foot), people get more egoistic and seem to see only their own problems no matter what they’re driving).
But a concentrated action like at the start of spring on the major routes brings awareness to people that they need to obey the laws; and for the small amount of people who don’t obey laws neither from common sense nor for fear of punishment, the knowledge that a cop may be just around the corner can deter some.
Furthermore, most of the behaviour described above is not only assholish, but suicidal, so I have a hard time seeing how people get away with it.
Radar detectors are illegal here. Radio stations announcing speed traps, however, are not, because cops set speed traps to lower the speed of traffic for safety reasons first, not to earn revenue from tickets (that’s at least how the courts see it). And because radio stations can not broadcast all positions.
Too bad, esp. when rules make sense. Oh wait, your laws are not known for that.
