Driver slashes cyclist's throat in South Side attack (Pittsburgh, Houston: shopping center, moving)

[groar]

Originally Posted by 20yrsinBranson

not trolling. I just hit "New posts" and if something interesting comes up I participate. Half the time I don't even look to see what forum it's in.

Where did you read that he was white? I have looked at every news article on the subject and nothing has been mentioned about race. I guess you are assuming that since the description of the car did not include 26" chrome rims it was a white guy's car. LOL

20yrsinBranson

i posted the trib article with the victim's description of the assailant. i also quoted the description from the article. also irishvan's post above yours quotes the same description. also wow are you ever racist.

[groar]

i know some people have some weird stereotypes about non-white people but before this thread i'd never heard the one where they like to jump out of their cars to chase down and stab cyclists and white people don't. that's definitely a new one to me.

[gg]

As someone who cycles all the time, I have to say, this year has been really hard on me. Not only do I have to worry about getting run over and left to die by a speeding car, I now have to think about being stabbed? What is next, shot? Glad my commute isn't too wild, but it isn't perfect. Perfect would be a bike lane or train to and from my home, but that is totally unrealistic. The city can't do that, nor is it to be expected. Pittsburgh is a very hostile place for cyclists. I feel the benefits to the city and myself in the form of health and happiness outweigh the dangers out there. Sadly, I don't think we are going to see more people out there as new cyclists. Just too dangerous and the inexperienced cyclist is probably the most at risk. I have been on a bike in this city for decades and really have only had less than 10 issues in that time that would be considered dangerous. I think a style can be adopted to be safer, but that takes a while to develop. I would be happy to help a newbie out, but I don't think there will be many anymore. Cycling will probably be on the decline. Even though I have never seen more bikes on the road as I do today, maybe it peaked and will head the other direction. The faster a cyclist knows cars/SUVs rule the road, the better they will become as cyclists. We never win in conflict and are really in the open with no protection. We are the toughest people out there, but the most likely to get hurt or killed. Sort of like the Marines.

[irishvan]

That really sucks to think that they may not find this nutcase...

[selltheburgh]

I bike around the city a lot. It is probably 10-15% of my city commuting and I wish it could be more. It used to be 100% of my mobility through Pgh from 1996 through 2002.

Biking around the city is much better than it was 10 years ago. There are bike lanes, more cyclists and the average driver is more aware of bikes. Last night on a 10 minute commute through the east end at 10:30 PM I passed 4 other cyclists. Earlier in the day I didn't count, but there were easily 10-15 just on the bike lanes in Bloomfield. Years ago it was rare to pass just one person on a bike and I often knew them.

With that, there are more cyclists and with more cyclists there are unfortunately more incidents.

This stabbing incident is really horrible and unnecessary, but multiple times per year there are aggravated assaults, shootings, etc because of some sociopath with road rage between two different car drivers. This time it just happened to be targeted at a cyclist instead of somebody in a Toyota or a Ford.

[toosie]

Originally Posted by groar

i know some people have some weird stereotypes about non-white people but before this thread i'd never heard the one where they like to jump out of their cars to chase down and stab cyclists and white people don't. that's definitely a new one to me.

You gotta get out more.

Ok, so I read those two most recent articles posted here and it's sounding way more random (my definition) and way less road rage to me. It sounds like the cyclist thought there had to be a reason that he was being stabbed - so he remembered that maybe he had pulled in front of this joker. But there was no verbal altercation, no leaning on the horn, no obvious gunning of the motor and pursuit. That's a-typical for even basic road rage - let alone a case like this that ended in attempted homicide. Also, while he was being stabbed, his reaction indicates he thought he was being mugged - he told the guy to take his bike - not that he thought they were retaliating for a traffic violation. The reports don't add up to road rage, IMO - it's starting to sound even more random than that.

[sealie]

If all of the people predicting doom gloom and annihilation for Pgh cycling can calm down for a minute, look at the current situation compared to what it was:
Stuff like this is getting news coverage.
Police/mayor are starting to take this stuff seriously.
Bike lanes and sharrows are getting installed.
People - lots of them - are biking to work or running their errands on a bike. Upper middle class people, people with some clout.
Bike Pittsburgh's annual event is getting some serious participation.
The college students are getting some serious pro-biking pro-commuting support.
I could go on. I honestly could. It is getting better, largely due to some people who decided they were going to make it better if they could. Any time you move forward on any issue you're going to get some blowback from people who liked things the way they were, or, in this case, from someone who is a freakin' lunatic. The last I heard, BikePGH was still looking for volunteers to stand around and count bike commuters, in order to help influence infrastructure policy. If people want to help the bike community rather than **** and moan about how someone else hasn't already fixed everything for them, that'd be an easy way to do it.

[UKyank]

If what was reported is indeed what actually happened I'm sure the perpetrators sociopathic actions are not limited only to incidents of road rage.

[selltheburgh]

Originally Posted by toosie

You gotta get out more.

Ok, so I read those two most recent articles posted here and it's sounding way more random (my definition) and way less road rage to me. It sounds like the cyclist thought there had to be a reason that he was being stabbed - so he remembered that maybe he had pulled in front of this joker. But there was no verbal altercation, no leaning on the horn, no obvious gunning of the motor and pursuit. That's a-typical for even basic road rage - let alone a case like this that ended in attempted homicide. Also, while he was being stabbed, his reaction indicates he thought he was being mugged - he told the guy to take his bike - not that he thought they were retaliating for a traffic violation. The reports don't add up to road rage, IMO - it's starting to sound even more random than that.

you might be right, but I think she's commenting on the trolls who popped in from Missouri and Allentown to guess that the perp's race more-so than the motive of the stabbing.

[CaptainPittsburgh]

Originally Posted by toosie

Most of us at the CD-PGH threads might be more reasonable when it comes to sharing the road than the average joe on those news posts. I still think it can be helpful when the cycling enthusiasts comment on bike bashing posts here.

I'm glad you said that. Sometimes I think I probably come off as self-righteous and obnoxious when I post in bike threads on here, which is never my intent.

Originally Posted by groar

yeah, i shouldn't read the comments on those sites either. they get really terrible - worse than just about anything i've seen here (relating to cyclists, anyway).

I foolishly read a bunch of the comments on the James Price Post-Gazette coverage, and some of them really upset me. I decided to pretend that the comment section doesn't exist after that. Some people's thought processes are very, very distrubing.

Originally Posted by h_curtis

As someone who cycles all the time, I have to say, this year has been really hard on me... We never win in conflict and are really in the open with no protection. We are the toughest people out there, but the most likely to get hurt or killed. Sort of like the Marines.

Come on, bro, it'll pan out eventually. Think about it this way: this year we also got a bunch of new bike lanes, a new law that shows the state is promoting us and a proposal by none other than the king of cycling, the Dutch, to put a protected lane right in the heart of Oakland. This is all good news, and shows that we're making progress.

There's increased tension any time change is in the air. We're progressing towards a more cyclist friendly culture, and some of these strides just stir things up. Plus, I think more people are probably cycling right now, which, unfortunately, means we're seeing more incidents. I truly do believe that we're moving forward at a good clip, though; we just gotta deal with the extra static until we get there.