Maybe the SFPD could use the site as a resource for id’ing and citing violators of the new law.

Wayne-

I know there are obnoxious cyclists, but does that mean the entire breed, or mode, is bad? In a way you could interpret these renegade, illegal acts as a albeit knee-jerk response to a critical condition. Unlike the earlier satirist, I’m not a "cool" biker (oh but to have the vanity!) I wear/own all the uncool things: handlebars that give me better visibility (not a road bike bars), flashing lights, reflectors, I stop at lights, I wear a helmet, basically I’m a dork, riding a bike. My only concession is to go fast, and I try to bike everywhere, because it’s the fastest (and healthier). Cars need to be parked, pollute the planet, all the obvious stuff. I’m hoping there are more folks like me- and that we’ll turn SF into a happy city where the two can co-exist. On another note- someone told me bike messengers are going out of business because of the Internet.

On that note, I rode out to Rainbow the other day and almost got creamed by a white van, but it was a confusing bit of Howard, where right turns emerge, it was rush hour, just generally more understandable.

It works both ways- your second post really described the situation to me better. Completely agree w/ you re: multitasking.

Before I moved to SF, I LOVED the idea of people riding bikes. Saves gas, provides exercise, easy to park, cheap to make, smaller footprint in the landfill, etc. But after having lived here for about a year and half, I have to say I HATE people who ride bikes. I gave mine away and I will never buy another one. I don’t want to be associated with people who ride bicycles.

They NEVER obey any sort of traffic laws. Stop signs? forget it. Red lights? nope. But here’s the worst thing: sidewalks. Sidewalks are for walking, NOT riding bikes. A decent-sized chunk of the useable driving space in the entire city is devoted to bike lanes and yet you bike idiots still ride on the sidewalk.

I have actually been hit TWICE (both times from behind) in the last six months by people riding bikes on the sidewalk. I’m a pretty big guy so the bike rider fell over both times. I still ended up with some nice bruises, though. And the bastards simply picked up their bikes and rode away. No apology; nothing.

I understand why you’re fearful of car drivers. My primary means of transportation (60 mile per day round-trip commute) is a motorcycle. I can’t count the number of times some inattentive car (or more usually SUV) driver has nearly killed me. But that doesn’t mean I ride my motorcycle on the sidewalk. If you’re afraid to ride in the street with the other vehicles, then I suggest you buy a car. But whatever you do, don’t try walking on the sidewalk. In SF those are for bikes only.

In addition to disregarding traffic laws and rules about riding bikes on sidewalks, bike riders are vandals. For a month or so (until the city painted over it) there was graffiti scrawled in ugly blue spray paint on a concrete support base along the Embarcadero: "Ride a bike.". No thanks.

If bicycle riders in SF want to do something to save the planet, they should strongly consider suicide.

It’s true that cars can inflict a lot more damage than a bicycle in the same way cars are no match for 18-wheelers and, no doubt, the larger the vehicle the more care and caution its driver must exercise. However, as our two experience show, depending on someone else’s good sense to keep you safe is a recipe for disaster. As my parents used to drill into me, "you may have had the right of way but you’ll still be dead". Driving/riding defensively is a necessity.

There are way too many people who think that operating a vehicle is an opportunity to multi-task. There are also way too many people who think that taking gross liberties with the rules-of-the-road somehow doesn’t have the potential to affect their safety and the safety of those around them.

We can trade horror stories all day long. But the bottom line is we have to find ways to share the road safely. It’s pretty simple actually — (1) concentrate on your driving/riding — leave the cell phone/iPod/lunch for a more appropriate time (2) follow a common set of rules to avoid surprising other drivers/riders, (3) signal your intentions IN ADVANCE — it doesn’t do much good once you’ve started your lane change or turn.

Treating stop signs like yield signs as a biker is legal in some countries and I wish it was legal here. It can actually be safer than stopping. I speak from years of experience… people consider me intelligent, I don’t have anything to prove, I want to stay alive, and I have brakes on my bike. And I have purposefully run red lights and stop signs all the time (only if it was safe, of course) because it would very effectively *reduce* the number of cars I had to deal with on the road. It often gives you the half-block advantage you need to get away from cars and avoid being sharply cut off at the next intersection (just one example). Stopping for a stop sign only keeps you in the middle of a bunch of cars, and cars are always to be considered unpredictable and dangerous.

It’s true that there are morons everywhere. But cars are potentially more dangerous because they are larger, and because driving them is much more relaxing than riding a bike. They give the driver a (sometimes false) sense of security, so they will be more tempted to talk on the phone, do their makeup, or whatever.

From the right, on the sidewalk, riding against traffic, came a guy on a bike, talking on a cell phone, who didn’t so much as pause, as he ran into and bounced off the side of the car.

He lept up, cell phone still in hand, as the driver of the car got out, clearly shaking.

It was lunch time, so there were plenty of people out. A woman came across the street specifically, it seemed, to yell at the driver about her inattention to the cyclist. Like it was her fault he rode into the side of her car.

Everyone can be a moron, either behind the wheel, the handlebars, or on foot.

But I would also have a LOT more sympathy for bicyclists if I ever saw one – JUST ONCE – stop for a stop sign. I’ve almost been flattened, as a pedestrian, on more than one occasion by a cyclist shooting through a stop sign without slowing down.

Everyone should be able to share the road and respect each others’ rights to use it, but cyclists, if you want to be taken seriously, start obeying the law yourselves.

No offense to you personally, Anna, just getting it off my chest.