I'm averaging one jerk per week

mojoe

mojoe

Active Member
Region
USA
Like the lady who was texting while driving in town. She continued to text at the stop light. I had to get her to back up, so I could cross (this was at a bike path crossing). She never stopped texting. Or the drivers that wait until you have the crossing light, then race to turn in front of you. The one guy who refused to give me the right of way at a circle, when I was already in the crossing. And the worst, was a guy who came blasting around a corner at a crossing with big flashing lights to indicate someone crossing. He didn't even slow, just swerved around me. I'd use a stronger word than jerk if I wasn't on a public forum. It's idiots like this that make me always assume the worst, and wait until I am sure it is safe. But you can't predict things like that guy who swerved around me, as when I started crossing, there was no traffic in sight.

Thankfully, the vast majority of drivers give me a wide berth. I do get the occasional driver that seems to not see me until the last minute, before they stop. I can't imagine what they are looking at while driving. Especially when I am traveling in the same direction as the traffic, how can they not see me? I still get this on the trike vs the bike, despite the fact that the trike is more noticeable, and I am flying a large flag 6 ft in the air.
 
Discourteous and inattentive drivers are becoming a more common occurrence. This is the main reason I no longer ride on public roads.

I realize this isn't an option for many riders, especially those who commute. As you point out, even trail riders are faced with these dangers at road crossings. I'm retired now and have the luxury of choosing when and where I ride. I now ride almost exclusively on MUP's, bike paths, fire roads and rail/canal trails with a minimum of road crossings.

For those who do ride public roads, visibility is essential. IMO, bright clothing, flashing lights and even radar assist are a must!

Unfortunately, with the resurgence in popularity of bicycles, and particularly e-bikes, injury/fatality rates among cyclists will continue to rise. Hopefully, the design & construction of physically separated bike lanes will help make biking safer in the future.
 
Just crossing the road is dangerous here. I stay on non-motorized paths, but getting to the trailhead is another story. I've been debating if I should transport my bike to the trailhead. But that adds a lot of effort to what would otherwise be a quick ride to the trailhead. (0.9 mile)
 
mojoe said:
Like the lady who was texting while driving in town. She continued to text at the stop light. I had to get her to back up, so I could cross (this was at a bike path crossing). She never stopped texting. Or the drivers that wait until you have the crossing light, then race to turn in front of you. The one guy who refused to give me the right of way at a circle, when I was already in the crossing. And the worst, was a guy who came blasting around a corner at a crossing with big flashing lights to indicate someone crossing. He didn't even slow, just swerved around me. I'd use a stronger word than jerk if I wasn't on a public forum. It's idiots like this that make me always assume the worst, and wait until I am sure it is safe. But you can't predict things like that guy who swerved around me, as when I started crossing, there was no traffic in sight.

Thankfully, the vast majority of drivers give me a wide berth. I do get the occasional driver that seems to not see me until the last minute, before they stop. I can't imagine what they are looking at while driving. Especially when I am traveling in the same direction as the traffic, how can they not see me? I still get this on the trike vs the bike, despite the fact that the trike is more noticeable, and I am flying a large flag 6 ft in the air.
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The cure for this issue, one that might contribute to your longevity, is to avoid situations where you are mixing it up with traffic that outweighs you by a factor of 100....
 
I've been dealing with the same dilemma here in Houston. Less than 1/2 Mile to get to the Greenway bike Paths from my home. No sidewalks on the streets or enough room to allow for traffic to get there. Around me they have ghost bike memorials in various areas of the city where bicyclists have been killed. Its frustrating.
 
I stay out of the street unless crossing and never have any expectations of motorists and just wait for them to clear. Most of the time that's enough. But I do ride the MUPs quite a bit and even there I'm WAY over one per day. I'd have to guess at a number, but it's a good 10/day on longer scoots between off-leash dogs, runners with headphones in changing direction without looking back, motorcycles, ATVs, unclassed Ebikes ridden way too fast, bad passes by road weenies (probably the biggest one), etc. Just have to cover the brakes at all times and expect anything at any time anymore.
 
AHicks said:
The cure for this issue, one that might contribute to your longevity, is to avoid situations where you are mixing it up with traffic that outweighs you by a factor of 100....
Click to expand...
Not an option. Even the separate paths have traffic crossings, and a major path that gets me to other paths runs along a busy street that has traffic going in and out of parking lots. Your advice means that I don't ride at all, and I suspect that this is true for most of us. You must ride in an ideal location.

The old phrase "never a cop around when you need one" comes to mind. I'd love to see some of these dangerous drivers pulled over and ticketed. It would make my day.

Another type of inconsiderate person is the one who keeps placing a large "Open House" metal sign in the bike lane. I don't use that route often, but have come across this twice. I stop and throw the sign up onto the grass, next to the sidewalk. The sign is large enough to make even a two-wheeled bike swerve into traffic.
 
rob feature said:
I stay out of the street unless crossing and never have any expectations of motorists and just wait for them to clear. Most of the time that's enough. But I do ride the MUPs quite a bit and even there I'm WAY over one per day. I'd have to guess at a number, but it's a good 10/day on longer scoots between off-leash dogs, runners with headphones in changing direction without looking back, motorcycles, ATVs, unclassed Ebikes ridden way too fast, bad passes by road weenies (probably the biggest one), etc. Just have to cover the brakes at all times and expect anything at any time anymore.
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Yes, the off-leash dogs. I just had to navigate through a pack of ankle biters yesterday. The signs at each trail head clearly say that a leash is required.

Thankfully, I've only seen motorized bikes on the MUP twice. One was a bicycle with an ICE motor attached (questionable as to whether it was legal on the MUP). The other was an actual dirt bike that certainly wasn't legal.

You know, as much as I ride the MUP around here, I've only seen official looking people once. They had uniforms and badges, but seemed to be doing trail maintenance, rather than enforcement. On the residential streets, I see the local LE fairly often.
 
mojoe said:
Not an option. Even the separate paths have traffic crossings, and a major path that gets me to other paths runs along a busy street that has traffic going in and out of parking lots. Your advice means that I don't ride at all, and I suspect that this is true for most of us. You must ride in an ideal location.

The old phrase "never a cop around when you need one" comes to mind. I'd love to see some of these dangerous drivers pulled over and ticketed. It would make my day.

Another type of inconsiderate person is the one who keeps placing a large "Open House" metal sign in the bike lane. I don't use that route often, but have come across this twice. I stop and throw the sign up onto the grass, next to the sidewalk. The sign is large enough to make even a two-wheeled bike swerve into traffic.
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In my experience, it's not the crossings that will get you, it's the inattentive SOB's that mow you down from behind (oops!), or decide that's not a bike lane you are riding in when making a right.

If I were forced to ride a short distance with mixed traffic, that weighs 100 times what I do, to get to an MUP or something, I would use the far less traveled side streets as much as possible, and keep my fingers crossed.....
 
I come back from every ride with some kind of report for my wife. She is getting more concerned than I am, but I am really getting scared of a few places where I ride. Only option it to put the bike in the van and drive the 2 miles to the trail. But I see lots of crazy crap on the trail too.
 
In my commuting days, I had more issues with cars at places the path crossed the road than the roads themselves. Generally ped/path crossings are near intersections where drivers are highly distracted looking at things other than people crossing in a crosswalk. I don't think people appreciate how dangerous those crossings can be. On some routes I preferred the shoulder of the 50mph 4 lane highway I lived off to its path because then at least I was somewhere cars would notice me at intersections.

Not that roads were trouble free. Once a week was a good week for car stupidity during the last bike commute I had (no paths, entirely roads). I probably averaged 2-3 idiotic encounters a week for the ~6 years I had that job.

Dinotte quad taillight was worth the money for road commuting. Bright enough to be really attention getting even in broad sunlight. I also ran a very obvious gopro on the top of my helmet, which was an excellent way to diffuse some of the aggressive idiots.
 
mojoe said:
Yes, the off-leash dogs. I just had to navigate through a pack of ankle biters yesterday. The signs at each trail head clearly say that a leash is required.

Thankfully, I've only seen motorized bikes on the MUP twice. One was a bicycle with an ICE motor attached (questionable as to whether it was legal on the MUP). The other was an actual dirt bike that certainly wasn't legal.

You know, as much as I ride the MUP around here, I've only seen official looking people once. They had uniforms and badges, but seemed to be doing trail maintenance, rather than enforcement. On the residential streets, I see the local LE fairly often.
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Yeah, if you miss the dog leash signs around here, you're blind. They're everywhere. But some people...

MUPs here are not patrolled. I've seen a patrol precisely once - in maybe 2019. Err and on holidays. On July 4 about 8 years ago I got stopped near a July 4 celebration by city cops on a quad for riding after dark (legal some places and not others). He berated me a bit for being there after dark and told me to get out on the road where I belonged :rolleyes:
 
mojoe said:
never a cop around when you need one
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Cops are the worst offenders. I can be walking a bike in a crosswalk with flashing yellow lights on signs and imbedded in the crosswalk, and they will just blow through. A pedestrian died here last week. He was walking on a wide sidewalk facing oncoming cars and was hit in the cross walk across a driveway of retirement condos. It is next to a MUP. The driver made a right into him because the driver was looking left for a traffic break to make her right. The back of his head hit the pavement.
 
pmcdonald said:
Say, what? It's illegal to ride on some MUPs in the US after dark?
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Yeah, and as one might suspect, it's a little frustrating to find different rules in the same metro. Same with e-bike regulations. I think some lawmakers see MUPs as solely for recreation and discount the fact that some of us get to work that way.
 
I had three medium to large sized dogs chasing me today. They ran very close to me but didn’t bite.
 
dodgeman said:
I had three medium to large sized dogs chasing me today. They ran very close to me but didn’t bite.
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I have thought of having a length of PVC under the top tube. I had one jump on me. Dogs in a pack is not good.
 
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