Behavior

[betagirl]

Has anyone noticed that things are off in the world of bike commuting? I'm having an increase in near misses with cars/pedestrians/squirrels/etc. Just a lot of wackiness, enough to notice. People seem, I don't know, b*tchier than normal toward cyclists? Turning in front of me, even after obviously seeing me and making eye contact. I almost got sideswiped by a boxtruck today, but he probably just didn't see me even though I was in the bike lane and wearing a nuclear yellow rainjacket. I decided to use the sidewalk over the chicago river today because in the rain the grated bridges get really slick and there was this swirling wind today. Just not feeling like wiping out in front of a bus or something. So this pedestrian had to raise up his umbrella a little to get by. I hear a "get off the f-ing sidewalk." Which is the opposite of what I sometimes hear, "get off the f-ing road and onto the sidewalk!"

Maybe it's just me, but it's gotten a little more nerve racking and I normally really like riding in traffic. I get cranky when people are overtly aggressive with me, which seems to be happening more. Maybe it's the change of seasons. People are getting cranky that summer is winding down :rolleyes:

Anyone else notice this or am I just lucky?

[KnottedYet]

I haven't noticed it here. But I'm lucky enough to have a designated Bike Route for my commute with very little traffic. If I had to deal with real traffic I'd probably have a different story!

[postiechic]

I'm having an increase in near misses with cars/pedestrians/squirrels/etc.

I wish we had squirrels here :(
They're so cute

[Lise]

I wish we had squirrels here :(
They're so cuteI'm sure we could afford to send one or two from the Midwest.

I haven't ridden for about a week, but I do remember the past few commutes having very aggravating pedestrian encounters. I've taken to yelling "Heads UP!" as they wander into my path, looking the other way. If they're looking right at me, and still wandering into the street, I say, "Do NOT walk in front of me!" To cars, I yell, "Do NOT hit me!" I think it's more an attempt at magical command than actual communication in the case of the cars. But if they hear me yelling and suddenly pay attention to something other than the cell phone, that's a good thing.

[Bron]

Maybe it's some sort of late-summer madness.
Actually here the worst offenders are other cyclists - jumping red lights, cycling the wrong way down cycle paths and yesterday, to cap it all, a girl cycling while holding an umbrella:eek:
Grrrrr, it makes me so mad.
Bron

[betagirl]

An umbrella??? :eek: Was it Mary Poppins?

[DeniseGoldberg]

I guess I'm pretty lucky in my commuting route. My experience is that on the whole the drivers respect me as a cyclist and allow me the room that I need to ride safely. Of course that may be partially because I do ride as far out into the driving lane as I feel is necessary to be safe. That means they really can't just blast by me but need to more over. One of the roads I ride on my way to work has a wide paved shoulder that I am quite happy to ride on, but none of the other roads have that extra width so I'm in the driving lane.

It still surprises me when oncoming drivers stop so that I can turn left.

--- Denise

[Lise]

I remember last Thursday evening was particularly strange. I saw a guy riding with a full-sized umbrella (closed). One cyclist saw a friend on the sidewalk and stopped abruptly in the bike lane to chat. Right in front of me. On Armitage there was a girl jogger running in the bike lane, directly at me. It was at dusk. I have a bright flashing white light on the front of my bike. No way you can't see me if you're running the wrong way in the bike lane. Just as I veered out into traffic, she hopped up onto the sidewalk. Never even acknowledged me.

And how about those geese down by McCormick Place on the south Lakefront Trail? They fear no bike! Can my tires handle that much goose poop? :eek: :p

[betagirl]

LOL Lise. Those geese will take you down. Though I'd rather deal with the geese than the rollerbladers up by Oak Street. On their phone, striding like they're an olympic speed skater.

Denise, I'm pretty aggressive when I ride. I don't ride near the parked cars as to not get "doored." My route is very urban, either in downtown chicago or the surrounding neighborhoods. Most people are like what you describe, which is so nice.

But lately, man it's like there's a full moon. Maybe because I had some close calls I'm more keyed into them and things I ignored in the past I now notice. The guy on the sidewalk yesterday was hilarious. I think he was a tourist to boot. Not that we don't love our tourists here :D

[Blueberry]

I think there's general craziness. I (sadly) can't bike commute to work (35 miles each way, and no safe bikeable alternative), nor is there reasonable public transit. Yet our area just lost funding for a commuter rail which would have provided a reasonable alternative (granted it would have taken years...)

However drivers have been terrible for the last couple of weeks. I'm attributing it to 1) college kids being back in the area and 2) back to school for secondary schools. Hubby and I were stopped at the bottom of a (one way) exit ramp last weekend when a car tried to turn up the ramp. Grrrrr....apparently one way doesn't really mean one way to some people :cool:

[DeniseGoldberg]

Denise, I'm pretty aggressive when I ride. I don't ride near the parked cars as to not get "doored." My route is very urban, either in downtown chicago or the surrounding neighborhoods. Most people are like what you describe, which is so nice.

But lately, man it's like there's a full moon...
I suspect that my luck (and your bad luck) is more related to where we are riding than anything else. My commute is in heavily populated areas, but areas that I would classify as suburban, and not urban. I ride a route that (auto) commuters drive, so it is busy - but nothing like riding in Boston (or Chicago) would be. You've got a lot of guts to ride where you do!

--- Denise

[mimitabby]

I wish we had squirrels here :(
They're so cute
yeah, but you have wallabies and koalas!!

[mimitabby]

I have noticed a big change too, but not what you've noticed. We have bikers EVERYWHERE!

I had to drive to another town near here, and i noticed even on some tremendous hills (that I ALWAYS avoid) there were bicyclists pedalling for all it's worth.
The combination of high gas prices, CLOGGED highways and health scares (we need to get fit or else) is sending throngs of folks out onto their bikes.
And I am seeing all ages.

[betagirl]

Chicagoans could use a few hours on their bikes also :) To work off that deep dish pizza....among other things.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I recently read that car accident deaths have risen this past year nationwide for the very first time after many years of slow decline. I think it's from all the drivers talking on their cell phones, causing accidents. Even though it's illegal here in NY state to talk while driving unless you are using a hands-free phone, I see multiple drivers EVERY DAY holding their little phones to their ears while driving, talking endlessly....they are simply ignoring the laws and nobody is sufficiently enforcing them, or else the fines are not high enough to discourage people much.
And then there was the recent study that showed even hand-less cell phone talking caused drivers to have equally bad reaction time as someone who is driving while impaired by alcohol.
I HOPE it will very soon become painfully obvious that there will have to be a very tough total nationwide ban on ALL phone talking while driving. Let people pull over and stop if they must talk on the phone!

[pooks]

I wish we had squirrels here :(
They're so cute

Yesterday I was almost taken out by a small chihuahua.

He was so cute -- so tiny -- came tearing out into the street at me and my first instinct was to screech to a stop but instead I sped up, HOPING he wouldn't be stupid enough to throw himself in my path. He didn't. He enjoyed the testosterone flush of having "scared" me away, I think.

[GLC1968]

I wish we had squirrels here :(
They're so cute

I'll gladly send you all mine. I have 6 huge gorgeous tomato plants in my garden and yet I haven't harvested a single, solitary tomato all season. The stupid squirrels are sure getting fat, though! :mad:

I have noticed a marked increase in traffic on my commute in the past few days. Even the early morning leg where I rarely see any cars! I think it's school related.

[postiechic]

yeah, but you have wallabies and koalas!!
well yeah, but ya gotta go on an expedition to find one. Squirrels are all over the place.

I'll gladly send you all mine. I have 6 huge gorgeous tomato plants in my garden and yet I haven't harvested a single, solitary tomato all season. are
bit like the possums that ate all my strawberries one year.
it's always the way huh...cute and cuddly can be bloody pests!

[Geonz]

I used to think that cell phones weren't that big of a deal, and that people would adapt ... but basically every day at any given intersection, I'll wonder why a driver is behaving oddly (generally not proceeding or reacting to things), and they're on a cell phone. I think we may have pushed two notches *past* our ability to attend. Hmmm... what would interfere with their reception? I want one for my bike...

Around here things have gotten a little crazier - but I think it's just the normal transition from "summer people" to the collge crowd. (The summer drivers are very above average.) It's those folks down from Chicago causing the trouble, I'm sure :-)

[Tater]

Not much different to report around here. School has finally started and I pass by three elementary schools on my commute. Seems to be a few more vehicles packing the little booger pickers off to soccer practice after school, but it isn't too bad.