Hey Man, Can't We All Just Get Along?
Yo, Philly in the News
Playlist Rewind: AFI at the Factory
Whole Hog Is All Heart
Photoist
- Listen up, bikers. You have lanes to ride in all to yourselves. STOP FUCKING HITTING PEOPLE AND FLEEING THE SCENE! For real.
- A trolley line for east Market Street and along the Delaware River waterfront is moving closer to reality.
- Do you have a kind heart? Well, the SHARE Food Program could use your help.
- Sly's Barbershop is back! Hard times fell on the 55-year-old barbershop earlier this year, but Henry "Sly" Schley brought it back.
- With World Series tickets selling on popular ticket scalping websites for thousands of dollars, Phillie-fan is struggling with a tough decision. To sell or not to sell?
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Ugh. Cyclists like that give the rest of us a bad name. That just makes me sick.
Hey Cars, now that you have lanes all to yourselves, STOP FUCKING HITTING PEOPLE AND FLEEING THE SCENE!
The bicyclist was clearly an asshole, but you write that as if it happens all the time, like the hit and runs that seem to make the news nightly.
hit and runs BY ANYONE REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY ARE DRIVING A CAR, BIKE, SEGWAY OR TRICYCLE are awful.
and bike hit and runs happen more often than you would think. trust me.
perhaps it doesnt get into the news as often because cars are larger and usually cause more harm than a cyclist hitting a person would.
regardless, everyone needs to stop hitting each other and fleeing. you too, segways. i'm watching you.
I agree, really I do. Hit and runs are horrible and I hope they catch this guy.
It's just the phrasing - and all caps - that I take issue with. I understand Philly hates people on bikes, but damn it gets old. We should switch to hating hipsters with ironic haircuts and fixies. It would be more fun for everyone.
I think Andy's problem is with the sense of superiority/entitlement that cyclists have—particularly a complete disregard for traffic laws. I can't tell you how many hipsters on bikes I've seen just blow through stop signs and red lights because they either don't know or don't care that they're supposed to adhere to those signals just like cars.
Bikers should not complain if a cyclist blows through a light and get taken out by a car going the crosswise direction with a green light. That's not cars disregarding your safety; that's you disregarding your safety.
As a cyclist who tends to follow traffic laws, and who only feels entitled to my spot on the road, I find this argument to be absurd.
Not every cyclist flaunts traffic laws, probably most don't, but cars seem to regularly. I have never had a cyclist reach out and push me off my bike, but I can think of two occasions when I have had drivers do so. The cars I have been hit by didn't follow any of rules when they didn't signal a turn or decided to drive in the bike lane.
Things like not signaling turns, speeding, illegal passing, double parking, running lights, and complaining when a bike is on the road seem to display this sense of entitlement that non-cyclists are always throwing out there.
Also, when was the last time you crossed against a light, or when you were driving blew through a light because it was turning yellow? Are these things ok if you aren't on your bike?
I'd just like to state for the record that I'm an equal-opportunity hater. I do happen to follow traffic laws and loathe anyone who flouts them. Anyone who's been in a car while I'm driving will tell you I curse at other cars, cyclists, and pedestrians—roughly in proportion to how many there are on the road at a given time. (Pedestrians are as bad as cars and cyclists when it comes to disregarding traffic lights/don't walk signals. You have the right of way when you have the signal. If you don't have the signal, get the hell out of the way of the cars and bikes that do.)
I expect cyclists and cars alike to push the limits of the yellow light. It's when that thing is fire engine red that I have a problem, and I don't care what kind of vehicle (or non-vehicle, pedestrians) you're in. If you blow through a red light and get t-boned (in a car) or just plain blasted (bikes and pedestrians), my sympathy level is nil.
I vented on cyclists because that's the conversation at hand, but I'm more than happy to rip car drivers the same way. The drivers who blow through the right-turn traffic light at 2nd & Callowhill coming off I-95 drive me absolutely batty, and I wish they'd put a red light camera there (as well as a few other intersection in the city, but that's the worst one I can think of off the top of my head).
I would not say that most cyclists follow traffic laws. When I'm in a car, I'd estimate the number of cyclists I see follow traffic laws (such as, stopping at red lights, stop signs, signaling turns—cyclists must do that too, or legally passing a car) as "few". Cyclists should not pass in between cars on the road, follow too closely behind a car/bus/truck, etc. You can't pick and choose the laws to follow, just like a car can't.
Until cyclists start getting traffic tickets it will continue. I'm all for sharing the road and I think the bike lanes go a long way to accomplishing more harmony between cyclists and autos, but you can't sit there and type that most cyclists follow the rules of the road. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
I couldn't honestly type "all cyclists" either, even if I would like to. But can you honestly say all motorists follow the rules of the road?
Bike lanes work when cars get ticketed for parking or driving in them, otherwise they are only a little helpful.
And I am all for ticketing cyclists on the side walk, blowing lights, etc. Just keep the cars and pedestrians out of the bike lanes at the same time.
100% no. Cars don't follow the laws.
Basically, we live in lawlessness on the roads. Seriously. It all falls back to a general lack of consideration by some individuals in this city. Those people feel that whay they're doing is far more important than what anyone else in the city is doing.
I'm with you on double-parking, parking in bike lanes, etc. That should be policed better. Especially double-parking. Nothing chokes the flow of traffic like a double-parking assclown.
The most ironic thing about this is that we're talked back and forth at each other (you, me, Ross) and we seem to be fairly upright citizens in terms of following the rules of the road. Ha.
Hahaha. Yeah this has essentially turned into an "I agree with you so hard" kind of argument.
But yeah, I definitely do my best to follow the rules, getting hit really is no fun at all and thankfully I have never actually hit someone. I would like to maintain that record as well.
People just need to not be self important jerks when in public. Then we could have nice things.
Maybe.
So it's cool if I'm a self-important jerk at home right?
Also, amen to hating hipsters with ironic haircuts and fixed gear bikes. I'm with you, Tom.