by dodging the thousands of bicycles that seemed to be doing their best to run me down.

On the other hand, I have only been injured in a bike collision (I was the pedestrian) in Philadelphia.

What makes bike-riders think that the world was made for them, and them alone?

yes, I get what you mean. the nerve of them.



am i on a conservative message board here?

to have some negative experiences with cyclists. I always go out of my way to steer clear of cyclists when passing them. I respect their right to use the road and I expect the same from them. If occasionally that does not happen, has it become taboo to mention it on a democratic site.

It's more like a hominid-powered transportation system, so if you're standing on the wrong third of the sidewalk you can suffer exposure to new swear words.

No dude, life is fucking fantastic here, there's public transportation on every corner that arrives at consistent intervals, nobody (I know) owns a car because they're virtually useless, and yes, you occasionally have to dodge the Tour de France.

I moved, I emerged unscathed, except for a little shame.

It's only a problem because I haven't or hadn't developed an innate sense of where bikes aren't. In my defense, I'm much better at dodging cars like Frogger than most of the local urbanites, since they typically wait for the Ampelmännchen guy to turn green before they'd consider crossing a roadway by foot (even when there's no cars for miles... as it was explained to me, "What if a young child were to witness your flagrant scofflawing, and that child was subsequently flattened by a car because of your poor example?&quot

The bicyclist who collided with me rode against a light and onto a sidewalk, left the scene of the accident (that's illegal), and she shot me the bird as she did. I don't like that -- so that makes me a conservative? What do bikes have to do with left politics anyway? That attitude is another example of bikers' egoism -- "whatever the bike rider wants is correct." Proves my point.

and also bike traffic, but to a lesser extent.

i know you're in favor of these because if you're truly in favor of protecting pedestrians, then you favor dealing with the things that endanger them the most.

First, and foremost: cars and motor vehicles.

At a lesser priority: bicycles

to the extent that it would make pedestrians (and bike riders) safer. But cars are regulated already. So I would like to see your evidence that bicycles are a lesser priority.

The problem, though, is that the regulations we have are not obeyed. When a motorist ignores the rules, she or he should be penalized. And often will be. But bikers' defiance of the rules are usually tolerated (riding on the sidewalks is illegal where my collision took place, but the law officer told me that the regulation is never enforced.) It would be nice if bikers would at least admit that many of their number are destructive scofflaws.

with a few exceptions like cyclists are allowed to signal right turns using their right arms and in a few places are allowed to roll stop at some STOP signs.
It makes little sense that bicycles are held to the same laws as the heavier, bigger, and faster motor vehicles around them but it is the law.

I can guarantee that in my very bicycle friendly area that if a cyclist hit a pedestrian while riding on the sidewalk the cyclist would be cited -- hell, even if the cyclist was on the street and hit a pedestrian there'd be hell to pay.

As for your assertion that "many of their number are destructive scofflaws," bullshit. On a per capita basis there are far many "destructive scofflaws" behind the wheel of motor vehicles than there are dangerous cyclists.

Your point?

They havr license plates.

Sounds like a problem with your municipality. I think I'd be raising hell that the laws aren't being enforced and people are being endangered because of it. Some people who ride bicycles are assholes and will take advantage.

Of course, plenty of drivers are the same way. If no drivers ever got tickets for moving violations, imagine what the roads would be like. They're bad enough as it is.

I was walking in the crosswalk with the light in my favor. I got away with some scrapes, a sore knee and a $50 tailoring bill to fix my sleeve (this was in the 1990's). While I was lying on the pavement yelling at him, the perp cyclist stopped long enough to flip the bird at me too. Cyclists in NYC mostly do whatever the fk they want. Object to them almost running you over? Prepare to be ridiculed. I think some of them do have a superiority complex.

but the numbers of pedestrians harmed and killed by cars is so many multiples larger than the number harmed and killed by bikes, it almost looks trivial in comparison as a public safety problem.

now you tell us what proportion of those killed are killed by bikes?

if you want to do the same comparison for injured or killed, go for it.

now let me know what the numbers are.

any injury or death is serious. but comparing the frequency helps you figure out how much effort to focus to protect people.

and as a higher priority than examining pedestrian deaths on roads?

A lot of people seem to have their own unpleasant encounter with a bicyclist that they think enables them to indict the entire group. There's a word for that: profiling.

Jeez.

No, I'm also for protecting pedestrians from bikes. But I don't think that is what you meant.

Yes, protect bikes from cars -- if the bikers will let you. Better bike lanes would be good -- and I would support them -- if the bikers would actually stay in them.

Most dedicated bike lanes do not extend to left turn lanes, for example. Bike lanes turn into shared lanes at every intersection because motor vehicle drivers need to pass through the lanes to execute right turns. When bike lanes are flush with the right side of the road, cyclists often need to leave the lane to go around parked cars. When cyclists are passing other cyclists it's again necessary to leave the bike lane because most lanes aren't wide enough for this maneuver.

The fundamental problem with bicycling in this country is that most areas treat bicyclists like an afterthought. Same for pedestrians. When our roads are engineered to anticipate multi-modal transport there are fewer problems. We know how to do it. We just have had 50+ years of car-centric traffic planning and need to rethink it for road sharing to work well.

look in the upper right corner of the post.

If you were so confident in arguing with me, you wouldn't feel the need to make up things I said to disagree with.

and if they saw any of your crosswalk threads, they understand what I meant.

I didn't expect you to.

instead of replacing it with something ridiculous that I didn't?

if it's so easy to follow, why can't you get it right?

saying cyclists in Amsterdam don't watch out for pedestrians.

Reply #5 to reply #2.

:yes:

I was amazed how well everyone manages the sheer volume of traffic (buses, streetcars, cars, bikes, mopeds, pedestrians...). It's even easier when you're on a bike.

In general, Amsterdam has been the easiest city to get around that I've ever been to.

how many steep hills are there in Chicago?

and I ride all the time.

Used to ride in the Blue Ridge Mountains....lots of "hills" there lol.

what's the steepest graded street in Chicago? and how steep?

I live in NC.

I would imagine San Fran has the steepest hills...but in this huge country there are plenty.

In Portland, OR, I've had to slam on the brakes moee than once going through an intersection because some self entitled asshole thought he could blow through the light. Missed one by inches because he came from behind a parked van on the sidewalk and jetted through on the crosswalk. Damn near knocked one guy off his bike when he jetted between me and girlfriend walking on sidewalk. That really pissed me off.

I'd love it if we had designated bike lanes. I wish I could bike to work. But most of all, I wish cyclists would obeu the rules of the road.

You learn something new every day, I guess....

I also run. There are a lot of entitled bikers and they get on my last nerve.

Almost run over by one when I was running one day.

ever?

They're worse because they're more dangerous.

We have a friendly, courteous city for the most part, but I trust none of them. Ever.

Many of us feel victimized by groups perceived as more powerful than we are. The challenge is to put yourself in the shoes of people less powerful and realize you may be victimizing them.

It's almost considered routine when the powerful dominate the weak, but when the scenario is reversed, people are horrified.

Look, I think it's a cool thing that people ride their bikes. However, they need to follow the same traffic rules the rest of us do. Last fall I saw two cyclists nearly take out a whole group of people who were crossing properly in a crosswalk because the cyclists ran the red light.

I'm sure most cyclists are wonderful people. But the sense of entitlement and the air of "I'm above the law" is maddening and makes an already tedious and sometimes dangerous commute even more so.

If you're on the street, follow the rules. It's that simple.

As a pedestrian I am terrified of the cyclists where I live. They're belligerent and insane and if they aren't on some cocktail of crystal meth, PCP and bull testosterone I don't know how else to explain their behavior.

big surprise.

that I not be run over by maniacs trying to set a land speed record on the sidewalk?

Like the owners of some brands or types of vehicles have earned themselves reputations for being assholes, so have cyclists in many places.

and 'racing bikes'. There wasn't a racing bike in that entire vid.

In many cases, traffic code enforcement is primarily a means of municipal revenue generation. Cities and counties have increased fines for minor traffic offenses way out of proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Why? More money in the city coffers and bigger raises for the police chief, city manager, and if there's enough left over, a few shekels to keep the peons happy.

The problem is that most traffic officers (or their bosses) do not consider cyclists as sources of sufficient $$ to make cycle enforcement worth their while.

In the summer I'll normally put 5-8 miles on my bike in the evenings. For me it's just an exercise and leisure device. I don't see how anyone that rides for more than a mile or two could go to work without having to take a shower upon arrival.

I have a nice Mt. Bike trail system just behind the house and the AT in front of the house, our county is a destination for roadies also.

Thank you.

I think one reason, perhaps a major reason, why the U.S. is the way it is vis à vis bicycling as a way to get around, is that it is primarily a motor vehicle-based culture with infrastructure built for that.

Outside of big cities with bike sharing, as you enter the the endless sprawl, getting by foot or by bike from point A to point B becomes less an option. Oh you might find a bike lane in a park, but you'll rarely find them anywhere else. Anywhere you need them. Same thing with sidewalks. Maybe you'll find a ditch to walk in along the road, maybe not. Everything's designed for motor vehicles. Not for pedestrians or bikes.

America is vast some cities do biking better than others. A blanket statement on America about just about anything is pretty silly.