Some Bicyclists Make All Bicyclists Look Bad

[PotomacCyclist]

Sure, there are plenty of ill-behaved cyclists on the roads and trails. I notice a lot of them on the Mt. Vernon Trail. But the fact remains that thousands of people continue to get killed every year by dangerous car drivers. (About 94 a day in the U.S. in 2009.) And I see a LOT of illegal and dangerous behavior from car drivers every single day, from texting while driving, websurfing while driving, speeding into right turns on red lights without bothering to look if there are pedestrians in the crosswalk, speeding through left turns without looking to see if there are pedestrians in the crosswalk and so on.

Plus there are a heck of a lot of pedestrians who walk on sidewalks and into crosswalks (and jaywalk) while texting or websurfing on their phones, while having the music cranked up on their earphones at the same time. They can cause minor annoyances on the sidewalks and on the Metro. They can also cause serious hazards on the crosswalks and roads by stepping into traffic without even looking.

Bottom line: No particular group is that well-behaved. Plenty of blame to go around. But as others mentioned, I don’t hear too many car drivers self-flagellating over the sins of their fellow drivers. So I’m not going to beat myself up because some cyclists run red lights. When I see bad behavior on the road or trail, I try to point it out politely (when it is safe to do so). If someone is riding the wrong way on a street, I’ll simply say, in a polite tone, “You’re going the wrong way.” I don’t expect the person to turn around immediately, but maybe if he hears it enough, he’ll rethink his riding habits at some point.

[eminva]

@OneEighth 26987 wrote:

Does anyone else find the original post a bit suspicious?

It was plausible and specific enough that I wanted to know more — hence my question, “did you observe anything else these last eight months?” Usually at that point commuters have gotten to, “man it’s hot here in the summer” or “I need to upgrade my commuting wardrobe” or “I need to upgrade my wheels” or something along those lines. Maybe he just had a bad day and was venting, as we do at times.

Liz

[mstone]

@eminva 26973 wrote:

You must have started in the winter, so kudos to you for keeping at it through three seasons

Point of order: winter was canceled last year. I wonder what we’ll get this year.

[bobco85]

@OneEighth 26987 wrote:

Does anyone else find the original post a bit suspicious?

We’ll have to see if the OP responds. In my internet forum experience, when someone joins a forum and posts a rant thread on the first day, then never returns to that thread, it’s usually because that person only wants to rant/vent for others to see and doesn’t want dialogue a.k.a. anyone else’s opinion. I hope I’m wrong, but time will tell.

[rcannon100]

Does anyone else find the original post a bit suspicious?

I am an established cyclist. Therefore I have an authentic voice to say cyclists suck.

In the words of the prophet Ke$ha, “Blah blah blah.”

[video=youtube_share;3taEuL4EHAg]http://youtu.be/3taEuL4EHAg[/video]

And according to the Wholly Land of London, 7 things you should give up to be a happy cyclist

And one final tome: okay…. everyone in the transportation system is a bum…. but only one segment of the transportation system drives one ton hunks of metal that kill.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@bobco85 27004 wrote:

We’ll have to see if the OP responds. In my internet forum experience, when someone joins a forum and posts a rant thread on the first day, then never returns to that thread, it’s usually because that person only wants to rant/vent for others to see and doesn’t want dialogue a.k.a. anyone else’s opinion. I hope I’m wrong, but time will tell.

Jason started off with a rant, gave us an excellent new term of endearment/ridicule, and is now posting regularly. So there is hope.

[5555624]

@rcannon100 27005 wrote:

And according to the Wholly Land of London, 7 things you should give up to be a happy cyclist

If I substitute “runner” for “Brompton,” I’ve given up six of the seven.

#4 bothers me more now than it did ten years ago.

[Jason]

I posted before though! I asked advice on how to commute in from Arlington and got very good responses. That was back in February I think though, I have been commuting 4 days a week since. BTW, I find one day to rest the legs in the middle of the week very productive, even if my commute is only 4 miles each way (but up hill the whole way home it seems).

[bobco85]

@rcannon100 27005 wrote:

In the words of the prophet Ke$ha, “Blah blah blah.”
And according to the Wholly Land of London, 7 things you should give up to be a happy cyclist

#6 always puzzles me as I do not do it (also did not know it is called shoaling), and I mostly see it on trails at crosswalks. It’s like shoalers think that packing in ahead of you at the intersection will make things any easier. When the light/crosswalk finally turns green/walk signal, you end up with two clumps of people from either side of the intersection trying to maneuver around each other, around any obstructions (like a pedestrian crosswalk cut-out of an island in the middle or a driver blocking part of the crosswalk), into a good position to use the ramp on the other side (if on a trail/crosswalk), and lastly unnecessary traffic on the other side as everyone of different speeds are mixed that need to be sorted again. Again, I don’t get worked up about this, but I see it so often that I just prepare for it.

The rest are situational. I’ll get worked up sometimes, but I would rather care and communicate than be passive, internalize it, or become apathetic.

[baiskeli]

@Tim Kelley 26955 wrote:

Lead by example! I give a sheepish shrug of the shoulders to the motorist next to me when we’re waiting at a red light and another cyclist blows through.

Yep, there’s nothing like doing the right thing to “complicate” things. I was stopped at a red and a cyclist blew through and almost hit a pedestrian, and she muttered something like “this is why people hate bikers” and I said “Don’t forget to notice that I stopped.”

Here’s my example to other cyclists – you can not only respect the signals and laws, you can go out of your way to be safe. I never cross against the counting-down red walk signal at Lynn St. (technically illegal anyway), only on the green at the beginning of the cycle. I can wait a minute. No need to blow through there.

[mstone]

@baiskeli 27022 wrote:

Here’s my example to other cyclists – you can not only respect the signals and laws, you can go out of your way to be safe. I never cross against the counting-down red walk signal at Lynn St. (technically illegal anyway), only on the green at the beginning of the cycle. I can wait a minute. No need to blow through there.

There’s no way. We don’t get enough crossing time as it stands, and they factor the 30 second countdown into the available time.

[Tim Kelley]

@bobco85 27004 wrote:

We’ll have to see if the OP responds. In my internet forum experience, when someone joins a forum and posts a rant thread on the first day, then never returns to that thread, it’s usually because that person only wants to rant/vent for others to see and doesn’t want dialogue a.k.a. anyone else’s opinion. I hope I’m wrong, but time will tell.

OP Will Surely Deliver!

[GuyContinental]

@baiskeli 27022 wrote:

Yep, there’s nothing like doing the right thing to “complicate” things. I was stopped at a red and a cyclist blew through and almost hit a pedestrian, and she muttered something like “this is why people hate bikers” and I said “Don’t forget to notice that I stopped.”

Here’s my example to other cyclists – you can not only respect the signals and laws, you can go out of your way to be safe. I never cross against the counting-down red walk signal at Lynn St. (technically illegal anyway), only on the green at the beginning of the cycle. I can wait a minute. No need to blow through there.

Tell the truth, you are just using the light cycle as an excuse to chill out for a few minutes before heading up Custis… it’s perfect, you get to feel safe, rested AND smug!

On occasion I’ve totally soft pedaled so as not to make that light

[ml85]

I was legitimately trying to figure out how to deal with rogue bicyclists, since that’s the one thing that has surprised me the most about biking around DC. Pedestrians/tourists and oblivious drivers I completely expected when I decided to commute by bike, but the spring and summer have brought out a ton of crazy bicyclists (winter was great though!). The tips to shame bicyclists who endanger others or point out to pedestrians and drivers that we’re not all bad are helpful – thank you!

There’s only so much a bicyclist can do to stay safe from getting hit by cars, but rogue bicyclists endanger everyone, which is why I’m concerned by this – bicyclists are in a uniquely vulnerable position. I’ve seen stories of drivers intentionally running down bicyclists, and these idiots I cited in my examples are probably why. I just don’t want to get hurt.

I’m not sure what my username has to do with making my question suspicious, but questioning the legitimacy of the questioner and avoiding the question itself doesn’t help anyone.

[creadinger]

@ml85 27052 wrote:

I’ve seen stories of drivers intentionally running down bicyclists, and these idiots I cited in my examples are probably why. I just don’t want to get hurt.

If you get run down by a driver, it is VERY unlikely it’s because he’s a homicidal, road raging maniac that got set off by a rogue cyclist. It is much MORE likely it’s someone just checking e-mail or trying to plug in directions on their smart phone and not paying attention. A couple of tragic stories you may have heard about does not make it statistically significant enough for you to care. And placing the blame on law breaking cyclists as a cause for someone else CHOOSING to be a homicidal, road raging maniac and go after you is in poor taste too.

This discussion has been done at least 100 times in the time I’ve been following this forum and I think the best advice that others have already said is that you cannot change others’ behavior, so stop trying. The only thing you can reasonably do is lead by example.

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