abc7 Special Segment: Riding on the Edge "It's a complete ego thing"
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/special_segments&...
(Link safe for work. Includes video)
For those who cannot click link:
By Eric Horng
October 31, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Bicyclists on the streets of Chicago face many dangers, but they may put
themselves in that position and frequently frustrate others on the
road.
By law, bicyclists have to obey the same traffic lights and signs guiding drivers. In fact, the Secretary of State's office distributes
out a pamphlet spelling it all out. But many bicyclists in Chicago
follow their own rules.
In downtown Chicago during the afternoon rush, the lights and signs at several high-traffic
intersection that prevent chaos are ignored by bicyclist, after
bicyclist, after bicyclist.
"They kind of do what they want," one person said.
"It almost seems like they view themselves as above the law," said another.
Over the course of two days, ABC7 witnessed dozens of bicycle traffic
violations, from riders blowing through stop signs to bicyclists
ignoring red lights and snaking across traffic.
"They will cut in front of you. They will especially never stop at a stop sign," motorist Audrey Middleton said.
Bicyclists could also be seen riding in oncoming lanes, going the wrong
way down one-way streets, as well as riding on busy sidewalks and
failing to stop for emergency vehicles. Some also took up entire lanes
of traffic, all without signaling.
Pedestrian Carole Romano indicated she rarely saw bicyclists giving the appropriate hand signals.
"Oh, no, no," she said.
In some cases, it's not that bike riders won't stop. Sometimes, they
can't. Growing in popularity are fixed-gear bikes, which have no brakes.
The fact that they are illegal is part of the allure.
"It's a complete ego thing," one rider said.
Some bike riders speaking with ABC7 seemed less than concerned.
"I don't mean to break any laws or anything like that. That's just the way I ride my bike," bicyclist Marcos Orta said.
"We gotta get from point A to point B, and sometimes, no, we don't obey
the law because we're trying to get from point A to point B," rider
Bertram Davis said.
Chicago has long touted itself as bicycle-friendly, and Mayor Daley's administration has added miles of
bike lanes and expanded city bike programs. However, as the number of
bicyclists have grown, so have the number of accidents: from less than
1,200 in 2003 to more than 1,700 in 2008, according to the Illinois
Dept. of Transportation. That's a nearly 50-percent increase.
A leading bicycle advocacy group says bike riders are not to blame.
"Education and enforcement should be focused on where it can have the
greatest impact for everyone's safety, and that is obviously more
focused on motorists," said Ethan Spotts, Active Transportation Alliance
spokesman.
But not every bicyclist agrees.
"It's about bicyclists having equal rights but not special rights," Philip Martin said.
Martin is a former board member of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. He
says out-of-control behavior threatens the progress the bike community
has made.
"Cyclists need to become more responsible for themselves. Otherwise, we risk losing the support that we need to expand our programs," Martin said.
Bike riders can be ticketed just like drivers, but Chicago police and the Cook County Circuit Court
Clerk's Office could not determine for ABC7 Chicago, based on their
records, how many bicyclists have been ticketed in recent years.
In fact, ABC7 is told by the circuit clerk's office that there isn't a
separate bicycle ticket form and the standard ticket doesn't have a
section or category for bicyclists.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/special_segments&id=7757396
Views: 170
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris B on
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Somewhat appropriate:
http://washcycle.typepad.com/home/2008/07/the-myth-of-the.html
His point at the end:
"..cyclists aren't behaving any differently than drivers or pedestrians. They're taking liberties with law where they think it's safe to do so. Right or wrong, that is what every class does."
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Permalink Reply by J M on
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Thanks for noticing :-)
H3N3 said:This is one case where I think it;s great to have the whole article posted here.
Please keep all the commentary here rather than rewarding them with hits to their site and apparent "controversy" :-)
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Permalink Reply by Jay on
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Long time lurker, first time poster.
It's amazing how motorists "always" see cyclists breaking traffic laws, but when they hit a cyclist, the motorist never saw him & the cyclist came out of nowhere.
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Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on
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Hell that happened to me last night at Touhy and Riverside. Oh really, you're turning? Thanks for letting me know, oh, and get your f'ing headlights on - it's 6:30 at night!
Davo said:"Some also took up entire lanes
of traffic, all without signaling.
Pedestrian Carole Romano indicated she rarely saw bicyclists giving the appropriate hand signals.
"Oh, no, no," she said."
How often has anyone been cut off by a car that doesn't use their signals? I wonder how many drivers even notice if a cyclist is giving a signal. And the part of taking up the whole lane, well sometimes you have to do that. ABC what a great news source. They need more stories about keeping kids off the lawn and how great things used to be. This is why I like WGN, they at least have fun at doing news.
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Permalink Reply by Ryan L on
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I will start worrying about what a cyclist is doing after we figure out a way to force drivers to use their god damn turn signals. I swear only 20% of drivers use them in this city. The easiest thing you can do as a driver and yet people absolutely refuse to extend the common courtesy. I simply do not understand it. Why do so many drivers refuse to use their turn signals? Do a story on that media d-bags!
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on
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Awfully defensive reaction here.
I find that hardcore cyclists tend to assume that most people on bicycles are reasonably responsible riders, probably because they are and because most of the cyclists they know are. Some enormous percentage of riders are utterly clueless, though, and if you stand at any high traffic intersection and watch what goes on you'll be appalled at what you see. From goofs on fixies skidding through reds to morons riding against traffic without lights on at night, Chicago cyclists tend to be just as cretinous as drivers, and are absolutely deserving of this kind of abuse.
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Permalink Reply by Will on
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From one of the comments on the ABC site: "...if they blow a sign or run a light and cross my path I'm smashing into them and running them down..."
Seriously? You're going to commit murder (or publicly say you will) because a cyclist breaks a traffic law in front of you? What a moron.
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Permalink Reply by Rick norris on
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I think about twice as many drivers use turn signals as cyclists use hand signals. I never see anyone use hand signals, I do from habit of riding old choppers, I also use my signals in a car all the time.
Of course if a driver aint seeing a cycle he aint seeing the signal...But thats no excuse for not doing it at all.
I see people on bikes all the time talking on a cell phone, I am just amazed....I cant do it, cant hear over the road and wind noise, and don't get how they do it on a fixie with no brakes, more talent than I'll ever have I guess. I wonder how many of these cell phone talkin-no brake fixie riders are helmet nazis?
I think there probably is as many bad drivers as riders % wise.....
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Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on
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These motorists are pissed off because they can't be as cool as cyclists. So they really need to harp and pull out the worst examples so they can feel better about themselves even though they are worse and more dangerous than cyclists.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Zumwalt on
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Interesting.
I've done my part in following "the law" as much as possible but it seems that a car stopped at a light will honk at you to move out of the way.
They don't get what you're doing with your arm in the air.
I'm a little confused about the new pedestrian law requiring motorists to stop for people in the crosswalk. I mean there are numerous ones that have no light, sign so your just supposed to walk out in the street and hope people stop?
So basically I'm safer and "legal" if I stop riding, get off my bike then walk IN TRAFFIC.
Lastly there are more bike accidents because more people are riding bikes! DUH.
How about Chicago lose half it's driving population then see if the auto accident rate reduces.
And it might be an ego thing as I can go faster than the cta, or drivers along many routes during rush hour, don't need to pay for parking.
Chicago is a braggadocios city so now if someone does something better, faster than someone else it's problem?
Many people rely on bike messengers to deliver top secret messages and sandwiches... how about if you wait 15 minutes longer for that package, message, lunch because your guy was waiting at his/her 15th stoplight?
I didn't think so.
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Will V. said:From one of the comments on the ABC site: "...if they blow a sign or run a light and cross my path I'm smashing into them and running them down..."
Seriously? You're going to commit murder (or publicly say you will) because a cyclist breaks a traffic law in front of you? What a moron.
Some people will do that, I see it every CCM, and many times on my rides around town.
Then get scared when you bang on the window.
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Can't remember the source but I think the stats. for bike riding is measly, like 1% in Chicago so approx. 28,000 people, probably even less than that for bike commuters.
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