The sidewalk is over there!

[baiskeli]

@Subby 27050 wrote:

Well thinking more about this, I feel like an idiot.

Maybe it’s that pumpkin on your head.

[Certifried]

@Subby 27050 wrote:

..I feel like an idiot. …. That was dumb.

… Still…dumb.

…DUMB.

Anyway – I am seeing a pattern here, thanks for helping me wise up.

I hope the pattern isn’t that you think you’re “dumb”! It’s not dumb, just not aware of the risks, laws, or social repercussions of running in cycle-tracks. I’m sure you’re FAR from the only one, and one of the reasons this forum is so great is that people are “gently educated” about cycling related issues (or anything people post, really).

[Terpfan]

@Tim Kelley 26960 wrote:

I don’t mind the Segways since they can usually move pretty quickly. Granted, these are Arlington commuters, not tourists out gawking at the sights.

But don’t forget wheelchairs either. I occasionally have to negotiate around the homeless gentleman in the wheel chair or the woman in the electric scooter who rides and walks her dog in the bike lanes.

Oh, the segway tours drive me nuts. They use the 15th St Cycletrack down by Treasury and routinely pull crazy ivans, use both sides of the track and act perturbed when anyone dare pass them. Someone needs to communicate to them that motorized vehicles of any type are not allowed in the cycletrack except for emergency vehicles in an emergency situation.

[Terpfan]

@Subby 27050 wrote:

Well thinking more about this, I feel like an idiot. I was kind of annoyed at the guy for yelling at me, but for the love of god, I was in the bike lane during rush hour. That was dumb.

In my defense, while I have run down that bike lane a hundred times, it was, before Monday, always in the early afternoon. The other day was the first time I have ever run down it during rush hour. That would probably explain why I have never really come across cyclists other than the rickshaw drivers before now. Still…dumb.

My bike commute actually takes me east-west (penn ave in front of the white house down to CCT) so I haven’t really used any bike lanes and didn’t appreciate the issues from the point of view of the bike commuter. DUMB.

Anyway – I am seeing a pattern here, thanks for helping me wise up.

We all do dumb things and someone who claims they haven’t is lying. I’ve made my share of bad passes and had to eat humble pie apologizing on the judgment error on my part and I admit to having run the red 15th and K once (ok, maybe more than once) when there is no traffic in the left turn lane (for about 10 seconds they have an arrow). So no worries, now you know.

Besides, it’s not like you parked your car in the lane, which I have seen countless times now.

[5555624]

@baiskeli 27066 wrote:

Maybe it’s that pumpkin on your head.

Or the fact that someone got a picture of him with a pimpkin on his head.

[5555624]

@Terpfan 27070 wrote:

We all do dumb things and someone who claims they haven’t is lying.

But some of us no longer do dumb things — once you hit 50, you graduate to stupid things. Thsese days when I do what would be a “dumb thing,” I am all too often reminded by someone who is only 40, that “you stoopid!”

[dasgeh]

@Subby 27050 wrote:

Well thinking more about this, I feel like an idiot. I was kind of annoyed at the guy for yelling at me, but for the love of god, I was in the bike lane during rush hour. That was dumb.

I have to say, I really appreciate your response. I like to say something to runners/cyclists/pedestrians I see who are doing “dumb” things, because I like giving people the benefit of the doubt (i.e I want to believe they just haven’t thought about why what they’re doing is bad for system of transportation, not that they’re horrible people). I sometimes (ok, often) get caught up and find myself yelling in a not-so-giving-the-benefit-of-the-doubt sort of way.

You’ve restored my faith. Thanks

[baiskeli]

@5555624 27071 wrote:

Or the fact that someone got a picture of him with a pimpkin on his head.

Maybe it’s a helmet.

[baiskeli]

@dasgeh 27076 wrote:

I have to say, I really appreciate your response. I like to say something to runners/cyclists/pedestrians I see who are doing “dumb” things, because I like giving people the benefit of the doubt (i.e I want to believe they just haven’t thought about why what they’re doing is bad for system of transportation, not that they’re horrible people). I sometimes (ok, often) get caught up and find myself yelling in a not-so-giving-the-benefit-of-the-doubt sort of way.

You’ve restored my faith. Thanks

Yeah, +1 on the response, Subby.

[bluerider]

For the second time this week I have nearly run over joggers in the 15th Street cycle track. Tonight I was yelled at by the jogger. I am not a violent person but I wanted to be right then. Two older women joggers blocking the entire cycle track……I mentioned their error and they yelled at me and then stronger words were exchanged. Pretty pissed off right now and hoping I will not feel like this later but I am starting to lose the will to dodge them.

Hopefully I feel differently later.

[Certifried]

I would have pepper sprayed those old ladies.

OK, not really, but I am imagining using pepper spray on them right now.

I do that a lot.

[KLizotte]

@bluerider 27748 wrote:

For the second time this week I have nearly run over joggers in the 15th Street cycle track. Tonight I was yelled at by the jogger. I am not a violent person but I wanted to be right then. Two older women joggers blocking the entire cycle track……I mentioned their error and they yelled at me and then stronger words were exchanged. Pretty pissed off right now and hoping I will not feel like this later but I am starting to lose the will to dodge them.

Hopefully I feel differently later.

Perhaps you (we) should carry a copy of this to hand out to peds walking in bike lanes/cycle track. It is a summary of DC’s bicycle and pedestrian traffic regulations. http://ddot.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/Publication%20Files/On%20Your%20Street/Bicycles%20and%20Pedestrians/bike-ped_traffic_reg_summary.pdf

The most pertinent section to what you describe above is:

Pedestrians on roadways

Where sidewalks are provided, it shall be unlawful for any pedestrian to walk along and upon an adjacent roadway. Where sidewalks are not provided, any pedestrian walking along and upon a street or highway shall, when practicable, walk only on the left side of the roadway or its shoulder facing traffic, which may approach from the opposite direction.

[bluerider]

@Certifried 27753 wrote:

I would have pepper sprayed those old ladies.

OK, not really, but I am imagining using pepper spray on them right now.

I do that a lot.

Thanks Certified,

That puts me in a better mood.

[bluerider]

@KLizotte 27754 wrote:

Perhaps you (we) should carry a copy of this to hand out to peds walking in bike lanes/cycle track. It is a summary of DC’s bicycle and pedestrian traffic regulations. http://ddot.dc.gov/DC/DDOT/Publication%20Files/On%20Your%20Street/Bicycles%20and%20Pedestrians/bike-ped_traffic_reg_summary.pdf

The most pertinent section to what you describe above is:

Pedestrians on roadways

Where sidewalks are provided, it shall be unlawful for any pedestrian to walk along and upon an adjacent roadway. Where sidewalks are not provided, any pedestrian walking along and upon a street or highway shall, when practicable, walk only on the left side of the roadway or its shoulder facing traffic, which may approach from the opposite direction.

Thanks Klizotte,
I don’t know if passing this out will help much but I will give it a try. Unfortunately, MDP doesn’t seem to care about enforcing much of anything in terms of cyclist safety. I fear that sooner or later, a jogger and/or a cyclist will be badly hurt or killed due to this continued and increasing problem. I sent Council Graham a message and may try to meet with him about this issue.

[Certifried]

The scary thing is, I actually have pepper spray on my bike at all times. It has about a 4″ wide velcro sleeve that wraps around my top tube right in front of my seat post (where I chose to put it, can go anywhere) then the little bottle of pepper spray has another tightly wrapped sleeve with the other side of the velcro (it’s really stuck on well). Ostensibly, it’s for dogs. I’ve only had to actually brandish it once when some hooligan kids were on my lawn…er I mean screwing around in the bike path and trying to cause mayhem. They clearly saw the little black bottle with the bright red cap and quickly figured out what was fixin’ to happen. They apologized and scampered off under the rug.

[Author]

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