Commuting through unsavory areas?

[skhill]

I live at the slum's edge, basically. And I go through some really "interesting" areas on my daily run at 6am or so. In my experience, the dealers and hookers and gangsters are almost always off the streets at that hour. I've run into the occasional drunk/ high person, but very rarely. The few people out at that hour are respectable hard-working folk just going to work. So it's really no big deal. Now in the evening it's a different story; up until sunset I'll go almost anywhere on bike (but not on foot). After sunset I'm a bit pickier.

The good news: at least where I live, there are a lot of people who use bikes as their only vehicle in these very poor neighborhoods. The bad news: most of them have no idea about the rules of the road or how to ride safely. Like stopping for lights and stop signs and riding with traffic....

[Crankin]

I go to see my clients at their homes and I do a lot my work in a city where there's a high number of immigrants who use bikes as transportation. The city recently has put a whole lot of effort into painting bike lanes, sharrows, and signs with bikes that say "bikes may take the full lane." Great, except almost none of the people riding there have any concept of the rules of the road for cycling, and I continue to see almost 100% of the riders going against traffic, through very complicated intersections, hopping across to sidewalks, and of course, not wearing a helmet.
There is a large university in this city, but I don't think many of the students ride. I want to say something to someone, but since I have had dealings with other aspects of the city government, I doubt anyone would listen, as I don't live there. I hate driving in this city, as the drivers are worse than the cyclists. After my car accident a few months ago, the other driver, who faked being injured, got to the 2 witnesses (probably with drugs), and they decided to find us equally at fault. It didn't harm my insurance rating or add points, but this just gives you a feel for the way things work!