Bacciagalupe

FYI, I wasn't a particularly skilled cyclist when I was in New Orleans; at that time I was merely an average bike commuter. I've done a lot more long distance riding - and gotten more consciously careful - in recent years.

If you're going to make claims about locations and causes of crashes and fatalities, I'd prefer to see some statistics. Here's the New York City one. Feel free to draw your own conclusions from it.


I wasn't a "strong sprinter," and rarely had / have cars honking at me or riding up on my wheel.

And if they honk, so what? They aren't going to run you over. Or you move enough to let them turn.


I lived in the 9th Ward, back in the days when priests got killed during muggings and corrupt cops whacked people who were going to testify against them. Not quite as bad as it is now, but not as far off as you might think -- #1 in murders in the US, hundreds of murders in one set of projects alone, people routinely talking about inviting the National Guard to step in, pretty much everyone I knew had gotten mugged, neighbors refused to walk around the 9th Ward at night, etc.

I only had one event that I would even remotely consider a mugging attempt while on my bike. Guess what it was? Some kid tried to grab at my bike, at the railroad tracks on the border of the Marigny and the Bywater. While I was riding right past him. In broad daylight.

On a side note, even after that little incident I felt about 1,000 times in the Bywater at night when I was on my bike than when I was a pedestrian.

I know things are tough down in New Orleans these days, but I find it hard to believe there are crackheads waiting to jump you at every single stop light and corner -- or that they wouldn't go after pedestrians and/or steal parked bikes instead.

And while jumping lights is a somewhat trivial offense, I really don't see how more anarchy and lawlessness is what New Orleans needs these days.


Generally speaking, "passing on the right" is unexpected, and therefore presents a slightly elevated risk. Obviously that's negligible if the cars are stopped, but worth noting if the cars are in motion and you don't want to get nailed by a right hook.

Otherwise, I'm with you on this one; there are times when you have to take the lane, or go to the left to make a left turn. Which, as far as I can tell, are within the confines of the laws:

"Every person operating a bicycle upon a roadway shall ride as near to the right-hand side of the roadway as practicable, exercising due care when passing a standing vehicle or one proceeding in the same direction." (emphasis added)

This does not mean "stay in the right lane at all times or else." I.e. you can take the lane if it's not safe to ride in the gutter. Perhaps the law could be a little more explicit, but that seems more like a tweak than a wholesale rewrite.


So a sharp guy like you can't figure out how to stop at a light, and give a car room to turn?

And if it's so hard, then why are so many people able to do it without jumping every single light and stop sign?

I'm not going to paint out New Orleans to be a cyclists' paradise, even though it is rather flat. But for whatever reason(s), my bike commuting experiences were nowhere near as antagonistic as yours. I never feared intentional assault by a driver -- and I still don't.


Ahh, New Orleans. I remember how at the end of Mardi Gras, a sanitation worker asked a cop in an unmarked police car to move his vehicle so they could clean up; apparently the cops beat the snot out of the guy. I don't recall reading anything about any disciplinary actions, either. Maybe the sanitation & police departments aren't as chummy as you think?

It may be possible that if someone hits you while you're at a light and it's totally their fault, it won't be well enforced and they'll get a slap on the wrist. However, the entire criminal justice system down there seems pretty screwed, so somehow I doubt that even if your perception is correct, this is the only form of injustice in NO.

More importantly though, I'd want a factual basis for any such claim, rather than a general impression based on anecdotes or suppositions.