Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Pedestrians: aka "one of the many reasons I don't own a gun"

Cruisin in to work in philly this morning, crossing broad street at sansom headin' west... birds chirpin', sun shinin', green light means go go go, all is right with the world. Some pedestrians walk in my way against the light...no biggie says I, I'll go behind them.....only to find another group of comfort-shoe-wearing fools with no wits about them stepping in my path with roughly 6 feet left to go. I skid, I yell, I turn my wheel in my benevolent attempt not to destroy these fools...turned the wheel a bit too much and over the bars I go. I'm ok though, not a scratch....maybe bent my handlebars a bit, I'll have to check later. Cursed oblivious jerks stepped over my bike, gave me dirty looks and kept on walking.

Yeah, what's up with pedestrians? They should be banned, too, along with SUVs! ;)

Sorry to hear about the scrape-up. Rule of thumb, if one pedestrian is crossing a busy intersection against the light, there's sure to be 3 more not too far behind. When I got a bell for my birthday from a friend, at first I found it a little too "cutesy" to put it on my commuter bike. But there's one intersection on my way to work in the morning (too early for me to feel like screaming) where evil pedestrians always see fit to cross as long as there are no *cars* coming. The bell seems more polite than yelling, it alerts people that I'm there (and not intending to stop for them to cross on red), and they usually stop & give an apologetic nod.

Learn how to whistle loud without using your hands. This has saved me and my bike many times from having a daydreaming pedestrian, skater, cyclist, etc. run into me.
If you can't figure out the whistle get a gun.

Philly eh? maybe I have seen you around... what kind of bike are you on? anyway, I have had a few almost-run-ins with pedestrians, but its usually coming home from a bar late at night or riding through Old City on a Friday or Saturday when all the drunk jackasses are wandering into the street oblivious to cars and bikes. I actually ride with a whistle in my mouth on those nights now... if there are a lot of people, and I see someone who looks like they are going to cross without looking I give them a good TOOOOOT "Voodoo" from Quicksilver Style!

I have also gotten into a bad habit of whistling xmas carols while I ride to work in the morning. Sorry to hear about your crash.

I have this theory that every large truck (think large delivery style) parked on the side of the road conceals at least on pedestrian trying to cross in the middle of the block. Same with buses.

So far I've been proved right more times than I can count...

"they usually stop & give an apologetic nod."

yeah, I can see that happening on broadst.

"I skid, I yell, I turn my wheel in my benevolent attempt not to destroy these fools...turned the wheel a bit too much and over the bars I go."

Same thing happens to me and I apply both my front and rear brakes evenly and come to a safe stop.

Just make sure that if all else fails and you know your gonna hit em you lay in heavy with a stiff arm or a shoulder and make sure the bike rolls on top of them you don't want to take the brunt of the fall or scratch that pretty paint job.

Cruisin in to work in philly this morning, crossing broad street at sansom headin' west... birds chirpin', sun shinin', green light means go go go, all is right with the world. Some pedestrians walk in my way against the light...no biggie says I, I'll go behind them.....only to find another group of comfort-shoe-wearing fools with no wits about them stepping in my path with roughly 6 feet left to go. I skid, I yell, I turn my wheel in my benevolent attempt not to destroy these fools...turned the wheel a bit too much and over the bars I go. I'm ok though, not a scratch....maybe bent my handlebars a bit, I'll have to check later. Cursed oblivious jerks stepped over my bike, gave me dirty looks and kept on walking.

Welcome to my world... Helsinki around the WTC area often reminds me of 'The dawn of the dead'
Sometimes I think that people have lost vital 'survival instincts' along the line of evolution and now think that speaking on a moblie phone makes them invulnerable...

Welcome to my world... Helsinki around the WTC area often reminds me of 'The dawn of the dead'
Sometimes I think that people have lost vital 'survival instincts' along the line of evolution and now think that speaking on a moblie phone makes them invulnerable...

Sometimes?

That's been a core belief of mine since I was 11 or 12. Back in high school, my friends and I used to try to figure out ways to collapse civilization so that the really dumb ones would be weeded out...

Me, I've got to wait for laser eye surgery before I think of implementing such plans... Unfortunatly eyesight has also given way to evoloution...

Full speed, yell, impact.

He was against a red, his fault. We both went down.

Full speed, yell, impact.

He was against a red, his fault. We both went down.