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What with last week's cyclist-meets-Muni crash still fresh in our mind, today's Chronicle Watch hit us like a blast of B.O. from a 4-o'clock-hour bike messenger. It seems that San Francisco cyclists, the single most oppressed minority group in these our modern times, fail to pay attention to get-off-the-sidewalk signs. Although cyclists should be allowed on city sidewalks -- because they're doing God's work; really, they should be allowed to ride wherever they damn well want -- they are not. Ultra-cranky Chronicle Watch reader Bill Carroll shakes his fist, saying, "Every day I walk to Aquatic Park (and) every day I and all the other pedestrians are nearly run over by all the bicyclists on the sidewalk...The 'NO BICYCLES' sign is so small and so high that no one seems to notice. The sign should be larger, lower, and state 'NO BICYCLES ON SIDEWALK.' The bicycles are supposed to be on the street." CW forwarded old man Carroll's battle cry to the proper authorities. No word on what, exactly, will be done. Why signs are needed at all boggles the mind. But feel free to implode about it in the comments.
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This is the Silk Route for the Blazing Saddles Tourists from MicheleBachmannLand. They don't teach them to read there.
HA!
I enjoying walking in the bicycle lane.
Er, enjoy.
Oh boy.
After I put up my "No Signs" sign on that same sidewalk, I don't understand how all these other signs keep going up.
Cyclist are by far the most annoying interest group this city has managed to puke up. More arrogant than the progressives, more "victimized" than the minorities, more in your face than the gays and less interested in playing by the rules than the homeless.
Dear cyclist...you suck!
What about the NIMBYs?
I figure bicylists turn into NIMBY's when they fianlly grow up and have to start paying property taxes...
No one cares about pedestrians ....
We're all pedestrians.
I care about pedestrians. When I walk, I like to carry an stick bat and "accidentally" wedge it in spokes or through car windows that happen to be in my way.
This would be quickly solved with better bicycle infrastructure. I'd not bike in most parts of this city even if you paid me - drivers are aggressive enough towards me as a pedestrian, I imagine it's even worse for folk on bikes.
But until you enact your bicycle revolution stay the fuck off my sidewalk.
It could also be solved with a semblance of human decency.
Which do you think is more likely?
New York installed my bike lanes than any other city in the country and it doesn't seem to have done a whit of good. Bicyclists still ride every which way they choose on whatever surface they choose. It's just all the more aggravating because the city is bending over backwards to accomodate them and they don't even use what they've been given but continue to complain about being persecuted. I say f**ck 'em. Let them use the road and obey the same rules all other wheeled vehicles have to. Maybe that will stop them from being such a bunch of self-righteous cry babies.
Nobody riding on that sidewalk lives in this area code. You are yelling at the air.
They (bikers) do it wherever they feel like it. The sidewalks at the recent SF Bicycle Coalition outdoor movie were utterly clogged with parked bikes, people next to their bikes, people riding their bikes. As I tried to walk through the mess to get to the Chez Spencer yuppie truck for my dinner, a few of the bikers even apologized to me. Ironic that as they come together for self-reinforcement, they make life worse for pedestrians.
i feel like there should be more of a comment fight on this post....make it happen people.
Maybe if all car drivers weren't such selfish assholes then cyclists wouldn't find the sidewalk a safer place to be.
And what are pedestrians supposed to do about the reckless cyclists on the sidewalks? The only safe place is in a car.
Totally different situation, as they were on rented bikes and presumably tourists, but my co-workers and I were downright agog today watching two bicyclists trying to ride on a packed Financial District sidewalk (near Montgomery & California) during the lunch hour. That's just sort of defying common sense.
I know exactly what sidewalk and what signs this is referring to around aquatic park. this is where the blazing saddles folk absently stare out at the water and pointing at seals, totally neglecting to look at any obstacles (pedestrians) in front of them. i spend a good amount of time swimming at aquatic park, and i can also say that there are signs on every lamp post. they're not small OR hidden.
To be sure, I do cut through Aquatic Park on that little pathway from Hyde (Bay? whatever dead-ends there) on my way to the Van Ness parking lot and over to the Marina Green area. I've never seen a sign or nothin'. If they do put up a gate or anything like that, the caricature painters along the sidewalk are going to have a shit-fit with all the Blazing Saddlers U-turning around there. "Uh, where do we go?"
Seriously, why don't those jokers were any deodorant?
Pick a lane.
Bicyclists expect to get a full lane of the street AND the sidewalk? If they want to be treated like adults, they can bitch about drivers as they roll thru stop signs. If they want to be considered part of the Big Wheel set, they are welcome to the sidewalk, but like all children, don't play in the street.
What next? Bicycling down the hallway of my apartment expecting ME to jump out the way???
The other day I was at Valencia/20th and I stepped into the crosswalk looking south to see if the 26 was coming before charging the city $2 calling 311 to inquire, and I was nearly grazed by a cyclist from behind as he turned in front of me murmuring in a vaguely aggressive tone "curb it" riding on the wrong side of the street, making a left turn on a red light.
From where I sit, having had other similar experiences, really the whole point of searching for logic on this topic is the joke of it. They're just being dicks for amusement.
it is MY RIGHT as a BICYCLIST in MY CITY to bike in SAFETY. If that means that FASCIST POLLUTING MOTORISTS arre tyting to kill me then i'm going to protect myself i'm sorry that's just the way it is!!!!
Riding a bike in a major city is all about taking risks, grow a pair goddamnit.
YEAH. Damn those FASCIST polluting PEDESTRIANS.
So you don't like cars, therefore you punish pedestrians?
Your logic is infallible.
This is too easy.
Remember when SFist was tough to troll?
(And I don't remember such a time, but this thread is particularly sad.)
A-, needs more exclamation points. Marks? Exclamations.
try riding WITH the flow of traffic and don't cut across lanes suddenly with the assumption EVERYONE will stop for you. especially take note of this importance when you cut across lanes while making a right or left turn from the 2ND lane in.
Hmmm.
Folks from Idowa seem to be doing something ticketable (by someone other than the fashion police).
SF is broke as eff.
I’d argue for making that sign even higher and smaller, and confettiing these folks with tickets. It wouldn’t solve either problem, really, but maybe the revenue could partially pay for a govt employee’s overtime or something.
maybe next time i see a jackass crowding my sidewalk space, i'll just "accidentally" kick the rear tire. Though...that might be wrong, huh?
I used to walk this route all the time, and, yes, there were a lot of bikers on the sidewalk. Tourists who had decided to ride bikes around san francisco instead of driving, enjoying the outdoors, getting exercise, etc. I managed to share the sidewalk with them. Get over it, dude.
i felt less warm and fuzzy when i lived on valencia street, next to a giant ass bike lane, and yet nearly got run over by cyclists on the sidewalk every day. but you know what, we managed to share the sidewalk, and i waste a lot of time being pissed off about it.
Agree. On Baker Street off the panhandle with a bike lane in either direction, they are on the sidewalk. They do the same on Fulton, Grove, and Fell. All of them have bike lanes. And don't get me started and the fools who ride right over the No Bicycles side of the Panhandle.
i say we spend a day driving/riding motorcycles/walking in bicycle lanes, then we get hit by one of them, raise a fit, call them a jackass, and demand they pay us out of pocket right there & then.
Just keep them off of busy streets
Old people?
"i say we spend a day driving/riding motorcycles/walking in bicycle lanes"
old meme. This was done, I'm trying to remember what day it was. Oh yeah, "everyday"
What, you mean I'm supposed to ride my bike on the street with the cars and follow traffic rules and be aware and respectful of the traffic lights, vehicles and pedestrians in the crosswalks?
That's sure as shit isn't why I got a bike, it's for FREEDOM to do whatever I want, whenever it's convenient. If that means riding on the sidewalk because people here drive like assholes, tough! Get a bike you hippies!
If that means blowing through a stoplight and barreling over people in a crosswalk, they should totally look where they're walking!
I mean really, what DO you have a bike for if you have to be respectful of everyone else? Isn't that totally against the point? People should respect YOU for being on a bike, not the other way around!
there's a bike route (not full path) that goes through there, and there's been construction recently so there have been detour signs up and part of the detour is over the sidewalk/path in two sections.
when I commute home I try to get back in the street pretty quickly, but the first time I saw the detour I was confused and thought I was supposed to stay on the sidewalk too...
oh well
I think that it should be mandatory for bike rental shops to instruct renters on bike etiquette. Honestly, tourists just give cyclists a bad name sometimes — and block up the roads when they're going really slow, like across the bridge.
Honestly, people with bicycles give cyclists a bad name. I got clobbered twice by a chola on my way to the "street food" thing on Saturday. Pretty sure she wasn't a tourist.
The tourists are at least polite. The fixie riding hipsters and the our shit don't stink 'cause we've only got two wheels crowd are far worse.
The photo accompanying the ChronicleWatch shows a photo of a child, and an adult with an infant in the seat. Both are legally allowed to ride on the sidewalk. Oops.
Dang Pedestrian's complaining about bikes now.....
What all you care drivers's need back-up?
Just remember,
Once those pedestrians get over their fear of your cars and trucks, as well as SUV's.....
Oopppss, there goes another ....
Well what can I say. I used to be a pedestrian to...