Washington Post is on an Anti-Bike Roll

[baiskeli]

@Greenbelt 90194 wrote:

Courtland Milloy = Rush Limbaugh. Same analytic techniques and style of argument.

I was thinking even more irrational – maybe Fred Phelps.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6188[/ATTACH]

[dbb]

Page B6 of the WaPo today illustrates Milloy’s points. A horde of Brompton riders engaging in warped (folded) behavior. I’m bummed to have missed it. Would have been a sight.

I’m not sure I could imagine anything less threatening than a herd of Bromptons

[PotomacCyclist]

@baiskeli 90183 wrote:

I would add to this excellent answer that the sins of the “bad” cyclists are much more visible. The rare daredevil who weaves through traffic to run a red scares the bejeesus out of everyone in a way a car or pedestrian doesn’t as often.

I see a lot of scary behavior, from drivers and sometimes cyclists too. Pedestrians mostly put themselves at risk, by stepping in front of traffic while texting, so I don’t think of that as scary, just dumb or obnoxious. Watching a driver take a right turn on red in a busy intersection at 40 mph without looking for pedestrians in the crosswalk is frightening.

[baiskeli]

@PotomacCyclist 90239 wrote:

I see a lot of scary behavior, from drivers and sometimes cyclists too.

Oh, absolutely – but that’s you. As a cyclist, you are probably really atuned to what’s going on, because you have to be, and because you are not confined to a metal box with a blaring radio. Like me, you probably notice it all while driving too, since you’re used to looking out for it. People who drive cars but don’t ride bikes probably don’t pay the same kind of attention.

[mstone]

@PotomacCyclist 90239 wrote:

I see a lot of scary behavior, from drivers and sometimes cyclists too. Pedestrians mostly put themselves at risk, by stepping in front of traffic while texting, so I don’t think of that as scary, just dumb or obnoxious. Watching a driver take a right turn on red in a busy intersection at 40 mph without looking for pedestrians in the crosswalk is frightening.

Here’s the thing: the car-only drivers actually don’t see that stuff. It’s so normal to them, they’ll deny that it even exists.

[PotomacCyclist]

Sad but true.

I probably take in more observations as a pedestrian. When I’m standing on a sidewalk waiting for a WALK signal, I don’t have to be in “traffic” mode the way that I am on a bike. So I have a little more time and attention available to look at the area around the intersection. I’ve seen the 40 mph right-turn on red (or 35 mph or whatever it is — I just know that those guys are driving WAY too fast) while standing on the other side of the road as a pedestrian. That’s why it really strikes me, thinking that I would be in or near that crosswalk in a minute or so.

Other people have noticed those insane high-speed right turns on red. I heard others comment about it at the Eads Street cycle track/multimodal street presentation this year. I believe that’s why they now restrict right turns on red during the day. (Of course, drivers can easily ignore the new signs. However, I don’t remember seeing that behavior in the past month or two, so maybe the signs have some effect.)

[jabberwocky]

One of the worst intersections near my house is where the Fairfax County Parkway trail crosses New Dominion right by Reston Hospital. Cars turning right onto New Dominion tend to do so at very high speed (green or red light). I’ve had numerous very close calls when crossing in the crosswalk, with the walk signal, where drivers simply didn’t look for people in the crosswalk and made the right at 35+mph and almost took me out.

And don’t get me started on cars turning right from New Dominion onto Fairfax County Parkway. No turn on red, which of course lots of people ignore.

[PotomacCyclist]

From the Washington City Paper: “Gear Prudence: I Think a Columnist Might Attack Me!”

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2014/07/23/gear-prudence-i-think-a-columnist-might-attack-me/

[PotomacCyclist]

W. Post-related “Missed Connections” since The Rant (which I’m posting here as a personal record of my road experiences post-Milloy rant):

– Tried to walk across NY Ave. on a weekday evening in downtown DC. I waited for the WALK signal, then proceeded. Either the light and walk signals are not coordinated correctly or another WALK signal has been turned 90 degrees (similar to the one on H St. NW). I stepped into the crosswalk but three cars in a row turned onto NY Ave. and headed straight for me. None of the drivers bothered to slow down the least bit. I had to jump back quickly onto the sidewalk to avoid getting struck. Why this doesn’t qualify as road terrorism is beyond me.

– On another evening, I was walking near H St. and NY Ave. NW. The road was nearly empty because it was well past rush hour. I saw a family walking through the crosswalk. They did not have a WALK signal but the entire road was empty, so I couldn’t really fault them. But then a driver came speeding along NY Ave. from the east. He saw that the light was yellow so he sped up even more. The light turned red and he was still about 100 ft. from the intersection. That didn’t matter to the driver. He blew right through the red light, through the intersection and through the crosswalk, with the family still walking across. He honked his horn several times, so obviously he saw the family. He just missed hitting some of the family members by just a foot. Insane. Seems like road terrorism to me.

– I saw a middle-aged man ride on a mountain bike in downtown DC, heading the wrong way on a one-way street in the late afternoon on a weekday. I was riding in the road, following the proper direction. I commented that he was riding the wrong way. He just looked up and continued on his way. He wasn’t riding too fast, but he did create a moderately tricky situation by riding the wrong way on that block. I didn’t want to move over because I wasn’t sure if there were any cars heading up on my left. He was not a “white millennial” (whom Milloy seems to think are the source of every ill in the Grand Republic). He was a middle-aged African American man. I don’t say this to bash anyone. Just pointing it out, in light of Milloy’s over-the-top rage-filled post against white millennials. (Note that I am not white myself.)

– On a weekday evening, during rush hour, I was riding on a CaBi bike, either F St or G St NW, westbound toward 15th St. A group of kids, maybe 12-15 yrs. old, headed toward me. There were about six in the group, all riding mountain bikes or BMX bikes. They occupied the entire two-way road, that is, all lanes in both directions. Some of them were riding in the proper direction while others were riding the wrong way. One fellow was doing a wheelie going the wrong way, straight at me. They were riding relatively slowly, maybe 8-10 mph, so it was easy for me to avoid a collision. But I shouldn’t have to avoid a collision when I’m riding in the proper direction. Sorry, Mr. Milloy, but all of the kids appeared to be African American.

– This weekend, I was walking in the McPherson Square/Franklin Park area in the afternoon. I had a WALK signal so I was about to step off the sidewalk and onto the crosswalk. A young kid came at me on a mountain bike/BMX bike, pedaling furiously. He was trying to head into the curb cut, even though I was walking in that curb cut onto the crosswalk. It was partly cloudy but still bright, so he knew I was there. He swerved to get into the curb cut and just missed me by a few inches. I had to step aside to avoid a collision. He didn’t slow down at all and continued at a high rate of speed down the semi-crowded sidewalk. I turned and yelled at him but he probably didn’t hear me, as he was already halfway down the block. Again, not a millennial or yuppie or gentrifier or whatever Mr. Milloy’s beef is. He appeared to be Hispanic. Again, I only point this out because of Mr. Milloy’s racial profiling (and call to violence, because police used to stop certain teenagers on the roads in DC 40 years ago).

– While walking around Gallery Place, near Verizon Center last week, I waited for a WALK signal to cross the road and head over to the sidewalk in front of Verizon Center. The WALK signal lit up and pedestrians began to step into the crosswalk. But then a large PEPSI tractor-trailer rolled into the intersection and through the crosswalk, surprising everyone. The driver didn’t even reach the crosswalk before the WALK signal had lit up, so it’s fair to say he drove through his red light. Given the size of the truck, he continued driving through the crosswalk, against his red light, for several seconds, until he finally cleared the crosswalk. If one of the many pedestrians had not been paying close attention, they could have stepped in front of that truck and been struck. Although the truck was moving at a slow speed, a pedestrian could have still been injured in a collision.

=====

– In an incident that I did not witness, a 10-yr-old girl on a bike was struck by a driver on Tuckerman Lane in North Bethesda recently. One resident reports that drivers routinely reach speeds of 60-65 mph on that road, despite the 35 or 40 mph speed limit. I guess they just like driving fast, like Mr. Milloy.

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/07/10-year-old-bicyclist-fights-for-her-life-after-being-struck-by-car-in-north-bethesda-105225.html

[PotomacCyclist]

I am now trying to avoid making any bike-related purchases on Amazon.com, because Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also the current owner of the Washington Post. If the Post thinks Milloy’s racist and pro-violence rant is acceptable, then I won’t spend money supporting Amazon (and indirectly, the W. Post).

I might still buy the occasional DVD on Amazon, but I will make an extra effort to avoid Amazon for bike purchases. (I know I should shop local, but some items are just not available, or are difficult to find. For example, many bike stores no longer carry 650c tires or even tubes. I don’t have the time to visit half a dozen bike shops scattered throughout the Arlington/DC/NoVa/MD region just to find a bike tire or tube.)

I did buy a Garmin 220 GPS watch recently. It’s more of a running watch than a cycling watch (although I’ve used it for some bike rides). I purchased it at a store, not online. So that’s a couple hundred dollars that I did not spend at Amazon.com. That won’t make a big difference to Amazon.com or the W. Post. But if a lot of cyclists and even non-cyclists who don’t find The Milloy Rant acceptable, begin to shift their purchasing behavior to avoid Amazon.com, that could start to add up. At the very least, it may help to send a message, one that doesn’t seem to be getting through.

[ebubar]

Might I suggest NASHBAR for bike stuff instead of Amazon (if you’re looking online). They regularly have 20 percent off coupons as well as free shipping deals. I got a pretty good Edge 500 deal from them recently.

[Kolohe]

Milloy’s been a twit long before Bezos came into the picture. If anything, the WaPo got more bike friendly over the last few years as they have bought out or laid off most of their boomer writers and replaced them with late x’ers and millennials (though a good chunk of these write online only, so the print paper is still a lot of by boomers, for boomers)

(and of course, no offense to boomers, many of which are here. It’s just that the heyday of the Post from the 70s to early 90s was a time when both its staff and target audience were mostly car-centric suburbanites. The people leftover from that era, are well, leftovers).

[Greenbelt]

Relatedly, sort of:

http://www.wtop.com/109/3675325/Marion-Barry-out-of-hospital-after-crash-in-DC

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former District of Columbia mayor Marion Barry is out of the hospital after a weekend traffic accident.

Barry resumed his public appearances Sunday. The D.C. councilmember was taken to a hospital Saturday night after a minor crash on Pennsylvania Avenue in southeast Washington.

Police say the accident involved a car driving the wrong way and colliding with another vehicle. Officer Araz Alali says Barry was cited for driving on the wrong side of the street, driving an unregistered vehicle and failure to have insurance.

[sjclaeys]

Maybe Courtland Milloy will someday put out a video like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZUbETQu65I. Yeah right :rolleyes:

[PotomacCyclist]

Veronica Davis, founder of Black Women Bike DC, came through with the invitation to go on a bike ride with professional crank Courtland Milloy today. DCist posted several screenshots of Twitter posts from Ms. Davis after the ride.

Will this help to change Milloy’s perspective on transportation in DC (where he does not live)? Maybe, maybe not. But I think it was still a positive undertaking.

Interesting to see the tweets and the photos from the ride.

http://dcist.com/2014/08/courtland_milloy_went_on_a_bike_rid.php

[Author]

Posts