Indignant Bicyclists (and pedestrians!)

http://www.klassiskebiler.dk/museum/indhold/italy/fiat/500/500.jpg

Bicyclists can be some of the thickest people around. Thick as in mental sense. Thick as in the "you bloody idiot, why the hell don't you see that there's a perfectly good sidewalk for you to ride your bike on?" sense. Thick as in the "Hey, you dillweed, look at the disabled vets riding around in those motorized wheelchairs -- do YOU see THEM taking up the whole bloody lane here? Why is it that they can ride around in their bulky wheelchairs and people can still drive on the outer lane and you and your skinnier ass take up half the lane?" sense.

*revs up Orpheus* I'm gonna get me some idjits.

One thing I do agree with Dee about is sidewalks. Both Tokyo and Berlin are bike-friendly cities where people ride on the sidewalk, and it works out really well. You feel safe as you cycle, it puts the pleasure back into it knowing you're not going to die at any moment. Pedestrians get used to the friendly sound of bicycle bells behind them, and make way with grace. Try that in London and people will curse your mother and cast aspersions on your chosen sexual orientation.

Dee your post is ignorant and offensive.

Ed, Berlin has demarcated cycle lanes, but Tokyo doesn't.

Berlin cycle lanes are amphibious. They route on and off sidewalks, they snake around according to context.

Don't get me started on cars in the City. The Congestion Charge should be more like £500. Or perhaps a finger.

Oh, and I agree with Kate: the smugness of pedestrians and cyclists is nothing compared to the smugness of the drivers, who think they own the roads just because they have the bigger, scarier vehicle.

About a month ago, HSA and I were trying to cross a street with a bike lane, and this cyclist was coming, so we tried to step out of the cycle lane back onto the curb, but the bastard cut around BEHIND US (going the wrong way down a one-way street I might add) forcing us out into the traffic lane (fortunately there were no cars coming) and SHOUTING AT US to add insult to injury.

I wish I had a big metal hook thing with a loop on the end of it, to pull cyclists off their bikes when they behave like that. Grrrrr.

Er, what else can they do? Fly in the air?

Guilt is constructive and soul-forming, though. Your guilt will make you a better driver. It's arguable that lack of guilt makes cyclists worse road-users and even kills some of them. 'How can I die when I am morally superior?'

But there is this certain breed of hardcore biker that are just complete fucking assholes! They will, for instance, place themselves in blatantly dangerous positions and then cuss out the car that had to swerve or slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them. I just want to shake them and be like "stop being such a fucking dickhead!!!"

Because they have the moral right to do so? But seriously, we seem to have another example of cultural differences at work here. Bikers really aren't smug in Finland, but drivers still often get mad at them because they use the car lane and slow the cars down. There isn't much alternative, however, because it forbidden for someone over 12 to ride a bike on the sidewalk, and there aren't bike lanes everywhere. I wish there were.

But there is this certain breed of hardcore biker that are just complete fucking assholes! They will, for instance, place themselves in blatantly dangerous positions and then cuss out the car that had to swerve or slam on the brakes to avoid hitting them.

Replace "car" with "pedestrian" and this is some of the behaviour that I've experienced. Their moral high ground is completely soggy.

I went to Thailand and was completely appalled by the way traffic wasn't controlled. It could take 20 minutes -- and a lot of courage -- to cross a road like the ring surrounding central Chiang Mai. Pollution was awful. In Bangkok things were better: the sheer volume of traffic just brought everything to a total halt, one gigantic traffic jam. The air was awful, though.

I bet he wouldn't garner as much abuse as he does if he weren't, to quote some ILX post written ages past, "a minor indie celebrity".

But I digress.

I have friends who do Critical Mass every time it happens, and they're the nicest people I know. This morning I also saw a cyclist cut off a couple, with a baby, no less, while they were crossing on a walk signal on 14th Street. Very annoying. But in the current state of things the tension between angry cyclists and angry drivers is bound to continue, at least until the public transportation system is straightened out (in NYC, speaking for myself) or until Gleeminex becomes mandatory. Whatever happens first.

He's MOMUS. He exists to exert his pomposity on this board and project his own fears onto other people. Go look for any of the Vice or Kill Bill threads. This is what he does, and I'm frankly sick of it.

I'm leaving this thread now because I'm starting to get annoyed.

That said, I've seen plenty of dickheaded moves from bike messengers in downtown Chicago to last me a lifetime. That's hard to defend.

haha, when, as a pedestrian, I hear this behind me I tend to panic. I'll be like "on my left!? left.. left.. MOVE TO THE LEFT!!!" and then I almost get run over.

that's fine, but y'all still need to sloooowww down.

I cycle on the pavement all the time. I go on the road as well, but if it gets too crazy I'm off it.

Anyway, when I'm on the pavement I obey the following self-imposed rules:

1) I don't go too fast, even if the way ahead looks clear.

2) Even if the way ahead looks clear, I remain totally aware that someone can come walking out of a doorway/driveway any second.

3) If there's a pedestrian ahead of me, I'll go wide round them, onto the road usually.

4) Also: I'll be ready for pedestrians getting all panicky and unpredictable. I'll be going wide round them SLOWLY.

5) If there are a few people on the pavement, I'll go SUPER-SLOW. I'll cycle at walking speed or less.

Does this make me an asshole? I'm pretty confident I will never hurt any pedestrian through cycling on the pavement. I am ridiculously careful.

cycles ideally in the road. i would never ride my bike on a sidewalk when there were people walking on it. i probably would if it were wide open.

at least in seattle there is PLENTY of room for a bike AND a car in the same lane, side by side. in other words, people generally are overly cautious and should just get used to riding/driving with each other around. if you're driving, just pass the damn bicyclist, you don't need to slow down to a crawl, or pull all the way into the oncoming lane (though if it's clear, sure, give a little extra room). if you're the cyclist, ride as tight to the right as you can (yes, opening car doors are dangerous but that's why you are paying attention)

pedestrians vs. cars, i am honestly torn. it is usually nice to stop for people crossing streets etc. but where i get conflicted is that i HATE for cars to stop for me. when i am walking, i will take 100% responsibility for my movements, and i don't want anybody stopping for me. what i would like them to do instead is please drive as fast as possible and get out of here already! what i generally do in practice is drive on through if there's going to be a nice break in traffic for the walker to move through, but stop if it is a busy street where they honestly could use help getting across the street. people with kids or older folx, etc. deserve extra courtesy.

in general, i guess i give a higher priority to practicality than legality. i think people should drive fast because then you move more cars per time unit. i think you should let those 10 cars go by and then cross, because more people move through the intersection faster that way.

if you are commuting in a big city to an office job, you probably ought to be riding the bus or subway or something. if you are tinkering on your laptop making musics and hopping around to art galleries, by all means do the same. i generally need to go to the shop, pick up parts at various businesses around town, and head to the jobsite which is in a suburb 15 miles away where there is no public trans, with my toolboxes and whatever cabinets or furniture i might be working with that day. so i guess i'll be driving my pickup then.

i figure my vehicle costs me about $15 a day in terms of hard cash (not figuring for downpayment or depreciation, just loan pmt, insurance, gas). so it's not exactly cheap, but i still am supportive of more realistic gas prices, (3-4$ per gallon??) which everywhere besides the US seems to pay anyway.

1. I think Momus made some great points and yes he seems to be unfairly singled-out for mockery.

2. I hope I didn't come across as anti-bicycle as I am an avid mtn. biker, though I do the majority of my riding on trails and backcountry. I dislocated my shoulder last year (embarrassingly enough while riding with my French professor who is a 90-pound slip of a woman) but plan to go hardcore come spring. I was trying to get across my frustration at bikers who use the moral high ground to be jerks, but Kate did that much better than I could.

3. Suzy, I drive, and I did mention thinking "oh get over it" at people who freak out when met with a car in an intersection but I meant only instances when the driver was pulling out of a blind downtown alley or parking lot AFTER checking for pedestrians, being met with much traffic and getting 'trapped', and subsequently being glared at for not being able to see into the future. As for banging the hood of a particularly glaring offender, I'm all for it, but be very careful, as a few months ago I heard of that happening and the male passenger getting out and punching the female hood-banger square in the face. Supposedly an angry crowd surrounded the passenger but when it became evident the passenger was happy to fight every last bystander, the crowd chickened out and the poor lady was left with nothing but dental bills.

4. Ron is very reasonable, and I wish I would have mentioned the "people being overcautious" thing first. Somehow seeing a bike on the road triggers an optical insecurity in people that makes them overly space-conscious drivers. And excellent point, Ron, about necessity: if you work in contracting for instance you cannot make a living without your toolbox and sadly we don't live in the utopia where worksites are mere blocks apart and toolboxes can be shoved in fannypacks. It's true that people whose lifestyles are conducive to portability (primarily urban-centred art lifestyles) are unfairly critical of people who need to drive to make a living.

I have an acquaintance that makes a decent living prep-coaching and co-managing at an upscale restaurant. He's been living in a pretty shabby basement suite for the past two years but has saved up enough to downpay a really nice loft my friend scouted out for him. He seemed very enthused about the idea, but what does he do? Drops his load on a Cadillac Escalade and puts himself back to square one living-space-wise. For what? For impressing materialistic gold-diggers enough with his truck to have them come back home with him whereupon they will sneer "um, no way" after seeing his bsmt suite? Genius.

(I'm sure that's a blood sport everyone could get behind!)

I mean, talk about Extreme Mountain Biking... it's not really extreme unless you have a pack of hounds and a hunt club on your tail, is it?

(Cyclists and mobiles must be a London thing.)

Photos of Boris Johnson doing this on Room 101 earlier this week.

wouldn't it just be easier to get off and walk like you should? especially considering that bicycles are unstable at low speeds.

i understand why cyclists don't want to ride on the roads - it's the same reason us pedestrians don't want cyclists on the paths.

andy

Well, Andy, if it is easier, for me and for the kind pedestrians around me, that's just what I do!

When it isn't (i.e. in situations where the ability to move backwards isn't useful) then, believe it or not, I don't!

I don't understand the phrase, "like you should". Who says I should? The law? I've chirpily overtaken countless members of the police on the pavement, who have made no move to stop me because it was obvious that I was cycling very responsibly and would not hurt anyone. I'm a pedestrian more often than I'm a cyclist. I know what it's like to have some dick on a mountain bike nearly knock me out of my wig, so I don't act like a dick.

especially considering that bicycles are unstable at low speeds

Mine isn't, cos I'm on it. I know people who wobble a little at slow speeds. If I were one of them, I'd have to readjust my strategies.

Let me emphasise: the only harm I'm liable to cause pedestrians is when the sight of my trim ass bobbing steams up spectacles resulting in poodle-tripping etc.

"ON YOUR LEFT!"

(yeah, left side of my sac, you fluorescent dressed twunt)

I'm trying to find a regular job right now, and right now I'm temping. For some reason an awful lot of employers with editorial-type employment are either high-tech contractors in Falls Church/Tysons Corner/Herndon/Reston, Virginia, or high-tech contractors on the 270 corridor (Rockville/Gaithersburg/Germantown), Maryland; these places are always located more than a mile away from a Metrorail station. I'd like to find a job in DC or a closer-in suburb (Bethesda or Arlington), but employers are not exactly breaking down my door. I did a bus-rail-bus reverse commute a couple years ago when my car was in the shop; a 45-minute trip became 90+ minutes.

In the meantime, I try not to hate bicyclists as a class, but when I see a bicyclist who is running red lights, or ignoring pedestrian right-of-way, or not wearing a helmet, it raises my blood pressure. And then a couple weeks ago in Georgetown a mother and her two children insisted on pedaling down a crowded, narrow sidewalk (it's legal in DC to ride your bicycle on the sidewalk in certain designated downtown areas), when the safer and more courteous thing would have been for them to walk their bicycles until they reached the uncrowded side street they were trying to reach. Also, the mother was not wearing a helmet.

I'm crazy about red lights. I'm in the desert, the nearest humans are 30 miles away, but some arbitrarily placed red light will hold me for as long as it wants - I am totally obedient. Meanwhile, I'll let pedestrians do what the fuck they like, seeing as how (as I've said) I'm more often one of them than a cyclist.

But I don't wear a helmet! And it raises your blood pressure! What new demand is this? Why does it bother you? It's my skull, my commonplace brain-ball! That's what's involved! But thanks for minding.

A bicycle at low speeds is not that unstable if you're at all skilled. I usually wait at lights without even putting a foot on the ground (most of the time, sometimes I screw this up). You just turn the wheel like the guy in the picture into the crown of the road. This is really easy if you're riding a fixed gear like he is, but its still possible on any bike.

http://www.63xc.com/gregg/2_hands.jpg

pedestrians, what is it with pressing the pedestrian crossing button and then crossing anyway before the green man lights up?

or with stepping out into the road in front of me BEFORE you look either way?

maybe that mother has the answer, the one i saw with her five year old boy walking out in front of an oncoming car in a car park: "come on, they're not going to run you over"