wrong-way sidewalk rider gets comeuppance

Ben Pfaff said:

I got off the train today on my way home, carried my bike down
the steps, and started riding, with a guy on a low-end mountain
bike close behind me. As I stopped at the first stop sign and
prepared to turn left, the other guy swerved across the traffic
lane and hopped onto the narrow sidewalk going the wrong way. At
this point I was paying attention to my left hand turn, not to
him, but as I completed the turn I heard a loud metal *clang!* I
looked across the street and there was wrong-way bike guy, having
clearly run his pedals and his foot or knee straight into a metal
pole. I paused and asked him whether he was okay. He had to
wince with pain for a few seconds before he was finally able to
say that he was fine. I enjoyed finally seeing someone get what
he deserved (in a way that didn't involve permanent injury or
death).

Riding frequently on campus, I often inform people that it is just as
illegal to ride on sidewalks and the wrong way on the street as it is to
speed or ride without a seatbelt in a car (in GA, at least). Every
single one has been slack-jawed surprised (well, one Asian grad student
with little knowledge of English was worried that I was going to arrest
him, but we'll through that case out). And almost equally universally,
they did not understand why.

This would have been a great chance to explain the rules and why they
are set up in such a way.

\\paul
--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

Ben Pfaff said:

I enjoyed finally seeing someone get what
he deserved (in a way that didn't involve permanent injury or
death).

Jesus, what a self-righteous douche.

Ben Pfaff said:

I got off the train today on my way home, carried my bike down
the steps, and started riding, with a guy on a low-end mountain
bike close behind me. As I stopped at the first stop sign and
prepared to turn left, the other guy swerved across the traffic
lane and hopped onto the narrow sidewalk going the wrong way. At
this point I was paying attention to my left hand turn, not to
him, but as I completed the turn I heard a loud metal *clang!* I
looked across the street and there was wrong-way bike guy, having
clearly run his pedals and his foot or knee straight into a metal
pole. I paused and asked him whether he was okay. He had to
wince with pain for a few seconds before he was finally able to
say that he was fine. I enjoyed finally seeing someone get what
he deserved (in a way that didn't involve permanent injury or
death).

Though it bugs me to see people riding illegally, I don't go out of my
way to inform someone that what they're doing is wrong. I've never
found a polite way to correct somebody without sounding like a jerk.

I also don't take pleasure in seeing people get hurt on a bike, whether
they're in the wrong or not. When I see someone riding illegally, I
assume that he/she simply doesn't know the rule. While ignorance of the
law is not an "excuse", I'm more willing to cut somebody some slack and
be lenient in my judgment. After all, I rode a bike before I knew all
the bike laws and I know a lot of others do, too.

Quoted message said:

Ben Pfaff said:

I enjoyed finally seeing someone get what
he deserved (in a way that didn't involve permanent injury or
death).

Jesus, what a self-righteous douche.

All most all your posts are critical. You're kind of a jerk.

Paul Hobson said:

Ben Pfaff said:

I got off the train today on my way home, carried my bike down
the steps, and started riding, with a guy on a low-end mountain
bike close behind me. As I stopped at the first stop sign and
prepared to turn left, the other guy swerved across the traffic
lane and hopped onto the narrow sidewalk going the wrong way. At
this point I was paying attention to my left hand turn, not to
him, but as I completed the turn I heard a loud metal *clang!* I
looked across the street and there was wrong-way bike guy, having
clearly run his pedals and his foot or knee straight into a metal
pole. I paused and asked him whether he was okay. He had to
wince with pain for a few seconds before he was finally able to
say that he was fine. I enjoyed finally seeing someone get what
he deserved (in a way that didn't involve permanent injury or
death).

Riding frequently on campus, I often inform people that it is just as
illegal to ride on sidewalks and the wrong way on the street as it is to
speed or ride without a seatbelt in a car (in GA, at least). Every
single one has been slack-jawed surprised (well, one Asian grad student
with little knowledge of English was worried that I was going to arrest
him, but we'll through that case out). And almost equally universally,
they did not understand why.

This would have been a great chance to explain the rules and why they
are set up in such a way.

\\paul

I agree it's good to see someone get their just desserts, as long as it
doesn't involve serious injury. I'm always having to get out of the way
of those morons, and they just ignore it when I yell at them. I'm sick
of them playing chicken- but i know one day they'll get in trouble. I
see a lot of them without helmets too- hey, it's their [censored] skull.

Rich said:

All most all your posts are critical. You're kind of a jerk.

Which is kind of weird, since in his book Robert preaches that we
should all just relax, take it easy, live and let live and not get
uptight about the jerks around us.

But yeah, it's slightly lame to get happy about a dude running into a
pole, IMHO.

RFM

Quoted message said:

Ben Pfaff said:

I enjoyed finally seeing someone get what
he deserved (in a way that didn't involve permanent injury or
death).

Jesus, what a self-righteous douche.

I understand how it could seem that way. But I get tired of
seeing idiots on bikes doing stupid things that make the rest of
us look bad. If a few of them hurt themselves in small ways,
maybe it'll encourage them to learn how to ride their bikes
properly.

I probably should have added that this street's lanes are plenty
wide enough for a bike and a car to occupy safely. Some of the
street's length is marked with a bike line, some of it is not,
but it is all plenty safe for biking.
--
"In the PARTIES partition there is a small section called the BEER.
Prior to turning control over to the PARTIES partition,
the BIOS must measure the BEER area into PCR[5]."
--TCPA PC Specific Implementation Specification

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ben Pfaff said:

But I get tired of
seeing idiots on bikes doing stupid things that make the rest of
us look bad.

But they don't. If they make anybody look bad,
it's only themselves. Same goes for idiots in
cars doing stupid things. If all drivers were
rated by their actions, nobody would be allowed
to drive.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

(Tom Keats) said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ben Pfaff said:

But I get tired of
seeing idiots on bikes doing stupid things that make the rest of
us look bad.

But they don't. If they make anybody look bad,
it's only themselves.

But they do. Non-cyclists generalize from the actions of a few,
whether it's correct to do so or not.
--
Ben Pfaff
email: [email hidden]
web: http://benpfaff.org

Tom Keats said:

But they don't. If they make anybody look bad,
it's only themselves. Same goes for idiots in
cars doing stupid things. If all drivers were
rated by their actions, nobody would be allowed
to drive.

The difference, I think, is that motorists see themselves seperate from
bicyclists. Bicyclists are also a minority, and minorities are often
judged collectively based upon the actions of only a few members.

For example, a friend of mine rides a motorcycle and was out riding one
day with a group of his friends. They all ride sport bikes (Suzukis,
Ninjas, etc.). One of them lost control of his bike and crashed. As he
was getting up and inspecting his bike, a woman in a car pulled up along
side and said "Serves you right! These streets aren't a playground!"

Now, this woman hadn't seen the accident, but was merely assuming that
because this particular group was riding sport bikes, that they were
doing something illegal (like riding too fast, or doing stunts, etc.)

I don't know how the majority of motorists feel about bicyclists, since
I belong to both groups. But I bet to non-bicycling motorists, those
who do ride a bike are often grouped with our worst representatives,
simply because they tend to draw more negative attention to themselves.

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:24:56 -0700, <[email hidden]>,

Ben Pfaff said:

I understand how it could seem that way. But I get tired of
seeing idiots on bikes doing stupid things that make the rest of
us look bad.

Bicyclists have been the butt of disparaging remarks since 1817.
Get over it.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
- Mahatma Gandhi
--
zk

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 23:46:22 -0700, <[email hidden]>,

Bill Henry said:

I don't know how the majority of motorists feel about bicyclists, since
I belong to both groups. But I bet to non-bicycling motorists, those
who do ride a bike are often grouped with our worst representatives,
simply because they tend to draw more negative attention to themselves.

Sew watt?
You aren't going to change cager's minds.
--
zk

Ben Pfaff said:

the other guy swerved across the traffic
lane and hopped onto the narrow sidewalk going the wrong way

Don't assume riding on the sidewalk is illegal. In fact, It very well
may be the law NOT TO RIDE ON THE STREET where you live. Think I'm
kidding. Scroll down and see areas in red, click here>
http://crankmail.com/fredoswald/sidewalk-laws.html

John

John said:

Ben Pfaff said:

the other guy swerved across the traffic
lane and hopped onto the narrow sidewalk going the wrong way

Don't assume riding on the sidewalk is illegal. In fact, It very well
may be the law NOT TO RIDE ON THE STREET where you live.

This is not the case in California.
--
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
--D. E. Knuth, "Structured Programming with go to Statements"

Fritz M said:

Rich said:

All most all your posts are critical. You're kind of a jerk.

Which is kind of weird, since in his book Robert preaches that we
should all just relax, take it easy, live and let live and not get
uptight about the jerks around us.

But yeah, it's slightly lame to get happy about a dude running into a
pole, IMHO.

RFM

What book?

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ben Pfaff said:

(Tom Keats) said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ben Pfaff said:

But I get tired of
seeing idiots on bikes doing stupid things that make the rest of
us look bad.

But they don't. If they make anybody look bad,
it's only themselves.

But they do. Non-cyclists generalize from the actions of a few,
whether it's correct to do so or not.

Not in my experience. Here in Vancouver BC cyclists are
generally quite well tolerated by drivers, despite many
of the more blatant scofflaw types such as the BMX guys
who stitch their ways along either street or sidewalk,
depending on which suits them. Their sins are not visited
upon us more lawful riders. There might be the rare
kook driver who has it in for all cyclists. But I put
that down to their being kooks, rather than the behaviours
of other riders. We've got a fairly large (and growing)
cycling population here; maybe non-cycling drivers are
just used to us.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

John said:

Don't assume riding on the sidewalk is illegal. In fact, It very well
may be the law NOT TO RIDE ON THE STREET where you live.

Um, Ben posted from Stanford University in California.

RFM

Just desserts is right. I would have had a good giggle as well. Bound
to teach a better lesson than some other cyclist yelling at him.

It's like the cyclist I almost ran over turning into my alley in the
VW, who screamed at me "you almost ran me over and scared the [censored] out
of me." Me: "Good, maybe you'll learn to ride on the proper side of the
street."

Stupidity has its price.

"Tom Keats" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Ben Pfaff said:

(Tom Keats) said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
Ben Pfaff <[email hidden]> writes:

> But I get tired of
> seeing idiots on bikes doing stupid things that make the rest of
> us look bad.

But they don't. If they make anybody look bad,
it's only themselves.

But they do. Non-cyclists generalize from the actions of a few,
whether it's correct to do so or not.

Not in my experience. Here in Vancouver BC cyclists are
generally quite well tolerated by drivers,

<...>

Quoted message said:

We've got a fairly large (and growing)
cycling population here; maybe non-cycling drivers are
just used to us.

I think that might be the difference. It has been my experience here in the
SF Bay Area that non-bicyclists have a tendency to base their opinion of us
on the visible antics of the few loonies that also ride bikes. They don't
notice the larger section of the bicycling populace because we don't do
anything that pisses them off.