Ride Rage
Newly Numerous, Cyclists Face Angry Drivers
By Richard Martin, 8-08-08
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| Caption: Stay off the streets, ya freaks | |
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Abusing cyclists – it’s all the rage! I found this out the other day, using one of the mid-block crosswalks that interrupt Canyon Blvd., in Boulder – the kind that have flashing yellow lights to alert motorists that yes, they have to stop for the unprotected person risking life and limb to cross the street in traffic.
“Get off that bike!” shouted a blowsy bottle-blonde in an SUV, so loudly that I stopped, startled, in mid-street. “You’re not a pedestrian!”
This of course raises the age-old philosophical question: Is a bike, for purposes of right-of-way and crosswalk-use, a pedestrian or a vehicle? Beyond that, though, it’s clear that with gas prices hovering at 4 bucks a gallon, cycling is taking hold not only in bike-friendly places like Boulder but in large metro areas like Denver and even Los Angeles. Last month 25,000 people registered in Denver for bike-to-work day, up from 15,000 in 2007.
But the drivers are not pleased. In fact, they’re pissed.
“Many motorists simply don’t see their two-wheeled brethren or, when they do, find them aggravating,” remarks The Economist this week in an article that recounts some recent horror stories – including the fracas in Portland in which “a motorist and cyclist came to blows after the motorist berated the pedal-pusher for ignoring a stop sign,” and “the enraged cyclist used his bike to batter the motorist’s car until a bystander punched him.”
Another reason to wear a bike helmet! Such conflicts are more expectable in Los Angeles, center of American car culture, which has seen a band of hardy cyclists recently taking to the boulevards, if not the freeways.
“In Los Angeles, it takes a special kind of road warrior to hop on a bike in the name of saving the planet and a little money,” reports The Wall Street Journal in a hilarious, though alarming, page-one feature on Angelenos commuting by bike. And “tensions between cyclists and motorists here have become dangerously combative.”
“A lot of motorists think [cyclists] should get off the road,” Lynne Goldsmith, manager of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority’s bike program, told the Journal.
A few people in Boulder apparently feel the same way. Everyone who rides regularly has tales of cars cutting them off suddenly, often piloted by a heedless motorist glued to a cell phone. As the number of cyclists rises, riding defensively becomes even more imperative.
And by the way, I was well within my rights using that crosswalk. According to Sarah Huntley, public information officer at the Boulder Police Department, cyclists are free to use the city’s crosswalks as long as they proceed at “walking speed.”
[End of article]I think it's a no brainer that bikes are vehicles. I have found far too many ambiguous attitudes towards bikes and I believe that causes confusion for the driver, leading to hostile or dangerous situations for cyclists. Every state has in its transportation codes that bikes are vehicles. Bikes also have to yield to pedestrians.
I have asked cyclist police in my city why they ride on both the street and sidewalk. They admit that it sends a fuzzy message to drivers but they simply ride on the sidewalk in more dangerous streets.
I guess my point is that to imply that bikes are pedestrians or quasi-peds is to question their right to the road and the responsibility of motorists to share the road.
The best way to stay safe on the road is to travel on a safe route. If you can not find a safe route to the office, you should consider working from a remote office. Remote Office Centers around the country lease individual offices, internet, and phone systems to workers from multiple companies in shared centers. Centers are located in the city and around suburbs. If you are interested in finding a Remote Office Center, you can do a web search for: “Remote Office Centers” in quotes. More people could commute by bike if they were able to work remotely. For most office workers, a remote office is a viable alternative to a long commute.
Comment By Jedediah Redman, 8-11-08Legal loopholes which turn cyclists into pedestrians for the bikers' convenience may have something to do with the irritation being expressed...
Comment By Ann, 8-11-08I have to agree with Jedediah.
I was under the impression that you could walk your bike on the side walk, but no riding it. thus the name WALK. Bike riders can and are just as dangerous as skaters w/o the board. You are supposed to WALK your bike in the crossWALK as well. Unmless you are in the lane of Traffic following the rules of the "ROAD"
Kudos to everyone getting out of their cars and onto bikes!!!
Now, we all must obey the laws to enjoy the right-of-way to which we as bikers have a right - and take the tickets for non-compliance just like motorists. Motorists and pedestrians have right-of-way access, priorities and restrictions, also. Just because some (too many) are not good citizens doesn't give license to other modalities to be flaunt-laws, too.
Motorists also need to step up to better driving and obeying the regulations - they are for everyone's safety and convenience.
Hang up the phone and drive - and don't text-message while driving regardless of stupid laws that allow it even if talking is banned.
A relatively new challenge that drivers face in Fort Collins, Colorado is the increasing number of cyclists that think that 'Share the Road' means that they can ride two abreast and carry on a conversation while cars stack up behind them, unable to pass on the many windy foothill roads that both the cars and bikes must share. As both a cyclist and a driver, I can appreciate that if you are cycling with a friend you might want to talk with them, but I think talking should be saved for coffee shops or hiking trails, and let the ride be the ride. As a cyclist, I would NEVER ride two abreast because, besides being illegal to jam up traffic, you are really just provoking the drivers that are stuck behind you, and hardly encouraging drivers to 'Share the Road'. Unfortunately, it is those bikers out there that ride two abreast, blow through red lights and stop signs, and cut across lanes of traffic with no warning and nearly cause accidents that are giving us bikers a bad rad, and I can understand why drivers are starting to lose what little respect they had for cyclists. Come on cyclists - those of you know who you are - clean it up so that the rest of us don't have to deal with all the blowback from drivers created by your obnoxious biking habits.
Comment By Marion, 8-11-08Well said Julie. It is very upsetting to get stuck behind cyclists who are they are getting all they are entitled to, especially going uphill in a vehicle with a tendency to overheat.
Perhaps a license fee on highway cyclists to build an eaxtention to the roadsides just for bikes would help.
Richard, I certainly can not speak to whatever "new and improved" laws or regulations the "interesting" city of Boulder might have conjured up, but according to Colorado state law a flashing yellow light = CAUTION ... and does NOT require any motorist to STOP! This is also true at a regular stop light where RED = stop, GREEN = go, and ... once again ... YELLOW = CAUTION.
Also, according to Colorado state law, a bike IS considered to be a "vehicle" and is required to ride the roads on the right hand side ... while pedestrians are required to WALK the roads facing on-coming traffic on the left hand side of the road.
To the best of my knowledge that word "walk" does note in the state of Colorado that this is the ONLY way a bike can be ON a walk (not to be ridden on a walk) which would conjure up the assumption that if you were in a crossWALK you must have been RIDING your bike there if some "blowsy bottle-blonde" shouted for you to "Get off that bike!" and that if/when she said "You're not a pedestrian!" that "blowsy bottle-blonde" was just exactly RIGHT!!!
There is no "age-old philosophical question" to be answered, Richard ... IF you intend to abide by the LAW in the STATE of Colorado!!! So you might to have another chat with your Boulder public information person ... or, better yet, with someone who has studied the law ... and unless Boulder has once again decided to be "different" than all the rest of the state of Colorado I believe you will discover that what you should have been told is that you would have had to WALK your bike on that crossWALK, not *ride* it at "walking speed".
To the best of my knowledge, bikers who ride regular "bikes" are NOT required to have any kind of a license to do so or pass any test like, or similar to, the drivers license test that is required to drive a car ... and which is also required (I *think*) of those who ride the other kind of "bike" AKA a motorcycle.
Both bikes and motorcycles are prone to be involved in very deadly and crippling accidents on the roadways in Colorado ~ where BOTH the bikers/cyclists AND motorists have been found to be blameworthy. Obviously there are some reeeeallly arrogant and self-righteous drivers AND riders on the road on every given day.
But in my not-so-humble opinion the cure for what ails us in this regard starts out with people looking in the mirror and asking themselves "What did *I* do wrong?" and trying not to repeat their dastardly deed of the day when the sun comes up tomorrow. If you and others who are only looking for someone to BLAME ~ first, foremost and forever ~ and refuse to consider you own contribution to these problems it is very likely they will become worse, not better.
... or so it seems to me ...
As ever, the sins of the minority of clueless or obnoxious bicyclists makes if difficult for the majority of bicyclists who do know and follow the rules/laws. Some bicyclists (often college students here in Missoula) consider streets/sidewalks/lawns/retaining walls/berms/etc as their "personal gymnasium".
Missoula has mixed messages for bicyclists. No one is to ride their bicycle on sidewalks downtown and only children 14 and younger can ride on non-downtown sidewalks. Bicyclists are to otherwise behave like vehicles, or if crossing in a crosswalk, dismount and behave like a pedestrian.
We, too, have all too frequent examples of bicyclists riding two or more abreast.
I tried to say the same thing on an article Bill wrote a while back and got chastised because they thought no matter what bikes should get more respect than they gave. To me it just doesn't work that way, and especially on winding two-lane narrow highways that already have to deal with tourists, wildlife, and semis. You show respect and attempt and you will get the same from me, and no I don't sit and wait for the other person to make the first move.
Comment By rkrugg, 8-11-08Wow, how gratifying to find that so many share my own feelings about bicyclists who seem to pick and choose between the rules of the road for whatever suits them at the time. So often, they exhibit a behavior as if they enjoy "all of the rights, none of the responsibilities."
Comment By chommpers, 8-12-08While I agree unruly bikers need to be chastised, but different times call for different measures. I biked to work on nearly the same route everyday. I try my best to obey the traffic rules, but some situations are either too scary or merely death wishes. For example I cross Main st. and Babcock in Bozeman. In summer its no problem to wait in the line of cars to pass the red light. In winter its another story risk laying down your bike in the middle of street on an icy patch to then be pummeled by the on coming traffic, no thank you! I use the sidewalk. Additionally is casual conversation a guy with a big truck has told me to get off the street and ride on the sidewalk. I told him that is not legal, he asserted his truck was bigger than the the law.
I agree with an above statement of find a safe way to bike or stay at home and work. Unfortunately we can't all sit at home in our underwear and type on a computer.
I have been recently observing the bike, public transit and car traffic of major European cities. Their solution is restrict car traffic, provide bike lanes, when necessary separate bikes and cars on dangerous roads by giving bikers a path often parallel to the street. Additionally under passes or overpasses to reduce interaction among bikes and cars at intersections. This all requires investment in infrastructure, in a non-auto centric way.
It also requires education of bikers and motorists.
Think outside your car!
Want to see cyclists breaking every rule of the road?
Come to Moscow, Idaho.
In other places, motorists are usually at fault in bike/car accidents. Not here, about 50 percent are the fault of the cyclist.
To make things worse, the city has deemed it just fine that people ride bikes on sidewalks. They have thee little signs that say "Just go slow".
How many of those testosterone driven, 20-something males do you think actually OBEY that rule on sidewalks?
One of these days I am going to get creamed stepping out of my office. There have been a couple of dozen near-hits already.
180 pounds of human peddling a 15-20 pound machine at 15 MPH on a sidewalk is a disaster waiting to happen.