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This past weekend I did a solo bike ride in the LaSalle, Spring Valley, Hollowayville, Seatonville area of Illinois. It was a short & sweet 15 mile ride. For more info. on the ride read about it here:
http://freemasoncyclist.blogspot.com/
My main topic here is not about the ride but about the motorists interaction with me during my ride.
It was great!!! I did not have one problem with a single motorist during my ride on Saturday the 3rd.
I do not know if it was because Illinois has strict laws about motorists harrassing & hitting cyclists or if there were other factors involved. Far be it for me to look a gift horse in the mouth but I'd like to know what the reason was.
Is there anyone that lives in any part of Illinois that can shed some light on this?
Thank you.
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I've never ridden in IL (yet), but up in MN or WI, IL plates mean that you should be very careful. They nortorously bad drivers -- aggressive (even comapared to CA) and inattentive. Maybe they're all from Chicgo though. This is whether I'm driving or biking, IL plates mean watch out.
Maybe you got lucky or its a reagonal thing.
/FYI, Illinois folks, when Minnesotans great you with "Minnesota nice" they're saying "I'm to nice to ask you to get out of my state."
Can't shed any light on Illinois drivers, but Wisconsin drivers exhibit the same behavior you experienced in Illinois. Most of the roads I ride are rural so perhaps that's one reason, people are not in a big hurry, there's little to no traffic, and plenty of space to pass safely.
I think you need to separate Chicago drivers from the rest of Illinois when comparing drivers. When I'm driving through mid- and southern Illinois, it's generally nice and fairly relaxed. Driving in Chicago is QUITE another story. Even as a hardcore rule-follower elsewhere, in Chicago I find myself doing 80 in the 55 zones quite a lot, to blend in with traffic. At times on the expressways around there I find myself amazed that there aren't multiple fatalities on every road, every day. A local taught me some traffic manuvers that I'm SURE must be illegal elsewhere, but I really don't know about Chicago since it seems everyone does them all the time.
I grew up in SW Michigan, and we saw a lot of Illinois plates, and they were often nutcases, but from working in retail as a kid, I found that they were basically ALL from Chicago & suburbs. The people living in the rest of Illinois don't have to "get away" from where they live so much so if you see IL plates outside of IL, there's a disproportionate chance you're looking at a Chicago driver.
/FYI, Illinois folks, when Minnesotans great you with "Minnesota nice" they're saying "I'm to nice to ask you to get out of my state."
Funny, because every time I get stuck behind some Wisconsin or Minnesota plated mini-van driving slower than traffic in the left lane, I wonder if they are intentionally causing a traffic jam or if they really are that inattentive.
The people living in the rest of Illinois don't have to "get away" from where they live so much so if you see IL plates outside of IL, there's a disproportionate chance you're looking at a Chicago driver.
Out of 12 million people living in Illinois, 10 million people live in the Chicago area. I don't think it has anything to do with people not needing to "get away".
And yeah, we're all *****holes who drive dangerously and aggressively. :rolleyes:
Carry on...
Could be a rural vs urban situation. There are parts of Milwaukee that I won't even drive in the car.
jw
i would say about 15-20% of most drivers in chicago are indeed overly aggressive and dangerous. cab drivers and buses, mostly. i would expect a few bad impressions seem to always outweight any overall impressions.
My experiences day to day or week to week in the same city vary at least as much as what people report as differences from place to place.
One month will go by and I'll have no negative experiences, and then in one commute I'll get two horn honks, a close pass and a near right-hook.
I think I see the fewest negative experiences on organized rides due to the routes selected and the number of other cyclists present.
I've never ridden in IL (yet), but up in MN or WI, IL plates mean that you should be very careful. They nortorously bad drivers -- aggressive (even comapared to CA) and inattentive. Maybe they're all from Chicgo though. This is whether I'm driving or biking, IL plates mean watch out.
Maybe you got lucky or its a reagonal thing.
/FYI, Illinois folks, when Minnesotans great you with "Minnesota nice" they're saying "I'm to nice to ask you to get out of my state."
You really wouldn't want your state to go broke now would you? Its obvious that there is not enough money to fund decent schools...
Just move aside, let us pass so we can spend our money and help you out.
And yeah, we're all *****holes who drive dangerously and aggressively. :rolleyes: Carry on...
Actually this isn't too far from the truth. The motorists were *****holes to other motorists & me. It got the point I was responding in kind to them. So I became a foreigner acting like a native *****hole while driving in that part of illinois. But when it came to how they behaved around me as a cyclist it was really nice.
N_C, I've lived in Chicago (both in the city and in the 'burbs) for almost 10 years now. My driving habits are much more aggressive than they used to be when I started driving as a teen down in St. Louis, or when I lived in Central Illinois during my college years. There is a massive difference in attitude between the 60 mile or so radius from the epicenter of Chicago compared to the rest of the state. I've driven back roads all over the state and usually things are pretty courteous. There are the occassional jerks, but that goes anywhere.
As for Chicago drivers (affectionately known as "FIB's" [F---ing Illinois B---tards, or to some Friendly Illinois Buddies :) ), getting up to Wisconsin or Michigan on the weekend is crazy. It's wall-to-wall Land of Lincoln plates. People are in a mad dash to get to their appointed recreation spot so they can fill their souls with that good, clean northwoods air before beginning their mad dash back to the choked up tollways and expressways on a lovely summer Sunday in northeastern Illinois. Be nice to them... they bring in a lot of outside money to the economy, and Monday will be here soon....
Ugh. Driving is a pain anymore.
I live in southern Illinois and ride rural roads all the time. In general people are courteous and I never have any trouble. But you could probably say that about most states; the rural less populated areas are naturally going to carry much less risk. I live in the least populated area of the state, so of course there are far fewer vehicles to deal with than up north. I do think there is a different attitude in general among people in the Chicago area compared to southern Illinois (the pace is much slower here), but the biggest difference is just the much lower population density.
Funny, because every time I get stuck behind some Wisconsin or Minnesota plated mini-van driving slower than traffic in the left lane, I wonder if they are intentionally causing a traffic jam or if they really are that inattentive.
Hey, I got California plates, I'm cutting off while giving you the finger while sipping on a latte and talking on the cell phone. And that's while we're looking in the glove box for the handgun. :D
The best riding I've done is Wisconsin outside of Milwakee (Chicago North). They seem much less olikely to run into me and aree generally more friendly. Jyust wish they're tie up thoier damn dogs.
Did you typo the mileage? Surely you meant 150 miles, not fifteen. Fifteen miles isn't enough to judge the quality of the roads, let alone the friendliness of the drivers.
Did you typo the mileage? Surely you meant 150 miles, not fifteen. Fifteen miles isn't enough to judge the quality of the roads, let alone the friendliness of the drivers.
No, I did not typo the mileage. I was only able to ride 15 miles. Maybe for you it is not enough to judge & gauge the friendliness of the motorists but for me it is. Hell 1 mile is enough for me to judge & gauge the friendliness off motorists.
Even when I was riding on Route 6, one of the busiest roadways between Spring Valley & Peru the traffic was friendly. Especially when the shoulder I was riding on ended & I had to ride in the lane of traffic. Traffic could easily & safely pass me, I even got a few friendly waves from people as they passed.
This past weekend I did a solo bike ride in the LaSalle, Spring Valley, Hollowayville, Seatonville area of Illinois. It was a short & sweet 15 mile ride. For more info. on the ride read about it here:
http://freemasoncyclist.blogspot.com/
My main topic here is not about the ride but about the motorists interaction with me during my ride.
It was great!!! I did not have one problem with a single motorist during my ride on Saturday the 3rd.
I do not know if it was because Illinois has strict laws about motorists harrassing & hitting cyclists or if there were other factors involved. Far be it for me to look a gift horse in the mouth but I'd like to know what the reason was.
Is there anyone that lives in any part of Illinois that can shed some light on this?
Thank you.
Yes, maybe I can help. I live in the same area that you rode in so I can share that 99% of the folk's here
are simple good people that , for the most part, respect the rights of others. There are a good number
of cyclist in this general area due to the canal trails (which are VERY nice) with lots of "everyday"
cyclist of all types. A person on a bicycle around here is not uncommon at all so drivers are used to
sharing the road.
The La Salle , Spring vally area also supports a large Catholic Italian population that still holds old time
values. Like I said, just plain good folk's. Come back and ride our canal trails sometime. ;) ;)
You were near Lasalle. This is one of the smaller towns in IL, and everybody out this way is generally more relaxed than near Chicago. I live in Polo, about an hour northwest of Lasalle/Peru. You can easily outpedal the old folks in their cars, and bikes are all over the place.
In IL, bikes have to follow the same rules as cars, with the exceptions that they can ride on sidewalks except where prohibited, and when on the road they have to keep as far to the right as possible.
In this area, we're used to the slower-moving farm equipment, and bikes are generally faster and easier to pass.
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