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Cyclists: Scourge of Civilization? (and general road/sidewalk rage!)
mcdermott
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Okay, anybody who's been in the idiocy thread knows what's up.
No, I'm not suggesting that all cyclists are asshats (and there are plenty of asshat drivers and pedestrians as well). But it seems like cyclists offer the worst of all worlds; many seem to think they have the right of way like pedestrians, yet at the same time they can barrel over pedestrians similar to cars. Cars will go to great lengths to avoid them, regardless of how stupid they are, so they can pretty easily cause accidents and injury to non-cyclists. Plus, as mentioned in the other thread, they seem to think that the traffic laws apply to them only when convenient.
So what the fuck?
I'm talking about the cyclists that dart across the street through 2-way stop signs in crosswalks, as if they have the right of way. Newsflash...unless I'm going significantly over the speed limit, if I have to touch my brakes you are fucking wrong. If you want magical crosswalk powers, dismount.
Or the cyclists who pass two "No Bike Riding" signs on my campus, including pictographs in case they're one of those illiterate college students, and slalom at 15mph through the throng of pedestrians. What the fuck is wrong with you? I guess your magical bike-riding prowess will prevent you from ever hitting one of us...so the rules don't apply to you.
There are more. This is the place to share them. One thing I'm personally not talking about, however...those cyclists who cause you to have to scooch a bit over, even over the line, in your car because they're not riding that extra inch over to the right. Seriously, guys, they're supposed to be in the road, and their safety matters too. We can work with them.
Oh, and I almost forgot cyclists who get all butt-hurt when we bitch about the dumbasses....no, I'm not claiming all cyclists are dickheads who flout every traffic law they can without a passing thought to the accidents they might cause. But yes, princess, many are. I'm more than willing to admit there are plenty of asshole drivers (and pedestrians) out there.
Hell, I'd say feel free to bitch about them here, too. Cyclist vs. Motorist Cage Match: FIGHT!
No, I'm not suggesting that all cyclists are asshats (and there are plenty of asshat drivers and pedestrians as well). But it seems like cyclists offer the worst of all worlds; many seem to think they have the right of way like pedestrians, yet at the same time they can barrel over pedestrians similar to cars. Cars will go to great lengths to avoid them, regardless of how stupid they are, so they can pretty easily cause accidents and injury to non-cyclists. Plus, as mentioned in the other thread, they seem to think that the traffic laws apply to them only when convenient.
So what the fuck?
I'm talking about the cyclists that dart across the street through 2-way stop signs in crosswalks, as if they have the right of way. Newsflash...unless I'm going significantly over the speed limit, if I have to touch my brakes you are fucking wrong. If you want magical crosswalk powers, dismount.
Or the cyclists who pass two "No Bike Riding" signs on my campus, including pictographs in case they're one of those illiterate college students, and slalom at 15mph through the throng of pedestrians. What the fuck is wrong with you? I guess your magical bike-riding prowess will prevent you from ever hitting one of us...so the rules don't apply to you.
There are more. This is the place to share them. One thing I'm personally not talking about, however...those cyclists who cause you to have to scooch a bit over, even over the line, in your car because they're not riding that extra inch over to the right. Seriously, guys, they're supposed to be in the road, and their safety matters too. We can work with them.
Oh, and I almost forgot cyclists who get all butt-hurt when we bitch about the dumbasses....no, I'm not claiming all cyclists are dickheads who flout every traffic law they can without a passing thought to the accidents they might cause. But yes, princess, many are. I'm more than willing to admit there are plenty of asshole drivers (and pedestrians) out there.
Hell, I'd say feel free to bitch about them here, too. Cyclist vs. Motorist Cage Match: FIGHT!
mcdermott on
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Another thing cars do is overreact to a bicycle anywhere in their vicinity, and you find them suddenly pounding on their brakes the moment they notice you just because they weren't paying attention and just assume you're out to run them over. Often times you're riding your own brakes on the bike to let the car that hasn't even recognized you take the right of way that isn't theirs, and they shoot you these looks like you just about got yourself killed because you're such a "crazy" biker.
People weaving between pedestrians in places their not allowed? Jerks, no one disagrees. Bicyclists completely blowing stop signs while there's other cars on the road? Jerks with a death wish, no one disagrees.
But for those bicyclists abiding the laws and doing everything they can to ride safe in areas that have made no attempts to accomodate them at all, yet still they routinely get hit and killed by idiot motorists that just can't operate their vehicles, I have no idea how they come off as villains in any of these scenarios.
There are definitely regional differences.
Just in going the short jump from Santa Cruz to San Francisco I've seen two completely different communities of bike riders and drivers.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
As for riding on campus, a lot of problems would be prevented by having pedestrians take off their fucking iPods and pay attention to what's going on around them. Also, it would be peachy if people didn't walk three-wide on a sidewalk like it was a one-way. Also, stay off the bike paths if you're not on a bike. The college put the separate path there for a reason, and the reason is my bicycle colliding with your dumb ass on a steep hill.
Bicyclists don't want to own the sidewalks and roads. We just want to use them without hitting you.
Bicyclists who like to take up an auto traffic lane on a thoroughfare by weaving side to side? Check.
Bicyclists who can't seem to stay even remotely in the bike lane? Check.
Bicyclists who blow through red lights? Check.
Bicyclists who wear all black with no reflectors in the rain and then yell at you when you fail to psychically know they're there? Check.
Bicyclists who like to ride in groups side-to-side-to-side instead of single file so they take up the entire road? Check.
Bicyclists who like to stand and chat with their friends in front of a city bus while they take their sweet time getting their bikes on the rack and making the entire damn bus late? Check.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
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I'd thought that usually stuff lke that is in response to bikers being ridden over by cars.
Have you ever considered that you may actually have issues against bicyclists? You seem pretty derogatory towards us. Maybe you should resolve those issues separate from this debate.
Anyways, bikes and peds use the same paths here. There's no rules against riding your bike on the sidewalk, mainly because of how many bicyclists have been hit by buses on the streets. There's no zooming around on the sidewalks or the campus police will cite you. It works pretty well, aside from pedestrians with earplugs who pretend that no one in the world is behind them or beside them or coming the opposite way at the crosswalk. Hell, most of them look us right in the eye and keep coming, which makes it easier on me since there's no remorse if I do hit them. Not that I do, mind you. ;-)
P.S.
Vancouver can be pretty cool for bikes. Right now I'm looking at a pretty fantastic map that the city has put together of bike routes and bike friendly roads arond the city, and using it to plan my route to work tomorrow. It's pretty extensive.
I assume they were training for a marathon, or they were in a marathon, since they were all in spandex and colorful helmets and shit. They always come out like a plague once the nice weather starts. Just sometimes, they'll group in one spot and instead of falling back, or pulling ahead, they spread out and piss me off.
Well the street in question is a side intersection on the university that doesn't have a crosswalk, nor does it have stop or yield signs, though I believe there is a "Pedestrians wait for Gap" sign (not that there is much non-bike traffic, usually). And its narrow, taking all of 1.5 seconds to cross. So basically, if the street's clear, whomever is driving/biking has the right of way, unless uni students are walking across then they have to stop. I only tend to get in the above situation where I just notice them when I'm at the edge of the sidewalk, so I stop on the edge of the sidewalk (which isn't in front of them since they ride on the street) because I wouldn't have made it across anyway had they kept going, so I'm not going to just rush out in front of them. But no, they stop too.
I never jaywalk at an intersection with lights (major ones), unless its the university ones whereby there's noone coming in either direction or they're so far away that I'll be halfway down the street before they approach said intersection (this includes letting bikes go before I hop across).
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I've been flipped off, honked at and nearly mirror-checked on more occasions than I can count. Every odd slackjawed yokel with a duct-taped muffler and three beers on board evidently has some prerogative to establish dominance on residential roadways around here, and it pisses me off to no end.
I always stop at red lights. I stop at stop signs if there are other cars around. I try to ride on the right hand side of of the lane so drivers can pass me reasonably and I signal when it's appropriate. I give pedestrians the right of way. I wear a helmet and light colored clothes at night.
And I still have to deal with some fucking dumbass driver trying to run me over. There are bad cyclists just like there are bad drivers, just deal with it.
This actually happened so much at the top of my street that I now just death-glare anything that isn't me, keep walking, and fucking dare them to run into me.
except for bus drivers. They're homicidal.
I'd be happier with cyclists if so many of them didn't take out getting the arse-end of the power differential with cars on pedestrians. No, its not okay to glare and bully your way along the streets. You have brakes. Use them. And you probably bought the damn thing to get fit in the first place, so a little extra peddling will hardly hurt.
seriously. my cousin did this. bought a bicycle so she could get toned legs. This girl is HUGE. She then got a motor fitted to the bike. And not one of those ones that charges from pedal energy. One that runs on petrol.
O_oO_oO_oO_oO_oO_oO_oO_o
Also, when it comes to right-of-way and people not taking it when they have it. GOD that annoys me.
In Australia, as you probably know, we drive on the left. At roundabouts (traffic circles) you have to give way to the person on your right,as well as anyone else who's already in the roundabout.
Nice old ladies sometimes like to give way to me when theyre on my right.
Yeah, thanks, old lady, but I'd much prefer it if you FOLLOWED THE DAMN ROAD RULES.
Vancouver CAN be nice for bikes. It can also be a hellish experience for drivers that have to deal with entitled cyclists. My trip home from work every day involves going up this street that is packed to the gills every day (rush hour) and the street is barely wide enough to accommodate the car lanes.
But, since it's a few minutes quicker, it's always full of cyclists, effectively removing one lane (well, slowing it down, but it causes a huge bottleneck ether way). So fuck off, Johnny Pushpedal!
I don't cycle and I hate driving (since I made the bright move of moving closer to Uni [to which I can now walk] but further from my work [to which I must drive]), but I want to re-hash this pedestrian point. I see this quite frequently on the path along the river here, it's a shared bike/pedestrian path and I have great sympathy for the cyclists who ring their bell to let the pedestrian know they're coming through, however the walker is ear-deep in iPod and then proceeds to get pissed off when they're surprised by said cyclist. I like my mp3 player for the bus. But walking around in public, in malls, in busy places where your ears are actually quite useful for letting you know what's going on around you- that annoys me. This is probably an unpopular stance for me to take given the number of people I see partaking of this behaviour recently.
The other thing: motorists who 'always indicate'... Except for when there are no other cars on the road. Hey, pedestrians don't count right? So you know, I'll be walking along, and cross a road, while the car making a right turn into this road beeps me and freaks me out by nearly hitting me. I could have stopped if I'd known he was turning, but hey, he doesn't need to indicate to let a pedestrian know what he's doing, right?
http://newnations.bandcamp.com
Some drivers are big dicks.
Some cyclists are big dicks.
Some drivers and some cyclists are not big dicks.
Nobody likes big dicks.
Haven't we had this thread already?
I'm the opportunist. Because DC is horrible for bikes, I've adapted to bully cars and prey on their fears that they'll run over my head. Brains, eyes and skull fragments everywhere. I also stay predictable - using hand signals to turn - so this doesn't happen.
If there were more bike lanes, I wouldn't have to fight for road space. Or risk my life every morning while you talk on your cell, do your make-up and forget that I'm even there.
yeah, this was all covered in a road rage thread a week ago
and pretty much mostly in the stupid thread
and now you've summed up all the points right herrr
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I'd actually perfer it if they took up the whole lane, but instead they ride in the gutter pretty much, which seems an invitation to try driving in that lane. But you can't; that's still well within mirror-smashing range. So I still gotta move at least a few feet into the other lane, which means waiting til that side's clear. Seems like eventually, that lane will be full, I'll try passing the biker in the lane I'm already in, and it's not going to work.
The really annoying part is that they're not even biking to anywhere, it's all suburban houses, so they're just doing it for excersize. Well, there's a thousand different ways to get excersize, including walking in which case you could move your ass onto those sidewalks, and most of them don't have the side benefit of almost getting yourself killed every time you do it.
As for taking over the whole lane, forget it. I tried that once and ended up getting honked at, cursed at and had had a beer can thrown at me all within the space of six blocks. Automobile drivers (in my state anyway) basically just expect cyclists to get the fuck out of the way instantly or they're completely in the right to hit them.