This site is closed to new comments and posts.

Notice: This site uses cookies to function.
If you are not comfortable with cookies then please don't browse this website.

Stupid Bicyclists in Bike Lanes — Brooklynian

Stupid Bicyclists in Bike Lanes

arzan
arzan
edited November -1 in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy
This is about the recently allocated bike lanes all over FG/CH

I live on willoughby ave around washington ave and there is a bike lane on our block.

In the last two incidents I have been literally blindsided by bicyclists who are travelling in the opposite direction of traffic.

In one instance I was crossing the road and a bicyclist nearly crashed into me. In trying to jump out of his way I pushed him onto the road and he did fall over. No major injuries except some grazed skin.

However he had the gall to throw a big F#$%*&@ fit in the middle of the road about something that he was clearly at fault.

A similar thing happened while i was pulling out of a parking spot. Concentrating on traffic coming from behind, I nearly did not see a delivery guy who had just come around the corner.

What is the rule about bike lanes.

Can people use them in the opposite direction of general traffic. And if the answer is yes, isnt that a very dangerous situation especially on busy streets like Myrtle.

Personally I think the dedicated bike lanes are not necessary especially in FG and CH. They just add in creating challenging traffic situations all around. And bicyclists are the worst offenders when it comes to traffic rules. They do not stop at stop signs or lights, cut in and out of traffic at their will and then when someone cuts them off, they throw a ruckus.

Comments

  • queencallipygos
    queencallipygos

    Subject: Re: Stupid Bicyclists in Bike Lanes

    arZan wrote: What is the rule about bike lanes.

    Can people use them in the opposite direction of general traffic. And if the answer is yes, isnt that a very dangerous situation especially on busy streets like Myrtle.
    No, bikers can NOT use bike lanes in the opposite direction of general traffic. Bike lanes are supposed to go WITH traffic.
    And bicyclists are the worst offenders when it comes to traffic rules. They do not stop at stop signs or lights, cut in and out of traffic at their will and then when someone cuts them off, they throw a ruckus.
    Er, I'm a bicyclist who obeys all traffic laws, always stops at stoplights and stop signs, wll actually LET people cut in front of me, and scolds other scofflaw bicyclists. I think you mean to say that JERKY bicyclists are the worst offenders -- but so are jerky drivers. So, really, it's jerks who are the worst offenders, regardless of what vehicle they drive.
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    To answer your question, NO, QC is right, bicycles are vehicles and should ALWAYS be moving with traffic.

    But, your post is anti-bicycle, which is not helpful.

    There are just as many idiot pedestrians who insist on shuffling four abreast, slowing down and speeding up erratically because they are all on cellphones, with big purchases that they refuse to wrangle, hanging out halfway in the street when it's not their turn to cross.

    And there are just as many drivers who cause accidents by disobeying the rules of traffic that everyone agrees to.

    The problem with bicycles is twofold:

    1. Ignorance. A lot of people see bike lane and don't understand that it's a lane of traffic.

    2. Wilful disregard of laws. I do this myself with certain laws when riding my bike, in order to gain an advantage. I run red lights on busy streets (after stopping first) so that I am not stuck in clot of cars that do not want me there and are trying to shove me off the road.

    This is a hostile, hostile city to ride a bike in, and to cope a lot of cyclists make up their own rules or otherwise take a cowboy mentality. A lot of cyclists take that too far.

    But you know what would help more than hatin' on cyclists? Real, protected bike lanes with curbs that people can't use as a passing lane that are clearly marked as to their direction of travel. Massive education campaigns aimed at both cyclists and drivers that position cyclists as part of traffic. More bike parking.

    In short, bicyclists just need a hug. We are often doing idiotic things because we are scared.
  • daver
    daver
    As a member of all three groups, I would say that pedestrians are the biggest law breakers, followed by bicycles, with autos bringing up the rear. Honestly, how often do you see someone standing on a corner waiting for a light to change? Maybe one out of ten, on a good day! If there aren't any cars coming, they cross. I see cars sitting all the time in the middle of the damn night with no one in sight at red lights. Bicycles aren't as bad as pedestrians, but I see them break a lot more laws than cars.

    Anyway, as pointed out, your brook shouldn't be with bicyclists in general, but rather with jerk bicyclists. Many bicyclists play nice and share. It is just easy to have our attention drawn by the ones that don't. And the situations you have described are definitely bogus. I'm not going to say that I've never gone the wrong way down a road on a bike, but when I do it I damn well know that I'm not in the right, and that I had better make damn sure that I am looking out for _everything_.
  • anonymous
    anonymous

    Subject: Riding the wrong way

    Bicyclists should never ride against traffic. However, I imagine thay people who are riding on the wrong side are following the old pedestrian rule "walk facing traffic." There are two reasons why this is a good idea for pedestrians. First, they can see on-coming vehicles easily, and second, they can readily step out of the highway. However, the pedestrian rule can be a fatal mistake for cyclists. They are traveling much faster than pedestrians, so they have to react much quicker, but getting off of the road quickly is sometimes difficult, dangerous, or impossible.

    Moreover, cyclists who are riding against traffic are threatening the lives of the bikers who are riding with the traffic. But an even greater danger is that the wrong way cyclist causes passing vehicles to break the law. The law says that you can't pass on-coming traffic in the same lane. So, if the wrong way cyclist stays on the road, (s)he is forcing every passing motorist to either break the law or to come to a complete stop. When the motorists become used to breaking that law, they think nothing of passing vehicles while cyclists are approaching in the opposite lane. Although I've never had anyone hit me (or I wouldn't be alive), having a car miss by inches at 70 mph is a scary experience, and not one I care to repeat.
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    As a regular bike commuter, bicyclists who ride the wrong way on streets really make life hard for everyone.

    I especially think its rude to be aggressive towards pedestrians when you're riding the wrong way on a street. Every once in a while I go the wrong way for like a block or something (because of messed up traffic patterns or something). Whenever I'm going the wrong way and someone doesn't see me I always, always, always slow down and give them the right of way.

    As a biker, it really sucks when someone passes you going the other direction in a bike lane. There is barely enough room for two bikes to pass each other, and usually one person gets pushed out into traffic. I really wish people wouldn't make a regular habit of it. In CH/FG its most frequently delivery riders who are the offenders.

    As for the bike lanes, they are absolutely imperative and they make everyone's life easier, from pedestrians to bikers to drivers. If pedestrians and drivers treat the bike lanes as they should (a regular lane of traffic reserved for bikes only), everything tends to run pretty smoothly.

    I agree with above posters that biking in the city is problematic because everyone is a aggressive towards everyone else (Cars v peds, cars v bikes, bikes v peds) and its just this self-perpetuating cycle.

    I think things will get better though. The more bike lanes we have, the more drivers will be used to sharing the road with bikes. The more bike lanes we have, the more secure bikers will feel and they'll have less of a need to be protectively aggressive.
  • arzan
    arzan
    daver wrote: And the situations you have described are definitely bogus.
    Well all we need now is a smart ass like you.

    How can you categorically state that the situations are bogus.

    Or are you just so full of yourself that anything that happens to anyone else that you dont agree to is bogus !!
  • arzan
    arzan
    Thanks to all (except smart ass "daver") for your responses.

    I appreciate your comments.
  • limestonekid
    limestonekid
    arZan wrote: [quote=daver]And the situations you have described are definitely bogus.
    Well all we need now is a smart ass like you.

    How can you categorically state that the situations are bogus.

    Or are you just so full of yourself that anything that happens to anyone else that you dont agree to is bogus !!

    Lighten up, brah.

    I think it's pretty clear from the context of daver's post that he's referring to the situations you've described as bogus (i.e. not good) and NOT whether you made up the situations.

    I ride my bikes a lot and the bike lanes are definitely needed. However what I think is needed even more is proper enforcement of traffic bylaws with regards to bike lanes. Which would include ticketing the jokers who ride down the one-way streets the wrong way.
  • daver
    daver
    arZan wrote: Thanks to all (except smart ass "daver") for your responses.

    I appreciate your comments.
    I've always thought of myself as more as a dumb ass than a smart ass, but whatever.

    Regardless of your baseless attacks against me, I still think that the bicyclists in the two situations you experienced were clearly jerks and totally in the wrong. Especially in that they reacted how they did after being clearly wrong to begin with.

    However, I have found that you can find jerks everywhere. Even on this board. :mrgreen:

    Peace and happiness to you, may you live your life at ease and find contentment.
  • anonymous
    anonymous
    Thought this was pertinent to the discussion:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/10/19/2007-10-19_two_bicyclists_killed_in_separate_brookl.html
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    Anonymous wrote: Thought this was pertinent to the discussion:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/10/19/2007-10-19_two_bicyclists_killed_in_separate_brookl.html
    I always wish there was more details when a biker gets killed. Was the biker wearing a helmet? Who had right of way? What exactly happened?

    It's tragedy whenever anyone dies but sometimes I see idiotic bikers, and sometimes I see idiotic drivers.
  • daver
    daver
    Boygabriel wrote: [quote=Anonymous]Thought this was pertinent to the discussion:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/10/19/2007-10-19_two_bicyclists_killed_in_separate_brookl.html
    I always wish there was more details when a biker gets killed. Was the biker wearing a helmet? Who had right of way? What exactly happened?
    And did he have a light, riding at 4am?
  • limestonekid
    limestonekid
    daver wrote: And did he have a light, riding at 4am?
    In this instance the cyclist was riding in the wrong direction and was trying to beat an oil truck. Not smart.

    http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/10/18/two-cyclists-killed-in-brooklyn-this-morning/


    @ daver...do you think you'll get an apology arZan after his little misguided rant?
  • daver
    daver
    LimestoneKid wrote: In this instance the cyclist was riding in the wrong direction and was trying to beat an oil truck. Not smart.

    http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/10/18/two-cyclists-killed-in-brooklyn-this-morning/
    Well, from those reports it would appear the the cyclist in this case unfortunately brought about his own demise, if they are accurate.
    LimestoneKid wrote: @ daver...do you think you'll get an apology arZan after his little misguided rant?
    Doesn't matter. People react rather than reflecting and responding. I would be annoyed except for the whole glass house thing. :mrgreen: I take no offense, as my intent was not to cause harm, and his reaction was in response to perceived harm. Falls under the broad category of "Oh well."
  • homeowner
    homeowner
    Looks like DOT is changing Bedford from three lanes north of Atlantic to two lanes and adding a bike lane. The placement of the bike lanes are the stupidest thing ever. Both Marcy and Classon are smaller streets with less commercial traffic that could be used by bikers to go north. Yet, they take the largest street with the most commercial traffic and add a bike lane which only means that there will be more commercial traffic illegally diverting onto the smaller streets which were not designed for them. Why not put the bikers on the less traveled streets rather than reducing what is a key route for trucks and buses?
  • arzan
    arzan
    LimestoneKid wrote:
    @ daver...do you think you'll get an apology arZan after his little misguided rant?
    I should be apologizing for what ?? For reacting when someone calls my story bogus. Incase you dont know the meaning of the word....
    Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
    bo·gus /ˈboʊgəs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[boh-guhs] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
    –adjective
    1.not genuine; counterfeit; spurious; sham.
    –noun
    2.Printing, Journalism. matter set, by union requirement, by a compositor and later discarded, duplicating the text of an advertisement for which a plate has been supplied or type set by another publisher.
    [Origin: 1825–30, Americanism; orig. an apparatus for coining false money; perh. akin to bogy1]

    —Synonyms 1. fraudulent, pseudo, fake, phony.
    Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
    Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
    This is from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bogus

    I stand by what I said. I completely agree with Daver, that there are jerks everywhere...even on this board...and even those having hundreds of posts to their names.
  • daver
    daver
    arZan, if you wish to continue to willfully misinterpret my words as an attack against you, that is on you. May you find happiness and peace, and may you live your life at ease.

    In other news, some further details have emerged in the recent deaths mentioned above, things don't appear quite as clearcut as first reported, surprise surprise.
    http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/10/19/details-emerge-in-brooklyn-cyclist-deaths/
  • boygabriel
    boygabriel
    homeowner wrote: Looks like DOT is changing Bedford from three lanes north of Atlantic to two lanes and adding a bike lane. The placement of the bike lanes are the stupidest thing ever. Both Marcy and Classon are smaller streets with less commercial traffic that could be used by bikers to go north. Yet, they take the largest street with the most commercial traffic and add a bike lane which only means that there will be more commercial traffic illegally diverting onto the smaller streets which were not designed for them. Why not put the bikers on the less traveled streets rather than reducing what is a key route for trucks and buses?
    Are the side streets wide enough for a bike lane? There's some strict measurement requirements that a street has to have to allow for a bike lane.

    Otherwise I'd be pretty surprised if DOT choose to put bikers on a busier street. It's not like us bikers would prefer to be there.
  • homeowner
    homeowner
    Marcy is two lanes, and Classon was two lanes and I believe it has now been converted to one. It seems to me that if they are going to take away a lane of traffic its better to do it here than on Bedford.
  • anonymous
    anonymous

    Subject: willoughby

    The problem with willoughby is there's no corresponding bike lane going the other direction. The one on myrtle, sort of inexplicably, goes the same way. This doesn't leave a lot of safe options for biking through the neighborhood without going ridiculously out of your way; you can ride the right way off-lane on myrtle, or take dekalb, and both are fairly narrow and full of the usual illegally parked cars, spaced out drivers and pedestrians, potholes, etc. The willoughby path's not ideal but (from a bike's perspective) seems marginally less dangerous than the other options. At least in the willoughby lane you're somewhat visible. Blame poor city planning; forcing a cyclist out of your way is pretty lame, though, regardless of their behavior.

    I had hopes they'd switch the myrtle lane over after repaving was finished, but no luck.
  • moncriefm
    moncriefm
    Oops, I completely misread your sentence: i see you didn't force the cyclist into the street on purpose (there are definitely drivers who do such things, though, even to cyclists in a bike lane going the right way; it happened to me yesterday so i had kind of a kneejerk reaction. Sorry!)

    Anyone who chooses to ride in the wrong direction takes his life in his hands, and anyone who does so without riding slowly and stopping for all other vehicles is a fool. I only meant that in certain rare instances the wrong way in a bike lane can seem slightly safer for all parties than the right way in the street.

    -m
  • dailyheights
    dailyheights
    Looks like this thread made the Brooklyn Papers:
    http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/42/30_42riotact.html
    ... A local blogger named arZan lit the fire this time, when he began a thread by recounting two incidents in which he had “literally been blindsided by cyclists who are traveling in the opposite direction of traffic.”

    Seems like a legitimate complaint. But then arZan extrapolated that “bicyclists are the worst offenders when it comes to traffic rules. They do not stop at stop signs or lights, cut in and out of traffic at their will and then when someone cuts them off, they throw a ruckus.”

    Then, a third commenter kindled the flames, retorting that, “There are just as many idiot pedestrians.”

    A commenter named Daver responded by listing the offenders in order of worst to best: pedestrians, cyclists and then drivers. (I wonder which one he is.)
  • arzan
    arzan
    Sorry to beat an old dead post back to life but....

    http://www.brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=53225

    This is a really sad incident which highlights exactly what I was trying to say two years ago.
Sign In or Register to comment.

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In

Categories