Seattle's In-Your-Face Cyclists
In light of the recent Critical Mass bicycle/driver confrontation, I thought this was an interesting comparison.
From the worldwide Critical Mass website (emphasis theirs):
Anybody else see a slight disconnect between the "celebration" talk and the angry biker-toon with the traffic-blocking slogan?
Oh, and lest I be accused of being a bike-hater, I should point out that I ride my bike to get places whenever possible, having put over 4,000 miles on it in the last few years.
From the worldwide Critical Mass website (emphasis theirs):
And a flier posted on the Seattle Critical Mass website:CM is intended to be a celebration, not an opportunity to cause trouble. Those who want to try to tie up traffic as much as possible and be confrontational with motorists are missing the point. We can assert our right to the road without being rude about it. Focus on the ride, not on the cars that also happen to be on the road.
Anybody else see a slight disconnect between the "celebration" talk and the angry biker-toon with the traffic-blocking slogan?
Oh, and lest I be accused of being a bike-hater, I should point out that I ride my bike to get places whenever possible, having put over 4,000 miles on it in the last few years.
Comments
The image certainly gives the impression that is the goal.
i'm pretty sure i'm going to kill someone crossing the burt gilman trail in a few spots where there are stop signs pointing at the bicyclists and there's no visibility due to foliage. they routinely come blowing across the crosswalk, ignoring the stop signs at 40 mph. nobody has reaction times that good, but we're in cars so we're evil and at fault...
A more significant thing is ignoring lights at the expense of traffic. Last week I saw a woman on a bike go through 2 red lights, the first causing a line of cars turning left onto Spokane to have to stop (they have a green left arrow and full right of way over all vehicles and pedestrians), then not more than 20 feet later cutting off a semi who had a green light and had to stop completely to avoid running this girl over. Riding in front of moving semis is just plain stupid, but her behavior was not all that different from a lot of other riders in Seattle.
And I won't even get into riders wearing iPods...
Every morning when school's in, a school bus accelerates through the crossing near my house, honking the whole time (nice alarm clock, right)? What's he gonna say when he plows over some reckless kid? I honked?
Out of downtown, I obey traffic laws. In town, I just try not to get killed. The laws are about the 6th thing I think about.
http://gothamist.com/2008/07/28/cop_cau ... g_cycl.php
That's great until you run down a pedestrian.
Bikes aren't pedestrians. What makes sense at 2-3 mph does not make sense at 40 mph. They are clearly vehicles, no matter what the law says.
And I'm happy to share my entire lane with a bike if the bicyclist thinks its not safe to ride on the shoulder. Please, behave predictably like a vehicle more often. Following a bike slowly and looking for a safe opportunity to pass is fine with me.
I agree. Also, isn't using the crosswalk okay too as long as you get off of the bike and walk thus making yourself a pedestrian?
Yes. Then you are limited to 3-4 mph or so and cars will be able to see you before you play chicken with the cars.
Pedestrians have a lot of rights which make sense at 3-4 mph (or even 8 mph or so if you're running) and which are just stupid at speeds that bikes can hit.
This is key. Please please please, I beg of you as a driver, use your hand signals. I need to be able to anticipate where you are going just like any other vehicle, and even more so with bikes because the damage in an accident is potentially much higher.
I have to admit to being irritated with cyclists sometimes, but it's mostly when they skirt the law, and the perceived smugness that comes with a lot of it. I encourage cycling and am happy to make extra room for someone obeying the law, but I see far too many that think they own the road, or at least that they don't have to follow the traffic laws.
Just in the last few weeks I've had a cyclist swerve in front of me to get into the turn lane without so much as a look to see if someone was coming (and certainly no hand signal), several instances of cyclists riding side by side outside the bike lane, many running red lights and stop signs into traffic that had to stop for them, and a cyclist a red light that decided to use my car as a table for his helmet and water bottle. That one irritated me the most.
I'm not saying that you should ride on the sidewalk as fast as you ride on the road. That would be stupid. But I have no problem at all with riding on a sidewalk when the road has no shoulder and the sidewalk is wide enough to allow pedestrians and bicycles.
I agree that not enough cyclists act rationally or give clear signals. However, I think the number of irrational idiots is constant, regardless of whether they're on two wheels or four.
Unless your bike is motorized, that is.
Maybe half the car drivers in this city are willing to hit the brakes when confronted with the choice of slowing down and waiting to pass a bike safely and just trying to slide by, hoping the bike doesn't hit a bump and careen into your right side-view mirror, or under your bumper.
I generally just don't take the chance. If I deem there isn't room to safely pass me, I position myself so that the car doesn't have the option. Either he hits his brakes or he runs me down. When given that option, so far 100% of drivers hit their brakes. Though this tends to piss people off, it generally just means they are inconvenienced 2 or 3 seconds, which they easily make up after they safely pass, and are back to tail-gating the car that was in front of them in no time.
In Fremont where I work, cyclists flipping off cars and yelling loud F-yous for some perceived grief is a frequent occurrence. What gives with those cyclists who swerve around loaded construction trucks? What are they trying to prove? That they can win in a collision? And whats with surrounding cars, stopping traffic, and screaming at "cagers" in these "Critical Mass" rides? This is how they try to win over people to biking?
For a few years, I commuted on a bike for part of the week on Eastlake and on the BG and never had any problems. I was defensive and carried over my lessons of riding motorcycles to riding bicycles on the road. Most drivers were courteous, some seemed to be inattentive but that's what you're supposed to watch out for, right?
And what if a driver did this -- position his car so you either have to stop or run into him? Would you be pissed off for just 2-3 seconds before going back to running through stop signs and red lights?
:P
Or two feet. I've been plagued with pedestrians lately that stride into the crosswalk whenever they feel like it, red light be damned, regardless of how many cars have to stop for them, and then have attitude about it.
And don't even get me started on idiot drivers.
It's very simple. Regardless of mode of transportation -- feet, cycle or auto -- follow the damn traffic laws and everyone will get along and be safe.
Sorry, I'm mentally mixing a couple different cases up. I'm think of some 4-way stops and signals at the bottom of hills when I'm thinking of 40mph. Still there's a burke gilman crossing in the u-district which is completely obstructed on both sides with less than 10 feet of visibility of oncoming cyclists. That is less than 1/4 of second of reaction time, and I play video games and I can't stop that fast even if I'm proceeding slowly. Runners might hit 8mph, but they usually pull back at crossings to 4mph or will jog in place instead of blindly charging across a cross walk and getting themselves killed.
To all the BMW, Lexus and/or SUV jackasses out there who cut me off: please still use your turn signals.
You're doing something dumb, so you'll be doubly-dumb and not signal and make it worse?
Oh yeah, you probably don't signal anyway...
Drivers do that all the time! They do it without thinking about it. Turn left in front of me, stop to get into a parking spot, pull out of driveways. Cars don't look for bikes. It's generally manageable outside of downtown while continuing to obey traffic laws. Downtown, if I spent my attention on obeying the laws, I am certain I would be dead, after 8 years commuting in traffic.
I'm not saying I stop. I'm generally going about a 20 in a 30, so it's pretty much like getting behind a little old lady in her 1977 cady, except I'm easier to pass, because I move over when it's safe.
Um...NAMBLA? Really? Unless your intent is to suggest that something is a felony, I wouldn't compare it to NAMBLA.
Robroy, that's offensive. Gay pride parade is a celebration of "gayness", and a fun day out for all. Nambla is an organization that promotes the legalization of sex between men and under-aged boys.
Please expand on your bigotry for all to see.
Protected Intolerance:
http://cectic.com/172.html
I spent most of my life in the midwest where bicycling is a novel hobby reserved for country roads and rails-to-trails conversions, and walking is limited to the 50' between your car door and the store entrance. I've also been run over on a bike (no harm done to me, one wrecked front wheel, very apologetic 17 year old driver). As a result I'm always on the defensive when I do either of these things. The callous nature of some riders (and pedestrians) here is mind boggling. I don't care about right of way, getting hit by a car HURTS. You may win by the letter of the law, but you still lose. To a degree "follow the law and we'll all get along" doesn't work because of the size/pain disparity. Bikers have to bend the rules for their own safety, but people who seem to want to make their own rules create a great deal of resentment.
The same goes for all vehicles when doing stupid things in front of semis and other large vehicles. Yes, your SUV may make you feel safe and you may be pissed that that semi cost you 12 seconds of your life, but I can guarantee the outcome of getting run over by 80,000 lbs is not favorable.
Legal, yes. Safe, no.
There are places I've ridden where riding on the sidewalk is prohibited/illegal. Mostly, I just avoid them because of the pedestrians. Pedestrians with iPods blaring are a bigger threat to my general well-being than cars are.
http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/07 ... cocks.html
...One of the things that make cycling so great is that it enables you to avoid crowds and pointless delays. Few things are more satisfying than effortlessly weaving your way through a traffic jam. So while I'll begrudge nobody his or her Critical Mass, personally I don't understand the appeal of forming a crowd and creating a pointless delay. And it is a delay, whether you're in a car or on a bike. I once accidentally got caught in a Critical Mass ride while out riding. I felt like a dolphin ensnared in a tuna net. One second I was sailing along, and the next I was trapped among a bunch of people with rickety bikes rolling on wobbly, rusty brown steel rims on the verge of collapse. It was like watching a Beatles "Yellow Submarine"-esque cartoon LSD sequence where all the bicycles were rolling on pretzels. Sure, they had taken back the streets, but I wish that as a cyclist they might have saved a small sliver for me so I could get to where I was going.
... unless they are hot (back when I was single, honey! Ouch!).
I can't imagine doing the STP. Sounds like a nightmare. I would do chilly hilly the weekend before everyone else, back when I had the time and inclination, so to speak.
Everybody on the road could be antigonistic to every one else, but it wouldn't get you where you are going any faster.
Half the drivers in this town aren't competent enough with situational awareness to be able to execute a right turn on red without killing someone in the crosswalk (pedestrian or bicyclist).
Funny thing is I was just talking to my daughter about this not fifteen minutes ago and she saw them harass and pull a man out of his car a year ago. And she saw what preceded it. She considered them outa control and seriously in need of jail time.
Yeah, I compare them to nambla, within the scope of the context I implied in my original post. It is just an opinion of course, but I stand by it.
ALL of the homosexuals with which I have discussed Gay Pride parades are embarrassed by them. Sorry, but I know what I am talking about here. There may be exceptions, but one of them said a heterosexual equivalent would be a Porn Pride day.