Old Town giving tickets to bicyclists (Arlington, Alexandria: living, price, legally)

[HereinVA]

Originally Posted by Vacanegro

The law is for cars, bikes are not cars nor can they ever expect to be treated like cars. Ever ride a motorbike ? Cars move into your space/lane every day. Where is the outrage for dangerously clueless drivers ?

Do you realize that when you stop on a bike you fall over if you feet are pegged into the pedals? I am all for giving tickets if someone is riding without regard to pedestrians but is it really such a danger to have bikes going slowly through the stop signs ?

No, it is not.

That's why you UNCLIP as you approach the intersection. I'm a fairly new cyclist (since April) and I practiced this (clipping and unclipping) A LOT before actually venturing out on to a real road.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by HereinVA

That's why you UNCLIP as you approach the intersection. I'm a fairly new cyclist (since April) and I practiced this (clipping and unclipping) A LOT before actually venturing out on to a real road.

"UNCLIP" means what?

[HereinVA]

Originally Posted by dkf747

"UNCLIP" means what?

Take your shoe out of the pedal--so you can stop your bike and put your foot on the ground if necessary.
I always unclip at least one foot as I approach any intersection, even if it looks like no traffic is coming. Yes, it slows me down, but it's safer.

ETA: http://gizmodo.com/5990381/why-you-s...lipless-pedals

dkf747, before I started riding a bike about 6 months ago, I had no idea that such a thing even existed. With Clipless pedals, your shoes are attached to the pedals. By turning your heel hard to the side, you can unclip and get your foot off. When I first started, it was hard to unclip immediately--it took a lot of practice, sometimes at home on my trainer and sometimes in an empty parking lot. I fell A LOT!

[gomason]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Because you know your argument is at best weak.

Please tell me what my argument was?

All I said was Old Town has a lot of busybody grannies.

Being from Manassas, I'm sure you are very familiar with the intersection of Union and King Street, right?

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by gomason

All I said was Old Town has a lot of busybody grannies.

A lot of busybody grannies reacting to a lot of bicyclists breaking the laws. One begets the other.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by gomason

All I said was Old Town has a lot of busybody grannies.

You mean pedestrians? I'm surprised an advocate for bike commuting and TOD would not want to increase safety for them, whether from cars or bikes. I fully support the ticketing of drivers who run stop signs and red lights. Or park in the bike lane.

If these tickets were being issued to cyclists where/when no pedestrians are present--e.g., on a quiet surburban street or in the wee hours anywhere--I would think the tickets were overkill. But that isn't the case here. And some cyclists do go way too fast near pedestrians, which has caused serious injuries, even deaths. It's right and necessary that the police ticket those cyclists--just as it is that they ticket drivers who are on texting, weaving in and out, going double the speed limit in a school zone, etc.

[frostopsy]

Bike riders in old town are a menace. I've been nearly run over by complete jerks thinking they are training for the Tour de France while I'm walking or going for a run. They go the wrong way down one way streets, ride on the sidewalk, buzz by pedestrians at high speeds, blow through stop signs and lights, don't yield to cars that have the right of way... I could go on for a while with this, but I think you guys get the point.

Bike enforcement in old town is long overdue.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by gomason

Please tell me what my argument was?

All I said was Old Town has a lot of busybody grannies.

Being from Manassas, I'm sure you are very familiar with the intersection of Union and King Street, right?

Very. Have spent many months over the years training in Alexandria. I would love to visit and eat at the Chart House.

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by gomason

I completely agree. I hate cyclists that do that. Riding on the sidewalk is the most dangerous thing people can do. Not all cyclists do stupid crap like that though.

It is perfectly legal in VA - there are spots in Old Town where you cannot ride on the sidewalk, including thd dense Union/King Street areas.

If I am encountering one dangerous distracted driver after another, I'm not going to ignore a perfectly good sidewalk to ride on.

[gomason]

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

It is perfectly legal in VA - there are spots in Old Town where you cannot ride on the sidewalk, including thd dense Union/King Street areas.

If I am encountering one dangerous distracted driver after another, I'm not going to ignore a perfectly good sidewalk to ride on.

Yeah I hear you, but there are some spots in Arlington that are head scratchers. For example, Fairfax Drive has bike lanes through Ballston and Virginia Square. However, I regularly see bicyclists risking their lives biking down the adjacent Wilson Boulevard. I know they have the right to but I'm not putting my life at risk to make a point. One block over is a very bike-friendly 9th Street and Fairfax Drive.

And there are some spots like between the bike lanes between Fairfax Drive and Wilson Boulevard at Clarendon Circle where the Arlington Government actually tells people to get on the sidewalk to get between the two sections of bike lanes. And then there's Memorial Drive/Circle where the NPS tells cyclists to ride on the "shared use path." However, motorists aren't looking for bicyclists on the path and aren't actually stopping at the stop sign, so there are many near collisions. Consequently, I ride in the road between the 110 Trail and the actual bridge, because I've already been nearly hit once.

I'm not as familiar with biking through Old Town. For the most part, I try to avoid Old Town.

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

You mean pedestrians? I'm surprised an advocate for bike commuting and TOD would not want to increase safety for them, whether from cars or bikes. I fully support the ticketing of drivers who run stop signs and red lights. Or park in the bike lane.

As I said before, I don't really ever see bicyclists being an issue for pedestrians (except for the dumb people who might ride on sidewalks but that's a small percentage). In theory, of course there might be a conflict but I bike like at least 5 times a week and I don't think I have EVER seen it an issue.

In my experience, by far the most dangerous aspect in the pedestrian/bicyclist mix is pedestrians who jaywalk or just aren't paying attention on the trails (like Mount Vernon) and nearly cause an accident or do cause one. In fact, I would go so far as to say that I'm more scared of pedestrians than motorists when I bike. When I'm biking down the giant hill between Courthouse and Rosslyn, I'm going 20+ MPH and pedestrians are jaywalking right in front of me to get to the 7-eleven. I have very little time to break. I am so frustrated at this point, I'm probably going to run down the next one I see.

My sister got in a minor accident on the Mount Vernon Trail because of some stupid pedestrian who wasn't paying attention.