The Chainlink

From the "Virtually Impossible On A Bike, No Matter How Big A Jerk You Are" department: According to State Farm about 1 in 4 drivers admit to surfing the Web while driving.  

Don't take my word for it though... read more here.  Also, -1 Karma for the first Chainlinker who says they've seen a hipster texting as they ride.  Yep.  That happens.  The hipster who does this (a) is very rare and (b) does not weigh 3,000 lbs.

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... having sex...

Jeff Schneider said:

Other activities I have often seen drivers, but never cyclists,  doing:

Eating cereal etc., steering with knees

Shaving

Applying cosmetics

Reading a newspaper (sports page)

how about 'sleeping?' I've never fallen asleep on my bike. I've certainly never crashed into a person or tree or fire hydrant while sleeping behind the handlebars


mike w. said:

... having sex...

Jeff Schneider said:

Other activities I have often seen drivers, but never cyclists,  doing:

Eating cereal etc., steering with knees

Shaving

Applying cosmetics

Reading a newspaper (sports page)

A few years ago, I saw a driver veering erratically left and right in stop and go traffic, to the point where I needed to find out what the heck was going on before trying to get around them.  When I was able to look in I saw this woman was processing a mass mailing while driving-- stacks of envelopes all around the driver/passenger seat/dashboard etc.... stuffing, stamping, sealing, the whole bit.

I've seen drivers watching explicit pornography on video screens inside their car more than once.

We once hired a car to take us from Damascus to Amman. The driver had a DVD player in his dashboard with a small LCD screen, built right into the dash! He watched that most of the drive. That was far from the most shady thing to happen on that drive. 

When I was a kid, my neighbor tried to show off by putting his car into cruise control, rolling down his drivers' side window, sitting on it such that his torso and above was outside the car, and steering with his feet. It did not end well. Though, come to think of it, I have seen people do similar things on bikes. Just not at high speed. 

While I've seen plenty of bikes go the wrong way down one-way streets, I've never seen them do so in reverse, like so many drivers around here seem to do. If you're going to go the wrong way, wouldn't it at least be safer to do so while facing forward? 

Pro incendiary thread title, +1 will read. 

Siri's been pretty helpful enabling me to facepost and 'text' while biking but despite my best efforts I am not yet three thousand pounds. 

Well I get a minus 1 then. True anyone texting while biking will not kill anyone BUT they can be involved or cause an accident while riding  "fixed, no hands" up Milwaukee due to distraction or inability to avoid a pothole, car door, cabbie doing a sudden U-turn... and it's not that rare at all.

I remember this summer, watching a fixie no-hand it, with a phone in his hand (no idea if he was texting or listening to music) across Milwaukee heading S on Odgen.  He hit a bump mid-intersection, the front wheel went sideways and down he went, skidding the rest of the way across Milwaukee.  He declined any help and went to sit on the sidewalk to ride out the pain.

Mike Zumwalt said:

Well I get a minus 1 then. True anyone texting while biking will not kill anyone BUT they can be involved or cause an accident while riding  "fixed, no hands" up Milwaukee due to distraction or inability to avoid a pothole, car door, cabbie doing a sudden U-turn... and it's not that rare at all.

Same thing happened to me while taking off my jacket while riding one time. Not fun. 

If I'm gonna go no handed and talk on a phone (i pull over to do that IRL), I'd much rather be riding fixed. At least you can slow yourself down.

BootsyC said:

I remember this summer, watching a fixie no-hand it, with a phone in his hand (no idea if he was texting or listening to music) across Milwaukee heading S on Odgen.  He hit a bump mid-intersection, the front wheel went sideways and down he went, skidding the rest of the way across Milwaukee.  He declined any help and went to sit on the sidewalk to ride out the pain.

Mike Zumwalt said:

Well I get a minus 1 then. True anyone texting while biking will not kill anyone BUT they can be involved or cause an accident while riding  "fixed, no hands" up Milwaukee due to distraction or inability to avoid a pothole, car door, cabbie doing a sudden U-turn... and it's not that rare at all.

we dispatch our work via smartphone app, so in the messenger realm using your smartphone in traffic is business as usual. 

I have smelled pot smoke coming from cars many times when I've ridden past. Not sure on the laws or not but I assume that is similar to the standard DUI. The few times I've caught people texting/driving was not teenagers but middle age women.

I'd rather be hit by a texting hipster riding a fixie than a two-ton car operated by a person trying to text and drive..

Chi Lowe 12.5+ mi said:

Nope, but by the numbers, no where near as common as people driving 3,000 lb death machines while doing it.  No matter how common, it's not even close.

Mike Zumwalt said:

Well I get a minus 1 then. True anyone texting while biking will not kill anyone BUT they can be involved or cause an accident while riding  "fixed, no hands" up Milwaukee due to distraction or inability to avoid a pothole, car door, cabbie doing a sudden U-turn... and it's not that rare at all.

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