mrrabbit 

Where:

T-Intersection just a 1/2 mile north from Robert's

3-Way Stop Sign


When:

Last Friday, March 28 @6:00pm


My Car: Blue Volkswagen Jetta Gen. IV - VR6


ASCII ART:


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Fool Fool Following Fool
| Pickup
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
|
------------------------- _ _ _ _ ------------------------------------------
| Me |
| |
| |
| |


1. I stopped.
2. The pickup stopped.
3. I looked...saw nothing else.
4. The pickup politely waited recognizing I was there first.
5. I started my left turn.
6. Just as the trees blocked the sunset sunlight - I caught a glimpse of you two coming up on the tail and the right of the pickup doing easily 30 MPH on a slight downhill preparing to blow through the stop sign.
7. I slammed on my brakes AND blew my horn for a good 3 seconds.
8. You two slammed on your brakes and came to a near stop across the intersection...and then continued on.
9. I finished my left turn and rolled down my right window - offering you guys a chance to have the last word.
10. You didn't, so I rolled up my window keeping my mouth shut and moved on.


As a "fellow" cyclist I make the following request:

Either obey the stop signs as I do.....

OR

Aim for a freaking tree or something.....I'd rather not deal the consequence of blood and guts on my hood...


...cause you see...I can be a little weird at times...I might get depressed, suicidal, suffer from psychological scars...

...but then again I might just clearcoat the blood and guts on my car and tint label my front windshield with something like, "I Terminated Two Fellow Cyclists Who Ignored a Stop Sign!" and offer my service to bicycling safety campaigns at the local charities, universities and colleges, etc.


There, I vented...had me burning up the last few days.


Thanks for listening everyone...

=8-)

mrrabbit 

...dammit the ASCII failed...

....Nobody................Truck....Cyclists
........................................................
....................Me...............................

LanceFanBoy

yeah, this is lack of common sense on their part, I think most cyclists would recognize that a truck is stopped for a reason, thus stopping as well to copy the rules of the road. Common sense, why would any cyclist want to go 30 blind behind a truck INTO AN INTERSECTION! ugh, sometimes I feel for the drivers that put up with us.

mrrabbit 

Heya Lance...

What's amazing about this area is that the drivers of cars seem to be pretty courteous in this area in general. I bike up on then occasion....and have never seen a car blow through this intersection in question. Drivers take turns...are pretty polite on average.

...yet the cyclists in this area - sometimes they're present in the hundreds - seem to behave quite the opposite. Most are in their 20s and 30s. The few that I do see following the "rules of the road" like myself tend to be older - Fred's and Elitist's alike.

The generally younger cyclists constantly blow through the intersection in question whether alone, in small groups or large groups even when cars are present.

You brought up common sense...certainly it need considerable improvement with a hellavu lotta cyclists in the Woodside area...

I'll probably get some heat for this...but hell if I care. I'm sticking by my observations.

=8-)

Godwin

Woodside, MB, NB, NS, or USA?

genejockey 

Do I understand you to say that you were turning ONTO Canada Road at a T intersection, and the pair of cyclists were crossing the top of the T IN THE BIKE LANE? Yes, it's rude and illegal of them not to stop, but how was it that you were going to run into them? Do you USUALLY drive in the bike lane?

ezoons

I've never understood modern art.

botto 

WTF does this have to do with road cycling?

mrrabbit 

Has everything to do with roadies....

1. They rode rather nice ROAD bicycles...
2. They were on Canada ROAD in Woodside, CA
3. I was driving a car on the same ROAD....
4. The issue is bicycle safety on the ROAD....
5. My attention target was ROADIES - not MTBer's or TOURERS - hence this forum instead of A&S forum where it might not get seen by the ROADIES in question...

As to the other poster...the space left for cyclists on the right of Cananda Rd. at this intersection is close enough to the space normally filled by cars for it to be a potential accident issue when I'm turning and they are running the sign...

But that is besides the point - they ran the stop sign...and the risk of an accident was so damn close it scared the **** out of me - and pissed me off. Imagine if I'd been a little 90 year old lady (no offense) a little off in aiming during a left - hell - I would have died of a heart attack. The meeting with St. Pete and the cyclists would have been interesting...

Quote: "Do you USUALLY drive in the bike lane?"

Answers: <sarc> Um yeah dude...I take up the whole car lane, bike lane, sidewalk, the equestrian dirt lane and the ranch fence fenceline since I figure it's public easement and fair game,...etc.... </sarc>

I guess I'm still venting...any more questions?

=8-)

prendrefeu

Get over it and get back on your bike instead of driving. Sorry, but apparently you didn't learn the lesson they taught you.

Bostic

Cañada road in Woodside, California is very active with cyclists (almost all roadies) in the area. It rolls alongside Highway 280 for a while and works well for time trials since it's long. However heading south which is the downhill portion there are a few Stop signs at T intersections along the way. And many cyclists simply blow right through them to not have to ruin all that momentum. Considering we had the tragedy along Steven's Canyon road recently not too far away, I understand the frustration mrrabbit mentions.

The bottom line is your hauling down a slight descent at 30mph and a stop sign is coming up fast. You're on the top section of the "T" intersection so the car waiting to turn 90 degrees from you might be turning right or left. Do you ignore the stop sign and keep your speed and hopefully if that car is turning left to end up in the lane next to you you don't get hit?

Expect that the regular Road forum clique is going to post something negative.

BlastRadius

I always stop there. Sometimes there's cops waiting to bust cyclists as they blow through that stop sign.

mrrabbit 

Bostic knows the area...and as he correctly pointed out, Steven's Canyon road is not too far away...

Couple weeks ago a friend of mine up in Woodside who lives near the T-section in question came home - saw me waiting and excitely said, "Wow! Some cyclist actually stopped at the stop sign! What's the world coming too?"

I know he was being a tad sarcastic - but it's an indication of some improvement.

Would be nice if there was more...

If anyone outside the Bay Area visits - try cycling in the Woodside, CA area - very nice area to ride a bike.

=8-)

genejockey 

It's one of the wider 2-lane roads in the area, with bike lanes wide enough to ride two-up and still be to the right of the fog line - been there, done that. I routinely slow to a walk at that stop sign (I gauge my speed by the cars rolling it beside me), and pull to the far right to allow scofflaws to pass unhindered. I understand they spooked you, but there was no real danger of an accident.

But as BlastRadius says, it's one of the more popular places for the San Mateo for the Sheriff's deputies to hide out, waiting for cyclists to blow through. 30 mph is too fast to see whether there's a deputy hiding up behind the trees, so sometime soon, they'll likely get caught.

Then maybe we'll see a post on BF about those nasty police in Woodside, stopping innocent cyclists out for a ride on a nice day....

mrrabbit 

Wouldn't be so generous in your description there...several times when going up Cananda Road I've run into groups riding 2 abreast...and guess what...the outside cyclist was a foot or two into my lane...I couldn't pass safely...they held me up for a good 1/4 mile - it's uphill and took awhile...not that it really bothered me....

Noticed that some posters are starting to quibble in defense of the cyclists....

Remember folks the point of a three way stop...each side taking its turn...one direction of vehicles at a time in the intersection = a much less likelihood of an accident.

You can quibble all you want - bottom line is - I was the one with the right of way as allowed by the pickup driver - the cyclists decided to try to pass the pickup, blow through the stop sign in violation of the vehicle codes, and run the risk of me not making a good left turn.

If they had stopped where they were supposed to to begin with - we wouldn't be having this discussion.


A little side note...watch out for deer on Canada Road in the late afternoons...they will dart across even in the area in question...kid you not - almost ran over 3 about 3-4 weeks ago. They went from the equestrian path on the sun side darted across and jumped the fence into the front horse pen of the property that is currently up for sale.

=8-)

gr@sshopper

Umm. Yeah, if it's a double wide bike lane, you were making an illegal left turn if you were coming anywhere near them.

RichinPeoria

test

mrrabbit 

Where in my post did I say specifically that I came near THEM while making my left turn - it was them blowing through the stop sign and coming near me WHEN THEY WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE INTERSECTION AT ALL!!!!

=8-)

Anyone else want to quibble...

ezoons

OK. What's the point of your rant? YOU have a problem with TWO cyclists in bleeding CALIFORNIA. This is an international forum, and the probability of those two being registered here and reading your stream of consciousness is close to 0. You had the opportunity to confront them. Instead, you chickened out and are now trolling the road cycling forum.
Keep these rants to to A&S instead.

mrrabbit 

04-06-08, 11:46 PM #11 Bostic vbmenu_register("postmenu_6473733", true);
shazam



Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Silicon Valley

mrrabbit 

There's one from my area...

Betcha there's more...including a lot on the Nor Cal Regional Discussion forum...

=8-)

genejockey 

Which would have been the more appropriate forum - that's his point.

I sympathize with your irritation, believe me! I both ride and drive around here, and I know that for every 5, 10, or 50 guys like you and me, who wait for red lights, and stop (mostly) at stop signs, there are a few who blast through both, and THEY are the ones drivers remember.

mrrabbit 

Now it's time to rant about a ..... gasp!....SUV driver...

Same trip this evening....start to pull out of Robert's Market....everyone has a five way stop....

...except some moron lady in a blue BMW X3 kept slow rolling and then blew right through from Canada Rd. down Woodside toward 280....and there were a couple pairs of cyclist waiting to proceed both ways on Woodside along with cars....

Man I could go on and on...

...anyhow in a little while I'll post a video of the T-section in question and well as the left turn action so that those foreign to Baghdad by the Bay can get a better picture...

=8-)

It was an otherwise beautiful day...lotsa cyclist out and about...