To the cyclist who got clotheslined this morning at the intersection of Wilson, Seward Park and S. Morgan, by stupidly maneuvering between me and my dog:
No, I don’t need to watch where I’m going, and no, I don’t need to put my dog on a shorter leash.
See, those white lines crossing the road from curb to curb with a lighted “Crosswalk” sign hanging overhead… that’s what is known as a “crosswalk.” And that means that you, and all other vehicles, are obligated to stop for me, and all other pedestrians, as we cross the street. Just like that silver minivan did… you know, the one you heedlessly sped around on your way between me and my dog.
I suppose it’s possible that the minivan blocked your vision, and so you couldn’t see my dog in the street, or perhaps me stepping off the curb, nor obviously the thin strand of leash between us, but that’s your responsibility, not mine, so next time, when approaching a crosswalk, slow the fuck down.
While I agree that some bicyclists are part of the problem; if you are one of those dog walkers with the 15′ extend o’leashes, then you are also part of the problem.
I run all the time at Greenlake, and there are certainly many dog walkers who take up the ENTIRE width of the trail because they are walking their dogs on one of those things. Does it get me extremely bent out of shape, no? However, it is an indication that these people are extremely disrespectful of others as there is no sensible reason 1 person should block an entire trail (sidewalk, crosswalk, etc) which is a shared resource in a city of over 500,000.
But as I said, I don’t know your exact situation, so this may not be the case, and many bicyclists (as well as car drivers) are really inattentive.
I like it when they blow through arterial stop signs like basic traffic laws do not aply to them.
Yeah, bikes need to stop for Peds, that’s just rude.
Like the poster @1 noted, people need to have their dogs under control and close to them not 15 feet away.
@2
Just be happy they’re doing it on a bike and not in an SUV.
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
The other day I saw a man driving a car barrel through two stop lights on his way down Stone.
blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
Its illegal to pass a car that is stopped at a croowalk.
masaba @1,
Different situation. You’re talking about walking a dog with traffic. We were crossing traffic, in a well-marked crosswalk.
What is a ‘car barrel’. Is it anything like the Niagara Falls barrels?
I’m guessing you’re okay, just steamed. How’s your dog?
When I walked my now-departed dog, the long leash was good for the wide-open places … unpopulated sidewalks and such. His training involved his waiting for me at intersections (and my training involved shortening his lead at intersections) so that a bike — or worse, a car — wouldn’t do him in.
Of course the cyclist is responsible for the collision — in the legal sense, probably completely responsible. But mindfulness a virtue for pedestrians, especially those walking dogs or kids. Being right doesn’t help much, if somebody’s hurt.
Reminds me of the cyclist who stopped for a red light — right in the crosswalk in front of me, meaning I had to stop and detour around him. Daylight hours, but to him I just didn’t exist.
@10: That’s just “Seattle nice” in general though.
#11 FTW.
To be clear, I had my dog on about four feet of retractable leash as we approached the intersection, and only let it out to about eight feet as I saw the minivan slow and the driver acknowledge us. I did not see the cyclist at first, perhaps because he was obscured by the van, or perhaps because I was focused on the lead vehicle
The cyclist braked at the last second, and did not fall over when the leash got tangled in his handlebars, and yanked out of my hand.
Just because a moron is riding a bike instead of driving a Hummer, it does not relieve him from being a moron.
Time to repeat this, I guess…
Q: Why are there so many bicyclists who are smart?
A: The stupid ones die young.
Not too long ago I stopped and then proceede with my right of way at a four way stopintersection. Well, a guy on a bike blew through his and had to lay it down to keep from going over my hood. (Did I mention my kids were in the car?)
He was bleeding from the knee but took the time to shout, “Fuck you! Watch out next time you fucking asshole!”
Since there was no traffic except us, I got out, picked up his bike, rolled it over to his stop sign and leaned it against the pole.
“I hope you’re not hurt, but that sign applies to you. There is only one fucking asshole in this situation and it’s the guy who broke the law and then shouted obscenities at a car full of toddlers.”
Guess, what. He called me a Fucking Asshole for as long as it took to get back in and drive away. What a fucking asshole!
I’m a cyclist sometimes, and this sort of behavior gets me steamed as well – and does the greater goal of more cycle commuting no good either.
I know it must be a minority of cyclists who do this insane, rude and asshole-ish behavior, but they ruin it for everybody.
I was at the light at Eastlake and Fuhrman (in front of the old Red Robin), making a right from westbound to northbound – one cyclist was coming toward me on eastbound Fuhrman and making a left as a car would do, and another was crossing in the crosswalk while riding fast from the NW to NE corners. I stopped short so as not to hit him (the crosswalk dude), and honked, as I thought he didn’t belong in the crosswalk riding fast – and he flipped me off and yelled go read the law – which I then did, and which indeed seems to allow him to do as he was doing, if I understood correctly.
This is totally crazed, with some bikers acting like cars, and some like pedestrians.
@10
Isn’t that lovely behavior? I love the cyclists who weave through all the cars stopped at a light – positioning themselves in front – so that when it goes green, everyone has to wait for them to get the pedals snapped in and up to speed.
Yes, the world does indeed revolve around them. Particularly if they’re wearing extra cool cycle clothes and riding a Cervelo.
I live in a development with our own stop light that lets us out onto a main arterial. There is a pedestrian light that NO ONE heeds. I have had a number of close calls, and it seems that pedestrians who I almost kill, to a person, are apologetic and understand that they screwed up. But for some reason bike riders are not only unapologetic, but are apoplectic that I would dare drive ahead and not let them run the don’t walk sign. I have been flipped off, sworn at, and in one case had my hood banged by one of these assholes. He only stopped banging when I got out of my car and he realized that I had 20 pounds on him and was a right wing nut case who probably carries a gun and was going to KICK HIS ASS.
One day, somebody is going to die at our intersection. It is not if, but when. And some poor driver is going to have to live with that the rest of their life.
The underlying problem truly is bike riders. Until laws are equally enforced on them; until they are licensed, taxed, and fined like the rest of us, they will believe they are “special”. Unfortunately, Seattle has a Mayor that does believe bike riders are special, who is creating impediments to tax paying car drivers and emboldening these morons to carry on.
Many Seattle cyclist are self rightious jerks. If they can’t be bothered to stop at red lights where cars, buses and large trucks have the green light right of way, why do you think a pedestrian should matter?
And so flows the predictable comment stream of any online article containing the word “bicycle”. Oh the internet…
@21
Would you care to contribute? Rebut the general tone of the thread? Have something original to add? Or just whine?
I find it remarkable that in an online community frequently at each others’ throats politically and socialogically, that Goldy’s experiences this morning provoked such a common sentiment and set of experiences.
Come to think of it – given how the topic has brought together left and right, perhaps Obama could work some of that bipartisan Kumbaya by proposing legislation about regulating bicycle behavior!
Most of the cyclists are greenie Libs Goldy.
Sounds like a Civil War brewing!
Did the cyclist wipe out?
How was his road rash??
Seattle bikers are whiney freeloaders who cause more problems than they solve.
They need to pay thru fees for bike lanes…
Bike Toll Booths
and take a lesson in rules of the road and common sense courtesy.
How often do you see a bicyclist get a ticket?
You should have dialed 9-1-1 on this jerk Goldy. Bust him.
I like it–
Seattle Dog-lovers vs. Seattle Cyclists
That would be quite a show.
@22
I find that there are a lot of people who get really agitated about bicyclists. Personally, I also dislike rude, self-righteous bicyclists.
However, pretty much every negative statement about bicyclists on this thread applies to motorists as well. If anyone doesn’t believe me, go to 24th Avenue where it goes from Cap Hill towards 520. There is a big downhill with a speed limit sign that has a radar detector. Chances are if you sit there for an hour, 9 out of 10 drivers coming down the hill will be speeding.
If you still don’t believe, sit on a street corner and count the number of drivers talking on their cell phone. Not only is this illegal, but it is also cited as one of the top causes of accidents. Accidents that, oh by the way, cause much more damage than an accident involving a bike. So, we can say that drivers on cell phones are also self-righteous pricks who value their own petty conversations over the safety of their fellow citizens. If the people on this thread who have belittled cyclists for being petty and dangerous don’t agree with this, then frankly, they are hypocrites.
I walk into work every day and have had many close calls with drivers on cell phones, typically when I am crossing a marked cross walk. Many of them are completely oblivious, and one day I saw a lady get hit by someone yapping on a cell phone.
My question to most people is, why is there so much outrage towards cyclists when motorists are just as self-righteous and disrespectful of the law? Shouldn’t the outrage instead be focused on all people who engage in this behavior, not just one group?
@22, the Sound Times beat you to that punch, they’ve found that tying a bike around our new mayors neck is quite useful in garnering a teabagging response in an otherwise liberal environment. Seattle is relatively bike friendly, but people here are as attached to their cars as anywhere in this great country of ours, and since they are capable of being used as murderous weapons, they are covered by the 2nd Amendment as a corollary -the Right to Drive and Park Shall Not Be Infringed.
Yes, lots of bikies use the roads foolishly, running stop signs and lights in the face of traffic, block impatient drivers in a hurry to the next light and all, but every day on my bike I watch drivers burn through the intersection on a red after it turns to green, every damn time. As long as people do any activity, fools will be among them, and others ought to remember the the fools aren’t the whole group.
Heh heh…good one.
But masaba’s right. All the hatin on cyclists is far too narrow a view. 90% of the people on the roads are morons.
@24
I’m totally with you on that – I was thinking that very thing when I wrote what I wrote above. Many many car/SUV/truck drivers are idiots, or at least drive like idiots – oblivious, aggressive, passive-aggressive (like rolling through the stop sign tight on the person in front, making everybody else wait, and then waving “thanks”), take your pick.
Cell phones and cars are a bad bad bad combination.
I find a high correlation with someone driving stupidly/recklessly/dangerously and simultaneously talking on the cell phone. I thin there should be more aggressive police enforcement of anti-cell phone use while driving laws, absolutely.
Cynical’s here, speaking of fools, the gas tax pays for half the cost of roads and streets, my property taxes pay for my street use and my bike wears them much less than your clunker. Bikies aren’t freeloaders.
I’ve never had much problem in Seattle but when living in Palo Alto I came to dislike bicyclists very much. I figured it was only a matter of time before I accidently killed one of those bastards. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but probably only because I moved back home. When the arrogant bastards blow through intersections without regard to traffic signals or stop signs they’re putting their lives on the line. And for what?
A few bicyclists were killed while I was living in Palo Alto and, alas, I did not grieve for them. I figured if they were behaving as so many I had seen, then they probably had it coming to them. That said, many of the drivers down there were assholes too.
@23 Gawd, you’re stupid. STFU, goatfucker.
Let me also add, that while the majority of drivers tend to yield to peds at this very well marked intersection, not all do, so I don’t mean to single out cyclists in general. Just this particular cyclist. Because, well, he’s an asshole for blaming his failure to yield on me.
On the thought that bikies here are arrogant (interesting choice of word, btw). Ok, yeah, so what? When you’re sharing the road or street with people driving deadly machines that are either distracted, pissed off at your presence on principle, or drunk or otherwise impaired – together making a significant fraction of drivers, people who lack confidence on two wheels decide to leave the road for other methods. Those that are left have the virtues and faults of great self confidence.
And the complaining about bikies don’t obey the road rules- well duh. When I drive, I notice that a lot of drivers speed, roll through stop signs, orange lights, change lanes with signals, turn left in nonturn intersections, park in no parking zones, talk on the phone… so much so that a permanent part of the government the teabaggers hate so much is devoted to enforcing the laws regulating driving cars. But if a driver by inattention or impairment or just about any reason hits and kills someone driving a bike, it’s simply an accident, no big deal, a ticket might be issued in extreme cases but let’s not go overboard.
Really, after the fallout of slavery, the biggest single issue governing our political world is our attachment to oil. Oil in our transportation, our food, our heat and AC, in the products we use and wear. The companies that sell it to us and the countries that produce it are not the friends of progressives. They provide a useful resource, but the cost is higher than the money spent, and the money is no small amount. So maybe there’s room for bikes and fools on bikes on the road after all.
@Goldy,
8′ might have been a bit long on the leash, but this one does sound like it was the cyclists bad.
@17
When cyclists are on sidewalks or in crosswalks they are supposed to behave like pedestrians. Riding fast in a cross walk is a good way to get yourself killed. Motorists sightlines for crosswalks are disigned with 3mph walkers in mind not 12+ MPH cyclists.
@32 “On the thought that bikies here are arrogant (interesting choice of word, btw). Ok, yeah, so what?”
I used the word “arrogant” @29. What I see when someone on a bike rips through an intersection ignoring signals is someone with an exaggerated sense of their own abilities and self importance. Don’t they understand that shit happens? Don’t they understand that even they make mistakes. Yes, arrogance. When a ton and a half of automobile hits a bicycle, the bicycle rider is fucked. Are they so arrogantly confident that it will never happen to them? One mistake at an intersection and they’re likely dead. Why don’t they stop or at least slow down? Are they too damned self important to stop like everybody else? Yes, I used the word “arrogant”, and I don’t take it back. “So what?”, you said. That’s what I’ll be saying if I ever I mow one of those arrogant bastards down.
@ 34. Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me. Road rage. Another thing that keeps the more humble bikies off the roads. Also, you missed my point about fools. But your murderous attitude is not healthy. You want to kill someone for being stupid and inconvienient? While armed with a deadly weapon? Most bikies aren’t like that, and those that are don’t deserve death, even if that’s how it plays out. But nevermind, bikie murder while driving a car is legal in this state, the bill outlawing it having died in committee last session. Someday the liberals will take power. Right? Right??
No, I’m not into road rage. I spent five years in Palo Alto dodging arrogant bicyclists. I probably saw one in ten stop at a signal. But I’m wrong, they’re perfect, and your shit don’t stink.
Let go of it, Mark. Either that or go fuck yourself.
My view things is that the 90% of the time that cyclists follow the rules of the road we’re invisible, the 10% of the time we break the world we’re the downfall of civilization.
@18
I ride though left turns in the pack. I figure if I’m the last in line I might get rearended and if I’m first in line some red light runner might cream me.
And I don’t hold anyone up, 0-15MPH I can out accelerate most cars. I rearended a car like that once.
Hey, if they die on my front fender, fine. It’ll be their doing, not mine. No rage required. But no remorse either. I’ll save that for somebody I give a shit about.
Steve, whatever you did in Palo Alto evidently didn’t require reading comprehension, or you might have noticed I explicitly mentioned some riders are fools or perhaps people doing a foolish thing. My shit stinks like anyone elses’, and nobodies perfect. For your sake, I hope you don’t encounter anyone in a position to kill you the next time you do something stupid or inconvenient, because over the course of a day or week just everybody does something stupid or inconvenient and it normally isn’t a capitol offense. As for fucking oneself, no doubt you’re an expert on that as well. Point me to your how-to on YouTube.
No rage issues. A comedian, too.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHHAHAHA..life in the big city….HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
“you might have noticed”
You may have noticed that I wrote that I had no problems in Seattle. That’s a timeframe measured in decades. It’s not like I’ve never encountered a bicyclist there. For that matter, I never had problems during the five years I lived in Boulder, another biking capital. But I was damned lucky I didn’t kill somebody in Palo Alto. I’m talking about people who likely violate the rules of the road every time they ride. How many stop signs and red lights can one run until something bad happens? What kind of person does that without regard not just for themselves, but for anybody they encounter on the road? Do people who run red lights give a shit about anybody else? I don’t think so. I’ve been driving fast cars safely for nearly fifty years without accident, incident or ticket. That’s the record of someone who knows how to drive and who knows how to drive defensively. If I take exception to someone’s road behavior, that person probably has a problem.
“No rage issues. A comedian, too.”
I don’t do rage. But I am capable of being one mean SOB so you can go ahead and accuse me of that. I sometimes do comedy. People do tell me I’m damn funny, but they also say that my humor doesn’t come across well in my writing. So I suppose I’m no HA comedian. I’ll let others judge, heh- as you just did.
“For your sake, I hope you don’t encounter anyone in a position to kill you the next time you do something stupid or inconvenient, because over the course of a day or week just everybody does something stupid or inconvenient and it normally isn’t a capitol offense.”
I don’t know who you’re talking about, but I’m talking about people who do something stupid every time they get on a bike. The same personality type goes stupid behind the wheel. Hey, I reckon people have a right to have a personal death wish, but it takes a real thoughtless ass to dangerously and repeatedly violate the rules of the road and do so without any regard whatsoever for other people. I’ll hope that you understand that there’s a difference between that kind of person and the type you just described.
@40 “HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA”
Hmm, a psycho-laugh. Is that you, Puddy?
fuck it: run ’em all over and let Mayor McMumbles sort ’em out.
One of you is bound by law to pay a license fee, Goldy.
Why do dogs have a license but not the bike?
The mayor and Sally Clark say it is too combersom, difficult to set up such a system and blah, blah, blah, and yet dogs and cats are furry little criminals with owners that also pay property taxes.
I wish the cyclists either participated in the taxing scheme fit for dogs, of invent better excuses.
@42
noooppe…..not da puddy.
@44
fuck, how hard can it be to license a bike? If they can make someone with a jet ski or god damned rowboat have to get license, then the bikers should have to get one too….after all , how many millions are we spending on their dumbass bike lanes and trails?
vroooom fucking vroooommmmm!
That you, Max? heh- You fooled me with the psycho-laugh.
Bikes aren’t licensed in Seattle? WTF? Tax those fuckers.
“run ‘em all over and let Mayor McMumbles sort ‘em out”
heh- Tax them first. Then run ’em over.
EVEN BETTER!
So, Goldie’s leash got tangled up with a bicyclist. Meanwhile, a driver was doing this:
http://www.seattlepi.com/local.....ver29.html
I assume that this incident will be prompting many of you to cheer at the death of the next car driver when he does something stupid (like rolling through a stop sign).
I’ll say it again, if you are truly worried about public safety, you should direct most of your energy at car drivers like this guy. When we have that bigger problem under control, we should address the bicyclists.
@50
arent drugs cool!
@46,48
It’s not hard to tax a bike (hell, merry old England they pay a yearly license fee on TVs) and if it’s being ridden on the road it should have always on head and Tail lights and be licensed just like everything else on the road
And when we do that people will find some other reason to bitch about cyclists.
“hell, merry old England they pay a yearly license fee on TVs”
I didn’t know that. Apparently we left a stone unturned.
I don’t mean to pick on cyclists, although those Palo Alto cyclists really were something else. The drivers there weren’t much better. They had this thing where when stopped at a light in the left turn lane, they’d jump out when the light turned, counting on the oncoming cars to come to a stop. Yielding the right-of-way was definitely not included in the Palo Alto rules of the road manual, whether two wheels or four. Still, I loved that town. Lots of wonderful people live there, lousy cyclists and drivers though they may be.
It’s about time this blog stopped worshipping the Holy Bicycle.
Do any of you have ANY idea how many rabbits have been squished by bicycles on the Green Lake Rabbit Path?
@19 “He only stopped banging when I got out of my car and he realized that I had 20 pounds on him and was a right wing nut case who probably carries a gun and was going to KICK HIS ASS.”
Whaddya know! You rightwing nutcases are good for something after all.
@2 “perhaps Obama could work some of that bipartisan Kumbaya by proposing legislation about regulating bicycle behavior!”
It’s not Obama’s problem, it’s a municipal matter. Make ’em buy license plates, display license plates on their bikes (so you can trac them down and sue them when they negligently injure you), carry liability insurance (like car drivers have to), get riders’ licenses for which they have to pass a riding test (like car drivers have to), and order the traffic cops to pull over and cite bicyclists for traffic infractions (e.g., running down pedestrians in crosswalks).
Some years ago, I was hit twice in three days by aggressive bicyclists in downtown crosswalks who raced their bikes at high speed through crowds of pedestrians in the crosswalks. Have you figured out yet that I hate these fucking Bicycle Nazis and want to see them all do the perp walk into the city jail?
correction, @20 not @2
@35 “Murder” implies a deliberate act. It isn’t murder if you never saw the bikie who flashed into your field of vision at the same instant he was catapulted through your windshield.
Oh, and one thing hardly any bikies understand is, car drivers’ eyes are conditioned to look for objects the size of cars and trucks, and it’s not only possible but a fact that a small object like a bicycle can be right in front of you and your brain never sees it before impact. With that in mind, all bicycle riders should always assume that the drivers of the cars they’re weaving in and out of cannot and do not see them, and don’t know you’re there.
@40 Typical conservative compassion for mangled human bodies smeared on windshields or under tank treads. As much as I hate aggressive bicyclists, I still feel bad for them when their stupidity gets them killed.
@45 Well, I knew that. Even puddy is smarter than you. Lest you misunderstand, this comment is not intended to flatter puddy.
@50 No, that’s not good enough. Your approach utterly fails to address the many situations where aggressive bicycles hit pedestrians, where no car is involved. The problem of lawbreaking and unsafe cyclists needs to be dealt with, cars or no cars.
@52, whatever moves the conversation along. The argument against fails to treat bikes like cars (taxing methods) while demanding the same treatment.
I think somebody asks the mayor every month on the live call-in on the propaganda channel.
@62
If you honestly think that irresponsible bicyclists pose even a fraction of the threat to public safety as irresponsible motorists, then you are delusional. This was my only point, I didn’t really lay out an ‘approach’ to anything.
@63
I saw a 12 year old girl riding a pink bike with streamers on the handlebars down the Burke Gilman trail the other day. My first thought was, ‘that damn tax evader,’ so I guess you and I have something in common.
Roger, the bunnies are back at Green Lake? Haven’t seen any since they were removed en masse. I try to avoid all warm-blooded creatures with my wheels, hence Karl Rove doesn’t need any waiver. I support bikies getting lawful consequences when they abuse pedestrians, but good luck finding a cop in such a situation, there aren’t enough of us to pay for a standing enforcement unit. As for being visible, that’s a double-edged blade. I always ride expecting to be invisible to traffic and advise others to do so. We are fucking hard to see. But nitwits must think they’re invisible when they misbehave, or so I imagine. Finally, re:murder, there is such a thing as negligent homicide. Cars are powerful and dangerous, driven by people with licenses (which somehow are expected to make bike riders better citizens on the road), and yet when people driving them fail to adequately stay aware of their environment and kill someone on a bike, consequences are always nil. If there’s a question of what’s adequate for a given situation, juries have been employed with some measure of success in other times and situations, it would seem to be a proper measure to employ when someone is killed for no good reason.
@57
I’m all for it. We’re already legitimate road users in the legal sense, but cyclists aren’t in the practical sense. Lights, licenses, helmets, and insurance would make us just like motorcycles.
I tried to by some from my insurance company, they don’t sell it. I am, however, covered under my home insurances general liability clause if I run someone down and do expensive damage.
Probably having more public outreach and bicycle rodeos for kids would work for this.
I get yelled at that I’m breaking the law when I’m following it! We need to develop a better ethic when it comes to the use of public spaces in general.
I got a ticket for doing 37 in a 25. Good thing I hit the brakes a bit before he tagged me, I was going 45. Man was that cop pissed.
@65
If she rides it on the street, which she probably doesn’t, she should have a plate and a always on head and tail light.
I pay to park at trail heads and hike. I pay to drive my car on roads, why shouldn’t I pay to ride my bike on the road?
@68
You do pay to ride your bike on the road in the form of property taxes. Do you pay to take a walk in Magnuson Park? Do you pay to take a stroll down the sidewalk or use a crosswalk?
@68
If you think your car/fuel taxes are the sole financial source for roads you should just go ahead and just quit voting now as you are grossly ignorant.
@67 Michael
You don’t have to have insurance on a motorcycle in this state. Why should you on a bicycle?
drool is well informed. Roger Rabbit, while generally right about everything has a particular stick up his butt about cyclists; I suspect he or his wife was hit once and he’s generalizing an individual’s bad behavior to the entire group.
Some cyclists are jerks (as are some motorists) but this has nothing to do with taxation or road funding. If someone could come up with a tax or fee which was reasonably related to the damage bikes cause on our road infrastructure and didn’t cost more to administer that it took in, I’d gladly pay it if the bike haters would shut up, but they never will.
Glad you and the dog are okay, Goldy.
57. Roger Rabbit spews:
Just like Health Care ain’t his problem…but it didn’t stop him from diving in over the States, did it.
How about the a$$hole cyclists who insist on riding 2 abreast? Idiots.
Out on country roads, they ride 3 or more abreast over hill & dale, on roads with no shoulders.
Face it, the cops do not ticket bicyclists nearly as much as they should for rolling stops, running lights, riding on sidewalks.
A buddy of mine was in a Public Restroom years ago in a small town and saw a pinhead speeding on the sidewalk. He timed it just right and open the door on him! He said the bicyclist actually apologized and asked him to please not call the cops because he was afraid he would be ticketed! He knew he was in the wrong.
All cyclists who don’t obey ALL traffic rules deserve what they get. If I took my motorcycle and just drove AROUND stopped cars, jumped onto sidewalks to pass a vehicles at intersections, weaved through pedestrians in a crosswalk and then back into the traffic lane I’d get arrested (and deservedly so). Either you’re a “vehicle” or a “pedestrian”. Decide. If you wanna play “free spirit” and just bike where ever you physically can (regardless of the rules or safety) then stop whining and take the consequences of not following the rules jerk.
No kidding. Bicyclists who do things like participate in Critical Mass do so as a way to call attention to the way people drive around bikes. You see bumper stickers on cars that say “share the road” with a picture of a bicycle next to the phrase. And yet, so many bicyclists are oblivious to traffic rules that apply to them as well. The bicyclist telling YOU that you should watch where you are going is typical passive aggressive shit for the region though. “I will do something wrong, but you’re a dick if you notice.”
@70
Well, since I don’t think that, I guess I can keep right on voting!
@69
When I street near my house was rebuilt recently funding came from the city of Gig Harbor, the state, and federal government. We get all sorts of funding from all over the place.
When I drive my car to the store, I help pay for the upkeep of the road I drive on through gas taxes. I don’t see why I shouldn’t pony up a few dollars a year to help pay for the roads when I bike instead of drive.
We should probably exempt everyone under the age of 16 or 18 from having to pay.
@71
Well you learn something new every day… I thought you did. You should have to. Why should you be able to go and wreck other peoples stuff with no ability to pay for the damage you do?
http://www.dol.wa.gov/driversl.....rance.html
Driving down a dark side street one night, I managed to figure out in time that a dog on one side of the street, was attached by leash to the man on the other side getting his mail. Could have been messy otherwise.