Salmoning poll

I ended up in West Town during the tail end of rush hour tonight, and saw a ridiculous amount of salmoning on the way there.... just wondering on average how often folks experience a rider coming at you going the wrong way.

How many times have you experienced it in the past week/month, and is there a place and time where you think you're more likely to encounter it? Have you noticed repeat offenders? Are there folks who seem to be doing it deliberately to endanger/scare the right-way riders?

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Permalink Reply by El Dorado on June 17, 2013 at 11:51am



Dann B (5.25 mi/8.75 mi) said:

It is absolutely not safer.  Drivers are taught to expect road traffic going in specific directions.  It's one thing if you are walking and easily able to leave the roadbed, bicycles do not have this luxury.  Not to mention that it is illegal as all hell and just tends to piss off drivers when they get confused.

But making eye contact or a head nod is important and helps drivers focus on the bike riders position. You may also get the make/model or even license plate if they hit you and run. Which, sadly, happens more often than people realize.

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on June 17, 2013 at 11:54am

Viva!

envane (69 furlongs) said:

About half my commutes while on Lawrence.  Always Mexicans.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on June 17, 2013 at 12:06pm

I was thinking I had not seen one in a long time, but today, as I headed north on Dearborn just south of Oak, a woman was riding southbound in the nice new painted bike lane.

BTW, have you all not figured out that El Dorado is a troll?

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on June 17, 2013 at 12:18pm

I confess I do it sometimes.  I do it when I need to take a shortcut and am convinced nobody is coming in the bike lane

Permalink Reply by daWillinChi on June 17, 2013 at 2:38pm
The first mile or so out of my neighborhood I salmon on Glenwood from Thorndale to Foster. It is a one way.
Permalink Reply by Eli on June 18, 2013 at 3:09am

The first mile or so out of my neighborhood I salmon on Glenwood from Thorndale to Foster. It is a one way.

Yes, we live in the same neighborhood, and I do sometimes cut across a one way street the wrong way for a block or two. I do this because:

  • all of the consistently two-way streets have heavy traffic, several lanes (making it very difficult to turn left at the many uncontrolled intersections), and no bike infrastructure at all (Broadway, especially Ridge which is full of drivers who just got off of Lake Shore Drive and haven't quite realized they should be back in "surface street" mode)
  • the side streets will change from one way, to two-way (or to one-way in the opposite direction!) from block to block with no apparent pattern which makes routefinding in strict accordance with all one-way rules difficult and liable to spit you out somewhere you don't want to be (e.g. at Clark and Thorndale on the east side of the street when you need to go south--you've got to cross into the left lane of pretty fast traffic, head north for a block to make a u-turn around the median (in the middle of the Clark/Elmdale/Peterson intersection), then cross two lanes of fast southbound traffic to get to the part of the street where it is safe to ride
  • the one-way side streets are very low traffic--I often continue on Glenwood southbound past Ridge (where it changes from two-way to one-way going north) to Bryn Mawr without encountering any other vehicles

I don't really like doing this but sometimes it is hard to avoid.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 18, 2013 at 3:14am

I understand why you might want to do this, due to the lack of quiet southbound streets that go more than a few blocks in this area.  Please, please, tell me that you're at least using lights at night.  I've had near misses so many times on that section of Glenwood with ninja salmon.  :(

J.A.W. 15.08 km said:

The first mile or so out of my neighborhood I salmon on Glenwood from Thorndale to Foster. It is a one way.
Permalink Reply by daWillinChi on June 18, 2013 at 3:21am

I traverse this route only on my way to work in the morning.

Permalink Reply by Josh Beard on June 18, 2013 at 3:30am

Every day on Dearborn, North of Kinzie.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 18, 2013 at 3:38am

No, I don’t understand. It’s laziness. Sorry, Will for calling you out here, but it is one of my major pet peeves. My alley exits onto Glenwood, and more than once when exiting the alley on my bike have I been yelled at by salmoners for interfering with what they perceive as a god-given right to salmon.

 

Besides, there are good alternatives:

  1. At Ridge, wait for the light to turn. Continue down Glenwood for 20 yards or so (yes, I know, it is salmoning). Then turn right onto Edgewater. At Clark, turn left and proceed with your normal route.
  2. At Ridge, wait for the light to turn. Turn left onto Ridge and continue down to Wayne. Take a right on Wayne. Don’t worry about traffic on Ridge. You will have turned right on Wayne before they get a green light again. Follow Wayne all the way south to Foster, turn right on Foster, left on Glenwood. Proceed with your normal route

 

Give it a try. You’ll like it

Anne Alt said:

I understand why you might want to do this, due to the lack of quiet southbound streets that go more than a few blocks in this area.  Please, please, tell me that you're at least using lights at night.  I've had near misses so many times on that section of Glenwood with ninja salmon.  :(

J.A.W. 15.08 km said:

The first mile or so out of my neighborhood I salmon on Glenwood from Thorndale to Foster. It is a one way.
Permalink Reply by Grace Van Moer 8.25 mi on June 18, 2013 at 5:00am

Definitely see it  - 3 or 4 times a week in various locations.

I will confess to one short salmon run:  on eastbound Grace where northbound Greenview makes a jog to the west.  It's 1/2 a block, just long enough to make me (a by-the-rules rider) completely nervous.  Was thinking yesterday how easy it would be for a car parked on the north side of the street to pull out without seeing me.  

Solution: walk my bike the 1/2 block?

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 18, 2013 at 5:05am

Good alternatives. Thanks for making the suggestion.  I usually just take Clark southbound in that area.  The area around Ridge isn't my fave, but I survive it.

Duppie 13.5185km said:

No, I don’t understand. It’s laziness. Sorry, Will for calling you out here, but it is one of my major pet peeves. My alley exits onto Glenwood, and more than once when exiting the alley on my bike have I been yelled at by salmoners for interfering with what they perceive as a god-given right to salmon.

 

Besides, there are good alternatives:

  1. At Ridge, wait for the light to turn. Continue down Glenwood for 20 yards or so (yes, I know, it is salmoning). Then turn right onto Edgewater. At Clark, turn left and proceed with your normal route.
  2. At Ridge, wait for the light to turn. Turn left onto Ridge and continue down to Wayne. Take a right on Wayne. Don’t worry about traffic on Ridge. You will have turned right on Wayne before they get a green light again. Follow Wayne all the way south to Foster, turn right on Foster, left on Glenwood. Proceed with your normal route

 

Give it a try. You’ll like it

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