SFist: Slanted and Enchanted

Elizabeth

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 21:43:39 -0800

I don't think this is a life or death issue, it's a quality of life issue. The simple fact is that it sucks when adults ride their bikes on the sidewalk. They do not move at the same pace as pedestrian traffic and that tangles shit up. The slower they go the more unbalanced and wobbly bikes become. Bikes and peds are incompatible on sidewalks. Please don't ride your bike on the sidewalk. Besides, it's a $138 fine if you get caught.

sean

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 13:48:58 -0800

It's not so easy riding a bike in San Francisco, although much better than most cities; traveling through the Tenderloin for instance can be very dangerous for a cyclist. Thus, many of us will slowly ride on the sidewalk trying to avoid crackheads, who obviously will throw bottles, follow or yell at you if one comes anywhere near them. What? It's better than being in the street where the crackheads have to avoid you in their vehicles. In my opinion the answer is to build more bike lanes.

inquiring mind

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:30:37 -0800

Shoot -- I thought this was about Pavement.

ilakdala

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:29:27 -0800

Great post, marc. I accede your points!

afs

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:36:01 -0800

Bicycle manners should not be an issue of enforcement, but one of common sense. Obviously, there are certain times and speeds at which biking on the sidewalk is dangerous, and for most people, this is easily judged. An exhaustive public campaign to end the questionable behavior of a few bicylcists is naive and wasteful. It's great to be a good bicylcist and all, but it's really not that hard to conduct yourself in a way most common sensical people can accept (yes, this does include some biking on the sidwalk, on walking paths, a slip through a vacant red light, etc). Ultimately, most of your focus while biking should be trying not to get killed, because that can happen quite easily. Also, in general, just because a small handful of bikers at critical mass acted like fools -- and the Chronicle and major decide to take sides -- doesn't mean bikers should go out of their way and go on an uber-polite biking campiagn. The small number of bikers who gratuitously act out is so minimal that their actions do not deserve such a reaction.

marc

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:09:59 -0800

"I think senior citizens have a right to protest in particular. Someday when I'm old and possibly slow in movement, it would scare the bejesus out of me to have a cyclist zooming past me, fast and close, on the sidewalk." Hey, I'm only a senior citizen because I'm a gay man in mid 40s, but when I bike on, say, 9th Street, and a car comes within 3' of me at 55mph, that scares the shit out of me. Sometimes the life in the Big City can be scary, Better to be scared or to scare others than to be hurt of killed. "Safe mobility for everyone is the ideal, and cyclists--like cars--have to interact respectfully with all modes of transportation, including walking." And this is the key. It is a no brainer to ride on the sidewalk as a guest, deferring to peds, exaggerating one's deference in order to communicate that there is no danger here. One size fits all solutions do not apply well to transportation in SF. There are going to be clashes. The best policy is to manage those clashes in as healthy a manner as possible. Part of that is to teach cyclists respect skills for when they have to ride on the sidewalk and to teach seniors and other vulnerable populations how to deal with cyclists so as not to get scared--harm reduction. Just like bad drugs, there are going to be some who cannot or will not reciprocate respect, assuming that the world revolves around them. Like a meth addict, interventions do not work, people have to want to change. I do not trust the SFPD to make the distinction between incorrigibles and casual, respectful sidewalk riders. In fact, the SFPD would assume that the incorrigibles would be armed with guns and would prefer to pick the low hanging fruit of a rare mission hipster on a fixie who actually rides that death trap instead of posing on the sidewalk walking the powder blue fashion accessory. Considering the number of cyclists who ride on the sidewalk and the number of peds who are hurt or injured by cyclists on the sidewalk, we need place the phenomenon in perspective and not let it overshadow the real danger of cars to peds and cyclists, and the SFPD's utter abdication of enforcement of moving violations against cars. -marc

ilakdala

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 09:12:23 -0800

I've seen a wide variety of cyclists on the sidewalk, not just your typical rebels. I can understand a couple of blocks on a wide sidewalk, going slow, and stopping if you feel you can't pass a pedestrian safely. But that's not what's happening ofttimes. I am an enthusiastic cyclist, but I never ride the sidewalks, blow through stop signs or red lights, block pedestrians or generally do anything that I wouldn't do in a car. I know that makes me a gnurd. And I certainly don't judge a cyclist rolling through a stop sign when there are no pedestrians or cars around. But I'm kind of sick of the cyclists in this city who think they are fighting the power by being unsafe jerks on the road (or sidewalk, as the case may be). I think senior citizens have a right to protest in particular. Someday when I'm old and possibly slow in movement, it would scare the bejesus out of me to have a cyclist zooming past me, fast and close, on the sidewalk. Safe mobility for everyone is the ideal, and cyclists--like cars--have to interact respectfully with all modes of transportation, including walking.

marc

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 08:53:49 -0800

It turns out that there were possibly three peds killed by cyclists over the past 10 years. One is known to have been killed on the sidewalk, the circumstances of the other two are not known. That did not stop the Chronicle from quoting the DPH out of context to assert that 3 peds were killed by cyclists on the sidewalk. Given that tens of peds and cyclists are killed and maimed by criminal motorists each and every year, all campaigns like this do is give cover for our suburban minded commuter cop force to further abdicate their responsibility to keep us safe by picking the low hanging, safer for them, fruit of hassling cyclists on the sidewalk. Shame on the SFBC for aiding and abetting the dysfunction of the SFPD by giving them cover by putting alliances with SAN before their responsibility to cyclists. Would that the SFBC organized 150 cyclists per Police Commission meeting to do public comment on how the SFPD did not enforce traffic laws and how that made cycling more dangerous and forced people onto the sidewalk for safety sake. But at the end of the day, most all cyclists, like most all motorists, are going to do the right thing, obey the law and act responsibly if they have to ride on the sidewalk. The truth is that more people are put at a graver risk when cops let cars run wild than when cyclists take to the sidewalks, and that devoting scarce resources to enforcing cyclists on the sidewalk while motorists run wild is -marc

JA

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:59:17 -0800

I feel like it is a real waste of taxpayer money when we put bicycle lanes on streets yet adult bicyclists are on sidewalks. I see this often on Valencia Street and Market Street. Many times they are riding several blocks, and often are on teh sidewalk weaving around people. I have witnessed people having to run inside stores because of the dozens of bicyclists on the sidewalks as part of Critical Mass. It's not a random occurrence. I don't buy the argument that just because people aren't killed by bicyclists that it is okay. No one has been killed by a Segway but SF also banned them from sidewalks! I am not aware of a bicyclist or a pedestrian killed by a motorcycle, yet those aren't allowed on sidewalks! My partner has been hit twice by bicyclists as a pedestrian, and in both cases the bicyclist expressed no apologies and did not stop. What about bicyclists with heavy duty headphones on? What about those bicyclists at night without headlights? In those "bicycle friendly" places like Santa Cruz and Davis, that behavior would warrant confiscating the bicycle by the local police. That's going to have to eventually be the case in San Francisco unless bicyclists take it upon themselves to create a culture to stop these common behaviors. If bicyclists want to be respected part of the citizenry, then bicyclists must obey the basic vehicle laws. If not, then bicyclists are going to anger enough other people around town that any gains that the citizenry will begin to ignore any further attempts to make the city more bicycle friendly. Being an arrogant bicyclist is a sure path to political decline.

Jeffrey W. Baker

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:32:12 -0800

I gotta agree with both posts here. It's true that the SFBC and SAN are never going to reach the hooligans and crack addicts who are the main sidewalk menace. It's also true that if your destination is in the middle of a block, you can just walk it. Part of the beauty of bicycling is that you can get on and off in a snap. Having said all that, I think the energy spent on this issue is wasted. How many people were killed by the menace of sidewalk bicyclists last year? Zero. How many were run over and killed while crossing streets? Several. The energy should be spent on the crosswalk traffic problem.

smush

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:28:46 -0800

I have a crazy idea, when you need to pull into a place in the middle of a block either turn left in the middle of the block or get off your bike and walk it up the sidewalk for that half block. While you are at it, quit stopping at lights with your bike straddling crosswalks [cars taking a right on red blocking the sidewalk, get their fenders keyed, and if their parked a $100 ticket], and something that is quite rare in my neighborhood, yield for pedestrians (that means give then at least 10 feet) when you ignore the four way stop signs. Also walk through duboce park, there are kids running around that playground. How many seconds do you save by bypassing the Scott and Duboce intersection?

Phil

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:59:14 -0800

Okay - but most of the people I see riding bikes on the sidewalk aren't "bike coalition" types, more like "kids on bikes that are too small for them" types and various crusty folks. Plus, everybody gets up on the sidewalk occasionally, like when your destination is in the middle of the block going the wrong way (traffic-wise). During my own work commute I have a block by my house where I ride on the sidewalk so I can get going the right way down market street, and another half block at the end when I get to work, but I always ride slow and keep away from peds. I keep hearing all these complaints about people riding on the sidewalk, but I don't think that the people who do it habitually are the kinds of people that the Bike Coalition and others are going to reach.