WBEZ's Afternoon Shift Discusses the Biker/Driver Division in "Pet Peeves"

If you aren't listening right now (27 July, 2-3 pm) or didn't hear it, check out the Pod Cast here! Am I the only one or has this whole "War on Cars/War on Bikes" appeared out of nowhere? Seems like it's a rehash of the usual arguments by the usual characters.

Share the Road:  Rahm Emanuel has said that he wants to make the Windy City “the bike-friendliest city in the country.” We may be getting closer to that goal; earlier this year, Bicycling Magazine rated Chicago the fifth most bike-friendly city in the nation. Still, anyone who has braved the streets in a car or a bike knows that sharing them is often easier said than done.  We ask drivers and cyclists to weigh in with their experiences of co-existing on the roadways. Plus, Chicago Department of Transportation Bike Safety and Education Manager Charlie Short will be on-hand to clear up any discrepancies on cycling rules.

Is it the slow summer news cycle? Is The Afternoon Shift trying to establish its hip creds?  What's up?

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Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on July 27, 2012 at 9:34am

Particularly in the context of city bike rep's other advice which is to stay on major arterial streets with stoplights instead of side streets.

Permalink Reply by Matt Tennessen on July 27, 2012 at 12:48pm
I understood the context of his comments (the ones you take issue with) to be: pass on the left when a car is indicating a right turn or parking which I think is both safe and appropriate. In regards to taking main roads instead of side streets, it was in relation to the stopsign issue. If you're making a reasonable argument against coming to a full stop at all stopsigns, then take a route with stoplights as you're likely able to time them better. But I too thought the segment was a little lazy.


Peenworm Grubologist said:

Particularly in the context of city bike rep's other advice which is to stay on major arterial streets with stoplights instead of side streets.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 28, 2012 at 3:00am

Whereas it becomes painfully obvious which bicyclists actually ride their bike(s) on actual Chicago city streets every day -and which do not.

Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on July 28, 2012 at 6:19am

It could've been, but (and it's been a full day which included a friday night since the broadcast so I could easily be getting fuzzy in the recall) iirc it was in answer to a question about overtaking vehicles, and the answer was "bicycles are traffic so they need to follow the traffic rules" which is different than the turning vehicle guidelines of staying to the left of a right-turning vehicle and stay on the right side of the left turn lane when turning left.

If you're stopping for all of the stop signs then arterial streets make more sense, but would make passing on the left (as opposed to getting around turning vehicles) loads more dangerous.

Matt Tennessen said:

I understood the context of his comments (the ones you take issue with) to be: pass on the left when a car is indicating a right turn or parking which I think is both safe and appropriate. In regards to taking main roads instead of side streets, it was in relation to the stopsign issue. If you're making a reasonable argument against coming to a full stop at all stopsigns, then take a route with stoplights as you're likely able to time them better. But I too thought the segment was a little lazy.


Peenworm Grubologist said:

Particularly in the context of city bike rep's other advice which is to stay on major arterial streets with stoplights instead of side streets.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on July 28, 2012 at 8:06am

This is the kind of thinking that progresses when bad ideas like "bicycles are traffic and should follow all the rules of auto traffic" are followed to their logical conclusion.

A house built on a shaky foundation will not stand...

Idaho stop NOW.  

That would solve a lot of this stupidity.  Just codify the behavior that 99.9% of bicyclists are already doing, and for the most part has been working fine.    Punish only those who fail to yield the right of way to cross or turning traffic when it is present.  Those who do yield and slide on through a stop sign when there is no cross traffic should be able to continue treating stop signs as true yield signs.    

I've seen a lot of folks who claim to be for "following all the rules" but when on the bike they don't practice what they preach.  There is a word for this in the English language.  It starts with the letter H and ends with ypocritical. 

Peenworm Grubologist said:

It could've been, but (and it's been a full day which included a friday night since the broadcast so I could easily be getting fuzzy in the recall) iirc it was in answer to a question about overtaking vehicles, and the answer was "bicycles are traffic so they need to follow the traffic rules" which is different than the turning vehicle guidelines of staying to the left of a right-turning vehicle and stay on the right side of the left turn lane when turning left.

If you're stopping for all of the stop signs then arterial streets make more sense, but would make passing on the left (as opposed to getting around turning vehicles) loads more dangerous.


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