BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Hey Alan Wallace: Get real. The rules need changed. Look at Idaho, specifically §49-720.

i like the idea of no new road expansion projects until "PennDOT and police...step up enforcement to make [drivers] determined to obey the rules of the road"

hearsay and conjecture, Yay! I can do it too. I will form a blog called "21st and Liberty." I will post images of vehicles running the red light at the intersection of 21st and Liberty in the Strip District. This will be quite easy, as I cross that intersection a few times during a work day and people never fail to break that particular law. I worry that with all the images to upload I may not have the ability to perform my actual job during the day.

Too bad the cop that hangs out at colangleo's cant do anything about it...

Here's what I sent to the Trib:

Regarding the article "Saturday Essay: Heed this, bicyclists" - I think most cyclists would happily make any deal involving enforcement of "all the same traffic rules" equally for cyclists and motorists. The offenses motorists commit on a regular basis are far more egregious and dangerous to cyclists than anything cyclists (alledgedly) do.

The entire premise of this article is extremely suspect to begin with. A better approach is to recognize that bicycles are in fact different from cars and there are reasonable changes that can be made the vehicle code to accommodate each type of vehicle. As an example, see Idaho statute 49-720 (http://www3.state.id.us/cgi-bin/newidst?sctid=490070020.K).

I also suggest Mr. Wallace should actually do some research - i.e. go ride a bicycle. He may find himself changing his sanctimonious tune - better yet, he may even find that he enjoys cycling.

Sincerely,

Todd Derr

Squirrel Hill

Here is how to send an email to the Trib rebutting Mr. Wallace.

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one good point that was made, however, was the intersection at hot metal street. on the weekends, i've seen both sides of the trail, fill up with cyclists, families, etc, and one car at the intersection. when the light turns green, i've seen cars stop, wait for the scores of cyclists go by, get impatient, and try to nudge thru before all the people crossing the street have had a chance to get thru. simply being able to push the button to create an exclusive walk signal would probably prevent these situations.

I sent this

Hello to the Editors of the Tribune Review,

I am in agreement with Mr. Wallace, inasmuch as, I too believe that bicyclists should be held at the same standard as the motorists who share the roads.  I have been cycling in Pittsburgh for 10 years.  I obey all traffic laws, I take the lane when I have to and I stay to the right as often as necessary to not impede faster moving traffic.  While stopped at signaled intersections I have witnessed other cyclists pass through, illegally.  However, through the years of biking in Pittsburgh I have collided with no less than 5 motorists within the city limits, and zero cyclists.  I have maintained and sometimes exceeded the speed limits of the roads within the city on my bike and have been passed by faster moving traffic comprised of government and municipal vehicles, Port Authority vehicles, passenger vehicles, company vehicles, tractor trailers and motorcycles.

So, if Pittsburgh police and the enforcement officers of surrounding municipalities would kindly heed my call for better enforcement of existing traffic laws, then we can all rest assured that motoring and pedaling scofflaws will be properly dealt with.

haha this is wonderful. i love the trib. the joke is: cyclists are held to a higher standard than motorists, within city limits. i've seen exactly one person in my life pulled over for blowing a stop sign, and that was a cop sitting right at the intersection and me as a pedestrian having to stop for my life to avoid the person who didn't care about the signage. i've been hit and run off the roads and been told i had no recourse.

i've never seen nor heard of any cyclists killing or injuring drivers of cars with their law-ignoring ways. i mean, surely this author has the safety of people in general as his highest priority, right?

i would probably write something a lot less pithy, and hope it would be published, but, and i mean this in the most delicate sense possible, it's the trib.

I went riding through SSW today, I think it was Water @ 28th. I stop and watch some dude in a caddy coming the other way, chomping on his cigar as he barely touches his brakes while blowing straight through the stop sign.

Man, I wished I had a video camera handy. I decided in my mind it was probably Mr. Alan Wallace himself doing the deed.

P=mv

I would be perfectly fine with being ticketed for running a red-light, but I feel the fine should be adjusted of the percentage for potential danger and harm to people and property between a automobile and a bicycle.

Being that a car has 20-30 times more mass, thus 20-30 times more momentum (a half full bus has about 150 times more mass), not to mention the fact that a car's total frontal area is much larger and a car's turning radius is much larger, the adjusted fine for running a red light should be significantly less.

I figure:

X= a/(b + c + d)

X= $160 [fine + ridiculous fees] / (25 + 4 + 7 )

X= $4.44

X: adjusted fine

a: fine for running a red light

b: momentum multiplier between bike & car

c: width multiplier between bike & car

d: turning radius multiplier between bike & car

Now, this doesn't take into account friction, number of pedestrians, width of road, length of intersection, the percentage of road deaths caused by automobiles vs bicycles, and a bunch of other factors which would continue to significantly decrease the bicycle fine for running a red light, but it is just a rough estimate. Also, keep in mind I am a Swanson School of Engineering drop out, so my math probably isn't complicated enough to make sense.

Now that we have established the adjusted fine, you are welcome to pull me over (you just have to catch me first).

Just for fun, lets factor in the amount of deaths cause by cars running lights vs the number of deaths cause by cyclists running red lights. There are around 1000 deaths caused by automobile drivers running lights every year (http://www.seriousaccidents.com/legal-advice/top-causes-of-car-accidents/running-a-red-light/). I could not find a statistic on the number of deaths cause by a cyclist running a light, but I did find two accounts, over 3 years, but for the sake of drivers, lets round up to 5/year.

So if you add in 200 (the likeliness of a red light death being caused by a cyclist) to the equation:

X=$160/(25+4+7+200)

X=$0.68

Less than a buck. Now, if we add in all expected fees, the new adjusted citation will be $100.68. They may want to increase the E.M.S. fund amount to the citation do the decrease in job security for EMT's by utilizing a form of transportation that lowers the chance of serious injury, so lets make that $200.68.

More by the same author (?):

"Page of Books"

This is just another, "wah" rant that groups all cyclists together and doesn't hold motorists to the same standards. I like to point people like this to this article.

Thanks for that link. I had seen it before, but it's something I need to keep close at hand, to rebut the anti-cycling rantsers.

so is there a law that says that cars can pass cyclists on one or two lane roads?

seems like there must be but if there is not than that seems like an ideal argument to point out how silly it is to lump cars and bikes into the same group of laws.

if there is then it should give cyclists the right to pass cars when they go faster, and also make a faint line between cars and bikes in the law books that should maybe be extended to stop signs too...

i also like the p=mv idea.

I don't know if there is a law or not, but cars act like bikes when they can as well. Bikes can simply fit in between smaller spaces.

Bump!

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/letters/s_629016.html

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/letters/s_629017.html

nice!