The Chainlink

You blew the red light east bound on Lawrence at Damen at 5:26 pm this evening.

 

There was enough time for the biker in front of me to make it half way into the intersection, northbound on Damen, before you came whizzing past my front wheel.

 

I yelled "You're an idiot!" at your big haired chick, self, and you looked back at me. I meant it!

 

I woulda testified for any of the cars, that managed to not kill you, if they had.

 

Keep riding like a tard!

love,

gabe

 

Witness bad behavior during your commute? Feel free to post. Maybe that lovely human can read it and think they are famous. Maybe you can also inspire the whole generation of kids to shower but we can start with small things.

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I see Gene all the time.  I can usually tell how early or late I am by when I see him.

GOTCHA. It wasn't clear to me, but it is now and I concur.

Steve Weeks said:

I think this is pretty clear: "We will never be generally accepted and respected unless and until the majority of us act like we are traffic."

What I mean is that respect and tolerance tend to be mutual and reciprocal. I'm sure there are car drivers who, seeing a biker burn a red light, think "Yeah, I'd totally do that." But I'd bet that more drivers see it as an "us-versus-them" thing, and it pisses them off. I suppose it's possible that there are riders who have never driven a car, so they don't know the other side of that coin, but others just turn off that part of their brain when they hop on a bike. The Golden Rule really applies here ("Do as you would be done by.")

The present "Wild West" lifestyle emulated by a significant portion of the cycling community is only possible because law enforcement generally seems turn a blind eye to cyclists' behavior (another thing that probably pisses off the more volatile motorists). If riders started getting citations for traffic infractions there might be a big change in behavior. But since that is not likely to happen, the only way to improve the motoring public's perception of cyclists is for riders to follow (reasonably closely!) the laws that apply to them, and ride with conspicuous consideration for motorists.

I must say I don't hold out much hope for this, because the majority of riders I see in traffic don't seem to have any consideration for other bicyclists, let alone motorists. I'd like to be wrong about this.

Steve



Matt Talbert said:

Please elaborate.

Steve Weeks said:

This is the "glass ceiling" for cycling IMO. We will never be generally accepted and respected unless and until the majority of us act like we are traffic.

Dear Lady who decided to have her mate pull over in the bike lane to pick her up,

Yes I rode through and said excuse me you are in the bike lane. As for your response that I should get off my high horse. I was not riding a horse. I was riding a bike, in the bike lane. 

The guy who you think is a total asshole. 

Too bad you couldn't show her this: Parking in Bike Lanes. Also too bad the police probably don't care.

Steve

Huck1eberry said:

Dear Lady who decided to have her mate pull over in the bike lane to pick her up,

Yes I rode through and said excuse me you are in the bike lane. As for your response that I should get off my high horse. I was not riding a horse. I was riding a bike, in the bike lane. 

The guy who you think is a total asshole. 

I almost stopped and struck up a conversation. But I knew it wouldn't have done any good. You can't change the mind of the entitled. 

Sadly true!

Steve

Huck1eberry said:

I almost stopped and struck up a conversation. But I knew it wouldn't have done any good. You can't change the mind of the entitled. 

To the biker who nimbly decided to turn left in front of me suddenly at oak street beach as I was passing this morning, thank you.

 

 I was glad to get a chance to ride down the ramp and look at the graffiti up close and personal…

I've seen Lisa on the road and can attest to the fact that she does get out of Evanston on her bike on occasion. ;)

Lisa - Sounds like your good vs. bad count is in the same ballpark as mine. 


Lisa Gordon said:

Because I ride mostly in Evanston! :) 

But seriously, I think we see the bad bikers more than we see the good ones because they piss us off.  Try actually counting courteous and dumb-ass cyclers sometime.  When I do that, I find that there are more good ones than I expected (although not always a majority). 

I had a pedicab do that the other day. He was very apologetic, but dang am I glad I have good breaks. 



PK RPR said:

To the biker who nimbly decided to turn left in front of me suddenly at oak street beach as I was passing this morning, thank you.

 

 I was glad to get a chance to ride down the ramp and look at the graffiti up close and personal…

Very nice of him to let you test out your breaks...
To the young lady on the purple mid 80's womens bike heading north on Clyborn at North & Clyborn if you are planning on sending a text while stopped at the light do us all a favour and don't do it while blocking a traffic lane. Cars like to go when the light turns green.

To the couple walking their dogs with 20 foot leashes on the North Branch Trail last night:

Thanks allowing your pups to run up to me while I rode by - the boost of adrenaline I received from seeing my life flash before my eyes was just the boost needed for that extra "kick" on the way home.

You should know that just a year or two ago a man died, not far from where you were, when his bike got tangled in a dog's leash.

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