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109 Comments
- bananasluggy, on 09/14/2008, -1/+45As a bike commuter myself, I find the worst drivers are females driving pickups, SUVs, and mini-vans.
Second to that is anyone picking his or her child up from the elementary school that's on my way home from work. They are the worst, most impatient, most aggressive drivers I've ever encountered. (Sadly, many of them could do with the health benefits of parking a few blocks away and walking... they'd get home faster too.)
Drivers are often unaware (around here anyway) that cyclists have the right to share the road... that, in fact, any right-hand lane on a four-lane road is the bike lane, if the cyclist so chooses to use it (you pass slow vehicles on the left, don'cha know)... Yet cars park in the bike lanes all the time leaving no room except the sidewalk, or the secondary lane, for cyclists to use... the sidewalks are irregular... there's metal and glass in the bike lanes.... I'll intentionally park to the far right and wait for traffic to clear so it's safe to pull over to the far left lane so I can make a turn. Drivers still scream at me, even after I let a slew of them by so as not to be any trouble.
I do my best to be the nicest person out there on a bike, to be the kind of cyclist I'd want to encounter while driving. I give drivers the right of way, I intentionally slow down so they can be first to the intersection, I even wave them over when they look unsure as of how to deal with me... there's little more I can do.
At least I know if people still have issue with me, it's because their *****. ;) I've done my part, gone above and beyond my part, in fact. Unless they're driving an ambulance, chances are, they aren't important enough for 30 seconds to make much of a difference in anyone's life. (If they're in that much of a hurry, they should learn to manage their time better.)
Drivers get the freeway... we get badly designed lanes that are, quite often, little more than the gutter with a white lane painted three inches to the left from where the asphalt ends. Or, on one road near where I live, there's a "bike lane" that, quite literally, doesn't exist. It's on a two-lane road with no room for a bike, a car, a car, and a bike (going from left to right) to coexist in peace. What you wind up with is a bike with a pileup of cars behind it... everyone's pissed, all because the city can't design bike routes effectively.
IMHO, all city planners should be forced to ride a bike around town... go grocery shopping, go to the bank, go to the post office, and go to a generic office building.
THEN they can make plans on how to place the bike lanes for peak effectiveness.
Oh, and bike racks would be nice too. It pisses me off to have to chain my bike to the only pole within 500 feet of the building I want to enter... that pole being, of course, the handicapped sign. (My mom was confined to a wheelchair, so I know how annoying that can be.)
If cities want their people less fat and lazy, they should make the streets safe to use on a bike.
I don't see many bike commuters having trouble seeing their feet. (Hi feet!) - mathsciteach, on 09/13/2008, -5/+33fewer accidents, accidents are quantifiable
- MorganMghee, on 09/13/2008, -2/+20I'm with the author, I would have thought there would be more until I drove car in Japan. Tons of bicycles everywhere, and I never witnessed or heard about an accident. Cyclists have the right of way, and penalties for hitting them are significant. There may be a short spike at first as drivers and cyclists adjust to each other, but I think it will iron itself out quickly.
- inactive, on 09/13/2008, -1/+17Great article. If we could get more cyclists on the roads, that would be awesome. If we could get more people to pay attention, that would be even better!!
- granolajoe, on 09/13/2008, -2/+15I think it's easier in countries where people drive smaller cars, but in the U.S., where people drive large trucks and SUVs just to get groceries, it may not be so straightforward. I can only speak from experience, but when I'm commuting by bike, the people that come closest to hitting me are always large cars, trucks and SUVs. I don't think they are able to see me as well as a person who's driving a car that allows them to see me clearly when seated.
- liquisoft, on 09/14/2008, -1/+10This reminds me: I need to buy a bike.
- gridity, on 09/13/2008, -2/+9I suppose when people get used to driving around bicycles, there are less accidents because they then become used to driving around bicycles. Kind of like drivers who are used to driving in snow being safer in the snow than those who aren't...
- fugazied, on 09/14/2008, -1/+8I do some mountain biking every now and then. The most dangerous part is re-entering town and looking out for the 30-40 year old women in a SUV or one of those cheap toyota mini-4wds who doesn't look for people on bikes. I've had women in SUVs pull out in front of my bike when I've had right of way many times.
The other thing that has nearly killed me a few times is the ***** 20 year old males in 1984 commodores who feel the need to pass dangerously close. Love biking, but all of the fat ***** in their huge cars makes it feel like an unsafe activity at times. - thedivinelyevil, on 09/14/2008, -0/+7Moved to south Germany from the US. Bikers' heaven here! Vehicles always slow down for bikes and give them right of way. If there's no bike lane on small street, vehicles will even drive over the middle line to give you space. cyclists almost feel privileged on the road!
- paulvq, on 09/14/2008, -0/+7You drive an SUV to get better visibility? I was always taught that larger vehicles have bigger blind spots.
- weister42, on 09/14/2008, -1/+8I've had a "head-on collision" going 20mph on a bicycle with another bicyclist before and I laid there in agony for a good five minutes.
Crashing on your bicycle is totally hilarious for passer-bys but man it totally hurts too. - coreman, on 09/14/2008, -4/+11So do you bitch and moan about all the school buses doing the same thing M-F as well? Trimet buses having to make stops in the middle of the street?
Or are you just another arrogant ***** American driver unwilling to change ways to get around problem, because, well...because, dammit!?!?
I guess in my last 24 years or so of driving, I've been stuck behind many "real" road-users who do the same bloody *****, really. And, who knows, I've been one of Them for other people, too.
The philosophical argument I had with someone 24 years ago w.r.t. jaywalkers while I was driving a car went kind of like this... "So, are you willing to prove your rightness by running over the jaywalker?" - npowel, on 09/14/2008, -1/+8And if you ban cars, then no cars would get into an accident! Sounds like a better plan, more people die in cars.
- shmatt, on 09/14/2008, -0/+7Or maybe you're an ***** who already has a problem with road rage. Every bike on the road is another car out of your way.
- Frostek, on 09/14/2008, -0/+6I visited Amsterdam recently. I've never seen so many bikes! Everywhere seems to be really well set up for bike access, and this is in a city where the canals already force you to build roads along very particular routes, and they still manage to get it sorted!
I was greatly impressed. Also, all the local girls have nice legs as a result! Win-win! - tokyokevin, on 09/14/2008, -0/+5Twenty five years here in Japan, commuting to work since 1999 (10 klicks, Kawasaki to Shibuya), and I've had two accidents, one with another bike (banker pulling out of his house half asleep in the morning) and another with a car (taxi opening its door in the middle of a bridge). The biggest part of cycle safety is a simple rule here in Japan: the larger vehicle is ALWAYS at fault. Everybody knows it. When I drive, I stay the hell away from those godawful cyclists as much as I can.
The cyclists don't abuse the privilege, unless you count the mothers with a kid in the back, a kid in the front, and some shopping in between. DANGER.
Deadbaby (see above) is not thinking logically. The roads here in Japan are much smaller, with tighter passageways, and often without sidewalks. - katatoniq, on 09/14/2008, -0/+5lance armstrong, even.
- Solstice, on 09/14/2008, -2/+7As a driver in California, I see more bicyclists going out of their way to irritate motorists more than the other way around. Most drivers aren't jerks on purpose - they're just not used to dealing with bike riders. However, there are a lot of bicyclists that are jerks on purpose.
I live in a very bicycle-friendly community, and there is a certain type of "militant bicycle enthusiasts" that don't seem to believe that traffic laws apply to them. Many don't stop at stop signs, don't stop first to turn right on red, don't signal for turns, make left turns from non-left turn lanes, etc. Some don't even stay to the right in the bike lanes and allow the cars to pass. They ride right down the middle of the lane. Finally, don't even get me started on the Critical Mass bike rides (annoying the crap out of people is no way to gain sympathy and support for your cause).
I actually saw a bicyclist stop at a stop sign on my way to work on Friday and almost shed a tear. That simple act restored my faith in humanity. - shmatt, on 09/14/2008, -1/+6Roads are built for cars. Don't endanger me or my bike and you won't be going to the body shop tomorrow. ***** with my life like that, and I will ***** with your car. Every ***** thing about driving is annoying so don't get mad at cyclists, they're taking up a lot less room than if they were driving.
- katatoniq, on 09/14/2008, -0/+5you're pretty intelligent...
i bet lance franklin (the poor fag) could beat you to a pulp. - fugazied, on 09/14/2008, -1/+6They usually aren't allowed on the road. A bike rider might make you 5-10 seconds slower because you have to avoid hitting them with your SUV.
- watergenerator, on 09/14/2008, -1/+6I like the Parisian rental bike idea. I mean... it's free. You pick up a city bike here and you drop it off there. Brilliant. Maybe some US cities could work it....
- KloroFormd, on 09/14/2008, -3/+7For some reason, this comment made me lol hard.
"Iron itself out quickly" made me picture a car smoothing a cyclist against the pavement.
I've had too much to drink. - deadbaby, on 09/14/2008, -2/+6It might work in Japan but in the US many of our roads simply aren't able to safely accommodate cyclists. There's just not enough room and the speeds are too high and our cars are too big. I drive on some roads where a large car coming towards you requires you drive off into the shoulder. These are roads with 40mph+ speeds sometimes. If a cyclist happens to be there at the time there's really no margin of error. Someone is going to get hurt. It's just a question of who.
- HxChris91, on 09/14/2008, -1/+5Cyclists and motorists have very interesting relationships, especially here in California, there are specific places where road bikers are welcomed with open arms and yet in other places, very close by, the driver does everything possible to agitate the rider or even make them feel safe. Hopefully this theory illustrated in the article actually will change it.
- wbgo, on 09/14/2008, -0/+4This has been known for years. Countries like the US with relatively few cyclists are much more dangerous places for cyclists.
Firstly, there are the idiots on bikes who don't have a clue how to ride in traffic, but mostly it's down to car drivers not paying sufficient attention through not being used to cyclists. - stuma9000, on 09/14/2008, -0/+4your anger problems not withstanding, proper bike lanes stop this from happening. Petition your council.
- stuma9000, on 09/14/2008, -0/+4Slow the cars down and make the roads wider. It has to be done. Bike are the future for city commuting.
- tmdpny, on 09/14/2008, -0/+4They aren't free in Paris - you need a credit card for a deposit ad there is a cost if you do not have their monthly metro pass. They have a fleet of bike cartakers who cart around bikes (as pick up and drop offs are uneven at certain places) and care for them. The system pays for itself. NYC is experimenting with the system now. I think in response to what worked in the 80s, we have much different technology these days, from ready debit/credit processors to trackers. It will never worked correctly everywhere, though.
- lastobelus, on 09/14/2008, -1/+5if by staying to the right you happen to mean riding less than 1.5 metres from parked cars, you must understand that experienced cyclists will avoid this because it is extremely dangerous. Just because some city planner put the left side of the bike lane 15 cm from where the side of parked cars typically are doesn't mean I'm going to be stupid enough to ride there.
My life & safety are more important than your convenience.
One thing you learn as a courier is that driver's who are pissed off at you aren't the ones who will kill you. It's the driver who is not aware of you that will kill you. You ride erratically, people give you room. If you ride in a nice straight line 15cm from the parked cars, the drivers DONT NOTICE YOU, don't give you enough room, turn in front of you, and pass you with 15cm to spare meaning any pothole, pebble, or gust of wind puts your life at risk.
Experienced cyclists ride erratically and like "jerks" for a reason. Because they aren't interested in dying for your driving convenience.
If "annoying the crap out of people is no way to gain sympathy and support for your cause" than the cause of car drivers is hopelessly lost.
Don't ask cyclists to obey all the rules cars obey and then tell them they don't get the lane. That's ***** *****. - coreman, on 09/14/2008, -2/+6Funny, I see plenty of cars do the same thing (from my car)...
Cyclists are not required to stay in the bike lane. One possibility is that the bike lane is full of broken glass which the bike rider can see but you can't (no, this is not a statement about you, but about the relative angle of sunlight on the broken glass, and the angles work for the bicyclist but don't for car drivers)...
Maybe they ride down the middle of the lane because of all the parked cars on the right side of teh road. Doors opened in front of bike riders kind of sucks for the bike rider, and they should be able to ride accordingly.
If you know where and when the Critical Mass asshats are going to be riding, why do you then drive in the same area at the same time? If you can avoid it, then let those ***** be *****, then. Why inject yourself into it with self-righteous ***** of your own?
Or put up. Nudge a few of them off the side of the road, preferably into non-moving objects like light posts, trees or parked cars, to prove your point that they're the *****, you're mad as hell, and you won't take it any more. I'm sure they'll never forget it...
But, best would be to get out on a bike, and go beyond super-sissy grownup ambling down the sidewalks on a bike. Get out into the road, perhaps with a "roadie" friend or bike messenger. It can't be all that bad if there are enough people doing it that are otherwise sane and probably just as much not an adrenaline junkie as you, and there are probably a few out there who would be happy to show you the bike rider's perspective.
Motor vehicles are a much bigger threat to the bike rider than the other way around, all things considered (let's leave the hypotheticals and edge cases out). Can't say I've ever heard of a car driver directly dying in a vehicle-vs-bike scrum...have you?
Chances are the f'ing Lance Armstrong-wannabes riding $5000+ road bikes or mountain bikes probably own as nice of or nicer car than you do... It's the people left to riding MTBs from WalMart, Target (or the nearest college campus...) because they can't afford a car or have had too many DUIs and have lost their licenses that are interesting for everybody... - sjmulder, on 09/14/2008, -0/+3Biking in the Netherlands is great. There are lanes, people sort of watch out. Since I was a kid, I have never got into an accident.
- audomatix, on 09/14/2008, -1/+4I'm all for cyclist so long as they can stay steady, how about less cops though. They make the conditions on the road far worse. Every time someone gets pulled over traffic slows to a halt and people look at what the cops and not the road.
- arjie, on 09/14/2008, -2/+5I don't mind bicyclists, most cyclists actually appreciate other drivers. Now motorcyclists, they think they own the road. If you leave the standard space between the car in front and yours, a motorcyclist will overtake you from the left guaranteed (we drive on the left in India, so the driver is seated on the right, meaning overtaking on the left is illegal) and it's up to you to brake and accelerate again. They drive on the wrong side of the road where there are no medians, stand perpendicular to the flow of traffic trying to go from one lane to another, stand at the median and then squeeze in front.
Most motorcyclists over-estimate the reflexes of car drivers. If you're a motorcyclist, remember:
* Drive in a straight line
* Cutting sharply in front of a car and not getting hit demonstrates the car driver's skill not yours
* Use your rear-view mirrors. They're there for a purpose. Thinking you don't need them is the sign of a bad driver
* Save your slalom skills for a practice track, not the road.
Thank you for driving safely. - Battlecry, on 09/14/2008, -0/+3We used to have a bicycle program like that where I live, in Spokane, Washington, back in the 80's. Bright purple ten-speeds that you could use and drop off anywhere. It lasted for awhile, but nobody did the upkeep on the bikes and they slowly got stolen or wrecked or ended up in the river.
- inactive, on 09/14/2008, -0/+3Cab drivers are the worst i think ,here in Vegas they don't stop for or are courteous to anybody and think they own the damn road.It makes me smile when i see them get pulled over.
- Ramble, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2I'm a big road cycling fan, unfortunately there are way too many pricks and way too many inexperienced cyclists around. We all get lumped in with the arseholes.
I have no respect for a cyclist that doesn't respect the highway code and other users of the road. - antonio97b, on 09/14/2008, -1/+3Yeah I bet people would be honest...
- theRealNyee, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2Its people who make bicyclist feel unsafe that help make them have to ride like *****. If the road was more equally shared then bicyclist wouldn't be so aggressive or have to be as aggressive as they are. I find it almost utterly amusing though that you aren't even willing to tell the bicyclist that you feel they are in the wrong by not honking at them..
- oxymoron69, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2Maybe he did mean lance franklin...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Franklin
He plays aussie rules football for a living, he's likely a tough *****.
But no, biking is not just for poor fags, hetersexual males and females both enjoy this activity.
Also it's one of the most efficient modes of transport.
SUVs are for small-dicked capitalist pigs! - SVOboy, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2The site's title was changed after I copied it. I guess someone realized the mistake
- Jammity, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2What's really silly is that the article itself says it right, SVOboy has just managed to mangle the grammar in the course of copying out its title.
- MrJagil, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2This one time, i was biking down a hill. Then i sneezed, and i used the left hand to remove some of the snot from my nose. Then i sneezed again, and accidently squeezed the front wheel break with my right hand, which resulted in me doing a flip. A friend later told how awesome it looked... well, not so much for me.
- stuma9000, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2Thanks for the great post. I agree. I feel lucky to live in Melbourne which has pretty good bike lanes all things considered and they keep improving them too.
- Araden, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2Water is quantifiable, but we would certainly say less water, not fewer water.
That's because water is a continuous or homogenous quantity,
while accidents are a DISCRETE quantity.
Rule of thumb:
If you can have gobs of something, then you can make do with less of it.
But if you have gobs of some things, then you can make do with fewer of them. - zenmeyang, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2As someone who once lived in Japan for a few years and now live in Beijing (Olympics were awesome by the way). I can say that having more bicycles does not equal safer roads. Japan was great because people did pay attention to the rules of the road like some of you that have already mentioned above.
Beijing on the other hand which has an ass load of bicyclists are a hazard to pedestrians and cars alike. They often cut off cars, buses, pedestrians and each other to get get to where they are going. I have seen a few bicycle accidents with just about anything imaginable with the most notable one where a few bicyclists nearly got plowed by a bus because they were all trying to beat the bus at the red light but couldn't peddle fast enough. Having more bicyclist on the road equaling safer streets would only work in a developed country not the third world. And China is definitely third world. Having money and being one of the world's largest economy doesn't make it automatically a developed country. Just ask the Beverly Hillbillies.
And don't get me started on how they drive here. Good God!! - Solstice, on 09/14/2008, -0/+2@lastobelus, coreman
Not sure about your countries and/or states, but in California, a bicyclist is required to stay as far to the right as safely possible. From the California motor vehicle code:
"Operation on Roadway
21202. (a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations:
(1) When overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
(2) When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
(3) When reasonably necessary to avoid conditions (including, but not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards, or substandard width lanes) that make it unsafe to continue along the right-hand curb or edge, subject to the provisions of Section 21656. For purposes of this section, a "substandard width lane" is a lane that is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.
(4) When approaching a place where a right turn is authorized.
(b) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway of a highway, which highway carries traffic in one direction only and has two or more marked traffic lanes, may ride as near the left-hand curb or edge of that roadway as practicable."
Thankfully, the cops are really starting to ticket bicyclists for this. They also ticket them for ignoring stop signs and traffic signals. During my morning commute, the roads that I see the most bicycle infractions, has a clear bike lane that's half as wide a car lane. Being a suburban road, there's no parking allowed on it, so parked cars are not an issue. Here's an example of it:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1 ...
This is De Anza/Sunnyvale-Saratoga road in Cupertino, CA (runs right by the headquarters of Apple, Inc). Those white lines on the side of the road designate the bike lanes. I ride my bike there and I've never found a reason to ride down the middle of the right other than to purposely obstruct traffic or commit suicide. I've personally paid thousands of dollars in property taxes over the years to build and maintain these lanes. I do feel it was money well spent, since they do make the road safer for both motorists and bicyclists. I just upsets me when a bunch of self-rightous jerks feel the need to go out of their way to (illegally) aggregate other people to asset themselves and their views. -
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