Bicyclist recounts hitting pedestrian who dies, dedicates it to his helmet (Stockton: school, maintenance)

[mayorhaggar]

For people saying riding on the sidewalk should be groovy, if you've ever been walking down a narrow sidewalk in SF and some dope on a bike whizzes past nearly running into you, you'd change your tune. I wouldn't have cared but once it started happening to me a bunch in SF I really got pissed off about it, and I make sure to never ride on the sidewalk unless I'm somewhere really suburban where there's too much traffic or a divider so I can't cross traffic to do a u-turn or a left turn, and I only ride on the sidewalk until I get to an intersection where I can get back onto the road. You never need to do this in SF.

All the bike messenger bros who speed through red lights in downtown SF are really annoying and dangerous too, they blast through and nearly hit you when you start crossing with the walk sign, and then act like you got in their way. As I said, the police need to crack down on this and on sidewalk riding where it's illegal...otherwise people just wrongly assume it's legal and safe.

[ubringliten]

Originally Posted by jade408

Disagree, this was a big story. They have been doing near daily updates on this one on SFGate. (If there is a kid involved it is a big story)

Compared to the one in Castro? It made on NPR and on local stations.

Maybe because it involves a family?

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ubringliten

Compared to the one in Castro? It made on NPR and on local stations.

Maybe because it involves a family?

Big for a pedestrian killing.

I think this Castro story got picked up because of bike lane backlash in some cities.

Just a few months ago a friend of a friend lost her dad in a cyclists/hits pedestrian incident in Toronto. Nowhere near as much coverage. And it was the same sort of thing, except he was walking out of a bank on to the sidewalk, and got hit by the cyclist. He died from head trauma.

This story probably got extra coverge because the dummy posted on a message board.

[ubringliten]

Originally Posted by jade408

Big for a pedestrian killing.

I think this Castro story got picked up because of bike lane backlash in some cities.

Just a few months ago a friend of a friend lost her dad in a cyclists/hits pedestrian incident in Toronto. Nowhere near as much coverage. And it was the same sort of thing, except he was walking out of a bank on to the sidewalk, and got hit by the cyclist. He died from head trauma.

This story probably got extra coverge because the dummy posted on a message board.

The local stations reported as if it was just a bicycle-ped accident, nothing about bike lane backlash. If at all, more bike lanes should exist so cyclists feel less stress on the road and ride less on sidewalks. Go on the SFGate article about the Castro incident and read the comments, you get so much cyclists hatred and very little hatred against drivers in other car-ped accidents. I think this society has little empathy for cyclists because most drivers and peds don't ride bikes.

I am sorry to hear about your friend's lost. .
I believe Toronto doesn't do a good job of covering because they are not as media-hungry as the US and as I mentioned above, drivers in the US would love to hear anything about cyclist induced accident/death.

[etoile_filante]

My annoyance with bikers in SF has nothing to do with being "childish" or "immature" but rather the constant examples I witness everyday of bikers flouting traffic laws and endangering me. I'm sure there are many considerate bikers, but the bikers break traffic law more often, and more egregiously, where I walk.

Times a vehicle in SF has run a red light/broken a traffic law and almost hit me: 0 in 2 months
Times a bicycle in SF has run a red light/broken a traffic law and almost hit me: 14+ in 2 months (I started keeping tally, but lost count)

It happens so often that I've become skittish/jittery when crossing the street. They've been nimble enough to get out of my way in time, averting an accident, but it naturally stresses me out.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ubringliten

TGo on the SFGate article about the Castro incident and read the comments, you get so much cyclists hatred and very little hatred against drivers in other car-ped accidents. I think this society has little empathy for cyclists because most drivers and peds don't ride bikes.

Actually I think the crazies come out in full force in the Chron. If there is an instance of violence anywhere it becomes a pit of racist comments. If its an article about a politician of any flavor, there are comments about "winy liberals screwing up the world."

I expect nothing less from the Chron comments. Just full of haters: 99% haters, 1% haters, Oakland haters, Bike haters, <insert ethnic group> haters, liberal haters and conservative haters.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by ubringliten

The local stations reported as if it was just a bicycle-ped accident, nothing about bike lane backlash. If at all, more bike lanes should exist so cyclists feel less stress on the road and ride less on sidewalks.

I am a bike lane supporter (and a bike blvd supporter) but it is interesting to look at the whole "cyclist" identity discourse. In fact a great place to look at is the coverage on bikes lanes in Brooklyn.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by etoile_filante

My annoyance with bikers in SF has nothing to do with being "childish" or "immature" but rather the constant examples I witness everyday of bikers flouting traffic laws and endangering me. I'm sure there are many considerate bikers, but the bikers break traffic law more often, and more egregiously, where I walk.

Times a vehicle in SF has run a red light/broken a traffic law and almost hit me: 0 in 2 months
Times a bicycle in SF has run a red light/broken a traffic law and almost hit me: 14+ in 2 months (I started keeping tally, but lost count)

It happens so often that I've become skittish/jittery when crossing the street. They've been nimble enough to get out of my way in time, averting an accident, but it naturally stresses me out.

I agree with basically most of what you're saying, and believe you are justified in feeling upset about this. I think you misunderstand what I said, I didn't say how you feel is childish. Rather, what I found childish is the idea of lumping everyone into one category (in this case, those who bike), when in fact, this group is not a monolithic entity (just look at these comments from the various bikers to see that they're all unique people with different opinions). Basically, just because there are morons out there on their bikes braking the laws, that shouldn't mean that it's logical to target ALL cyclists as "anarchists on two-wheels" (which seems to be the case with many of the anti-biker comments on some of these articles, such as on SFGate).

All I'm saying is I don't think all drivers are morons, even though there is a small minority of idiot drivers who run red lights, drive erratically, hit pedestrians/cyclists, etc. I realize that kind of thinking is a complete stereotype and generalization that just isn't true. I drive enough to know how wrong that kind of thinking is (most drivers are good, but you always get those lane-switchers causing trouble/accidents).

At the end of the day, we are all in the same boat...we have to live in the same city, and these silly bikes vs. cars/cars vs. ped/ped vs. bikes "wars" (as someone who drives, walks and cycles about equally, they certainly seem silly to me) will only serve to create a more divisive and angry city. We need to stop thinking in an "us vs. them" mentality, and start thinking about ways that we can improve the city's infrastructure for ALL forms of transportation. After all, most people in the area use multiple modes of transportation.

It's obvious that something does need to be done to improve safety for all in this city. It does sound like there are some steps being taken, such as turning some borderline-freeway-like 1-way streets in SOMA into two-way streets, and lowering the speed limits, putting more bike lanes in, etc; but I don't really know how far those steps will really go (sound more like putting a band-aid on a gun wound).

I think we can all work together to help fix things...but, realistically, what do we do?

• I've heard about "bike licenses," although, I just don't see that being a realistic option...
• more ticket citations for bikers might help, but I still have my doubts that there would be consistent enforcement...
• We could always start "yelling" at offenders as they blow past us on the crosswalks...but that could just further enrage the "us vs. them" battle...although, if I do see a cyclist doing something stupid when I'm out riding my bike, I definitely tell them. And I let them know how their behavior is making ALL of us cyclists look bad...
• perhaps we should start looking to European cities to see what kind of ways we could improve ped/biker safety on the streets...although, I do have my doubts about these kind of solutions working in the U.S.

[Isebiel]

Originally Posted by etoile_filante

My annoyance with bikers in SF has nothing to do with being "childish" or "immature" but rather the constant examples I witness everyday of bikers flouting traffic laws and endangering me. I'm sure there are many considerate bikers, but the bikers break traffic law more often, and more egregiously, where I walk.

Times a vehicle in SF has run a red light/broken a traffic law and almost hit me: 0 in 2 months
Times a bicycle in SF has run a red light/broken a traffic law and almost hit me: 14+ in 2 months (I started keeping tally, but lost count)

It happens so often that I've become skittish/jittery when crossing the street. They've been nimble enough to get out of my way in time, averting an accident, but it naturally stresses me out.

Yep. Generally an automobile driver who goes through an intersection inappropriately has made a mistake. Which is not to say they're not bad drivers and completely at fault, but they didn't mean to go through the light or stop sign, they're distracted or drunk or tired. They don't do it all the time, obviously, because they wouldn't make it very far!

Bicyclists who go through stop signs and red lights are doing it deliberately, every day, at every intersection where they can get away with it.

That's why people get so annoyed with the bicyclists vs. the drivers, I think. It's the difference between a deliberate repeat offender and someone who's careless.

From what I've read, the most effective change in obnoxious cyclist behavior comes from more people riding politely. When a bunch of commuters stop at the stop light, it sure makes the messenger look bad when he whizzes through all by himself.

[ubringliten]

Originally Posted by jade408

Actually I think the crazies come out in full force in the Chron. If there is an instance of violence anywhere it becomes a pit of racist comments. If its an article about a politician of any flavor, there are comments about "winy liberals screwing up the world."

I expect nothing less from the Chron comments. Just full of haters: 99% haters, 1% haters, Oakland haters, Bike haters, <insert ethnic group> haters, liberal haters and conservative haters.

I am glad you're a bike lane supporter. I still think bike lanes in the US are a joke. Just have bike stencils or stripes on the streets, wowla, that's bike lanes?

How come there's disproportionate hate toward cyclists and less toward drivers in the Chron? There is already evidence in this thread that shows that. Let's have a thread on the Concord accident where a father and daughter were killed leaving the second daughter fatherless or could become handicapped or even an orphan. Let's create a thread on this.