Bad cyclist – yards are not for riding on

[DrP]

I know this is supposed to be about the problems that cyclists encounter, this is a case where a cyclist did something completely inappropriate, although apparently a car did the same day too. I was not present, but my neighbors who were watching it all, let me know what happened. My road was temporarily closed while Arlington County was working on the fire hydrant. A cyclist decided that it was unacceptable to turn around and go to another block, or walk the bicycle through the area. Apparently the cyclist decided that my yard was an appropriate bike route and off-roaded to get around all the workers. That is not cool. How do we get people to at least be reasonable.

[Apparently a car decided the same thing too and did a bit of damage. ]

Topic

[americancyclo]

too easy
[ATTACH=CONFIG]10232[/ATTACH]

but really, why aren’t we worried about the car that was driving on the lawn (and sidewalk?)

[jabberwocky]

This is why its good practice to salt your front yard with landmines.

[Steve O]

@jabberwocky 129340 wrote:

This is why its good practice to salt your front yard with landmines.

Or fill it with bollards

[AFHokie]

@jabberwocky 129340 wrote:

This is why its good practice to salt your front yard with landmines.

Claymores…directional; limits damage to your siding.

[DrP]

@americancyclo 129338 wrote:

but really, why aren’t we worried about the car that was driving on the lawn (and sidewalk?)

I have called the police about the car. The neighbors got a photo of the license plate and the county workers also reported it. I have no sidewalk, so that wasn’t an issue (and a cyclists on the sidewalk would have been fine). But this was ridiculous. Apparently the county workers had folks blaring horns at them earlier (although not going around) in the day and this is what happens to them frequently. Which is ridiculous! I was hoping cyclists were a little more reasonable.

So, let’s just get the word out that they need to be more reasonable and show we are better than car drivers!

[DrP]

@AFHokie 129342 wrote:

Claymores…directional; limits damage to your siding.

Actually, I had discussed mining the lawn with the next door neighbor who also had their lawn driven over (and lost their FIOS over this).

The bollards are a good idea too.

[americancyclo]

Bouncing Betty. set it low and cut your grass at the same time.

[Crickey7]

I don’t buy into the collective guilt theory. My repeated butting heads with other cyclists over stop sign and red light running cured me of any notion that I can make anyone else who happens to ride a bike behave any differently from what they’re already inclined to. I limit myself to muttering under my breath and resolving what steps I will take as soon as I become Emperor of All Cyclists.

[baiskeli]

@DrP 129337 wrote:

I know this is supposed to be about the problems that cyclists encounter,

Don’t worry, we sometimes find that fellow cyclists are the problems we encounter.

[lordofthemark]

So I generally do not ride in yards.

But. There was at least one occasion where I needed to ride a sidewalk – it was at an approach to a MUT (maybe Taney in Alexandria, I forget?) where the lack of a curb cut from the otherwise rideable road meant a section of sidewalk riding was the only alternative to bunny hopping the curb – and the householder had blocked the sidewalk with his garbage bin. IIRC I did ride in the yard on that occasion, and felt justified in doing so. I would have done the same as a pedestrian (and indeed have walked on lawns as pedestrian at locations where there was no sidewalk, and walking the street seemed unsafe to me)

[dasgeh]

@DrP 129337 wrote:

I know this is supposed to be about the problems that cyclists encounter, this is a case where a cyclist did something completely inappropriate, […]

So I obviously wasn’t there, but I’m having a hard time seeing what the cyclist did as troubling, and what you think s/he should have done. Road closed, no sidewalk (assuming), so the s/he rode a bike through the grass? Did s/he damage the grass? Should s/he have dismounted and walked the bike through the grass? Would that have really changed the impact to you? Maybe I’m confused b/c my “front lawn” is rocks.

[wheelswings]

I ride my bike across my grassy yard every day to get to the front door. The grass doesn’t seem to mind… certainly not more than when I drag the recycling bin or the garbage can across, or when the kids use the space for acrobatics.

Personally I think that all suburban homes should have sidewalks out front, in the interest of safety and public health and building livable people-centric communities.

[americancyclo]

Where we used to live in Fairfax, we didn’t even own the front 8-10 feet of our grassy lawn. It belonged to the county. Although we had to maintain it, they owned the right of way, and people walked on it all the time since there was no sidewalk and it was a busy county road. Often found beer cans, cigarettes, trash, food wrappers, and other assorted loveliness from my fellow humans. Grassy tracks from bicycles would have been a welcome alternative.

perils of single family homeownership, I guess.

[vern]

The question we all need to consider here is: Would it have been appropriate for the Elf to travel through the grass in the situation described above?

[bobco85]

@DrP 129337 wrote:

I know this is supposed to be about the problems that cyclists encounter, this is a case where a cyclist did something completely inappropriate, although apparently a car did the same day too. I was not present, but my neighbors who were watching it all, let me know what happened. My road was temporarily closed while Arlington County was working on the fire hydrant. A cyclist decided that it was unacceptable to turn around and go to another block, or walk the bicycle through the area. Apparently the cyclist decided that my yard was an appropriate bike route and off-roaded to get around all the workers. That is not cool. How do we get people to at least be reasonable.

[Apparently a car decided the same thing too and did a bit of damage. ]

To be honest, if I were a cyclist in this same situation, I would likely off-road it (only if things appeared to be dry) or dismount and walk across the lawn. Also, this is assuming that the construction crew did not put up a sign at the last intersection before the closure (did they?).

@DrP 129346 wrote:

…the next door neighbor who also had their lawn driven over (and lost their FIOS over this).

This is the reason that pedestrians/cyclists can do this but vehicles cannot. Did the cyclist do any damage (grass bounces back, but other things don’t)?

@wheels&wings 129443 wrote:

Personally I think that all suburban homes should have sidewalks out front, in the interest of safety and public health and building livable people-centric communities.

I know I’m nitpicking here, but wouldn’t having a shared space where it is safe for pedestrians and vehicles to coexist (like a woonerf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woonerf ) be a hallmark of a livable people-centric community? Btw, I do somewhat agree with you that sidewalks (both sides if possible) should be standard in most communities, but I do not feel as strongly about it as I used to. I’m more open to the shared space idea than I used to be and think they can actually work when properly implemented.

[Author]

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