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I've ridden my bike to and from work in SF nearly every day for the past 4 years and have only once come close to being in an accident with a car. But every da

I've ridden my bike to and from work in SF nearly every day for the past 4 years and have only once come close to being in an accident with a car. But every day I see plenty of other cyclists making overly-aggressive moves that put themselves and other people in danger. You may claim that I'm blaming the victim, but from what I've observed many cyclists kind of enjoy a little (in their opinion) justified indignation at the behavior of car drivers. And they'll intentionally put themselves in positions to feel that justified rage. How many times have you seen a cyclist in the right-hand bike lane try to overtake a car signaling for a right turn while both are approaching an intersection, rather than yielding to the car who will clearly reach the intersection first? And then the cyclist acts surprised and offended when the driver begins to turn into them. Of course this is a recipe for disaster, and I see it multiple times per week from my position a safe distance back from the turning car, which I can observe and then safely pass on the left. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be safe on a bike. Just use your head and ride a bit defensively.

ibrahima 12y ago
Ugh, this is so true. As a (grad) student who bikes to campus, I hate dealing with drivers who have been conditioned by the inconsiderate other cyclists. I personally always yield to cars in right turn lanes and that sort of thing, but sometimes they also slow down because they're used to asshole cyclists cutting in front of them, so it just causes confusion and tension from both sides. Well, tension mostly on my side, because a mistake is much more costly to me than to the driver :(. I don't get why other people don't bike more defensively, it's terrifying to me.
- lamontcg 12y ago
  I've been going downhill at a reasonable clip and taking the center of the lane (because of speed and the hazards of card doors opening up suddenly) and had cars behind me be so impatient to pass me that they'll forget to check for oncoming traffic and nearly get into head on collisions with other cars. I also started pulling fully into the lane because even though I'm travelling at speed downhill I've had cars pass me, with about an inch to spare when there was oncoming traffic and they were nearly pulling into the other lane -- I've had to take the tactic to force them to choose between flat out murdering me or else getting into a head on collision if there's oncoming traffic. Another time there was construction with cones out and I went inside most of the cones and let cars by, but had to merge into traffic around a cone where the actual construction was happening -- and a car decided they couldn't be slowed down for a second by a bike in front of them and they passed me and ate a traffic cone and dragged it under their car for 2 blocks. Some people just completely lose it when they have a bike in front of them that is going to slow them down for even a second or two. I don't know if its rage or stupidity, but they get really, really dumb. I can't wait until manual driving on freeways and in major cities is just banned and everyone has to have their cars on computer control. All the road rage goes away, all the inattention, all the derp would just go away, and traffic would move faster, and all the headgames would be gone -- replace it all with google algorithms that know how to pass a bike safely.
swang 12y ago
The fact that bikes want to be treated as "cars" on the road (as in they want space and respect), but when their light is red all of a sudden they become tiny little passengers that can illegally cross the red light. I'm not talking about the ones that stop and look. I mean the ones that just fly straight through the light because they believe they have a few seconds before the cross traffic comes, which is true about 99% of the time. Then you get the 1% of the time a car decides to jump the light and goes early. Bikes are also extremely rude to pedestrians. I have never heard drivers yelling at pedestrians when they are crossing a cross-walk. I have however, been exiting a bus after there was an accident ahead and have had a bike barely stop in front of all the exiting passengers and scream, "HEY IM TRYING TO GET TO WORK HERE" as though everybody needs to get out of the way because he is very important. Also seen bikes try to go through when the pedestrians are trying to cross the street. Luckily it is nothing like that idiot that rammed his bike through the pedestrian crosswalk and killed a man just so he wouldn't have to slow down. Maybe the cyclists (in general) should stop being so aggressive, arrogant, and consider the actual people that have no protection from cyclists. Maybe then there won't be so many bike accidents. PS. It's a _BAD_ idea to cross your bike in front of a MUNI bus just so you can make it over to the intersection you somehow overbiked. Let the MUNI bus win. PPS. FFS wear a goddamn helmet.
- MrDom 12y ago
  > I have never heard drivers yelling at pedestrians when they are crossing a cross-walk. That's because they're inside soundproof boxes. They do it too, you just can't hear them. I know because I've done it. Same with motorcyclists and pedestrians yelling at bikers and cars. People get frustrated when they're trying to get someplace and can't, so they vent. This can't come as a surprise.
- lamontcg 12y ago
  Maybe you should stop making so many generalizations? There is the odd total idiot on a bike who blows through stop signs and stop lights without stopping and doesn't have a headlight and is dressed in all black without a helmet. There are a ton of other bicyclists who have flashing headlights, dress in bright yellow jackets, wear helmets and stop at intersections. What do you want the latter to do about the former? Its not like there's a meeting of bicyclists where we all get together and draw lots for who gets to be the idiot this week, and just because I ride my bike to work doesn't imbue me with any magical abilities to police the idiots out there. I suspect that you're not really looking for any kind of workable solution, though, and you're just butthurt about the one guy who did that one dumb thing to you, though, so please continue to vent uselessly about what "cyclists (in general)" should all do to appease your indignation.
sbilstein 12y ago
As a cyclist, driver, and pedestrian in SF this really is a tough city to be in. Drivers frequently stop in bike lanes, run red lights and roll through stop signs. I've also had many near misses in bike to bike collisions from other cyclists who don't think they need to stop ever. When I used to Caltrain, I've seen cars turn right without warning forcing me to a stop as often as I've seen cyclists try to overtake a signaling vehicle. When I jog on the embarcadero, road bikes whiz past in either direction despite the bike lanes right off the sidewalk. SF seems to be perpetually in a rush...you need to get around defensively and safely no matter how you are getting around,

ibrahima 12y ago

Ugh, this is so true. As a (grad) student who bikes to campus, I hate dealing with drivers who have been conditioned by the inconsiderate other cyclists. I personally always yield to cars in right turn lanes and that sort of thing, but sometimes they also slow down because they're used to asshole cyclists cutting in front of them, so it just causes confusion and tension from both sides. Well, tension mostly on my side, because a mistake is much more costly to me than to the driver :(. I don't get why other people don't bike more defensively, it's terrifying to me.

lamontcg 12y ago
I've been going downhill at a reasonable clip and taking the center of the lane (because of speed and the hazards of card doors opening up suddenly) and had cars behind me be so impatient to pass me that they'll forget to check for oncoming traffic and nearly get into head on collisions with other cars. I also started pulling fully into the lane because even though I'm travelling at speed downhill I've had cars pass me, with about an inch to spare when there was oncoming traffic and they were nearly pulling into the other lane -- I've had to take the tactic to force them to choose between flat out murdering me or else getting into a head on collision if there's oncoming traffic. Another time there was construction with cones out and I went inside most of the cones and let cars by, but had to merge into traffic around a cone where the actual construction was happening -- and a car decided they couldn't be slowed down for a second by a bike in front of them and they passed me and ate a traffic cone and dragged it under their car for 2 blocks. Some people just completely lose it when they have a bike in front of them that is going to slow them down for even a second or two. I don't know if its rage or stupidity, but they get really, really dumb. I can't wait until manual driving on freeways and in major cities is just banned and everyone has to have their cars on computer control. All the road rage goes away, all the inattention, all the derp would just go away, and traffic would move faster, and all the headgames would be gone -- replace it all with google algorithms that know how to pass a bike safely.

swang 12y ago

The fact that bikes want to be treated as "cars" on the road (as in they want space and respect), but when their light is red all of a sudden they become tiny little passengers that can illegally cross the red light. I'm not talking about the ones that stop and look. I mean the ones that just fly straight through the light because they believe they have a few seconds before the cross traffic comes, which is true about 99% of the time. Then you get the 1% of the time a car decides to jump the light and goes early. Bikes are also extremely rude to pedestrians. I have never heard drivers yelling at pedestrians when they are crossing a cross-walk. I have however, been exiting a bus after there was an accident ahead and have had a bike barely stop in front of all the exiting passengers and scream, "HEY IM TRYING TO GET TO WORK HERE" as though everybody needs to get out of the way because he is very important. Also seen bikes try to go through when the pedestrians are trying to cross the street. Luckily it is nothing like that idiot that rammed his bike through the pedestrian crosswalk and killed a man just so he wouldn't have to slow down. Maybe the cyclists (in general) should stop being so aggressive, arrogant, and consider the actual people that have no protection from cyclists. Maybe then there won't be so many bike accidents. PS. It's a _BAD_ idea to cross your bike in front of a MUNI bus just so you can make it over to the intersection you somehow overbiked. Let the MUNI bus win. PPS. FFS wear a goddamn helmet.

MrDom 12y ago
> I have never heard drivers yelling at pedestrians when they are crossing a cross-walk. That's because they're inside soundproof boxes. They do it too, you just can't hear them. I know because I've done it. Same with motorcyclists and pedestrians yelling at bikers and cars. People get frustrated when they're trying to get someplace and can't, so they vent. This can't come as a surprise.
lamontcg 12y ago
Maybe you should stop making so many generalizations? There is the odd total idiot on a bike who blows through stop signs and stop lights without stopping and doesn't have a headlight and is dressed in all black without a helmet. There are a ton of other bicyclists who have flashing headlights, dress in bright yellow jackets, wear helmets and stop at intersections. What do you want the latter to do about the former? Its not like there's a meeting of bicyclists where we all get together and draw lots for who gets to be the idiot this week, and just because I ride my bike to work doesn't imbue me with any magical abilities to police the idiots out there. I suspect that you're not really looking for any kind of workable solution, though, and you're just butthurt about the one guy who did that one dumb thing to you, though, so please continue to vent uselessly about what "cyclists (in general)" should all do to appease your indignation.

sbilstein 12y ago

As a cyclist, driver, and pedestrian in SF this really is a tough city to be in. Drivers frequently stop in bike lanes, run red lights and roll through stop signs. I've also had many near misses in bike to bike collisions from other cyclists who don't think they need to stop ever. When I used to Caltrain, I've seen cars turn right without warning forcing me to a stop as often as I've seen cyclists try to overtake a signaling vehicle. When I jog on the embarcadero, road bikes whiz past in either direction despite the bike lanes right off the sidewalk. SF seems to be perpetually in a rush...you need to get around defensively and safely no matter how you are getting around,