Didn't your mother tell you to look both ways...

There's a select group of pedestrians who do not understand how to cross the street safely. It really requires looking in both directions and just having sense in general. They're like children diving into the streets to retrieve a stray ball without a single thought.

As a result, I believe at one point (if not several) most cyclists will hit a pedestrian. Sadly, sometimes it's just completely unavoidable. I find it terrifying but can also really see the humor at points. I've heard some awful stories and some that just were downright hysterical.

So lets hear 'em!

Last year I was going down Clark and I noticed this guy on the corner who had just come out of McDonalds with what looked like about 50 bucks worth of food. I kept my eye on him as I got closer to the intersection. He decided to run across before traffic caught up. I started yelling at him to move. Traffic whizzing by to my left, more people on the corner to my right. He didn't move, I had nowhere to go, boom. Time stood still for a second as we were both suspended in the air among a flurry of french fries and burgers. The cup of pop hit the ground and blew out in every direction. He didn't say a thing.

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Permalink Reply by mike w. on March 6, 2009 at 7:36am
br/>Oh jesus, please tell me the average cyclist has enough compassion to avoid running over a pedestrian because they have empathy for others, rather than purely out of self preservation or or fear of negative personal consequences."


Well, if compassion and empathy aren't enough -or are absent- then self preservation and fear of negative personal consequences will have to do, won't they?
Permalink Reply by Jim "Niterider" on March 6, 2009 at 9:00pm
I can remember 4 times that I have run over peds. The worst was a jogger in Deerfield that I hit from behind back in the 90's. I said "passing on your left", so she moved over right in front of me. I caused her a dislocated shoulder, along with brusies, bumps, scrapes and cuts. She had on headphones so that helped to get her hit since she did not understand me that well. The second one was a gal getting out of her SUV in North Chicago. She never checked for traffic and walked right in front of me. WHAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She got up real quick and started to yell and swear at me. I got bacon on my knees along with road rash up and down both legs. The 3rd time a ped was drinking a beer in the street in Kenosha and taking a leak at the same time last year in June. He was trying to walk and was staggering all over and passed out in front of me before I hit him. Stupid bastard then threw up on me when I tried to move him out of the street. He did minmal damage to me besides blowing chunks on me. I knocked him on his ass only going 10 mph. The last one was during 4th of July fireworks last year in Kenosha. Dummy was talking on his cell phone and decided to cross the street. He looked at me and expected me to stop and started to walk. He stopped in the middle and continued to talk. As I was getting ready to pass him, he turned quickly and we collided. He stunk of booze. He got up and wanted to start a fight. He puched me twice before I could get up and I when I got up forced me to open a can of whoop ass on him. Thanks for bike helmets, I head butted him twice. That was all it took before he embraced cowardness and ran like hell with me riding after him. I chased him a block before I stopped. Dummy ran in front of guy and gal on a Harley and got an asswhipping from the rider while I watched and laughed. Yeah, peds and bikers do not mix well together. Like gasoline and matches. Fine apart and harmless; put them together, BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Permalink Reply by mike w. on March 7, 2009 at 3:49am
Jim "Niterider" said:
(edit...) Yeah, peds and bikers do not mix well together. Like gasoline and matches. Fine apart and harmless; put them together, BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And THAT'S exactly why i stay away from mixed-use paths, especially in Chicago.

Great stories, and i'm sure there are a lot of similar experiences here.
Permalink Reply by vxla on March 7, 2009 at 4:29am
Re: post Cubs game Clark Street. If you choose to ride your bike up Clark Street after a game, then deal with it. No amount of being pissed off is going to fix the problem, nor will any amount of trying to deal with mob mentality. Turn at any of the other streets and take an alternative route (Racine works beautifully).

Too often cyclists seem to get pissed off about something that they can just deal with in other ways.
Permalink Reply by RodimusPrime on March 11, 2009 at 2:38pm
Today in the loop I was turning right as a guy on his iphone was texting or whatever j-walked with his head down and i almost ALMOST ran over his leather shoes. To which, I received a nice ol push and smack on the head. I decided to not make anything of it.

and then, on Randolph, crossing Wacker, girl is j-walking, only looking forward, and only stopped when I yelled HEY the second time, with people waving at her. .

seriously. .

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