I'm not one of those Critical Mass asswipes. In fact, I find those fixed gear hipster douchebags to be insufferably obnoxious. But when I'm on my bike I follow the rules of the road and I have a right to my place on the road.

In the past when I came to a red light I would pull all the way against the curb and allow drivers to make their right turns on red around me, although that's obviously illegal. The problem came when the light turned green and I went to go straight and assholes behind me kept turning right without allowing me to go. After nearly being clipped one time too many I started parking myself in the middle of the lane to wait for the light.

So this morning I was heading south on Custer and stopped at the light at Howard Street. A car pulled up behind me and began blowing his horn at me. I turned around and he motioned to me that he wanted to turn right. I pointed and told him I was going straight. Now, if I had been in car or on a motorcycle he wouldn't have expected to turn right around me. Why does he think it's different when I'm on my bicycle? Anyway, he started flipping his lid and throwing his hands around and I just waited for the green light and went straight. It cost him literally ten seconds. Such a silly thing to get upset about on a Saturday morning. Especially when you're so clearly wrong.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Fucking sconnies.

Do you wear bike shorts?

Come on, Spaulding! No, I don't wear any biker "gear". I find it strange that guys ride the streets of Chicago dressed as if they are competing in a French road race.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Do you at least have on a sport coat?

Savages.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Interesting. I would support any lobby to ban automobiles with internal combustion engines. Of course, I understand that, as an American, your right to drive around in a giant motorized vehicle trumps the right of everyone else to drink fresh water and breathe fresh air.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

The safety issue is caused by the idiots operating both types of vehicles. The general disregard of the rules of the road by the vast majority of cyclists and the silly frustration felt by motorists when cyclists are near them. The fact is, it only seems like a cyclist is slowing you down. Over the larger distance, each cyclist reduces traffic issues if we assume he otherwise would have been operating an automobile. Sure, I get annoyed when I have a bike(s) in front of my car that obviously are not capable of maintaining the same speed as I am, but then I take a deep breath and realize that if each of those riders were instead in a car, I would be backed up to Kenosha.

If a slow moving truck is in front of you, do you flip your lid and start honking like a loon and driving aggressively up his ass? I don't know, maybe you do, but most people simply deal with their annoyance about being stuck behind a slower vehicle and grit their teeth until it's gone. Why is a bike any different?

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I say ban everything from the roads.

Help with the congestion problem and alleviate costs of repairs.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Self-driving cars are already better than human-drivers at recognizing and avoiding collisions with bicycles and pedestrians.

The biggest opponents of the wide-spread adoption of self-driving cars? Besides cab drivers and truckers (who will be the first economic casualties of self-driving vehicles), local cities/counties/municipalities are looking at economic armageddon as people no longer own individual automobiles, but instead request a self-driving vehicle to take them to/from work etc. Look for an UBER type service to be most folks first exposure to a self-driven vehicle. Just as many Chicagoans probably first rode in a Prius via a taxi ride.

But even individually owned self-driving cars are unlikely to be as lucrative to cities as human driven/parked vehicles are. No more speeding tickets or moving violations or parking tickets even. The car simply won't run afoul of speed/parking restrictions (tho speed limits for self-driving cars on freeways and esp in dedicated lanes will be much higher than current speed limits).

And if you use a self-driven UBER type service, the car doesn't park after it drops you at work, the grocery store, movie theater, bar, club, baseball game, etc. It goes and picks up another fare and you request a different self-driven UBER after work etc.

The above is another reason you'll see a national solution to the pension crisis. Cities, especially smaller cities, like Rockford or Madison or Champaign or Bloomington (IL/IN), lose a huge chunk of revenue from their operating budgets as speeding and parking violations plummet toward zero.

Yeah, the poor fellow who killed the guy on the bike has my complete sympathy. It must be really devastating to run someone over with a motorized vehicle. I too worry every day that my family members will be traumatized by killing a cyclist.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

"vehicle" is a very loose term here.

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Remember, JORR... A lot of cyclists don't follow the rules of the road. They don't signal and don't pay attention, and it's frustrating because they expect me to look out for their well being when they don't. Same with pedestrians. I think Jay walking should be punishable by death.

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I know. And I stated that above. I drive a car a lot more than I ride a bike.

I find it annoying when I'm riding my bike and drivers of cars refuse to take the right-of-way when they have it. But I realize it's because 9 out of 10 morons on bikes don't grant them the right-of-way and simply blow through stop signs like assholes. I stopped my bike for the crossing guard behind my house and waited until she walked the children across the street. The guard said to me, "That's the first time anyone on a bike ever stopped when I held up the sign."

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I agree. The difference is motorized vs. non-motorized vehicles. If you're on a bicycle riding on a street with a speed limit of 40, or even 30 mph, there is no way you can go that fast and you're impeding the flow of traffic. If there is a designated bike lane, feel free to pedal to your heart's content. If not, get out of the street.



Kudos for understanding why drivers are often impatient with bicycle riders. Most cyclists don't, or just pretend they don't.

But I do disagree with the part I quoted. A slow-moving vehicle driving 30-35 MPH in a 40 is dramatically different than a bicyclist driving 5-10 MPH in a 40 MPH zone or even 5-10 MPH in a 30 MPH zone. A motorized vehicle driving that slowly could get ticket for impeding the flow or traffic, or at least pulled over to find why the hell the driver is going so unusually slow.

Several years ago I got hit by a biker coming out of an alley downtown. There was no damage to my car that I wasn't able to wipe off but it was due as hell. I jumped out my car because I thought he could be injured but he was trying to ride off.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

Definitely not a fan of bicyclists. Just take the bus. Exercising? Find an empty road in North or West suburbs.

I know Im being unfair but, eh, roads in Chicago weren't built for bikes and cars to share as say in Copenhagen:

Yeah. and what's up with the winners taking their freaking bikes on the El. If you wanna bike to work from your El stop downtown, Divvy it.

When I was in college, the local cops didn't just let cyclists do what they wanted. They used to frequently cite cyclists for running stop signs or not signaling.

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It is very hard to write a Grammy winning song called "Alone In My Principles" when you are lying dead in the ditch after getting hit by a car.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

bikes = too dangerous. not worth it.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

"Share the road" doesn't mean cyclists can do whatever they want.

I hate when they ride side by side, instead of single file. Everyday, I see a group of cyclists, in full uniforms, riding down Mack Rd. in Warrenville, side by side. It is a two lane road, and if there is traffic in the other lane, and you can't pass, you have to drive at 20 mph for a long stretch of road.




If I have to slow down, to avoid running you over, can you at least waddle across the street a bit faster?

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Trying to make a city like Chicago bike friendly is a lost cause. Too many cars, not enough room. There's tons of trails for bikes in the suburbs. Thats about as good as its going to get for them.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I love to yell "Share the road!" at obnoxious cyclists who are blowing through lights. The bike messengers downtown are the worst. There's this dykey looking broad I've seen on Lincoln Avenue more than once who has attached a yard stick to her bike and has it sticking out with a little sign demanding the three feet cars are supposed to allow. I don't like these militant cyclists. Still, when I read stuff like what Panther and a few others have written in this thread it almost makes me cheer on Critical Mass.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I ride my bike hyper-alertly, just the cost of doing business. I don't trust anyone driving, and I am in greater danger of being hurt than someone in a car who is distracted or ignorant of the rules. JORR is right, of course, but that gives me little solace. Never going to happen, but what if they put a bike lane (where applicable) between the curb and parking lane instead of between the parking and moving lanes? Seems safer. Still car doors opening, but not car doors and moving traffic to navigate.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Is it legal to skateboard or rollerblade in a traffic lane?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Oh yeah... the worst is these assholes who look at you and purposely walk slower as if to say "I'll walk however fast I want."

When I used to work in downtown Chi, the pedestrians would just walk whenever the fuck they felt like it. I'm driving a car, so I'm the one who can wait, right? Nevermind the fact that I had been sitting in the same spot for 20 minutes because the pedestrians refuse to follow protocol and use the traffic lights.

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No.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

This is a tad hyperbolic. Or you were driving through the Taste of Chicago.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost