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I have a similar but slightly different issue: raging at bicycles while walking on the sidewalk. I've been hit twice, by completely unrepentant cyclists, and h

by e40 16y ago

I have a similar but slightly different issue: raging at bicycles while walking on the sidewalk. I've been hit twice, by completely unrepentant cyclists, and had near misses with scores of others. I will always give a dirty look at a cyclist on a sidewalk, the meanness in direct proportion with their speed. One that gets me: riding in a business district right next to open shop doors--someone could walk out and get seriously injured. For these cyclists, I will sometimes step in front of them (if I can safely) and nicely tell them to take it to the street.

bryanlarsen 16y ago
You're right, bicycles do belong on the street -- it's actually safer for them there (most accidents are at intersections, and the closer you are to the middle of the road, the more visible you are). However, far worse than pedestrian ragers are car ragers. There's something about being isolated in a bubble that turns ordinary people into ragers. And some of these car ragers believe that bicycles belong on sidewalks and deliberately endanger bicyclist lives to force them onto the sidewalk. There's no easy solution, but one is simply more bicyclists, making bicyclists a common site on roads.
dnsworks 16y ago
There's another side to this. In San Francisco it's illegal to ride your bicyclist on the sidewalk. I got knocked down pretty hard a week ago by a hipster douchebag on his fixie who decided he could go faster by switching from driving the wrong way down a 1 way street. He screamed at me, calling me a "fat ass", and stormed off while I laid there dazed. When people are in the wrong they know it, and they get especially angry when others notice it, often responding with passive or active aggression. Slow walkers decide they have entitlement to get in your way, and when they notice you're trying to sneak aroundthem, will actively make it difficult by swinging their bags out a bit further. As a pedestrian, my theory is if a car gets close enough to me in the crosswalk that I can kick it, I do. After getting knocked down the other day, I've been thinking lately I should adapt this to "if I can clothesline a bicyclist breaking the law, I should". #pedestrianrage
rue 16y ago
That's a completely different matter, though, in that it's not permissible to ride a bike on a sidewalk pretty much anywhere (here, we must use the bike path although I'd prefer the street which is the case elsewhere). It's reasonable to be upset at people breaking codified behaviour (law, even) – similar to a pedestrian walking down the road instead of the sidewalk. The intra-sidewalk issue of various pedestrians wandering around aimlessly, stopping randomly, walking inexplicably slowly &c. is the studied topic. I must admit, I get quite frustrated with the above though not to the point of being angry let alone enraged. I've always imagined that city people are better at passively taking others into account when moving but that might make an interesting study as well.

by e40 16y ago

bryanlarsen 16y ago

You're right, bicycles do belong on the street -- it's actually safer for them there (most accidents are at intersections, and the closer you are to the middle of the road, the more visible you are). However, far worse than pedestrian ragers are car ragers. There's something about being isolated in a bubble that turns ordinary people into ragers. And some of these car ragers believe that bicycles belong on sidewalks and deliberately endanger bicyclist lives to force them onto the sidewalk. There's no easy solution, but one is simply more bicyclists, making bicyclists a common site on roads.

dnsworks 16y ago

There's another side to this. In San Francisco it's illegal to ride your bicyclist on the sidewalk. I got knocked down pretty hard a week ago by a hipster douchebag on his fixie who decided he could go faster by switching from driving the wrong way down a 1 way street. He screamed at me, calling me a "fat ass", and stormed off while I laid there dazed. When people are in the wrong they know it, and they get especially angry when others notice it, often responding with passive or active aggression. Slow walkers decide they have entitlement to get in your way, and when they notice you're trying to sneak aroundthem, will actively make it difficult by swinging their bags out a bit further. As a pedestrian, my theory is if a car gets close enough to me in the crosswalk that I can kick it, I do. After getting knocked down the other day, I've been thinking lately I should adapt this to "if I can clothesline a bicyclist breaking the law, I should". #pedestrianrage

rue 16y ago

That's a completely different matter, though, in that it's not permissible to ride a bike on a sidewalk pretty much anywhere (here, we must use the bike path although I'd prefer the street which is the case elsewhere). It's reasonable to be upset at people breaking codified behaviour (law, even) – similar to a pedestrian walking down the road instead of the sidewalk. The intra-sidewalk issue of various pedestrians wandering around aimlessly, stopping randomly, walking inexplicably slowly &c. is the studied topic. I must admit, I get quite frustrated with the above though not to the point of being angry let alone enraged. I've always imagined that city people are better at passively taking others into account when moving but that might make an interesting study as well.