#1
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An Incident
Yesterday was not a good day to be biking to work. In the mornings I
need to go through Saint Paul to cross the river over one of the bridges. As I come in from the East this means I need to make a left turn and since the right-hand left turn lane grows out of the left lane of the road I have to make a switch. I have found the best tome for this is two blocks prior to the turn because if I wait any longer the traffic is too heavy to get across the lanes safely. So for two blocks, about 20-30 seconds I may be slowing down some commuters. One irritated fellow bellowed something out his window at me that sounded like “ncdjehjfjenf ..Lance Armstrong ,.dcd//sddmklsdm”. I promptly gave him a one finger salute although in retrospect a smile and a wave may have been more effective. Later I was getting ready to turn onto a trail with a van behind me. The van was fine, but as I made a right turn onto the trail a biker whizzing down the hill onto the street zoomed full speed in front of the van. In this case the biker was being an ass since the traffic clearly has the right of way and the trail has a stop sign. Usually it's enough to slow down and pay attention, just plowing into traffic is stupid. All this would end up being small potatoes next to the ride home. There is a three mile stretch from work to where I can turn onto the trails. The shoulder is decent though the traffic does go 50, but it's not much of an issue. At the very end of the three miles I, once again, need to make a left turn to get onto the trail. I look, no one is coming, I get into the lane pedal towards the light when a truck veers out behind me with the driver cursing. Something like “Get the & %^ out of the road”. As luck would have it he missed the light and I rode up next to him. Again the tirade, “Why are you guys on the #$ road, I almost &&* hit you. Why don't you ride on the sidewalk?” I then explained to him that there was no sidewalk, that even if there were bikes belonged on the road, and that I really needed to just make this one left turn. After exchanging some unplesantries under the influence of an adrenaline shot he ended by muttering “You're gonna get hit. I'm telling you you're gonna get hit.” Then the light changed. What is frustrating about all this is that 11 of the 19 miles I ride each way are on trails, and 7.5 of the reminder I am on the side of the road where I can usually be passed with relative ease. But, on those few spots where I need to merge with traffic there are still too many people who can't bother to wait a few seconds. |
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#2
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An Incident
On Jun 5, 4:19 pm, Jorg Lueke wrote:
... But, on those few spots where I need to merge with traffic there are still too many people who can't bother to wait a few seconds... Yeah, car people suck! To bad it isn't their exhaust pipes that they're sucking on. ...but as I made a right turn onto the trail a biker whizzing down the hill onto the street zoomed full speed in front of the van. In this case the biker was being an ass since the traffic clearly has the right of way and the trail has a stop sign. But ya know, there are some bike people that totally suck too. I'm gonna go way out a limb here and speculate that he (it was a he wasn't it?-) wasn't carrying his work clothes. He was probably riding a pretty expensive road bike and wearing fancy clothes that aren't good for anything but biking. I wouldn't doubt that he bought a large SUV so that he can haul his bike around to different places to ride it. |
#3
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An Incident
Jorg Lueke wrote:
Yesterday was not a good day to be biking to work. In the mornings I need to go through Saint Paul to cross the river over one of the bridges. As I come in from the East this means I need to make a left turn and since the right-hand left turn lane grows out of the left lane of the road I have to make a switch. I have found the best tome for this is two blocks prior to the turn because if I wait any longer the traffic is too heavy to get across the lanes safely. So for two blocks, about 20-30 seconds I may be slowing down some commuters. One irritated fellow bellowed something out his window at me that sounded like ?ncdjehjfjenf ..Lance Armstrong ,.dcd//sddmklsdm?. I promptly gave him a one finger salute although in retrospect a smile and a wave may have been more effective. You may have been within your rights taking the left lane for two blocks, but I don't think it's what I'd do. If traffic is that heavy and the turn that dicey, I'd stay right and do a square left turn. Why **** people off unnecessarily? Your way might be right, but you might end up dead right. Bill __o | Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live. _`\(,_ | (_)/ (_) | -- Mark Twain |
#4
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An Incident
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#5
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An Incident
On Jun 6, 5:09 pm, wrote:
Jorg Lueke wrote: Yesterday was not a good day to be biking to work. In the mornings I need to go through Saint Paul to cross the river over one of the bridges. As I come in from the East this means I need to make a left turn and since the right-hand left turn lane grows out of the left lane of the road I have to make a switch. I have found the best tome for this is two blocks prior to the turn because if I wait any longer the traffic is too heavy to get across the lanes safely. So for two blocks, about 20-30 seconds I may be slowing down some commuters. One irritated fellow bellowed something out his window at me that sounded like ?ncdjehjfjenf ..Lance Armstrong ,.dcd//sddmklsdm?. I promptly gave him a one finger salute although in retrospect a smile and a wave may have been more effective. You may have been within your rights taking the left lane for two blocks, but I don't think it's what I'd do. If traffic is that heavy and the turn that dicey, I'd stay right and do a square left turn. Why **** people off unnecessarily? Your way might be right, but you might end up dead right. Bill __o | Get a bicycle. You will not regret it, if you live. _`\(,_ | (_)/ (_) | -- Mark Twain You are probably right, that is the safe thing to do, and it's better to waste a minute waiting for the light to turn twice rather then getting rammed off the road. It does annoy me that the safe thing involves stopping and taking the ped crossing but the riding the left line does **** off those who can't wait and cutting across is not an option. Maybe Saint Paul will put in those colored bike lanes, that may help. |
#6
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An Incident
On Jun 6, 8:37 pm, Jorg Lueke wrote:
On Jun 6, 5:09 pm, wrote: You may have been within your rights taking the left lane for two blocks, but I don't think it's what I'd do. If traffic is that heavy and the turn that dicey, I'd stay right and do a square left turn. Why **** people off unnecessarily? Your way might be right, but you might end up dead right. You are probably right, that is the safe thing to do, and it's better to waste a minute waiting for the light to turn twice rather then getting rammed off the road. It does annoy me that the safe thing involves stopping and taking the ped crossing but the riding the left line does **** off those who can't wait and cutting across is not an option. Maybe Saint Paul will put in those colored bike lanes, that may help. How would colored bike lanes help? If anything, bike lanes seem to make left turns more difficult. At least some motorists think a cyclist should never leave them. And sadly, some cyclists think the same thing, and try to turn left from a right-side bike lane. - Frank Krygowski |
#7
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An Incident
Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Jun 6, 8:37 pm, Jorg Lueke wrote: On Jun 6, 5:09 pm, wrote: You may have been within your rights taking the left lane for two blocks, but I don't think it's what I'd do. If traffic is that heavy and the turn that dicey, I'd stay right and do a square left turn. Why **** people off unnecessarily? Your way might be right, but you might end up dead right. You are probably right, that is the safe thing to do, and it's better to waste a minute waiting for the light to turn twice rather then getting rammed off the road. It does annoy me that the safe thing involves stopping and taking the ped crossing but the riding the left line does **** off those who can't wait and cutting across is not an option. Maybe Saint Paul will put in those colored bike lanes, that may help. How would colored bike lanes help? If anything, bike lanes seem to make left turns more difficult. At least some motorists think a cyclist should never leave them. And sadly, some cyclists think the same thing, and try to turn left from a right-side bike lane. - Frank Krygowski We don't have bike lanes where I live, and I think I am probably a lot better off without them. I can usually figure out a way to avoid the most dangerous streets by riding one street or so off the main drag, but I would expect motorists to think bikes are confined to bike lanes if we had them. I wonder what experience shows in towns that have extensive bike lanes. |
#8
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An Incident
On Jun 6, 8:09 pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Jun 6, 8:37 pm, Jorg Lueke wrote: How would colored bike lanes help? If anything, bike lanes seem to make left turns more difficult. At least some motorists think a cyclist should never leave them. And sadly, some cyclists think the same thing, and try to turn left from a right-side bike lane. - Frank Krygowski It would make people aware that bikes belong on the road and not the sidewalk. They would naturally have to have a path for the bike lane to get onto the bridge to cross the river. If it were just on the right shoulder the whole time it wouldn't help much except with the people desperately turning right to find parking. |
#9
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An Incident
On Jun 7, 5:27 am, catzz66 wrote:
We don't have bike lanes where I live, and I think I am probably a lot better off without them. I can usually figure out a way to avoid the most dangerous streets by riding one street or so off the main drag, but I would expect motorists to think bikes are confined to bike lanes if we had them. I wonder what experience shows in towns that have extensive bike lanes. Rivers make alternative routes hard, it's either the bridge or swimming with your bike on your back. |
#10
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An Incident
On Jun 7, 8:38 am, Jorg Lueke wrote:
On Jun 6, 8:09 pm, Frank Krygowski wrote: On Jun 6, 8:37 pm, Jorg Lueke wrote: How would colored bike lanes help? If anything, bike lanes seem to make left turns more difficult. At least some motorists think a cyclist should never leave them. And sadly, some cyclists think the same thing, and try to turn left from a right-side bike lane. - Frank Krygowski It would make people aware that bikes belong on the road and not the sidewalk. For such purposes, I greatly prefer "Share the Road" signs. If you must have something on the road surface as well, perhaps "Sharrows." See http://home.swbell.net/mpion/sharesigns.html But more education is better. I'd favor public service announcements on TV, radio and in newspapers explaining that cyclists have a right to the road. And explaining that cyclists should normally make left turns from a position toward the road center, not from the curb. - Frank Krygowski |
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