She would have been able to make it clean if you hadn't been holding her up. So that gave her the right to run the red light, you see.
2010-12-01 04:42:32
17
Ellsworth idiot
I decided not to race through the very last drop of a yellow light tonight, outbound on Ellsworth @ Aiken.
Visibility was bad & the roads were very wet.
So, the vehicle behind me gets impatient, and *floors it, passing me on the left very fast. Not even entering the intersection til after the light was red.
She steered clear of me but easily could have creamed any number of cyclists or pedestrians.
Cobalt blue economy car. A Vibe, I think.
As I turned onto Ivy she was stuck behind the traffic at the next intersection, of course.
2010-12-01 03:39:44
I'm beginning to hate Ellsworth.
Some jerk in a minivan was within a shoulder's length flooring it past me around 4pm today.
Last week some other minivan moron decides to hunk at me twice and then was mouthing off inside the van with no opposing traffic, so she could have easily passed me.
Then gets red light at Amberson like five seconds later and decides to make a right, which I think she did to avoid talking to me while she sat there like an idiot
It seems like all the people that are too impatient to deal with traffic on 5th or Center instead decide to race through Ellsworth.
2010-12-01 05:13:31
Pierce, I think that's exactly what happens - people love to take "shortcuts", but of course they're only "shortcuts" if they drive 40+ and blow through lights and stop signs. And god forbid a BICYCLE gets in their way...
2010-12-01 06:48:55
annoying encounters with drivers the past week or so: nearly nailed going across center on south negley (toward bloomfield). I had a green and someone on center was so anxious to make his right on red that he started to go and came about 6 inches away from hitting me on my right side. this was on my bike. that was the closest i have been to getting hit.
coming home in my car i was on east liberty blvd, going toward morningside. I was right at that gas station, stopped at a red light, trying to make a right onto negley. there was traffic coming from my left, so i couldn't make a right on red. an elderly gentlemen crosses in the crosswalk in front of me, and traffic clears as he does so. i still have a red. some douche in an audi behind me lays on his horn..for about 5 seconds. i guess he wanted me to just plow over the pedestrian?
people are sooo impatient. good job saving a whole second there. you MIGHT get home a second earlier.
2010-12-01 11:15:31
say it with me: "Welcome to reality. It really does take that long to travel that distance. Thank you for visiting, we don't validate parking."
2010-12-01 14:22:56
Elsworth seems like a perfect candidate for traffic calming or a "bicycle boulecard" that would divert traffic to Fifth or Center.
The whole area is filled with shortcuts and therefore jagoffs. I was turning right on to Amberson from Fifth this morning and some dude in an SUV flies around me at the corner and passes me right into the busy school zone area. I was right behind him at Elsworth when he zooms off again and I am again right behind him at Morewood and Bayard. I made it a point to shine my head light in his driver's side rear view mirror both times.
2010-12-01 14:48:36
Ellsworth is totally ripe for some, not sharrows, but straight up bike lanes, at least to the commercial district after Negley. Enough of those houses have driveways that onstreet parking could be eliminated.
2010-12-01 14:53:47
I think that if you want to reduce the traffic speeds on Ellsworth, you want more cyclists in the lane, not off to the side. And you want to encourage motorists to change lanes to pass, not to pass right up close along the white lane.
Sharrows do that, if they're placed out far enough.
2010-12-01 16:08:14
BTW, a few weeks ago I was having brunch at Harris' and had one of the tables upstairs where you can see the stop sign at Maryland.
I counted exactly *one* car that came to a complete stop in the absence of conflicting traffic. Two cars literally did not slow down at all - just blew straight through. The others performed various degrees of "rolling stops".
2010-12-01 16:33:58
!@#$%^ scofflaw cyclists^H^H^H^
Oh, never mind.
2010-12-01 17:21:44
The others performed various degrees of "rolling stops".
Salty is right.
A true stop by a motor vehicle may be even more rare than a full stop by a bike. Speeds exceeding the limit are standard.
A little bit of law enforcement would go a long way.
2010-12-01 17:29:02
+1 to traffic calming measures on Ellsworth. I haven't had too much trouble myself but I can see how you get the impatient "short-cutters" frequenting that route. If it's a known bike route with signage, markings, PLUS enforcement, then maybe the impatient vehicular drivers will stick to the main road arteries.
2010-12-01 17:39:26
Just enforcement would go a long way. As others have said, it only works as a shortcut if you speed and blow through the stop signs.
2010-12-01 18:13:10
During the recent bike counts coordinated by Swalfort, I did a morning count @ Ellsworth + Aiken. In 2 hrs there were over 150 cyclists, many wearing scrubs. Clearly this is a corridor for a lot of people. High density schools, hospitals, apartments.
2010-12-01 18:15:58
I will make it a point, the next time I ride any part of Ellsworth, to take the lane.
If it is not safe for a cyclist to stay to the right, then "as far to the right as practicable" MEANS take the lane.
2010-12-01 19:06:35
I live on Ellsworth Avenue and so take it all the time. I agree with Ryan and think it, as well as Alder Street, would be prime candidates for a bicycle boulevard.
The rule at most stop signs on Ellsworth, from Neville back to Shady, is the rolling stop.
Back in September, I counted 70+ cyclists at Ellsworth and Aiken over a two-hour period. For about half of the time, there was a light-to-heavy rain.
2010-12-01 22:48:50