The rider had slowly rolled a few feet into the intersection when the fast-moving truck hit her, video from the scene shows. She was dragged underneath the truck. Medics declared her dead at the scene....
“These trucks think it’s a f-----g race track. They speed here all the time,” said Matt La Rosa, 25, who works nearby. “I rode my bike right over where she was killed this morning. I’m selling my bike.”
“It’s awful just how quickly it can happen,” said Alice Finnerty, 27, who saw the accident. “She was mutilated. It’s a good wake up call. I was thinking about getting a bike.”
The woman killed in Monday’s crash was the 15th cyclist to die on New York streets in 2019, and the third killed in the last week. In all of 2018, 10 cyclists died on city streets.
Mayor de Blasio five years ago started Vision Zero, a program aimed at eliminating all traffic deaths in the city by 2024.
July 1, 2019
"Cement truck mows down Brooklyn cyclist in 15th bike fatality of 2019; ‘too many bikes’ on streets, says truck’s owner."
The Daily News Reports.
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Annals of Misnaming:
Mayor de Blasio five years ago started Vision Zero, a program aimed at eliminating all traffic deaths in the city by 2024.
When I had a BMW motorcycle the trainer told us that in any confrontation between a bike and a car or truck, the bike would lose. Riding a motorcycle required constant defensive driving and this was before the texting craze.
Bicyclists can be very aggressive and think they own the streets. San Francisco is a good example.
It's sad but I post this as someone who was hit on a major street by a bus while riding my bike and spent six months in a wheelchair. When flesh meets metal, metal wins every time
http://notanothercyclingforum.net/bikereader/contributors/misc/menace.html
“The rider had slowly rolled a few feet into the intersection when the fast-moving truck hit her, video from the scene shows.”.
She rlled out in front of a cement truck. Not a very wise move. Cement trucks can’t stop or maneuver quickly. Whether or not it was speeding will come out in the investigation, but rolling into the intersection was her fault. Even if she was in a car, being hit by a cement truck would be very dangerous. On a bike, that’s certain death.
When I first moved to the Sun Belt metropolis where I currently reside, I thought I would ride a bike everywhere; but two weeks of near-misses with death cured me of that. One thing I noticed that motorists liked to do was stay in their parked cars until I was riding past them, and then fling open their doors. Someone later told me, "Don't you know people in this city hate bicyclists?"
Politicians immediately used the tragedy to push their pet agenda:
“a major enforcement action that will encompass every precinct and crack down on dangerous driving behavior like parking in bike lanes.”
“We are behind on a time line to get more protective infrastructure," he said. "We need more leadership. Cyclists are just trying to get around, get home, legally, and its unacceptable just how dangerous these streets are.”
So what are the chances any of this would have made a difference?
The rider had slowly rolled a few feet into the intersection when the fast-moving truck hit her,
Oh, none.
Streets are dangerous. Maybe we shouldn't try to convince people they aren't.
I couldn't imagine trying to drive a car in New York City's crazy traffic, much less a bicycle. What's shocking about that stat isn't that the death toll is so high, it's that the death toll is so low.
In my circle of friends, at least 4 have been killed on bikes, either by trucks, cars, or rocks in the road. Of the remainder who ride, nearly all have had serious injuries, including damage to the brain. On roadways, there are many accidents. Bikes will be involved in some and the damage to the rider will far exceed any damage to the vehicle or the driver. The coefficient of friction of air is zero.
We need to get bikes off city streets. This isn't China. You don't *need* to ride a bike. Go out to the country on Sunday.
I rode my bike to he first time on a couple weeks today. I'm trying to walk more. But my walking is awkward, whereas I am a graceful rider. But traffic here is getting worse.
I feel at 70 my biking days may be numbered.
Bikes are for children.
Adults on bikes are far worse than men in shorts.
So what possibly could account for this stark increase in fatal and other serious collisions?
Are drivers now suddenly more bloodthirsty and psychopathic? Have we gone from a basically peaceable society to one where drivers have a depraved indifference to human life?
Or is it something else?
More people on bikes. More bikes, more bike deaths.
Take an aggressive, type A asshole out from behind the wheel of a car and put him on a bike and what do you get? An aggressive type A asshole on a bicycle.
Not saying she was hit by an illegal immigrant
ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo said he would green-light granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, claiming it would improve road safety
But do these people have the requisite driver's ed ?
Will NYC streets be safer with these new drivers?
some NYC cyclists take huge chances
Bicycles? Fish don't need 'em.
Where was Spidey Marianne?
I used to ride a bike in NY City until someone did me a favor and stole it. I was young and stupid. Then my roommate, who rode a motorcycle, got hit by a taxi. Have you been in a NY City emergency room at 4:00AM? It's an education. Another friend raced motorcycles and had to dump his on Broadway to avoid hitting a pedestrian. Lucky man. Such is life in NY City.
The bicycle situation in Manhattan has become insane.
I don't know anyone who has been bicycling more than a year who hasn't been hit by a vehicle.
It is harder than ever to be a pedestrian, because bikes travel in bicycle lanes in the wrong direction all the time.
I don't drive in Manhattan, and I consider bicyclists the greatest danger to me when I walk around.
(I never look for cars going the wrong way before I cross, and as a result, I constantly have near misses with bicycles that are.)
Drivers are mostly rational and they are heavily ticketed.
I have never seen a bicyclist get a ticket, and I am certain that I witness literally 5 to 10 times as many bicyclists violating the law.
I would bet that the injuries bicyclists in Manhattan cause to pedestrians exceed the injuries vehicles cause to bicyclists.
Here in Arlington, a favorite activity of bicyclists is riding in between the lanes of traffic, in addition to the usual ignoring of red lights, claiming pedestrian status and zooming into crosswalks before turning motorists can see them coming, and having a general entitlement attitude the is encouraged by the anti-car County regime.
I don't understand cyclists obsession of being able to bike everywhere. A cyclist is just a faster pedestrian in comparison to any automobile, let alone a truck. And people easily admit that some places aren't appropriate for pedestrians, but nevertheless cyclists want to go there and feel like they should be absolutely safe there. It is as if they are at war with reality itself.
Mayor de Blasio five years ago started Vision Zero, a program aimed at eliminating all traffic deaths in the city by 2024.
That's nothing. I'm starting Vision Zero Squared, a program aimed at eliminating all sadness by 2024. GoFundMe, here I come.
I ride my bicycle upwards of 100 miles per week. I live in a rural area - not as much traffic as the city but the roads are narrower. I stop at every intersection and light. I take extra precaution wherever there is the possibility of conflict. I yield to all motorized traffic, even when I have the right of way. These are the sensible things to do. I am, knocking wood, still alive.
I sail quite a lot also. Often sailboats have the right of way, according to the rules, but frequently the sail boat operator is ill-advised to take it. Especially on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, if you know what I mean.
I don't understand cyclists obsession of being able to bike everywhere.
If you are expecting someone to rationally explain progressivism to you, you are out of luck. It can't be done.
If only Marianne Williamson was there to stop ther truck.
@stevew
we do the exact same. NEVER trust that the other guy will do right.
btw-- how was Halibut?
"'Too many bikes’ on streets, says truck’s owner."
Uh-oh, that quote isn't going to look good in front of the jury.
I've gotten into more than a few online arguments with people in telling them that a pedestrian must exercise prudence in crossing the street -- stopping and looking both ways and not proceeding to cross until there is no oncoming traffic and even when crossing with the light, watching to ensure that the approaching vehicles do in fact stop, regardless of who has the legal "right of way."
It is no use trying to explain to them that regardless of the law, motor vehicles have a lot more mass and potential to do great harm than they do if they hit each other. "But it's their right!" Worse still, progressive public authorities feed their entitlement and tell drivers that they need to come to a screeching halt when someone steps in front of them.
I ride in Manhattan, but not that much. Traffic doesn’t move that quickly, and I just make sure to have situational awareness. It doesn’t pay for me to take a lot of risks since I’m not going far. But I’ve seen bikers do pretty stupid things, in addition to being assholes.
To many, many people, ideology trumps the laws of physics.
"The rider had slowly rolled a few feet into the intersection when the fast-moving truck hit her, video from the scene shows. "
If the video showed the truck running a red light, that surely would have been reported.
The speed limit in Manhattan is 25 to 30 miles per hour.
If the truck was going 30 mph (= 44 feet per second) and assuming the bicycle slowly rolled into the intersection at 10 mph (= 14 feet per second) the time between when the bicycle was completely out of the driver's field of vision and when it entered the field of vision may have been the time the bicycle traveled 6 or 7 feet, about half a second.
If the driver was 22 feet from the intersection, the response time would be about 1/2 second. The guy is a truck driver, not a major league baseball player. And even ball players get warning before they need to react.
Slow rolling a bicycle into an intersection is a sure way to get yourself killed. The bike running the read light didn't see the driver, but the driver is expected to see the bike and stop a multi-ton vehicle.
I actually find driving in NYC pretty reasonable. People aren’t nuts, but if it’s possible to infer what another driver is going to do, that driver will know that and will expect you to make that inference and act accordingly. In other words, they are aggressive but predictable. In Boston they are aggressive and often unpredictable, well they will predictibly pull a dick move on you.
Seat-belt laws notwithstanding...
Why don’t they say that the bicyclist ran a red light, because the bicyclists have the power.
Last year in D.C., they eliminated a lane of traffic on this one road to put in a separated bike lane. In six years of driving down that street five days a week, I have seen exactly one bicyclist on that stretch of road.
@Ingachuck'stoohlessARM
Halibut was great. The weather was, as you might expect, somewhat foggy and cool. We were not disappointed. Cruised back through Essex and hit Woodman's. Dining in the rough. Seafood platter, shared.
Wow, life's not perfect and ultimately fatal. Irregardless, my political ideology is enhanced by my prideful posturing when someone I don't care about bites it. I sure feel better now. Next!
The average automobile weighs just under 3000lbs. The typical, cycling, human around 130 - 170lbs. In a confrontation/collision between the two, I'm betting on the auto, regardless of which has the right of way. Simple physics.
More news from Arlington --
A couple of years ago, a woman was killed when a bicyclist slammed into her on a pedestrian path.
Incomplete reporting by NY Daily News. Did the bicyclist pull out a few feet while at a red light? Did the truck speed through a yellow? There’s a light at that intersection. One would think the video would reveal this info. By leaving it out, it implies the bicyclist had a red light. Even if the truck was moving fairly slowly, at posted speed limit, the result would be the same.
I generally am more concerned about bicycles when crossing where I live on First Ave. The ignore the lights and often are going the wrong way. One ran my husband down a couple of years back. They almost always pull into or past the crosswalk. (That being said, a driver today wheeled around the corner onto my street (as I was crossing) and sped up...leaning on the horn to get past a slower moving car on a quiet side street.)
The next time I see a bicyclist stop for a red light will be the first. I mean coming to a full stop and waiting for the light to turn green.
"In other words, they are aggressive but predictable. In Boston they are aggressive and often unpredictable,"
This is a good way of describing my experiences with SoCal vs NorCal drivers.
Michael K said...Bicyclists can be very aggressive and think they own the streets. San Francisco is a good example.
Maybe, but this was apparently a controlled intersection. Somebody ran a a red light. And, someone may have been speeding as well. Regardless a young woman is dead.
To paraphrase: there are old cyclist and bold cyclists, but . . . . .
As a cyclist, you have to be on defense 100% of the time. A friend of mine likens it to a video game; think of it as deadly threats are coming at you from every direction, at unpredictable times in unknown forms. You run up the score by avoiding being killed by them.
The real main problem is that about a third of all motorists are blithely unaware of the bikes on the road AND the rules of the road that govern the interaction situations. It's a difficult problem for for cyclists because you DON'T KNOW at any given moment who's in that third. So, you have to assume that they are all clueless. I run into this problem on every ride that I'm on.
Gonna need the big mop.
Mark said...
I've gotten into more than a few online arguments with people in telling them that a pedestrian must exercise prudence in crossing the street -- stopping and looking both ways and not proceeding to cross until there is no oncoming traffic and even when crossing with the light, watching to ensure that the approaching vehicles do in fact stop, regardless of who has the legal "right of way."
Yeah I mean children used to be taught to look both ways before you cross the street and now, in the major city I live in, I see people walking in front of my car at lights and stop signs without even glancing my direction. I find it bizarre, I mean it's a stop sign and I'm stopped and I'm not going to hit them but I would always look at the driver to make sure they're not distracted or crazy or whatever. I find it disturbing these people feel so safe in such a dangerous situation
If you don't like the way I drive, stay off the sidewalk.
I used to bicycle in Boston and Cambridge a bit. Many parts of the city were reasonably safe for bicyclists. Some were absolutely insane. A woman was killed a few years ago by a truck driver that ran a stop sign.
My dentist was killed while bicycling in suburban Rhode Island.
Keep scrolling down that Daily News page. It's death everywhere in New York City.
This may seem a bit Walter white* but given the population of NYC, the amount of traffic, how un-bike friendly the streets are design wise, 19 bicycle deaths in 6 months, that doesn't seem like a lot statistically speaking. Although maybe the bicycle riding population of NYC is really small.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-8FB6k8jik (in my top 5 favorite scenes from Breaking Bad)
I used to bike everywhere - and then I got old. I suddenly got to thinking about all the near misses and how any boob behind the wheel could maim me or kill me just by not paying attention or letting the wheel slip a few seconds to the right. Now on just do biking off-road or a few quiet suburban streets. City biking and heavy traffic areas are out.
My decision was made final, when a driver in our city plowed into two bicyclists when she reached across the seat for a new CD (which shows you how long ago that was)
Howard said...
Wow, life's not perfect and ultimately fatal. Irregardless, my political ideology is enhanced by my prideful posturing when someone I don't care about bites it. I sure feel better now. Next!
Did anyone not know Howard would use this woman's death to attack those he hates?
Thought not.
I love how De blassio has set a GOAL. Well, Okey dokey. Bottom line is the more cars and bikes you have, the more deaths.
Wow! Judging by the shape under the sheet, the medics couldn't separate the bike from the rider.
I wonder if there was a momentary distraction....a bike computer, an iPhone.....something that took her mind off safety. Were earphones involved?
I cannot tell from the picture; are there traffic signals? Did the truck run a red? Or did the cyclist pull into the intersection looking to see whether she could perhaps get away with that favorite cyclists’ trick of running through a red light? Sad story, but until we know more, the chance that she caused her own death is a plausible hypothesis.
If you're hit by a fucking cement truck at an intersection, its because you aren't paying attention. The Cement truck may not see you, but you sure as hell can see him.
Irregardless
The mask slips. The intellect is revealed.
I did almost got run over in my own small town. I came to a full stop at a 4-way intersection. Then began cycling through. An old lady driving about 10 miles an hour in the oncoming lane never stopped. Drove right in front of me. As slow as she was going, she wasn't actually going to slow down.
Its amazing how when ever women engage in risky behavior their injury/death toll far exceeds men. Its like they're accident prone in dangerous situations.
Spiderman? Where the Hell was Spiderman?
Eugene, Oregon, when I lived there in the 70’s, was a cyclists utopia, with bike trails, bike lanes, and bike bridges all over. I could commute to the University of Oregon very easily without sharing a street with cars. Did about 7 miles a day. Where I currently live in Minnesota,
cyclists are seen as nuisances. It is insane to bike to work here. My cycling is now limited to paved recreational trails north of Brainerd.
I hope Eugene is still a cyclists utopia, but I have my doubts since the population has nearly doubled.
Mark: "Here in Arlington, a favorite activity of bicyclists is riding in between the lanes of traffic, in addition to the usual ignoring of red lights, claiming pedestrian status and zooming
into crosswalks before turning motorists can see them coming, and having a general entitlement attitude the is encouraged by the anti-car County regime."
Boulder CO is out of control when it comes to bicyclist entitlement.
I hope he dead person isn't an African American trans American.
I rode a bike everywhere until I was hit by a car.
The more bikes there are on the road, the worse cyclist behavior becomes.
Has there been any study to determine prevalence of *bicyclism* among Rs and Ds?
*bicyclism* ==>> should be able to go anywhere
Richard D,
It's my experience that the "bike laning" of Minneapolis actually makes the roads more dangerous for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. Paradoxically, it seemed safer before they made Minneapolis as bike friendly town. Limited experience, but that's my experience.
Urban planners . . . .whadda ya gonna do?
That said the dedicated multi-use trails are very nice.
present company excluded, of course, but...
the fake sponsor logo'd, spandex'd Lance Armstrong-wannabees,
especially in a pack(not gonna use 'peloton') are almost always
assholes, and foster contempt for anyone, however respectful,
in non-poseur** gear on a road bike.
Castelli!
"I couldn't imagine trying to drive a car in New York City's crazy traffic, much less a bicycle. What's shocking about that stat isn't that the death toll is so high, it's that the death toll is so low."
Maybe that's because New York's traffic isn't really so crazy. It is congested, but that, and frequent traffic lights, mitigate autos roaring through the streets at high speed. I just rode in city traffic from uptown to downtown last week, and back up again. (I generally avoid the streets if I can traverse from point A to B via the West Side highway bicycle path.) If one is careful and observant, and sticks to the bike lanes as much as possible, it's not as dangerous as one might think.
But...it's never completely safe.
The speed limit in Manhattan is 25 to 30 miles per hour.
This was in Brooklyn, I believe, where there are streets with faster speed limits. I'm guessing the bicyclist was at fault, but one thing that has made intersections more complicated is all the over-engineering of light signals. It used to be that when the light in one direction turned red, the other one turned green. I remember visiting NYC and being impressed at how cars did not run lights. Now most of the lights are staggered, so drivers know that they can run a light that's just changed to red. And they do. But some are staggered much more than others, so it's a guessing game. I think the old way was safer.
"We need to get bikes off city streets. This isn't China. You don't *need* to ride a bike. Go out to the country on Sunday."
I say we should get motorized vehicles off the streets in favor of self-powered transportation (walking, cycling, scootering, etc.).
Save your auto use for long distance traveling.
Central Park is crazy. A friend's wife got slammed to the ground
and face smashed up. CBS's Jill Tarlov killed the same way a few yrs back
but this was apparently a controlled intersection. Somebody ran a a red light. And, someone may have been speeding as well. Regardless a young woman is dead.
Yup. Regardless.
There's a very dangerous left turn near our house. Older liberal lady (that damn hairdo) was walking across through the crosswalk with headphones on. So I yelled at her. Yes, she had the walk signal, but are you really going to be so stupid as to trust complete strangers with your very life? Won't matter who had the right of way or who was speeding.
Regardless, you'll be dead.
Lady was smart though. At first she gave me some lip, then you could see it slowly dawn on her just how stupid she was being. She wound up thanking me. "Thanks (asshole)", but it still counts. Heh.
Bikers are a passionate bunch and are fanatic about their rights. They are not interested in responsibilities. For sport, say that you agree that bikers have the same rights as motor vehicles to the streets, and should be licensed, registered and insured no differently. Hilarity ensues.
James K says, "but one thing that has made intersections more complicated is all the over-engineering of light signals"
This!
A nerd walks into thread ,,
Norwalk Ready Mix
Stopping Distance Formula
You are here:Home/Safety /Stopping Distance Formula
Stopping Distance Formula
Perception Distance
+ Reaction Distance
+ Brake lag Distance (with air brakes)
+ Braking Distance
=TOTAL STOPPING DISTANCE
Perception distance is the distance your truck travels from the time you spot a hazard to the time you realize it may be a problem.
Reaction distance is the distance your truck travels as you move your foot from the accelerator and depress the brake pedal. Average reaction time is 3/4 of a second. In that time, driving at 30mph will result in 33 feet of distance traveled.
Brake lag distance is the distance your truck travels after you apply the brakes but before they actuate. The brake lag can take 1/2 second or more.
Braking distance is the distance your truck travels after the brakes take hold. Good brakes and tires are essential to your braking distance. This distance changes on gravel roads, inclined roads, and icy or wet roads.
This formula, devised by traffic specialists show the factors that contributes to the total stopping distance. Results of this formula will vary from driver to driver. Age, alertness, road conditions, and speed are just some of the variables that influence the outcome of the total stopping distance. A vehicle traveling 65mph on the interstate travels 95 feet a second.
Lets say that a driver named Fred is traveling at 65mph on the interstate when an accident occurs ½ a mile on up the road. If he takes ½ a second for his perception time, ¾ of a second on his reaction time, ½ a second on the brake lag, and had a braking distance of 300 feet, what is his total stopping distance?
Perception(47.5ft) + Reaction(71.3ft) + Brake lag(47.5ft) + Brake distance(300ft) =
466.3 ft total stopping distance, or 1.3 football fields.
For every second added to Fred’s reaction time, 95 feet are added to his total stopping distance. This should help illustrate why it is so important to pay attention at all times. One second could be the difference between a near-miss and a collision
I say we should get motorized vehicles off the streets in favor of self-powered transportation (walking, cycling, scootering, etc.).
Yup, marxists like to keep the proletariat localized. Trapped.
Save your auto use for long distance traveling.
Only for the Inner Party and "thought leaders" like you, right?
"Irregardless...."
Not a word.
"Regardless," yes.
"Irrespective," yes.
"Irregardless," NO.
As a cyclist, you have to be on defense 100% of the time.
As a DRIVER too. Wife laughs at my Defensive Driving techniques, but no wrecks and no tickets in 30 years. I also get out of the traffic pattern if a cop enters it, no reason to tempt them. "Sir, your rear secondary upper licence plate screw is loose, that'll be $250..."
I had a motorcycle in the Marines. It was sweet. But the day I moved back to Dallas I sold it. I grew up in Dallas, my life expectancy in Dallas traffic would have been 3 months.
"Only for the Inner Party and 'thought leaders' like you, right?"
I don't own an auto or have a driver's license. I owned a car for one three-year period of my life, until I escaped Florida and made it to civilization.
@narayanan
are you including end zones?
We need to do something about this.
Most bikers don’t have a death wish and behave accordingly. Sometimes the safest move for everyone involves not following the law to the letter. Eg — going straight across intersection where there is a right turn only lane. If things are clear may be best to go on red. Situational awareness the key to staying in one piece.
Fen said, " . . .but no wrecks and no tickets in 30 years."
Knock wood.
I don't own an auto or have a driver's license.
LOL you live in a Blue City State.
You're like these people who don't understand why "those rubes" out in the country arm themselves instead of simply waiting on the police to swing by.
I work in DC, the commute by train takes 2 hours out of my day. Maybe I should just bring a cot in and sleep there monday through friday? LOL
Blogger Fen said... "Thanks (asshole)"
I thought we might be related, we have the same last name.
European cities are much more bike friendly on the whole. My niece rode a bike all the time in Paris so her dad gave her a bike when she moved to Manhattan. She rode it about twice and was too scared after that.
In LA had to pick my brother up from the emergency room after a truck cut him off cycling from work. But it didn't stop him. I have never ridden a bike in a city, even with all the new rent-a-bikes. But as a driver I appreciate that bikers cut down on congestion.
My latest concern as an LA driver is the new craze for electric scooters. They ride the wrong way down a street so I have almost hit one making a turn without looking in that direction. Few seem to wear helmets. At least cyclists wear helmets. One scooter I almost hit had two people on it.
Knock wood.
Yah, I'm probably doomed now, BRB...
I've been daily commuting on bikes for around 40 years now and in different cities: Madison, Cleveland, Ft. Collins, CO, Sunnyvale, CA, San Diego, Costa Mesa, CA. Never had a run in with a car (knocks on wood). The most alarming trend I've seen in all that time is quite recent: young kids commuting to school on eBikes. They absolutely zoom on them at higher than safe speeds and they blow through intersections. If you ask me, they're just asking for it.
Fen: When you are in DC, do you still frequent the bar Equus near 8th and I?
Cyclists think traffic laws don't apply to them. Motorists are too forgiving. We need to adjust the risk-reward equation. Occasionally it should be paint ball day where cyclists and pedestrians can be tagged for doing what they shouldn't be doing.
Robert Cook
"Irregardless," NO.
Agreed.
It is a word, but it is a word that should never be used, ever. Just say "regardless" and end it!
I live in runner's world and cyclist paradise (and hiker and climber paradise)
We share the road here. Most everyone is good about it, but there are exceptions on both sides. We've all seen a-hole drivers and a-hole cyclists.
The deal is, when you're on a bike, and some jerk who is texting, or looking at the scenery, or is high on something, and they swerve into the shoulder? the cyclist doesn't win.
If you drive on the UW-Madison campus like I do, you'll notice the pedestrians have earbuds in and are often looking at their phones as the cross the street. The bicyclists are a little better, but not much.
For at least the past year or so, Steve Sailer has wondered if these increased fatalities are due to marijuana use.
"I work in DC, the commute by train takes 2 hours out of my day. Maybe I should just bring a cot in and sleep there monday through friday? LOL"
That's good reading/sleeping/working time, depending on your poison!
My subway commute is 20-30 minutes each way, (depending on whether I'm on a local or express train). I do most of my book-reading on those short daily rides. I'm so glad I don't have to do the driving! (But then, when the weather is good, I commute by bike.)
(When I worked in Queens--but lived in Manhattan, where I sit as I type this--my commute was approximately 90 minutes each way, or about three hours a day on the train. I had to ride two trains and a bus each way. But, I quickly got used to it and, again, enjoyed the time I could read or catnap.)
J. Farm: You'd think they'd be more paranoid riding bikes in the big city stoned
Cookie surely supports cronus titan’s comment, doesn’t he? My own observations are that a large and dangerous (mostly to themselves, thank God!) subgroup of the urban bicycle riders give a deserved black eye to the whole group. Deserved, because if you won’t square around your fellow riders, then who will? Bicycle riders don’t seem to care who has to live the rest of their lives knowing they ran over a bicyclist, even if the asshole bicycle rider was totally at fault.
European cities are much more bike friendly on the whole.
What I have seen is more scooters like Vespa. Not bikes.
We need bicycle control! Background checks for all bicycle purchases, all bicycle owners will be registered at the time of purchase and will need an operator's permit for any bicycle that has more than one gear. Said permit to be issued by the NYPD after the bicycle owner completes a safe bicycling course and is certified by the instructor, who has also been certified by the NYPD. There will be no private sales of bicycles of more than one gear without background checks and bicycles of more than 3 gears will only be sold by federally licensed bicycle dealers. Recumbent bicycles will be banned because they can't be seen in traffic.
There is no Constitutional amendment dealing with bicycles. Joy!
Lots of Marfia in the ready mix business in NYC. Be careful who you sue.
Jay Vogt said...
As a cyclist, you have to be on defense 100% of the time. A friend of mine likens it to a video game; think of it as deadly threats are coming at you from every direction, at unpredictable times in unknown forms. You run up the score by avoiding being killed by them.
frogger
Irregardless...."
Not a word.
"Regardless," yes.
"Irrespective," yes.
"Irregardless," NO.
I always translate
Irregardless As regardmore or do not ignore.
What say you then?
Blogger RK said..."If you drive on the UW-Madison campus like I do, you'll notice the pedestrians have earbuds in and are often looking at their phones as the cross the street. The bicyclists are a little better, but not much."
Yeah, I had a student-age guy step right in front of my car on Regent St last week. Earbuds, head buried in his phone. He never even noticed me as I stood on my brakes.
I simply don't understand this behavior.
I simply don't understand this behavior.
Go read up on the character of Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby. Here's the key conversation between Jordan and Nick Carraway:
You're a rotten driver," I protested. "Either you ought to be more careful or you oughtn't to drive at all."
"I am careful."
"No, you're not."
"Well, other people are," she said lightly.
"What's that got to do with it?"
"They'll keep out of my way," she insisted. "It takes two to make an accident."
"Suppose you met somebody just as careless as yourself."
"I hope I never will," she answered. "I hate careless people. That's why I like you.
An entitled UW-Mad undergrad clearly feels nearly as entitled as Jordan, not to mention Tom and Daisy.
I don't own an auto or have a driver's license. I owned a car for one three-year period of my life, until I escaped Florida and made it to civilization
Civilization my ass. NYC is a town where people purposely walk in front of moving traffic and expect it to stop for them. It’s the town where people walk into and don’t even say excuse me. Having been there enough times to have witnessed this 100 times.
It had a chance for civilization, but instead voted in a communist mayor after 16 years of relative stability.
I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
NYC is a town where people purposely walk in front of moving traffic and expect it to stop for them.
Liberal license. Some are more divergent than others.
> NYC is a town where people purposely walk in front of moving traffic and expect it to stop for them.
When I was there you could count on the traffic not stopping. That made it predictable and I could safely jaywalk mid-block through the traffic. Thought everyone did that...
Mark said...
Here in Arlington, a favorite activity of bicyclists is riding in between the lanes of traffic, in addition to the usual ignoring of red lights, claiming pedestrian status and zooming into crosswalks before turning motorists can see them coming, and having a general entitlement attitude the is encouraged by the anti-car County regime.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nice - fellow Arlingtonian. Everything you said is true. The bicyclists here and in DC expect all of the privileges of riding in the road with none of the responsibilities. Constantly running lights and bitching at the cars and pedestrians they invariably JUST miss.
DeBlasio is definitely pro-bike. There are lots more bike lanes and lots more rent-a-bike stands. This has encouraged more people to take up biking. More bikers. More deaths. Their blood is on DeBlasio's hands.....I guess it's heart healthy to bike to work. Burns up calories too. The only down side is being crushed to death by a cement truck.
Ah! I actually liked the 2003 version with Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth even better.
And for me the wonderful thing about that play was the music. The Music Man takes four alderman who hate each other, and makes them best of friends - by teaching them to be a barbershop quartet. They love that more than anything else going on. It's awesome.
I also loved the way the author played with the music. His main theme was the brassy and famous "76 trombones..." Her theme was a sweet, sad song to a lover she hasn't met yet and may never meet, "Goodnight, my someone..." They each sing their theme a couple of times along the way. It isn't until the scene where they each realize independently that they are in love, when they each sing their song - mixed in with the other one's song. It's then that we catch on that they are actually the same tune all along. Really neat; one of my favorite scenes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjnxBDHX5OI, about 6:15.
Richard Dillman said ..."I currently live in Minnesota, cyclists are seen as nuisances. It is insane to bike to work here. My cycling is now limited to paved recreational trails north of Brainerd."
Also, the six months of winter thing inhibits bicycle commuting.
Jay Vogt said ..."That said the dedicated multi-use trails are very nice."
Yes they are, but not usually setup for popular origins/destinations for home to work and back, so not very suitable for commuting.
Lots of important details about the accident are missing- was the intersection one with lights, or was it just stop signs? Did the truck run a light, or did the cyclist run the light?
I looked up the streetview, and it has lights both ways. Someone ran the light, and it sounds like to me that it was the cyclist based on how the story was written.
I have driven in NYC many, many, many times, including Williamsburg. I can't imagine riding a cycle anywhere that I have driven in NYC. You are just asking to get seriously injured eventually.
In my opinion the best thing to do with bike riders is to change the streetlight synchronization on major thoroughfares so the lights are synched for a couple of miles ( where possible) and make the speed limit 40 and the minimum speed 25. You don't see bike riders on the interstates and they shouldn't be on major thoroughfares. In Miami every so often masses of bike riders clog up the lanes while holding traffic to a standstill. Bad as that is, worse are idiots on motorcycles on I 95 going 100+ while zig zagging in the lanes. At night. I feel bad for the EMS guys who have to scoop up the remains.
Unknown said...
We need to get bikes off city streets. This isn't China. You don't *need* to ride a bike. Go out to the country on Sunday.
When I lived in suburban type areas I commuted by bicycle. I live in the country now. I won't bicycle out here except on designated bike paths with no motorized vehicles. It's too dangerous.
That said some of the more dangerous times I had while bicycle commuting were a results of cyclists thinking they should ride FACING TRAFFIC! instead of flowing with traffic as required by law.
“Boulder CO is out of control when it comes to bicyclist entitlement.”
My kid spent 5 years on a PhD there, leaving last August. Biked everywhere. Parking on campus was atrocious. Lived maybe 5 miles from their lab on campus, and would ride to/from there most days, even in snow. We talked a bit about the dangers, but I was assured that if anyone hit a bicyclist, they would be probably jailed. Fine. Only had one kid, and they put their trust in people obeying laws. So, I was talking to their advisor’s wife (who also taught there) at my kid’s dissertation defense, and she asked something about my kid’s bike wreck last winter. It was only like 4 days in the hospital. Nope. And I bet their mother didn’t know either.
I have over 350,000 miles of bike riding on regular roads with no problem. There are techniques for being invisible and out of the way.
The best thing for bicycles is just wider roads, not trails and not bike lanes. On a wide road there's a sharp edge where there's broken glass and gravel where traffic never goes; ride just traffic-side of that line and everybody gets along fine.
Rick said...
Howard said...
Wow, life's not perfect and ultimately fatal. Irregardless, my political ideology is enhanced by my prideful posturing when someone I don't care about bites it. I sure feel better now. Next!
Did anyone not know Howard would use this woman's death to attack those he hates?
Thought not.
7/1/19, 7:07 PM
It's worth it, though, because we don't know how to feel until he tells us. Also, we learn words. Not correct words, but words nevertheless.
I've never seen a cyclist get a ticket for not following the rules. I think it's way overdue for police to start handing them out. Just last week, I saw a cyclist on a major city street riding his bike in a bike lane with a three of four year old little girl sitting on a bike rack behind him hanging on to his shirt. No helmets. I shuddered to think what would happen if he suddenly had to stop or hit a bump. Don't get me started about weaving in and out of city traffic.
"Here in Arlington, a favorite activity of bicyclists is riding in between the lanes of traffic..."
Philadelphia just made this legal. Driving in the city is a nightmare.
Lots of people saying things about NYC traffic that is not true.
The speed limit in NYC is not 25 to 30, it is uniformly 25, except for a very limited set of major traffic thoroughfares. This is the law throughout all 5 boroughs including Brooklyn. It used to be 30 but was reduced as part of the Vision Zero thing. The truck was on Boerum, which a 5 second check on Google maps will tell you is a single lane one-way minor thoroughfare. The speed limit for the truck was 25 MPG and I'm 99% certain of that short of heading over there to visually check it.
Some additional points. Looking at the bird's eye photo at the Daily News you can see the covered remains are on the side of the intersection where the truck would enter the intersection with Bushwick. That is the southbound side of Bushwick. But the article says the cyclist was traveling north on Bushwick. So why are her remains on the southbound side of the street? You can't explain it by assuming it is because the truck dragged her there from the northbound side because the truck had to be moving the opposite direction (unless he was traveling the wrong way on the one way street which seems a highly relevant item to report).
I'm wondering whether she was in the crosswalk, not the main roadway. If so, she should have been walking, not riding her bike, but that still leaves the primary issue, as many have identified, of whether the light favored her or the truck..
Odd note: To prove I'm not a robot, before letting me post this google required I select all squares with traffic lights.
On my walk into work today, I saw two bike riders run a red light. I saw no autos do that.
Traffic in Manhattan is insane at the best of times. And then they introduced these CitiBikes - bikes you can rent with an ap.
Not only do the parking racks waste invaluable road space, but this has encouraged tourists and other neophytes to blithely bike in NYC. FFS, most visitors can’t even walk safely in NYC, and now you put them on the roads, mixed in with cars, trucks and busses. I am only shocked at how few fatalities there have been.
"I feel at 70 my biking days may be numbered."
I hate to break it to you...how should I say this...don't buy green bananas.
"The rider had slowly rolled a few feet into the intersection when the fast-moving truck hit her, video from the scene shows.
Ah, is that the classic cyclist move of "rolling into an intersection" because you know, traffic laws (like stop signs and red lights) don't really apply to them?
BTW I'm a cyclist. But I find a lot of cycling behavior appalling. They claim that they have the same rights as automobiles but routinely ignore their responsibilities.
I was turning into a parking space between two cars when a biker zoomed past me on the inside. I almost hit him! Every almost accident I have had with a biker is because the biker doesn't follow the rules of the road!
I can sympathize. City cyclists sometimes act as if they own the road, ignore traffic lights and stop signs. Outside the city, cyclists ride on narrow, shoulder-less, curvy mountain roads no with no thought whatever for the motorized traffic trying to pass. There should be more bike lanes [there are a LOT here in Alaska] and there should be some roads that prohibit non-motorized vehicle.
I have ridden in NYC... and in LA, San Diego, DC, Madison (yes... during the Walker protests, and my conversations with the anti Walker folks were shocking due to their insane views on liberty and the proper role of government), as well as London, Cambridge, Manchester, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Gotenburg, etc. on my Brompton, as a tool to solve the last mile problem. US riders are uniformly scofflaws, brazenly ignoring traffic laws and common sense, expecting drivers to yield to their superior environmental selves.
Experience is a great teacher, if you survive the lesson.
When I was a student at the University of WA [and that was a long time ago] the kamikaze cyclists on campus were a threat to life and limb. Cyclists may be rude to motorists but they are doubly so to pedestrians. They have a smug sense of entitlement.
Causing an accident with anyone on the road is something I never ever ever want to do, I don't care about "right of way" I'm not a jerk like that. But the accidents where you exit your car and the door opens into a cyclist seem hard to avoid in all cases. Bikes go EVERYWHERE in all kinds of lanes or not-lanes; coming up on your right or your left, weaving in between lanes suddenly. It's reasonable to check your sideview mirror before opening a door into a traffic or bike lane but you may not be able to see the cyclist. My friend exited her passenger door, which was near a curb that was not a lane of traffic at all, just had some room where a cyclist decided to snake on by. He wasn't severely hurt but blamed her up, down, and sideways and threatened to sue.
Yes, too many bicycles. The what-we-really-want-is-to-get-rid-of-vehicles movement tools.
A former Air Force colleague used to bike home everyday for lunch. This was on a shared pedestrian/bike trail. He sometimes chided others for being too lazy to do it as well. One day he hit a pedestrian and broke his own neck. He was medically retired as a quadriplegic.
Sorry to comment on an old post about bicycling but I've noticed scant posts about your e-bike, Althouse. I'm interested in purchasing either a conversion kit or e-bike and I'm interested in what you think about your e-bike now.
@Pete
I love it!
The opinions I expressed earlier about it are still my opinions now.
Thanks for the courtesy of your response, Althouse.
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