Think of this as a Missed Connection.
You blew the red light east bound on Lawrence at Damen at 5:26 pm this evening.
There was enough time for the biker in front of me to make it half way into the intersection, northbound on Damen, before you came whizzing past my front wheel.
I yelled "You're an idiot!" at your big haired chick, self, and you looked back at me. I meant it!
I woulda testified for any of the cars, that managed to not kill you, if they had.
Keep riding like a tard!
love,
gabe
Witness bad behavior during your commute? Feel free to post. Maybe that lovely human can read it and think they are famous. Maybe you can also inspire the whole generation of kids to shower but we can start with small things.
Views: 105631
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tim S on
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Reminds me of two fellas that were walking down the middle of the lane just north of the Fullerton Project in an altered state walking like crazy Ivan’s forcing bikes and pedestrians to try to guess where they were going. Old man on a beach cruiser almost slam into me on as they scared him. I called out DUDE to one of them and his wild eyes and big ass laughing mouth told me to continue on.
Sad that there are a-holes that feel it is okay to cause trouble just for the sake of causing trouble.
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Permalink Reply by Tandemonium on
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To the person driving a black car 20-30mph Southbound on LFP between Addison and Belmont tonight around 6:30pm. Wow. Thought about corking you from a distance to get your information but promptly changed my mind seeing how fast your were going. The other cyclist I crossed paths was equally amazed. Hopefully somebody had a GoPro tonight....
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Permalink Reply by Vilda on
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Cyclists don't listen but venting is cathartic.
If you ride SE on Clybourn regularly you should know that the NW bound lights get a turn arrow with their green lights. The light at Costco, the light at Jewel the light at Webster...
You're opinion of red lights and stopping does not matter if the car making a legal left turn kills you.
I don't think it's any simpler than that.
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Permalink Reply by V W on
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This morning I'm biking down Washington on my way to work, I catch up to this 20 something woman on a road bike at the Ashland red light- the light turns green and I take off faster than her (we were both at a stop so it wasn't shoaling- it was me being faster). A ways up the road as I slow to a stop at the red light on Des Plaines she passes me (going fast toward the red light just to beat me to the front of the line I suppose, as now there are other bikes at the light behind some cars). I slowly pull up to her and pass her on her right - again we are still just posturing and positioning ourselves at the same red light on des plaines (apparently she takes great offense to my crawling past her on her right even though I'm going slow and giving her plenty of space). She yells at me "learn how to f@$%ing bike" twice.
As she takes off she yells that while also swerving towards me as if I'm the one that created this dangerous situation when she could easily avoid me and there's plenty of room to maneuver.
It was too early in the morning and I have no patience to engage in drama so I just gave her a blank stare and that seemed to throw her off. Of course once the light changed I once again took off much faster than everyone and left them a few blocks behind.
I'm not inclined to engage with someone when they start off that rudely. My first instinct would be to shout back and I'm not going to do that. I'm also not going to waste time informing her that I think she's being pretty unnecessarily persnickety and self righteous.
Yes people shouldn't pass on the right but we were at a light and I was moving at a crawl. I also don't see why she thinks she should be in the front of the line when I was clearly the faster one. I see cyclists break all kinds of rules of the road all the time, and I'm not going to get all shouty about it nor even resort to the "well meaning cyclist" approach. I go on about my business. Whatever harm they're doing doesn't outweigh the benefit derived from having a permissive welcoming attitude for cyclists.
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Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on
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Her response seems a bit extreme, but you were displaying poor etiquette on two levels.
No, you don't pass people on the right, and being at a light doesn't change that. Second, you shouldn't side up next to people while queuing at a stoplight in the first place. There is no "right" to overtake a slower cyclist unless you can do it safely by taking the lane on the left, just like a motorized vehicle. I don't care how many people on Milwaukee Avenue behave as if being at a stoplight entitles them to push ahead of people and jockey for position as if they are competing at the Kentucky Derby, they're still wrong.
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There were two cyclists sided up in front of us at that stop light, apparently buddies riding shoulder to shoulder, effectively occupying one car lane. When I pulled up to her right I wasn't jockying past them, and I wasn't crowding the lane any more than it already was.
I generally do pass on the left (and in this case once the light changed I did pass everyone on the left), but there are times when there's a slow cyclist way over on the left and plenty of space on the right and once in a while in those cases I will go right, giving a wide berth.
I don't think every little infraction is worth the finger wagging. As that Idaho stop demonstration showed (where the cyclists lined up and came to a complete stop at the stop sign resulting in backed up traffic) if we are a stickler about every little rule and take it to its logical conclusion it can often result in absurdity.
And if someone is going to finger wag over something, I just hope they pick their battles well, and don't go into it as a battle and without the road rage.
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Permalink Reply by Maurice on
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People are really bizarrely obsessed with who can cycle the fastest. I'm just trying to get to work without getting hit by a truck. I can do this without shoaling or passing on the right or ignoring other road users who have the right of way. It might slow me down a little bit, but BFD. If I want to race, then I'll enter a race.
As a person who commutes by bike every day, I'm going to get there faster than the average person. Not because I'm some kind of speedster or because I'm trying to outrace everybody else, but simply because I bike every day and most people don't. If you pass me because you're faster, then I'll tip my hat to you and resume trying to not get hit by a truck. If you pass me because I'm slowing for a red light or a stop sign where somebody else has the right of way, then you need to check yourself.
I recently was passed while slowing for a truck who beat me to a 4-way stop. Dude who was behind me blew past me and through the stop sign without even slowing down. I'm sure he thought he was being very polite when he said "on your left." He certainly was confused when I caught up with him 2 blocks later and mentioned that he should've stopped for the truck. Or perhaps he was confused how I caught him so quickly, having convinced himself through his dickweed cycling that he was faster.
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I'm certainly not a speed demon normally. I have one bike that I consider fast and that's the one I rode today. My others are hefty and slow. And I bike everywhere everyday year round and and have done so with relatively few incidents over the last three years. I don't disagree that there should be rules of the road and that etiquette is a good thing. But if we strictly and inflexibly regulate (or take it upon ourselves to self regulate) every little breach of rules/etiquette, if we have this notion that there is one divinely inspired right way to bike, that can lead to an unwelcoming overly punitive environment for cyclists- and I think people often lose sight of that in their adrenaline fueled outbursts (and coffee fueled blogs).
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I'm going to disagree with you here (hopefully politely).
Rules of the road are inflexible by design - we can't have people coming into a city as densely populated as Chicago and just making up road rules to suit their personal preferences. Whether people like it or not, there is one right way to ride a bike on City streets, and it isn't terribly complicated IMO - but it does mean that sometimes people have to go slower than they'd like & spend a half block behind someone slower before they pass.
"and I wasn't crowding the lane any more than it already was."
Do the right thing, not what "everyone else" is doing. This is the logical fallacy that builds on itself until biking on the street is unpleasant for everyone.All this said, screaming obscenities at fellow cyclists is counterproductive, there are right ways and wrong ways to let people know they are doing things improperly. Barring an immediate threat to my safety I wouldn't ever yell at another cyclist, there's too much risk of startling someone and causing an accident.
Unfortunately Milwaukee is beyond redemption in its current state - and the addition of 1,500+ "transit oriented" housing units over the next few years is only going to exacerbate the situation. At some point they need to balance the affordable housing set asides with a pool of money the developers kick in to buy out the LAZ parking spaces. We need to get rid of an entire lane of parking on Milwaukee at least through Logan Square and Avondale.
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You certainly are polite and i appreciate that. The same article you cite below seems to disagree with you on the inflexible part (see the part I quote below). I agree about how messed up Milwaukee is. I used to live in avondale and had to take Milwaukee twice a day everyday downtown and back for a year. It was always an uncomfortable experience.
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"If you pass me because you're faster, then I'll tip my hat to you and resume trying to not get hit by a truck. If you pass me because I'm slowing for a red light or a stop sign where somebody else has the right of way, then you need to check yourself."
Happened again in each of the past 2 days. Most recently, dude riding a black bike at night with no lights and dark clothing tries to silently pass on the right as we approached an intersection. I actually slowed down to let him in because he was about to either crash into the rear of a parked car or try to force me into traffic. Passed him with an "on your LEFT" 20 seconds later, after traffic cleared. smh
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Noted scholar and gentleman Steven Vance sums it all up quite nicely:
http://tinyfixbikegang.com/dont-bike-like-a-dickweed-10-rules-for-n...
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