The Smoldering Holy War II: Bicyclists vs Traffic Laws and Common Decency

We would like to point out that it is our firm desire that there be less militancy in the driver/biker debate. Obviously there are a few asshole drivers, and there are a few asshole bikers. The vast majority of both groups, however, are cool, and the few bad apples shouldn't make us want to nuke the whole barrel. That said...

Friday night, we saw a biker get hit by a car making a left turn. Ooooh, bad car! Well, not sooo much, when you consider that the biker was pedaling the wrong way up 2nd Avenue. The poor driver clearly wasn't expecting to look for oncoming traffic on a one-way street.

The biker, a skinny, scraggly-looking guy in an unbuttoned Western-style shirt, wasn't wearing a helmet. Through some miracle, he was unharmed--just bounced off the car's windshield, which seemed to take the brunt of the damage.

Saturday afternoon, we were lunching outside at Le Pichet, and there was some fancy-ass speed bike leaned up against one of those waist-high passenger load only signs. Not locked in, or secured, just leaned up against it.

A large group of pedestrians walked by, and one of them brushed against it, and it fell. One of the group picked the bike up and was trying to get it to stay on the pole when the bike's owner came storming out of the restaurant. He was wearing--of course--full stupid-looking bicycle racing gear.

"Get your hands off my bike," he demanded.

"Hey, it fell," the good samaritan said, "I'm just trying to put it back up."

"You probably bumped into it."

"Look, somebody brushed against it, I don't know who it was."

"Well maybe you need to watch where you walk."

An on-looker piped up. "Maybe you need to get a kickstand for your bike."

The biker sneered and shot back, "Maybe you need to get a life." (??)

Not sure what's going on this weekend--did all bikers sniff too much tire-patching glue? Just keep your distance for now.

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By Seth in Miscellaneous on July 14, 2007 2:47 PM

Comments [rss]

guest

Why must most of the bicylists around here wear those hideous, matching bike ensembles as if they were entered in the Tour de France? I always feel like sarcastically peppering them with questions about how the race they must have been in went.

I also find some cyclists militant attitudes annoying; as if they NEVER drive or ride in vehicles themselves.

Troy Morris

I saw the same accident on 2nd. The officer was not happy about having to write up that report.

guest

then there was the group of scooter enthusiasts who were motoring through fremont this morning (there were about 50 of them. i'd say it was a gang but can one really call a group of people riding scooters a gang?) with blatant disregard for traffic signals.

while half the group made it through the north bound fremont ave light before it turned red, the other half didn't...though that wasn't going to stop about 15 of them from running the red light. when some poor old lady had had enough and pulled into the intersection to make her turn off of 34th st onto fremont (she had the green arrow) one indignant scooter head darted in front of her, stuck out his hand and acted like she had anal raped a kitten.

i'm all for alternative forms of transportation be they scooter, racing bike or foot power but remember people, we are all part of a whole and no one group has entitlement to get their way on the roads. just because you get a hard on from your superior sense of self satisfaction doesn't give you the right to stick it in other's asses. obey the rules of polite society and things will work out fine for everyone.

guest

Were I the "good samaritan" in that scenario, right about the time the bike owner said hands off, I'd have dropped it and let it fall again. No sense in not giving such a reasonable person just what he's asked for.