People for Bikes hops on the "blame the cyclists" bandwagon
Should be well-received, since most cyclists these days seem to think that other cyclists are their biggest problem.
http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/the-gorilla-in-the-room#ke...
Views: 1317
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on
-
It's worth bearing in mind with all the Oh Goodness The Mixed Colloquialism In The Room Is Lawless Cyclists hand-wringing: cyclists obey the traffic laws more than motorists, and most of the cyclist and pedestrian deaths happened because a motorist broke the law.
IMO the problem with the article is that it presents the dangerous behaviors of motorists as immutable forces of nature, but then blames the occasional cyclist who ever gets loosy-goosy with "breeding mistrust and anger," and then tries to draw some equivalency between a car hitting a cyclist and a person slapping the hood of a car.
All of the calls for "personal responsibility" have to land on the shoulders of the cyclists. So you know what, if we're the only ones expected to take any responsibility, we get to be "holier than thou" all we want.
-
Permalink Reply by globalguy on
-
+1
Duppie 13.5185km said:This.
On the Dearborn bikelane, the current crown jewel of Chicago bike infrastructure, I see a lot more bicyclists stopping for red lights than anywhere in the city. Makes me believe that if you design truly complete streets the scofflaw behavior of bicyclists will diminish.
-
-
I can definitely attest to being more weavy and inclined to blow a light if it's possible in the loop and near north than anywhere that is not massively threatening, mainly to stay out of the way of the crush of cars that aren't paying attention.
Particularly when a line of cars is just amblin' into the bike lane like it's nothing.
Duppie 13.5185km said:This.
On the Dearborn bikelane, the current crown jewel of Chicago bike infrastructure, I see a lot more bicyclists stopping for red lights than anywhere in the city. Makes me believe that if you design truly complete streets the scofflaw behavior of bicyclists will diminish.
-
-
It's also important to remember who and what "People for Bikes" is - the in-house non-profit of the bicycle industry. Thus they tend to parrot the commonly accepted approaches to transport policy, i.e. "individual bikers need a much needed dose of personal responsibility rather than safer streets ..."
Peenworm "8 mile" Grubologist said:It's worth bearing in mind with all the Oh Goodness The Mixed Colloquialism In The Room Is Lawless Cyclists hand-wringing: cyclists obey the traffic laws more than motorists, and most of the cyclist and pedestrian deaths happened because a motorist broke the law ...
-
Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on
-
Only 12% of crashes are attributed to cyclists who run red lights and stop signs in Chicago.
Peenworm "8 mile" Grubologist said:
It's worth bearing in mind with all the Oh Goodness The Mixed Colloquialism In The Room Is Lawless Cyclists hand-wringing: cyclists obey the traffic laws more than motorists, and most of the cyclist and pedestrian deaths happened because a motori...
-
Permalink Reply by Davo on
-
When we refer to people running red lights, do we mean not stoping at all or stoping, seeing that you can cross, and then crossing?
-
Permalink Reply by Anne on
-
Well, of course the cyclists made sure there was no cross traffic before running the red, so no injuries. I'm sure the dozen or so cars stopped at the light had the same thoughts as I did.
There was an occasion this summer at that same intersection where I was stopped going southbound, and, if you are familiar with that intersection, traffic with the green coming eastbound down Linden have little if no visibility to southbound Sheridan traffic (it's uphill right there). Another cyclist blew past me without warning at about 18mph - had a car been crossing he would have been smashed.
h' 1.0 said:That's terrible. Do you know how many were injured?
Anne said:As an ex-light runner, I am unashamed to yell at cyclists running lights now.
At Linden and Sheridan, just south of Bahai Temple, I lost my sh*t as half a dozen riders during the North Shore stopped, then blew, the light there.
The gorilla in the room is US
-
-
both scenarios, in my observation.
without regard or respect, it's a constant us vs. them scenario with cyclists on their own rules and drivers driving in the bike lanes (hey, no one is using it, right?)
Davo said:When we refer to people running red lights, do we mean not stoping at all or stoping, seeing that you can cross, and then crossing?
-
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on
-
I don't particularly like seeing those sort of things either, but coming at it from another direction-- if you look at the cyclist fatalities one by one in Chicagoland, maybe one tenth of them can be attributed to reckless behavior of the cyclist. I certainly wish they had not made the tragic choices that they did, but the proverbial elephant takes up much more than 10% of the proverbial room.
Anne said:Well, of course the cyclists made sure there was no cross traffic before running the red, so no injuries. I'm sure the dozen or so cars stopped at the light had the same thoughts as I did.
There was an occasion this summer at that same intersection where I was stopped going southbound, and, if you are familiar with that intersection, traffic with the green coming eastbound down Linden have little if no visibility to southbound Sheridan traffic (it's uphill right there). Another cyclist blew past me without warning at about 18mph - had a car been crossing he would have been smashed.
h' 1.0 said:That's terrible. Do you know how many were injured?
Anne said:As an ex-light runner, I am unashamed to yell at cyclists running lights now.
At Linden and Sheridan, just south of Bahai Temple, I lost my sh*t as half a dozen riders during the North Shore stopped, then blew, the light there.
The gorilla in the room is US
-
Permalink Reply by WillG on
-
Anne, out of curiosity, do you yell at people crossing against the signal on foot as well?
Anne said:As an ex-light runner, I am unashamed to yell at cyclists running lights now.
At Linden and Sheridan, just south of Bahai Temple, I lost my sh*t as half a dozen riders during the North Shore stopped, then blew, the light there.
The gorilla in the room is US
-
-
I appreciate Anne's willingness to make some noise out of concern for others.
I yell at drivers to slow down all the time (more often when on foot than on the bike.)
Might have to learn to disappear into a store or some bushes after doing so though...
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/driver-accused-of-killing-detroi...)
Will G - 10mi said:Anne, out of curiosity, do you yell at people crossing against the signal on foot as well?
Anne said:As an ex-light runner, I am unashamed to yell at cyclists running lights now.
At Linden and Sheridan, just south of Bahai Temple, I lost my sh*t as half a dozen riders during the North Shore stopped, then blew, the light there.
The gorilla in the room is US
-
-
Well said.
echo said:Completely agree. I was very disappointed in this article and their focus on "personal responsibility."
Is helping people on bikes be 'better' at biking (predictable, etc) a BAD thing? No. Having people follow traffic rules (when they make sense) isn't bad. And I think people get caught up in that.
But the problem is when resources (time, energy, attention, FUNDING) are allocated to such individual-level (victim blaming) programs without also addressing the more community- or culturally-wide problems.
It also reinforces everyone else's attitudes that cyclists are to blame for their lack of safety. So then people who drive, etc get to go on believe that THEY don't have to change their behavior.
To make communities better for cycling and walking, and not just driving, it's all a piece of the big puzzle...but this whole personal responsibility ideology is a much smaller piece than, say, make sure people in CARS don't blow red lights, or don't speed, or don't door cyclists. That will do more for keeping cyclists safe than telling cyclists how to "be better."
Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:I always try to ride predictable and safely, but the burden of safety should be on those more capable of inflicting harm (people driving cars).
There's a reason that dangerous things require licenses (e.g. driving, guns, etc.) It's like blaming someone for getting shot, but not placing any of the responsibility on the shooter.
- ‹ Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- Next ›
Groups
-
Chicagoland Beer Explora…
203 members
-
Chicago Ride of Silence
118 members
-
Critical Mass discussion
262 members
-
Chicago Randonneurs
269 members
-
Walk Bike Transit
63 members
© 2008-2016 The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.
Powered by
