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 Eli on June 18, 2013 at 5:29am

Left onto Clark at Edgewater where there is no light is a little intimidating for me, but yes, the Wayne route is good and that is usually what I do although the constant speed bumps drive me crazy.

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 18, 2013 at 5:37am

There are speed bumps on Glenwood too, and the pavement on Glenwood is comically bad especially between Bryn Mawr and Ridge.

My main point of frustration is that this is nearly 3/4 of a mile of salmoning, this is not half a block or so to deal with a particular unsafe situation. That distance does justify moving over a block East or West.

Eli Naeher said:

Left onto Clark at Edgewater where there is no light is a little intimidating for me, but yes, the Wayne route is good and that is usually what I do although the constant speed bumps drive me crazy.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on June 18, 2013 at 5:38am

In the bike lane?? Hugely annoying if so.

Joshua Beard said:

Every day on Dearborn, North of Kinzie.

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Permalink Reply by daWillinChi on June 18, 2013 at 5:46am

You can call it whatever you want and thanks for the alternate routes:

1. I do this route, sometimes. I just thought that, hey, it's early enough. And I'm already salmoning this much, why not continue on. Most of the time, I turn on Bryn Mawr anyway.

2. I like this alternative. I will try this tomorrow morning. Like someone who posted somewhere here, Ridge just seems too harrowing of a route to me. But I can deal with 1 block

Duppie 13.5185km said:

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.

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.

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Permalink Reply by daWillinChi on June 18, 2013 at 5:47am

I don't mind the speed bumps. In fact, I favor speed bumps, as I can ride over them and pass all the cars that have to slow down on them.

Eli Naeher said:

Left onto Clark at Edgewater where there is no light is a little intimidating for me, but yes, the Wayne route is good and that is usually what I do although the constant speed bumps drive me crazy.

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Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on June 18, 2013 at 7:04am

The beauty of human language is that we can all use whatever term we want for anything. I am going to maintain that riding the wrong way down a one way street isn't salmoning.

There is plenty of room on most streets for bikes to travel in both directions. Conflicts with other bikes can be avoided by following the same traffic conventions we should all follow - ride on the right side of the street, yield the right of way when appropriate and look both ways before crossing any intersections (Or before leaving your alley if it exits onto a one way street) and don't ride at an inappropriate speed.

Of course given motor vehicle traffic riding the wrong way down a one way street is not safe and I don't recommend it. But to use the same term to categorize riders going the "wrong" way on a one way street as those who ride on the wrong side of the street is divisive and hugely counterproductive.

J.A.W. 15.08 km said:

You can call it whatever you want and thanks for the alternate routes.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on June 18, 2013 at 7:38am

I agree that it is confusing to use the term "salmoning" to describe both riding the wrong way down a one-way street and riding the wrong way in a bike lane.

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Permalink Reply by Maurice on July 1, 2013 at 5:35pm

This one was particularly bad, causing me to bump this thread.

Around noon today, I saw a group of 4 people on Divvy bikes riding ON THE SIDEWALK west on Grand in the River North area. Needless to say, the (fairly narrow) sidewalk was packed with pedestrians. Grand has a bike lane in this area, but all traffic is one-way going east.

The perps possibly were tourists coming from the Navy Pier area.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 2, 2013 at 3:16am

Riding the wrong way is always salmoning.

Alex Z said:

I agree that it is confusing to use the term "salmoning" to describe both riding the wrong way down a one-way street and riding the wrong way in a bike lane.