Bad Lag

I've been riding a lot recently and I have come away with the distinct impression things have changed.

Automobile drivers are noticeably less respectful of the vehicle code, "the rules of the road". Also, they are less respectful of other drivers, exhibiting behaviors that almost qualify as "predatory" - lane changes, passing on the right, accelerating from a red light,....

The other thing is, there seems to be a LOT of traffic, lots of cars on the road at all times of day.

I mean all of this in an absolute sense, not just relative to the reduced levels seen during the pandemic shut down.

One more thing I'm seeing is an ever-increasing number of ebikes. They are everywhere, all the time. People (kids and adults) are riding them at ever increasing speeds. They have morphed into and are driven like electric motorcycles not electically-assisted bicycles, yet they occupy the bike lanes and bike paths and are entirely disrespectful of the rules of the road. Oddly, these have added to the number of vehicles on the road, not reduced the number of cars.

Taken together, bike riding, especially at peak traffic times, feels distinctly more hazardous and a bit less fun. THAT is a BAD thing!

Thoughts, anyone?

iab 

I haven't noticed the car thing you say in my neck of the woods. Always have been carholes, always will be carholes. I keep a tally of offending cars for the commuting season. Back to pre-pandemic levels, but not up.

As for e-bikes, yes, the American e-bike sucks. You essentially have 2 different speeds of bikes using a tiny infrastructure of bike lanes. Can't be safe. If an e-bike can exceed 15mph, kick them to the auto lane. There was a pretty good article on this on either Outdoor or NYT, I don't recall which.

CliffordK

There is a huge difference between small towns/cities and the monster cities.

It would be worth considering if your living situation would allow.

Bianchigirll 

I drive for a living, a huge dump truck, and yes people are crazy! Doesn't matter what they drive, electric scooter/bike, 'manual' bike, those stupid little scooters, cars, motorcycles, pickups, even "Big Trucks" no one seems to care about anyone else only getting where they are going.

Perhaps it is just my chronic melancholia but I find this behavior in the supermarket as well. As soon stop to look for something it seems someone needs that spot too and doesn't want to wait. And don't get me started on the employees.... I'm beginning to think they feel the customers just get in their way!!!

Where did I leave that bottle of Mother's Little Helpers????

Lattz

I guess the problem is universal. Cant speak for the US (maybe there it is not a hype yet because of the anyway bigger distances) but here in Europe an additional layer to that is the e-scooter. They appeared in huge masses so quickly that the regulations couldn't even answer on time where should those go.

With the cars I am absolutely pessimistic not only their numbers are going up but thinking about what a chaos one inexperienced driver can cause in a city's life in a low end, weak car, low end electric cars are several times more powerful.

By us the e-bike situation is at least kept in somewhat control (regulation varies per state). If the police catches you with a modified one disabling or changing the regulator you are screwed. And if you cause accident with a modded one insurance doesnt cover anything. Neither the caused damages nor your health needs and then the police penalty of a thousand EURs kick in on top. But in an inner city bike lane the assisted 25 can be killer as well... think about children with bikes. The real e-bikes (+25kmh and/or not only assisted, but can drive without pedaling - and still not an e-motorbike -) need license plates and can't go in the bike lanes as far as I know.

Bogester

I live in Seattle and regularly ride through the city. I haven’t noticed a huge increase in traffic but notice there are way more Uber/Lyft/door dash types of cars on the road. These are the worst types of drivers and you really need to be aware of them. Their focus is not on driving safely. They will suddenly stop in the middle of the road, flip u-turns without notice, and have little regard to anything other than getting to their next job.
Regular drivers also exhibit a lot of these stupid habits. I see people stopping in the middle of the road or at lights, staring down at their phones, obviously looking at directions or something. Ebikes don’t bother me too much. I still pass most of them….except on the hills!

repechage

I find I do too often find myself attempting to talk some clam into drivers.
almost all cite that they have been ticked off by poorly behaving cyclists.
some of this behavior is worthy of scorn, blowing through stop signs, red lights even, abrupt and unpredictable riding behavior.
the then applying a revenge attitude toward all cyclists is unfortunate but I see it and experience it. Sometimes I can make headway in talking to them, then they bring up ebikes...
oh my.
when making legal movements, such as making a left hand turn, that just seems to enrage drivers often.
in California there is a 3 feet rule to clear a cyclist by three feet. I have been hit by car mirrors more times in the last two years than in the preceding three decades.

there are a bunch of unhappy, inattentive drivers out there. The was of things.

there is a new all way stop sign intersection near my work, was uncontrolled previously.
cars seem to have this " two cars in a column per stop now" I yell at them and get the look of " I did nothing wrong" what is wrong with you?
one gal I pursued and caught up just after se disembarked from her car, " I was late for my swim class" as that made it OK.

BFisher 

That's what they always have been. They are mopeds. Different fuel source - same exact thing.

RiddleOfSteel

Same here and I completely agree. Traffic has steadily increased throughout the years, and things continue in that direction with the increasing number of out of state plates. Uber/Lyft/etc drivers are unpredictable and dangerous as I witness their movements either on my bike or in my car. A lowering of general car IQ (a knock-on effect of perhaps an overall lowering of IQ or simply not caring as much) is also present--in state and out of state drivers.

E-bike riders kinda sorta follow rules, though I've come across a couple lately with Air Pods in and riding literally wherever they want around slow traffic and going the opposite way, in my one-way protected bike lane.

For this and a number of other reasons, I am looking to move out of the city. It's a beautiful area, and I love looping over to Magnolia and Discovery Park at the end of the day.

As this all relates to C&V, it's a big reason why I have really good brakes and indexed shifting on these old birds as it increases the safety factor. I'm almost always biking around in normal clothes these days, so that wardrobe plus a taupe/brown Trek 720 with plenty of silver components, I think, helps balance the "I'm not a Mega Serious Rapha Trendy Sunglasses Carbon Bro" riders out there who often will blow lights or act without regard to other (not that normal people on bikes are innocent). I may be tall, but me and my bike don't scream "over-aggression" to drivers and everyone else. I also work to communicate my intentions (signaling) or thankfulness (like if they don't dart out in front of me from a driveway) or waving them through when it's their turn at an intersection. I have had overwhelming success in not being honked at or hated on when engaging other people. Smiles and gestures of humility. It all helps maintain our humanity, even if at times I still have to raise my voice to tell someone it's their turn to go or just to herd the metal and rubber cattle.

Bad Lag

Way back when I lived in New York City, I was riding to my parents' home from the dorms. A guy in a Cadillac driving northbound thru lower Manhattan blew by me and almost clipped me.

When I caught up to him at the very next stop light, I tapped on his window and gestured, "What's up, be careful."

He pulled a hand gun out and pointed it at me.

Strapped in, I still managed to side step away from his car.

Since then, I never attempt to correct drivers. Ever!

wrk101

To the first half, I don't see a change. Car drivers have been rude, running red lights, ignoring cross walks and bike lanes for decades. No change there. Its just as bad as it has ever been.

On the second part, yes, eBikes have brought on new issues. I guess I'm old fashioned, MUPs should be limited to non-motorized vehicles. An eBike obviously has a motor. But many/most jurisdictions allow it.


The whole texting while operating moving equipment: car, truck, bicycle, e-bike, or whatever has brought on a new group of distracted drivers. Its an epidemic, and I have never seen it enforced. Heck, how many. times have you seen a LEO with a large laptop beside him, driving down the road AND operating that laptop?

Charles Wahl

Welcome to the New United States of Acting Out on Every Uncivil, Hateful or Selfish Impulse That You Have.
I was more succinct, but I've been censored.

nlerner

Okay, I’ll add a C&V angle to this topic, which should rightly be in some other forum:

The traffic is so terrible in my neighborhood that no one can hear me when I yell, “GET OFF MY LAWN!”

RiddleOfSteel

That's why I put the C&V addition in mine. Old mushy single pivots and tired shifters on these old steel steeds in this city do not mix well!

mhespenheide 

I recently moved back to Seattle after having been away for six years. I don't know if the aggressive drivers got significantly worse during the pandemic when law enforcement officers basically weren't pulling anyone over, or if it's just a function of more people squeezed into the same infrastructure. But it's noticeably worse than it was before I left.

It's also exacerbated by the fact that my six years away were in rural areas, so the riding was far more enjoyable there. I've been back in Seattle for a year now, and I'm still trying to re-adjust. Of course, it doesn't help that I've got a three-year old and don't have time to drive out of the city to ride.

SurferRosa

Bomb down NE Perkins Way! That'll get your blood pumpin'.

jethin

The streets are a war zone right now. There is waaay more aggressive driving in the large Eastern US city where I live, and little enforcement of road laws. People know it’s a free-for-all and get away with murder, literally. Vehicles are getting bigger and more dangerous, and delivery guys on both gas and electric “scooters” are all over the bike lanes at high speed. Everyone behaves selfishly and blames everyone but themselves.

You may not notice it locally, but motor vehicle traffic volume, crash deaths and injuries have risen across the U.S.

I think it’s important to note that if you get hit by a cyclist you have a good chance of walking away. Not so with a car or truck.

Sometimes I wish gas would go up to $20 a gallon. That might be the only thing that would would make Americans finally question their marketing-induced, hypnotic obsession with cars.

Classtime 

Nowadays, after the light turns green, count to 3 before bothering to look left or right. When my bikes were new, you could look both ways when cross traffic had a yellow. The future is bleak.

cudak888 

19 posts and only one of you kvetching luddites even mentioned protected bike lanes:

Twitter

Twitter

Twitter

Looks like I have my bingo checkmarks for:

"Riders complaining about drivers, but avoiding discussing solutions,"
"Nobody mentioned protected bike lanes,"
"Let's blame the mode of transport, not the individual users who use them irresponsibly,"
"Attempt to conflate a class 1 or class 2 electric bicycle with a licensable moped or motorcycle,"
and
"No evidence of kvetchers consistently putting heat on their cities' public works department for failing to build protected bike lane networks."

Oh, and just to keep this C&V, here's a Raleigh Sports in a PBL.



-Kurt

iab 

The picture of your bike in a protected lane. I'd ballpark it at about 6-foot wide. Your average person on a regular bike is plooting along at 10mph. Any class ebike it takes zero effort to double that. Not a lot of space to pass in the lane you show. People, especially merkins, have zero tolerance for slow-moving vehicles. So you don't see that mix as a problem?

cudak888 

Thanks for giving me the "one specific protected bike lane is not wide enough, therefore this fear should be good enough to dismiss them entirely" checkbox on the bingo card.

Frankly, I don't care if a city can't be bothered to make a protected bike lane wide enough at this point in time, provided the lane is otherwise well designed and part of a connected network that gets people riding. Cities, politicians, and those 'merkins you speak of are reactionary creatures that won't do jack about improving a protected bike lane until enough people are using it - so even the narrow PBL is far better than no PBL, because at least it'll provide the safe place that will get rider numbers up enough to warrant expansion.

P.S.: Us locals manage to do side-by-side well enough in our new - and narrow - Downtown protected bike lane network. Yes, it'd be nicer if it were wider, but with all the red tape and our firmly car-centric traffic engineers - not to mention corrupt City of Miami commissioners who tried to steal it's codified funding* - it's a miracle it even exists.





Let me tell you too, lots of us are DAMN GLAD to have it too, and would be more than glad to shout you into a corner of the room at the suggestion that since it's not wide enough, it's not worthy of existence.

Some families are using it for the morning school run too, which helps to reduce the pile of intolerant parents in their cars trying to run over everyone else's kids. Go tell them that their protected bike lane isn't good enough for your standards and should be ripped out until one of your caliber can be installed - just in time for the kid's college graduation:

Twitter

*More on that attempted theft of the funding:

Twitter

-Kurt

Charles Wahl

In NYC, the protected bike lanes are typically one-way by design; but if you ride on one, be prepared for "bike salmon" (coinage by The Bike Snob, I believe) coming at you on e-bikes and even combustion-powered scooters -- and they're not all delivery guys either. I actually feel safer riding with the automobile/bus traffic. The bikeways in parks are pretty much the same, though at least those are two-way; but the runners/joggers have decided that they can use them too (even though clearly marked for use only by non-motorized bikes, scooters and roller-bladers, and there are separate lanes for pedestrians and joggers. Honking by car drivers (illegal in NYC except for emergencies) has become endemic (a good toot or three at practically every change of the light to say "get out of my way"), and of course the ban is never enforced by our Finest. As a rider on streets, I have noticed that many times cars passing me will come within inches, leaving more gap on the driver side than on mine.

cudak888 

Those lanes were a bit of utter brilliance that Janette Sadik-Khan was able to get built under the Bloomberg era, and they're currently suffering from an immense demand that the city has failed to accommodate. It's 100% on DeBlasio for sitting on his fat butt for years doing nothing to improve or expand them to meet NYC's exceptional needs.

So many of them aren't really protected either, but buffered - NJ has the upper hand in many cases (e.g., Merseles St.).

Curbed has a great article about how the NYC street format could be vastly improved - including improved PBLs:
https://www.curbed.com/2021/11/perfe...yc-street.html




While we're at it, we should be directing some additional ire to the NYPD clowns who spend more time parking in bike lanes and ticketing riders for leaving the bike lane rather than keeping those who aren't legally supposed to be in the PBL out of the PBL.

-Kurt

nlerner

Along these lines, as someone who has bike commuted in the Boston area for 30 years, the improvements to cycling infrastructure are remarkable, but certainly there’s still a long way to go. Drivers will always be terrible, but protected bike lanes at the very least create a safe buffer between us and them.

obrentharris 

You, not he, are the one who offered that photo as an example of our salvation.
Brent