Sarah Palin Quits
Beware of Blind, Gargantuan Cyclists Roaming City Streets
Photo du Jour 448
Happy 4th of July!
SFist Drinks: The Rio Grande Cocktail at 15 Romolo
While SFist Dan already reported on the notorious Masonic and Fell intersection getting the city's first-ever bicycle traffic light, yesterday said light had its unveiling.
Members of the SFBC, Walk San Francisco, and the Fix Masonic Coalition were joined by SF officials (including Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Nathaniel Ford from the SFMTA, and Wade Crowfoot from the Newsom's entourage) to unveil/celebrate the brad spanking new traffic signal at the Fell and Masonic intersection. Here are some images from yesterday.
Really, we could not be more thrilled that this light is in place. We hope/assume more will follow.
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Great legs Mrs Blueshorts
with Yellow Stripe
hot
is that an American Apparel ad?
I wish we had a pic of the first biker to ignore the light.
Not sure who wrote up that black and white handout in one of the photos, but it wasn't a person familiar with California law, apparently.
mrs blueshorts' brown dick is nosing its way out of her shorts.
I demand a seaparate signal for fixie hipsters.
Well, someone was going to demand it sooner or later. Might as well be me.
PLEASE, can we get one of these bike lights at the intersection of Chrissy Field & Marina? The bicyclists just BLAZE thru there regardless of traffic!
They should have a separate light for overbearing mothers with strollers. It should be permanently on red as a punishment for the way they've developed acute tunnel vision and seem to lack the slightest regard for anything other than their precious little baby napoleons. Seriously, what the fuck is your kid doing in this restaurant other than spoiling my fucking meal? And why do I have to move out of the way of your fucking SUV-sized doublewide stroller when I'm quite clearly too drunk to pull off such a dangerous manouver. And no, my dog is not going back on his leash, you're in a fucking dog park, go play by the fucking swings.
awesome, another rule those jerks will ignore.
jimH - what's wrong with the handout? Looks right to me.
I've seen one major problem for this so far (probably more to come), and that's that the bike light is really blurry on the edges, and I can see how it might look like a green light for cars. The left-turning cars will have to navigate between four lights: bike light, ped light, left turn light, and straight light. Granted, they're all obvious, but I think this will still take some getting used to.
Anyone care to place a bet on how long before someone gets hit when they run the bike or ped light and ride/walk/jog across when the cars have a green left arrow?
@sftaxi: I ride a bike and I'm not a jerk. :(
i commute through there daily via bicycle and i've seen a car run the red arrow and i've seen an old lady run the red bike light. i've also personally run the bike light by accident, out of habit, because i used to have to be aggressive to get out there before the cars started turning, else they wouldn't see you. i'll never make that mistake again... it's hard to break old patterns though.
it might be nice to have a sign a bit ahead of the intersection that warns of the new signal pattern - both for cars and for cyclists.
I have stopped a couple times now for the new left turn red light from Fell onto Masonic on my motorcycle.
I think the new signals are a great idea but I visualize being rear ended by a tweaking cabbie any day now.
Drivers in this city can't handle three lights (really only one if you count timing the red and trying to beat the yellow) and you think that a FOURTH is going to make things safer?
And this is the first and only one currently in use?
Does the word "insular" mean anything to you people?
I predict 50% pay attention and 50% ignore completely. Injuries and fatalities will rise until awareness become pervasive or the ENTIRE city is equipped with the lights and fines are doled out on both sides (auto AND bike) for ignoring the lights.
To answer,
A lighted yellow left turn arrow doesn't mean "Don't start." Not even close. "Don't start" must be what writer wishes the code says or imagines what the code says.
Green means go only if the intersection is clear in CA.
I mean if you want to dumb things down so a three year old understands, then mission accomplished. But a three year old already knows green=go and red=stop.
Broader questions:
Should cyclists walk their bikes across the crosswalk? No se. Maybe. Do cyclists "assume the risk" of injury on this "wilderness trail" in the Panhandle? No se. Maybe.
Anywho, there's a great deal of confusion at this intersection. Will people settle down and get used to it? Probably. Deciding who is at fault for the next collision should be a simpler task than before, so that's a good thing.
What I saw tonight was a lot of horn honking and light jumping.
It appears cyclists and peds who attempt to follow the rules should be safer overall. So that's a good thing.
In California, it is illegal for cyclists to ride in a crosswalk, just the same as riding on a sidewalk. Crosswalks are an extension of sidewalks and are for pedestrian use.
Bicylists can walk their bikes in crosswalks just as they can walk their bikes on sidewalks. Just because a cyclist feels "safer" crossing a street by riding in the crosswalk does not make it justifiable.
If you are uncomfortable pedaling on a given stretch of any public road, walk your bike.
Fair enough, but I'm pretty sure the people at the recent unveiling intend for cyclists to just ride across.
@mpantone
this particular crosswalk connects a bike path to a bike path. clearly the presence of a bike light doesn't mean the mta expects us to hop off our bikes and walk across. they, and you, wish.
The funniest thing is that in the fifth photo, the pedestrian (in a salmon colored top) is walking where the bicycles should be riding. And the bicyclists are illegally riding in the crosswalk.
Her sense of self-preservation is stronger than her desire to argue her rights as a pedestrian.
Good for her, shame on the cyclists.
Cab driver tonight runs the red 'no turn' arrow, then gets pissed at the cyclists who are crossing on their green light.
@mpantone: I don't think you are correct about cyclists in the crosswalk. As far as I know, this is a grey area for bikers. If you have specific vehicle code sections, please educate us.
"dangerous manouver"
yer an idiot
LOL, fizzandpop, and others.
Really they should have a long row of traffic lights: cars, bikes, pedestrians, moms with strollers, dog walkers, homeless guys with shopping carts, rollerbladers, iPod listening American Apparel models, stray cats, and others to be named later. Then NOBODY can claim they won't have a turn.
One more note: they should really put up a surveillance cam here, for the inevitable lawsuits when cabbie hits biker and each claims the other ran the light. Avoid one city payout and it will pay for the camera and all the recording equipment.
mpantone - I'll stay out of that "crosswalk" that connects two "bike paths" to each other when the pedestrians stay out of the "bike paths".
This is a unique intersection.