I invite all of you to get to know our Lower Haight Beat Cops as us property and business owners have done, they are actually good guys and are trying to help us clean up the hood.

It is unfortunate that so many city riders are using their bikes as weapons while complaining that car drivers are doing the same. This hostility has got to stop. It’s dangerous. The solution is simple, enjoy the bike and play by the rules. You are traffic start acting like it.

I was hit as a pedestrian and severely hurt because some yahoo ran the stop light at Haight and Steiner. I was hit again and taken down while on my bike, and again hurt, by another yahoo who tried to make an illegal turn and lost control. I have a friend who was hit in the crosswalk in the wiggle and got his ribs broken by a rider who did not stop. A dog was killed in the wiggle by a bike that did not stop.

I walk through he wiggle several times a day to take my dog to the park and I am not exaggerating when I say I feel like I take my life in my hands trying to cross the street. Not only do very few bike stop, they don’t even slow down and yell at us in the crosswalk. When I say stop I don’t mean “feet on the ground”, I mean a bike stop… slow down and wait your turn. If you don’t, you deserve a ticket. I am all for ticketing bikes who don’t ride responsibly.

There is a saying, it takes less energy to be nice than not. Try it and you will have a better experience out there.

Also, saw some bike flags outside Monterey Post Office this week that were as bright as the clothing of that MTA paint crew–really can’t be missed: http://marilynch.com/blog/?p=3244

I want to be clear that I’m pro-bike. I don’t bike around the city much anymore, but I used to do it a lot, and I’ve supported almost every pro-bike initiative since I’ve lived in SF. And I don’t get upset when a bike rolls through a stop sign, or doesn’t follow traffic laws, as long as it’s done safely.

But if cyclists want to increase support from other groups, they need to take advantage of things like the wiggle left turn lane. If cyclists flaunt the traffic laws where the city has provided safe, legal alternatives, there will never be widespread support for these initiatives. The attitude that people should just accept bikes and the way they use the road, even if “right,” is totally non-productive.

I totally support the addition of this (and most) bike lane, but EVERYBODY needs to use it EVERY TIME.

Just a small comment to the article – the rack at Bean There only holds 8 bikes, not 16.

Can’t wait to see the painted bike box today, and looking forward to more lanes coming up.

-jh

Thank you Andy, Leah and all the folks at SFBC. Thank you to all the people who think that this isn’t enough and have said so. It takes that kind of spirit to keep things moving. I know it’s not a lot but it’s also important to remember this is part of a process and that requires steps and this marks the result of a lot of steps.

Ride On!

Any word on how quickly the MTA will stripe the 75 miles of sharrows along other bike routes? A few streets need them sooner rather than later, particularly Holloway as it approaches SFSU.