The Human Car

Going down to the bike summit this guy honks at me for blocking traffic. So I turned on my video as I caught up to him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3KepdIBHGQ

So I decided just to keep on peddling. Revenge is sweet!

uke

Your video is a perfect example of why more people don't ride bicycles in this country. If my daily route looked like that, I'd take the car every time.

randya

just so you could sit in traffic with the rest of the lemmings?

uke

If you're single and in your twenties, that might work (sense of invincibility, no dependents).

But most people aren't willing to cycle in those conditions. Nor should they have to.

hairnet

Since when does splitting lanes at a red light mean someone has a sense of invincibility?

JoeyBike

Looks like the traffic didn't need much help from you! The main reason I ride a bike in the city is because I have better things to do with my time that idle at red lights all day. I know the vid makes your speed look slower, but you looked pretty safe to me even so.

Did you wave and smile when you passed the horn blower? I have a little "over the shoulder" wave that I do now an then in that situation. It's gotta steam them.

degnaw

If my daily route looked like that, I'd start biking every day.

And just because people aren't willing to cycle on roads, doesn't mean it's necessarily dangerous. Given that you don't live in amsterdam or copenhagen (i think), does that mean you have a sense of invincibility?

billew

I love it, tourist season is here and I can filter 40-60 cars on my ride downtown. My fave iis the cager racing to the redlight putting me and him in danger with me waving bye-bye with a ding of my bell.

buzzman

My daily commute often looks just like that and I do bike every day. I loathe driving in those conditions.

This video is a good example of why bikes should not be considered the same as cars. We are not cars. We have the capability to move through auto congestion in ways an automobile couldn't. It would be interesting to count how many of those vehicles contained only one person. You, on your bike, are one person, on one vehicle moving smoothly through the traffic- and one less car holding everybody else up.

In the grand scheme of things the few moments where traffic may have to pause a moment to accommodate a cyclist is more than made up for by the fact that the cyclist does not contribute to this kind of congestion and frees up one more parking space, which in Boston and Cambridge is what every other car is looking for.

jgrant75

sweet

EatMyA**

Thats cool driving in traffic is not for everyone. Even if the cars aren't moving. If you dont feel confident you could do it then don't.

I've seen a MTB'er, and guys that do crazy dangerous stunts in their BMX's. freeze up and drive a bicycle like they just learned yesterday when first driving in traffic like that. It takes a bit getting used to, to get over the fear.

On the other hand I have a friend that hadnt ridden in traffic ever and hadn't gotten on a bike in over two decades since he was 9, just do it like a champ on his first day. In Down town LA. Better than me actually. I just told him to drive it like he would his car, or his motorcycle.

Good Luck!

noisebeam

Where did you get the idea bikes are or should be considered the same as cars? They are vehicles.

And by the way there are even motor vehicles that could be (and often are in some places) driven in the same way as the cyclist did in that video.

buzzman

I have never considered bikes to be the same as cars- that's my point.

However, it is something I often see expressed by cyclists and motorists.

For example in a post in another A&S thread it was recently expressed like this: "if we want cars to see us as cars..."

daven1986

those are the conditions which make me glad to be on a bike! road works are so much fun when you can just scoot through them

aMull

Ugh no, daily routes like that are perfect for riding a bike. Big bad cars stuck in one place scare you? Aww

The Human Car

I gave the horn blower a big ass smile and wave as I passed.

apricissimus 

You gotta be kidding me. You'd want to be stuck in that kind of traffic? You've got it totally backwards. This type of route highlights the advantages of riding a bicycle over driving a car. And by taking your car, you'd just be adding to the congestion!

apricissimus 

What exactly in the video seemed dangerous to you?

JoeyBike

Really. Biking in the mall parking lot would be much more dangerous because most parked cars would be driving backwards to leave a parking spot. Splitting lanes of gridlocked traffic almost puts me to sleep so I tend to ride a bit too fast. Biking a reasonable speed as the OP seems to do makes it all the safer.

Tommyr

Well I'm not so sure riding in between those cars was very safe but the video wasn't that bad, there was a few tight spots that I may have waited through though. One a-hole opening a door could have taken him out.

apricissimus 

Depending on the location, I find that one needs to watch out for passenger side doors opening suddenly. Like they're getting a ride somewhere, and they're like, "Oh, just let me out here. I can walk the rest of the way."

chipcom 

WTF is so dangerous about the conditions in that video? I'm sorry if you can't negotiate a bike in the midst of a bunch of stopped traffic...but as a grandfather, I don't have a problem with it and I never have.

Now if that traffic was moving at 35mph or faster, you might have a point, but it's not, so you don't.
Nobody is forcing you to ride outside of your comfort zone, so no worries.

Indyv8a

Lombard street near the water main break?

The Human Car

Taken me out is a little strong I think, it would be next to imposable to fall sideways in that mess, forward speeds were not that significant to cause an end'o or significant damage. Between that construction and a water main break, traffic in that area was almost a pure stand still for the remainder of my ride. Baltimore is almost a pure single occupancy vehicle city, so there is almost zero probability that anyone would open a door unless they just parked.

The Human Car

Guilford just south of 40 heading toward the water main break.