I just don't fucking get it.

[mangosteen]

To the bicyclist that I almost ran over on the way home a few minutes ago:

Wearing dark clothing
on a dark bicycle
at night
making a wide turn
onto a dimly-lit street
WITH NO REFLECTORS
AND NO LIGHTS
IS NOT OKAY!!!!

NOT FUCKING OKAY AT ALL!!!!!

GOT IT?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?

Comments

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

I've lost track of how many times I've either witnessed or experienced the same kind of thing. It's even more special when they're also wearing a walkman and headphones. I honestly have no idea how these people manage to avoid getting killed. Morons.

[xeger.livejournal.com]

I saw a 7-8 year old boy get run into by some blithering idiot on a bicycle yesterday. We're talking "child, crossing at crosswalk. Crosswalk has crossing guard, sign, whistle, lights, and traffic stopped in both directions" . . . but no, cyclist doesn't even slow down.

Hits the kid, leaves the kid in tears, cradling his wrist - and buggers off.

Damn but I wanted to door him.

[debkitty.livejournal.com]

Unbelievable. I am so tired of hearing cyclists complain about how they get mistreated. They seem to want all the benefits of cars (cars turning left must yield to them going straight) without any of the responsibilities (actually heeding traffic signals). I would love to reach my arm out my open window and clothesline one of them.

[xeger.livejournal.com]

The worst part of this is that I -am- a bicyclist... but I don't do that shit.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

That's a very broad brush you're tarring with, there...

JB, his front and back lights, his reflective ankle thingies, and his helmet...and his most-of-the-time heed of traffic signals. (I like to think that when I don't, a reasonable person would agree with my judgment.)

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

I have little patience for a cyclist who does not obey all traffic signals at all times -- same as a car. You're under the same rules as a car. Cars running red lights get busted. Bikes should too. However, I see a lot more bikes running reds than I do cars. Something's not right here.

The only excusable time to run a red is when the stoplight is clearly broken. For a cyclist, that includes lights that change only when the pressure sensor triggers -- I know a solo biker isn't heavy enough to trip an in-road pressure sensor. However, if there's a car there, or reasonably close by, wait.

[debkitty.livejournal.com]

Allow me to rephrase - the cyclists who bitch are the same ones who ignore the singals.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Not at all. The cars around here (on average) treat bikes like shit, no matter what they're doing, and how politely and correctly they do it. Really.

I just haven't bitched about it in Matt's LJ. :)

[debkitty.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. We are in two different areas. Perhaps my statements apply only to the geniuses in my area.

[debkitty.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a prime candidate for a Darwin Award.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

No, it's not OK.
Now we need a law which says that an unlit cyclist is at least half responsible for any accidents they are involved in, so if you're not negligent it's their fault if you hit them.

[tayefeth.livejournal.com]

Definitely not okay. Pity bikes don't have license plates, so you can't report the ass to the cops.

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

Bikes should have lights at a minimum for riding at night.

Other complaints about many cyclists that I see:

• Ignore stoplights and stop signs
  
• Ride the on the wrong side of a two-way street, or the wrong way on a one-way street
  
• Ignore pedestrians in crosswalks
  
• Fail to signal turns
  
• Ride two (or more) abreast, blocking traffic
  
• Cut onto sidewalks where streets are inconvenient
  

I think there are more, but those are the ones that come to mind. It's been tempting to carry a stick to put in the back wheel of those cyclists who pull shenanigans like this. They give the few remaining good cyclists out there a bad name. However, the few times I've seen a cyclist signal a turn or stop and wait for a red light, I've (quite literally) applauded -- it's that rare.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

In order:
-Ignore traffic signals? Bad. Perhaps do the jaywalking equivalent of "it's safe to go", not so bad, ESPECIALLY if it will get the bike out of the way of a tight intersection when the light changes. But yes, many exhibit poor judgment on this. Usually, I go on the walk signal around here - most of which turn 2-3 seconds before the light goes green. It means I can get up to speed and be less of a hazard to everyone else.

-Bad

-Bad

-Bad

-Enh. I just discovered, in researching this item that what I thought I knew ("Bikes (around here, at least) are legally entitled to use a full lane of traffic.") is wrong. There's nothing I can find in the laws (http://massbike.org/bikelaw/mass.htm or a summary at http://massbike.org/bikelaw/lawlegis.htm ) that says anything about that one way or the other. It DOES say that riding single file is mandated unless passing. Personally, I disagree with that. While I try to move over and let cars by, there are many places where it's not possible, due to the conditions of the road and/or the WIDTH of the road. Most cars think nothing of pushing a bike as close to the edge/gutter/parking lane as they can. There are times that I feel riding defensively is appropriate - even 2 abreast. That said, again, it shouldn't be abused.

- Riding on sidewalks is legal, except in 'business districts' and where prohibited by statute.
Again, I feel ok about ignoring those exceptions where the traffic or road conditions make the roads hazardous. However, on the sidewalks, one should always behave courteously to pedestrians. Again, many cyclists don't do that last.

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

Riding on sidewalks is legal, except in 'business districts' and where prohibited by statute.

I've seen some cyclists switching from road to sidewalk and back within a block, for no reason that I could see. (No obvious undodgeable holes or patch mess in the road, no impending flattening of the cyclist, no big clots of pedestrians on the sidewalk.) One I remember appeared to be taking either green lights or walk signals, whichever were more convenient to him. I have no problem with cyclists on sidewalks as long as they behave like pedestrians. I have no problem with them in the street as long as they behave like cars. I just want them to pick one and stay with it.

[srl.livejournal.com]

The "claim a lane" approach is actually legally defensible in MA, despite what the legal code may claim. You're riding in a manner necessary to be safe. So long as you're not, say, blasting down Broadway in the middle of the lane, you're fine. (Think Centre Street in JP here, for why you'd rather block traffic in some cases. It's that or the trolley tracks.)

Mangosteen: I suggest you call the municipality you were in when that happened. Talk to the police, and ask them to enforce traffic law more aggressively on bicyclists. They need to be doing it anyway. Write the City Council too, for that matter.

[gingicat]

*hugs*

[nisaa.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you're so shaken up. That cyclist gives the rest of us a bad rep. I see so many stupid cyclists out here in LA (where we have the worst drivers).

*hugs*

[vatine]

Erk. No lights and no reflectors *bad*. I must confess to normally wearing dark(ish) clothes, on a bicycle or not. Though I would've thought the bright red bicycle, the red reflector on the back, the yellow reflectors on the pedals, the white reflectors in the spokes and the white reflector at the front did *something* towards visibility (not to mention the switched-on lights night-time).

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a lot of rantage.

Massachusetts requires bicycles ridden at night to have a headlight. When lack of same causes an accident, it does seem to be a significant factor for assigning blame, although the general trend is "blame the bicyclist" anyway.

JB, you might have been vaguely remembering MGL Ch. 85 §11B, which explicitly allows bicycling on all roads in the Commonwealth not explicitly posted otherwise.

Being somewhat of a Devil's Advocate, given that I'm in the "obey signals religiously" camp, some rhetorical questions: almost no pedestrians obey walk/don't-walk signals. Most cars obey drive/don't-drive signals. Why should the bicycles make like the cars instead of the pedestrians? Where do you draw the line and why?

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

When on roads, bicycles are subject to all car rules unless the law explicitly says otherwise. As far as I know, there is no bicycle exception for stoplights, stopsigns, one-way signs, do not enter signs, or riding on the correct side of the street.

I would also like to see the pedestrian laws more stringently enforced. I read somewhere (can't remember where) that there has not been a jaywalking ticket issued in Boston since 1977. I am not above approaching a crosswalk in my car with the horn blaring, where I have a green light (and therefore the right of way, absent signs to the contrary), and where pedestrians are crossing against a don't walk light. It's fun to watch them scatter (and they usually do), even though I'm doing this at sufficient distance that I could easily stop before I got to the crosswalk.

Note that I am equally as aggressive as a pedestrian in taking the right of way when I'm entitled to it.

[tb]

I understand the shaking. Even if the bicyclist is behaving recklessly and totally in the wrong, if you hit him/her, you can't help feeling that you're the villain.

I think that more bicyclists obey traffic laws (or at least disobey them in a safe manner) than don't, else we'd see a lot more accidents. But the ones who act like jerks stick out, just like the bad drivers, crazy motorcyclists, or oblivious pedestrians out there.

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

In my previous comment, I noted that I applaud when I see a cyclist stop and wait for a light, or signal a turn. I have driven near many cyclists, and seen many more blow through a light without even slowing down than I have seen stop for the light. Similarly, the number I see turning without signaling is significantly higher than those I see who do signal. Seeing a cyclist who actually follows the traffic laws is, in my experience, extremely rare.

I don't think it's merely jerks that stick out. I think the problem is endemic, and I doubt it can be corrected by the few good cyclists still out there. The only way to correct the problem is with solid enforcement of the laws.