bad Calgary Drivers

[bonfire]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

I vote Edmonton drivers are worse.

Having lived in both and rode my bike in both.

I have been hit twice in Calgary as a cyclist. But those I would say were partially my fault, I probably could have avoided it, but I was relying upon the drivers to do their job.

In Edmonton I was hit twice, and came extremely close to a third one, which would have ended very poorly. Once going along and someone turned left and just didn't see me, and tagged my rear wheel.

I was trying to change lanes and I had to turn left and I was in the far right, so I kicked up my speed and this dick who was behind me, saw my signal and just sped up. Then proceeded to match my speed, slowing/accelerating to block me, to which I got fed up with and hammered on his window causing him to slow enough for me to get past, but as I passed he popped forward, again hitting my rear wheel knocking me to the ground.

Then riding home from school, I had my T-square in my bag, with the tip just hanging out, but it wasn't protruding beyond my shoulder by more than an inch or so. This dumb *****, drove past me so close that I left a scratch from the very front of her fender all the way to her rear quarter, she was so close that her mirror clipped my bars as she passed, knocking me into/over the curb. Which I believe if I wasn't an experienced cyclist that would have knocked me to the ground and possibly been run over by her rear wheels.

She stopped to yell at me, after nearly killing me.

[J-hop]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

that is crazy man, I don't know how I would have reacted, I probably would have ended up in jail and she would have gone to the hospital for a t-square related injury

[bonfire]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

Trust me, I was fairly intense.

But I look at it this way.

Cyclists are guests on the roads, no matter how much ******** we like to spew about what the law is, or about whatever. To the average joe we are guests on their personal almighty road.

I find people who aren't cyclists, don't appreciate what cycling is. They presume we are just too poor for a car, or are trying to make a statement. Which kinda pisses me off, just because I ride single-speed steel road bike, doesn't mean I am some retarded hipster, trying to 'stick it to the man' by riding my bike. I don't view my riding places, as commuting, I view it as a ride, and a ride to enjoy. Which is why I ride the bike I ride for getting around, it is the best style of bike for getting around town.

It is fast, precise, nimble and does what I want it to do, when I want it to do it.

It never ceases to amaze me how brutal people treat cyclists. I think the fact that I just move around traffic and get places faster annoys people. Fact of the matter getting around Downtown/beltline is faster on a bike than any other mode of transportation and I think that bugs the dicks who have spent pretty pennies on their bentley's to have someone on a few hundred dollar bike pass them.

That also being said, I think I am one of the fewer folk on this sort of bike IE not a courier, that doesn't cut traffic off, or weave ****, or do stupid things, as like I said I view myself as a guest on the road, and ride fairly defensively.

That being said, nothing is more satisfying than getting your **** cut the hell off, right in front of a cop and the driver being pulled over and given a ticket whilst I laugh. As keep in mind driving like a dick around a cyclist can prove to be a serious injury or death, leading to reckless driving/vehicular homicide charges.

I just made my bike a fixed gear yesterday so now I have to get used to that, which will make me incredibly defensive and cautious.

[Snowcatxx87]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

Almost got rear ended this morning on deerfoot. **** she hit her brakes super hard. Asian lady driving. I just facepalmed. We are all going 30~, yet she could barely manage a lane change - but drove so aggresively.

[T-Dubbs]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

personally i hate bikes on the road.
i wish they were allowed to stay on sidewalks.
always feel nervous around them, and i hate having to pass them while in traffic, what a pain in the fucking ass.

[luunta]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

BC has this new no cellphones law, so I constantly see people being pulled over for using their cells. I watched, from the exit of a parking garage, as an asian woman in a white mercedes was talking on her phone, ran a red turning left, no signal, in front of a cop. I proceeded to watch her drive an entire block with a police car in pursuit, and watched her argue with the cop that she had done nothing wrong.

I'm fairly sure Vancouver drivers are worse, at least Calgary drivers experience snow often enough to be comfortable in it. Half an inch here and all seven levels of hell break loose.

[Russell]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

Trust me, I was fairly intense.

But I look at it this way.

Cyclists are guests on the roads, no matter how much ******** we like to spew about what the law is, or about whatever. To the average joe we are guests on their personal almighty road.

I find people who aren't cyclists, don't appreciate what cycling is. They presume we are just too poor for a car, or are trying to make a statement. Which kinda pisses me off, just because I ride single-speed steel road bike, doesn't mean I am some retarded hipster, trying to 'stick it to the man' by riding my bike. I don't view my riding places, as commuting, I view it as a ride, and a ride to enjoy. Which is why I ride the bike I ride for getting around, it is the best style of bike for getting around town.

It is fast, precise, nimble and does what I want it to do, when I want it to do it.

It never ceases to amaze me how brutal people treat cyclists. I think the fact that I just move around traffic and get places faster annoys people. Fact of the matter getting around Downtown/beltline is faster on a bike than any other mode of transportation and I think that bugs the dicks who have spent pretty pennies on their bentley's to have someone on a few hundred dollar bike pass them.

That also being said, I think I am one of the fewer folk on this sort of bike IE not a courier, that doesn't cut traffic off, or weave ****, or do stupid things, as like I said I view myself as a guest on the road, and ride fairly defensively.

That being said, nothing is more satisfying than getting your **** cut the hell off, right in front of a cop and the driver being pulled over and given a ticket whilst I laugh. As keep in mind driving like a dick around a cyclist can prove to be a serious injury or death, leading to reckless driving/vehicular homicide charges.

I just made my bike a fixed gear yesterday so now I have to get used to that, which will make me incredibly defensive and cautious.

I have no problem with bikes using the road if they play by the rules and give me the same respect that I give them. I can’t stand when cyclists weave through traffic at a red light to get to the front and then take up a lane of traffic, forcing people into the left hand lane to make a safe pass… Since starting to work downtown again I see a guy do this everyday on 14th ave N. Cyclists sometimes fail to understand that their decisions could leave them dead and someone else having to live with the consequences of their actions.

Also no helmet when riding your bike on the street should result in a bigger more enforced fine.

[luunta]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

The area where I work has tons of 2 way and 4 way stops. Cyclists fail to adhere to them. I swear if one of them t-bones me I'm going to sue them. You have to STOP at a STOP sign. Especially if it's a 2-way stop. I don't cautiously approach every 2 way stop where I have through traffic because I'm expecting people to stop at stop signs.

[bonfire]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

I can't stand it when people get all scared and cautious around me, when on my bike. I can hear and see you behind me. I know where I am on the road, and if you are any sort of competent driver you know where your right side of your car is. Just nut up and pass me. Imagine I am not even there, because I assume you do.

Accidents happen, when people panic and deviate from the norm. Any cyclist who rides in traffic, understands to look ahead, look way ahead, assessing the risks, scanning for possible threats and obstacles.

I have a mental plan/map of where I want to be, two, to three blocks ahead, accidents happen when drivers panic and throw my plan out the window.

Riding on a sidewalk is way more dangerous, as you have no idea what is about to happen. There are people walking, there are doors to stores, there are posts, signs, paper dispensers, all kinds of obstacles and many of which are moving sporadically.

At least cars are somewhat required to stick to logic, they can't turn anywhere they want to, and their speed is sort of constant.

Most of the time, by the time you see me, I have seen you, anticipated you next move, and have adapted my plan around it. This is the case with any decent cyclist.

This is not the case with some joe schmoe riding his 10 year old supercycle with knobby tires. That guy is a danger to everyone, including himself.

Any cyclist should be able to maintain 25-35km/h in the city, and sprint to 40-50km/h, and in my opinion you shouldn't be allowed on a road unless you are on an appropriate bike. Something slick, and narrow as a tire, and down and low for geometry. Otherwise you just aren't nimble enough, nor fast enough, ideally a road bike.

Also bells are useless and cause more chaos then not having a bell. You don't ring a bell when you pass someone skiing, you don't honk your horn when you pass someone driving, you don't give warning when you run past someone. So why does it make any sense that you need to when passing on a bike.

That causes people to panic, where do they go? What do they do? Go left, Go right, Do nothing? If me and my silent bike pass you, I will be gone before you even realized I was passing you.

Now if the city would do some fucking maintenance, and build some new bike path, and sweep the bike lanes, and raise the speed limit on the bike paths. Then you would see a reduction of people on the roads. But in a city, where they keep raising transit and parking prices, and reducing the parking spaces and the transit hours, people are going to ride a bike.

There are bike lanes on a lot of roads now, but you can't ride in them, they are so full of gravel, that and people park in them. So what am I to do?

I have customers who commute from McKenzie Lake, to downtown, and there are becoming fewer and fewer of them, because of this speed crackdown. How can someone attempt to make it a great distance, with a limit of 10-15. This is why they are on the roads, to make up time. Especially when the paths are packed, and no room to pass.

People need to stop bitching about cyclists, and start to embrace it, and understand it. This isn't a fad, this is becoming a reality. More bike lanes, more secure lock-ups, more development and planning.

That being said, there needs to be more education for cyclists. The old adage ' Just like riding a bike' just isn't the case. Majority of people can barely even shift properly, let alone how to pedal properly, or hell even understand that you need to put effort into becoming a better rider. It isn't as simple as hopping on a bike and mashing your way forward. This is something that people need to learn and I believe it is too late for the current generations, but getting kids on bikes, and integrating them into society will allow future generations to just be better natural cyclists.

[J-hop]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

I'd have to disagree with you on a couple points, I believe a page or so ago ( i think in this thread) you mentioned 2 instances where you were struck by a car and part of it was your fault. Now I'd rather be super cautious around a biker then kill or injure them severely because no one is perfect and no cyclist can honestly say they've never made a bad decision or never lost concentration for a brief moment, and because you have no protection on a bike the chances of someone killing you are much higher so it make sense that they be cautious.

Not to mention you are supposed to treat bikes like vehicles when they are on the road so legally that "cautious" person is just following the rules of the road because unless you are biking in the parking lane they can't legally pass you...

Also the fact that these "proper bicyclists" that buy these ridiculous (for our roads) road bikes that have to swerve into the lane to avoid every storm drain, gravel patch, debris etc are an accident waiting to happen and I can't stand seeing them on the roads. it would be different if we were in a warm state or something where roads were good and you didn't have gravel, but we are in canada where the roads suck and those skinny tired road bikes aren't appropriate. For example my dad has been riding to downtown for over 30 years and said he would never consider a road bike because how dangerous it is and not to mention how uncomfortable on the bumpy surfaces you have to ride on, he rides a cross country style front suspension bike with street tire and said after trying different combinations including a road bike which he sold soon after buying he wouldn't go any other route.

Also I think the bell is a great idea, all you have to do is spend one day riding/walking on the river paths to realize how effective it is. For the most part when cyclists ring their bells pedestrians move to the side and bicyclists can pass easily, its when they don't ring their bell or ring there bell when they are 10ft away and the pedestrian doesn't have time to react (or spooks the pedestrian) that they have problems.

Last year my gfs parents were walking down by the river on the paths side by side, a biker came around the corner from behind and wasn't watching and neither him nor his buddy rang their bell to warn my gfs parents and one of the bikers struck my gfs mom at 30km/hr + knocking her over (she broke her elbow in the fall) and caused my gfs dad to be knocked over in the process and he has bad knees.

I guess the saying is true, when you're driving you hate pedestrians, when you're a pedestrian you hate cars, but whether you're walking or driving you always hate bicyclists.

[jasonwermy]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

Meaning: A merge lane is a lane or onramp used to merge two flows of traffic into one, with the merge lane being the lane that disappears at the end of the merging area. Merge lane lengths depend mainly on the speed differential of the two merging flows, as the slower flow has to use the lane to accelerate.

So when someone is coming down the merge lane into the flow what do you do?
a.) Slow down and let them in?
b.) Speed up and try to pass them?
c.) Move over into the next lane if possible to have them come into the right lane.
d.) Do more than 10 over the speed limit while they are signaling to come into the lane. Pass them so they have to slam on their brakes so they don't hit the curb, bridge or you to have them go into the lane behind you? While continuing to talk on your cell phone.

I apologize, this is my little rant for the day. I was coming down Elbow Drive onto Glenmore East yesterday and for some of you that have come down that way it's blind coming onto Glenmore. I signaled at the top of the merge of the hill so people would know by the time I came to the bottom. I looked out onto Glenmore and no one was coming. I got to the dotted line and looked and there was no there. I started to proceed and this women talking on her cell phone blast by me. I had to slam on my brakes because I didn't want to cause an accident. She didn't move over, she sped by me like I wasn't even there. There was no traffic on Glenmore at that time of that afternoon. She was riding the guy in front of her and he hit his brakes and she almost hit him for not paying attention. End of rant.

[Klobi-One-Kinobi]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

There are times I enjoy driving the work truck (7-tonne tandem axle) around town, especially merges. Accelerate up to speed, signal, and merge, no ifs ands or buts.

[stefan]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

Strangest thing... was driving behind a civic tonight, and it was making really weird, loud noises. I passed him on Country Hills blvd, and as I went by, his rear left wheel wasn't turning! I had been following him down beddington and on to country hills. I turned in by the canadian tire, and he kept on going, with a big polished stripe in the slush behind him. You'd think that would be worthy of a pull-over...

[Stonewall]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

There are times I enjoy driving the work truck (7-tonne tandem axle) around town, especially merges. Accelerate up to speed, signal, and merge, no ifs ands or buts.

Until you pass me into oncoming traffic, blow through the stop sign and speed through a school zone and playground zone like one of your co-workers did. Phoned his stupid ass into the city that's for sure.

[bonfire]

Re: bad Calgary Drivers

Riding around town on a 26" wheeled knobby tired bike is stupid and idiotic. Slow, inefficient, lots of drag. Like riding a dirtbike on a highway. I don't car if you have been doing it for 50 years, it is the wrong way to go about it. You hop over things, if you can't master basic bike skills, stick to a path or your car.

I have had more close calls with a bell than without one. Way more. People panic.

Living out in pano right now, fun to watch the locals pass me on the highway, while I am already speeding. They get some serious sideways action in the 1980 2WD pickups.