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Dangerous drivers thread

So I would like to start a thread where you can share your pictures, stories, descriptions of dangerous drivers. Tonight my husband and I were riding home on black street between Negley and Chislett in east liberty. A car approached us from behind as we were riding outside of the door zone and layed on his horn. He then passed us within a foot to get to the red light. My husband screamed at him that he almost hit us and the guy stopped short of the light in front of us like he was gonna start something. Some older lady sitting on her porch yelled at us to just let it go. I snapped a photo of the license. Then we continued on our way home.
stefb
2013-07-04 22:16:12
I am convinced it is getting worse. I'm so sorry this happened.
joanne
2013-07-05 09:22:01
Colin practicing catch-and-release? Unbelievable....
marko82
2013-07-05 10:20:29
At that same moment, this happened: https://twitter.com/bus15237/status/352979713955864577 Prior to the Versa, another pickup went screaming past me at half again the posted-25 limit on this part of North Ave, but at least gave me four feet of room, and did not honk. This early in the thread, I suppose I should explain my term "fucking horn". That's where the driver lays on the horn either right alongside or just behind you. Not a friendly "JSYK I'm here" toot, but an angry getthefuckouttatheway honk, hence the name.
stuinmccandless
2013-07-05 10:57:33
I will follow up on this on Monday, but to recap--I had a conversation with Steve Patchan, the bike & ped coordinator for the city. I asked him about whether or not we could report this kind of event after the fact. The problem is, for me anyway, that a lot of the time I don't have time to call 9-1-1, sit and wait for an officer, fill out a report, and ultimately have the answer be "Send me the video when you get it loaded." His initial reaction was "call 9-1-1 when it happens" but then he said that he was going to ask my question of one of the Zone commanders. Sorry this happened to you guys, and glad it did not escalate.
ajbooth
2013-07-05 11:01:00
I know most of us have stories of calling the cops and have the mostly disregard it, but I recently had a friend call the police and the responding officer actually tracked down the driver, and got the process started for my friend file "harassment" charges against the driver. The downside: he is probably going to have to pay an attorney out of pocket to do so.
ndromb
2013-07-05 14:43:50
Possibly also worth mentioning, about a minute prior to this, I was first in line at the light at Grant and North in Millvale, patiently waiting out the red, which has a "No turn on red" sign. One person on the sidewalk mentioned to another, "You see, some cyclists actually do it right."
stuinmccandless
2013-07-05 15:16:25
Being that it was the 4th, I am sure there were other issues viewed as more important than a cyclist getting buzzed and harassed. Didn't bother to call 911
stefb
2013-07-05 15:46:07
This is from Sunday: "beware of dangerously-aggressive large black pickup ZDF 1623 & FOP tag. Several loud honks, close pass on Butler St." Driver pulled up behind me and gave me a big loud horn--while I was pulling up to a red light at 44th. Already a little wound up after finishing a 25-mile ride on Liberty and Butler, the horn actually made me jump. The light at 45th turns red almost as soon as the light at 44 turns green, so after pushing to get off the line I fairly well coasted half the block. Truck pulled up behind me and honked at me again, multiple times. At this point I turned around and looked at him, and he gave me a dismissive little 'get out of my way' wave. I simply turned back to the road. He honked at me again. There were several parked cars on the side, so there was no room to move over if I wanted to, and I could tell from how aggressive he was being that if I moved over even a little, he was going to blow right past me and probably hit me---there was too much traffic in the other lane for him to get close to giving me four feet. So I continued taking the lane. He started laying on the horn again as soon as started moving again, but 46th was my turn; I stopped firmly in the centre of the intersection to make a left, and he passed me with about 18 inches on the right before roaring off toward Upper LV. I thought about calling 911, but equally visible to the numbers on the plate was the FOP-donor roundel. Having experience trying to report aggressive close-passing motorists in zone 2 in the past, combined with the fact the driver apparently is a member or is associated with the police union, made me decide not to bother.
epanastrophe
2013-07-09 09:19:41
People buy those roundels so they can speed. You can get them just by donating to the FOP. It's not necessarily someone who has any other association with them. So who knows, reporting the guy might work. Edit: also it might help to get one for your bike...
jonawebb
2013-07-09 09:30:53
FOP stickers are meaningless, most people who have one aren't even active donors. Even if, by chance it was a cop, he likely was out of his own jurisdiction. In other words, cops don't take those stickers seriously and neither should you. Just ask my friend who recently got a speeding ticket...
headloss
2013-07-09 10:36:04
I did try to reach Stephen Patchan again, but he is on vacation until Monday. I'll try again then and let you know the results.
ajbooth
2013-07-09 14:45:20
Springville, NY? That's right down the road from where I grew up. I've been to bars a one-minute walk from here. The corner in question, in StreetView. Note the excellent sight lines in all directions, the street light right at the corner, and the four-way stop.
stuinmccandless
2013-07-09 17:09:00
A bus driver complaint I just filed: http://www.portauthority.org/paac/CompanyInfoProjects/CustomerService/Feedback.aspx route 61A, inbound, bus 5310 2013/7/18 11:42 am I was bicycling westbound in the bike lane on Forbes near Dallas (before the entrance to Homewood Cemetery) and a westbound bus came up fast behind me and buzzed me about 2 feet to my left - I could have extended my arm and touched the back corner of the bus as it moved right into the lane I was biking in. This driver behaved dangerously and broke the PA 4 foot law that motorists are required to give cyclists. I suggest this driver be suspended for a week, as punishment. Please speak with the driver, ask them if they're aware of the 4 foot law, and ask them why they drove so close to me, and email me their response. Thanks.
paulheckbert
2013-07-18 13:05:30
@paulheckbert I have buses buzz me inbound and outbound in the bike lanes on Forbes. My only thought is they don't know of the 4 foot rule or they don't think it applies when there is a bike lane. Most alarming to me is the frequency with which the buses cross into the bike lane. And Forbes between Squirrel Hill and Regent Square is so wide! What the...
lizzimac
2013-07-23 08:11:56
This is why I have my helmet cam facing backwards most of the time.
stuinmccandless
2013-07-23 08:16:07
Yeah, but a backwards-facing helmet cam will never catch a PA license plate. I guess it'll do fine for bus numbers though.
mpm
2013-07-23 19:04:41
It might not catch a plate, but it certainly would help establish the chain of events prior to an incident much better than a front-facing cam, which might not even catch that much if one is hit from behind. Really you need both, but in the year or so I've been using it, I get more interesting info from rearward. Even without a plate on camera, it would very much help identify a car if you were able to supply a partial plate number. "Grey Nissan with a roof rack" (from the camera) and BGZ on the plate (from what you could see of a car pulling away) would narrow it down pretty quickly.
stuinmccandless
2013-07-24 09:09:57
Had a thought provoking incident yesterday- got buzzed very closely by a tan sedan, maybe a Camry, heading west on the Boulevard of the Allies. Caught him at a red light and tapped on the window: "I guess you don't believe in the four foot law." "You know what I believe in? I believe in RIGHTS! I pay $10,000 a year in insurance- do you pay insurance?" "Yes, I do pay for insurance" Light turned green, he peeled out and buzzed a motorcycle that was turning right with about 1 foot clearance. At that point I realized his argument about insurance was crap, he was angry becuase his insurance premiums were so high, which was probably related to the fact that he is a lousy driver with anger management issues. There was no reason for me to take it personally.
helen-s
2013-07-24 11:49:26
Which points to necessity of two cameras with synchronized time.
mikhail
2013-07-24 11:49:36
If he's paying $10k a year in insurance on a Camry, and based on the rest of the incident, I'll bet you're right on the money - he has a driving record that is "driving" his premiums, completely failing to connect his shitty driving to his premiums, avoiding any personal responsibility for his situation, and projecting his shittyness on others. Just supposing, of course. But, "Rights!".
edmonds59
2013-07-24 12:12:11
edmonds59 wrote:If he’s paying $10k a year in insurance on a Camry, and based on the rest of the incident, I’ll bet you’re right on the money – he has a driving record that is “driving” his premiums, completely failing to connect his shitty driving to his premiums, avoiding any personal responsibility for his situation, and projecting his shittyness on others. Just supposing, of course. But, “Rights!”.
Holy crap, 10K?! Hey, that's soooo not fair! The other policyholders at his insurance company should be defraying the costs of his reckless driving!
rustyred
2013-07-24 12:46:14
Plate: JBM2521 Millvale. Dumb white car. Female screamed at me three times - twice when I passed her and once as she passed me. Very close. Very scary.
callahan
2013-07-24 13:07:28
This came across my feed today: Helmet cams antagonize drivers http://www.cyclelicio.us/2013/kha-chan-helmet-cams-antogonize-drivers/ The first comment says it all: "also if you are female make sure to wear long skirts and long sleeves and a high neckline and ideally a veil, otherwise if you are attacked it is your fault."
kordite
2013-08-05 14:30:02
PA / JBK5538 Overlook drive by the oval heading towards Greenfield Rd. (Schenley Park) Driver honks a few times then passes me with inches to spare. (The opposing lane was empty.) I filed a police report as that was not just badly behaved traffic but was assault. There are several issues here that really incense me. I should explain for anyone that doesn't know that overlook drive is a side road in the park. People park on both sides and frequently get in and out of cars making the door zone extra dangerous. The road there has also been recently paved and is on a slight downhill grade. This means I was probably cruising along about 15 mph anyway but considering that it's a park, I could have been riding at 2 mph and it should not be a problem. What really got me mad though was the guy walking nearby. After the car goes by, I ask the guy for a pen to write down the plate #. He says no and follows it up with "Ha Ha Ha... He almost got you..." It's REAL FUCKING FUNNY when someone almost hits you with a car on purpose! I did get a pen from a person up on the oval. After that I had so much adrenaline pumping that I think I was passing cars going up hills on my single speed. I'm also glad that I resisted my urge after the initial honk to give the finger - who knows what may have happened.
andyc
2013-08-06 07:42:01
Callahan wrote:Plate: JBM2521 Millvale. Dumb white car. Female screamed at me three times – twice when I passed her and once as she passed me. Very close. Very scary.
I am pretty sure this lady has done the same to me. Keep an eye out for her... The car color and license plate # seem familiar and the behavior is the same as the encounter I had with her. She yelled and told me the get off the road. The passed me super close at an accelerated speed. Then I passed her and she did the same thing again, the second time cutting me off at the next light so I was not able to filter ahead. Crazy lady. She did this to me around the Hardees.
turboweasel
2013-08-06 08:37:52
@Callahan and @J.Str. I roll through Millvale a couple of times a week, and always have my backward pointed helmet cam running. I will memorize that plate and if I see her again, especially with a negative interaction, I will PM you with video and details. Other than white, do you have a more detailed description of the car? Or her? One asshat at a time.
stuinmccandless
2013-08-06 12:18:16
Last week on the decaf ride there was a crappy white crapalier (I think) that passed a few of us going up Stanton ave. no close pass but she screamed something at me that I couldn't make out and then screamed at the guy ahead of me to get on the sidewalk. May be different people but her screaming was unnecessary.
stefb
2013-08-06 18:39:59
Well, after a long time of successfully keeping my emotions in check, I nearly got into an altercation this morning after nearly being left-crossed on the way down Beechwood. Maybe it's lucky I was riding my new MTB because a few more mph may well have made the difference - but I was probably still doing close to 25 when I had to slam on the brakes to avoid getting clobbered. Since I was basically stopped anyways and realized he was turning onto a short dead-end street, I made the (likely ill-advised) decision to give chase. He pulled into a driveway, where I took a picture of him - honestly the driver wasn't nearly as big of a prick as the (younger) guy who came out of the house and proceeded to threaten me, calling me "fag", "pussy", "you don't belong on this street", "you don't pay taxes", etc. I managed to avoid getting into trading insults with him - I said I only wanted to get to work safely and cutting me off like that to save a couple seconds was extremely dangerous. The driver didn't even play the "I didn't see you" card - he said he saw me and I had "plenty of time" to avoid him, and he would have done the same if I were driving a car. Regardless, I felt like perhaps I could have had a reasonable conversation with the driver but the douchebag (son?) only continued with his threats and insults and telling me to "get off his street", so I just gave up and went to work. Shitty way to start the day - I was thinking what a gorgeous day it was, happily putting along enjoying my brand new bike (2nd ride!), on a quiet road near a park with actual bike lanes, and suddenly it's a big bowl of turds.
salty
2013-08-06 22:46:05
I'm wondering how their property taxes dropped $412 over the last year.
quizbot
2013-08-06 23:32:52
he sounds lonely. you should have offered him a hug.
cburch
2013-08-06 23:37:31
At one point he said, "you don't know me" - to which I obviously replied, "so? you don't know me either", and I considered extending my hand to introduce myself and try to salvage the whole stupid situation. But, since he was so f'n aggro, it was 2-v-1, and I was still astride the bike and thus pretty vulnerable, I thought better about getting that close. Well, I guess I just have to reset my "days since losing my shit" board to 0 and go on... and maybe think about firing up the gopro again. I went out for a nice ride this evening, mostly on the river trails to get away from cars - although for some reason I decided crossing the west end bridge and traversing the circle to carson would be fun... where of course I got buzzed a couple times - just enough to restore my faith in people being assholes. but otherwise it was therapeutic. I ingested some medication at OTB and rode the buses home.
salty
2013-08-07 00:18:22
Helmet cams are a good idea as long as you're not antagonizing drivers with them.
quizbot
2013-08-07 01:04:28
I prefer to do my antagonizing the old fashioned way.
salty
2013-08-07 01:27:43
I'm thinking about sending them some pizza as a thank you. Maybe 2 or 3 months from now.
quizbot
2013-08-07 01:36:23
Q - buy the pizza now. Deliver it in three months. Makes you wonder how someone could possibly be driven to beat someone's head in with a u lock. Not.
edmonds59
2013-08-07 06:46:55
@salty, With bikefest just around the corner... one could put together a dead end street ride. That could be fun if the knuckle-draggers are home!
marko82
2013-08-07 09:00:32
^ keeping track of addresses so that next year we can have a "Tour de asshole".. Or perhaps better named.
stefb
2013-08-07 09:22:24
^ I like it. :)
mikhail
2013-08-07 09:38:33
stefb wrote:^ keeping track of addresses so that next year we can have a “Tour de asshole”.. Or perhaps better named.
THIS would be tremendous given the POWER OF THE INTERNETS it wouldn't be too hard to find the addresses of Francis Kilinsky (home and office, since he does own a business in his name), Gary Evans, John Strahs(meier) and Tom Pade. Ride by, knock on the door, sing a song, hand a pro-biking flyer out, then move on. I'm ready when you are.
mlinwood25
2013-08-07 09:59:51
stefb wrote:^ ... Or perhaps better named.
"Homes of the Stars Tour"--Visit the homes of some of Pittsburgh's most important authors and public performers. They know that they're important, and now you can be honored by their presence as well. Paparazzi welcome.
smarchit
2013-08-07 10:20:46
tour de jag
cburch
2013-08-07 11:02:03
Confucius say, "Man who seek out assholes end up not smelling like a rose."
reddan
2013-08-07 12:03:32
I know one of the aforementioned authors.....I don't think that would have any affect and would probably amuse and encourage him further.
sew
2013-08-07 13:41:28
reddan wrote:Confucius say, “Man who seek out assholes end up not smelling like a rose.”
Haha. Couldn't be said better. When was the last time you swayed the opinion of some militant asshole by shouting back at them?
rice-rocket
2013-08-07 14:43:47
When was the last time you swayed the opinion of some militant asshole by shouting back at them?
Also in the bargain bin at Crazy Dan's Pithy Sayings Outlet: "Arguing with a troll is like beating up a masochist."
reddan
2013-08-07 15:05:11
smarchit wrote:“Homes of the Stars Tour”–
I like it! It would be good to have a megatphone to announce things like "In this house lives John Doe who repeatedly ingnores the laws an uses his car as an assault vehicle against biyclists."
mick
2013-08-07 16:56:50
Silver Kia forte GKX 1414 Had a bike back on the back of the car, still couldn't wait 5 seconds to give me more than 6-12 inches of space while passing on butler just to get to a red light. Thanks, fellow cyclist!
stefb
2013-08-07 19:05:12
I got buzzed going east on Forbes between the park and Wightman. Of course it was rush hour and soon I was next to the car. It's just the driver, no passengers. I knock on the window. He looks at me. I motion him to roll down the window a bit. No dice. Eventually he relents and turns down his radio. I point out to him that he passed me too close (he actually startled me, and I'm mostly used to this stuff). He rolls his eyes. I remind him of the 4' rule and ask him to drive like a "normal" person. (In retrospect the latter comment was uncalled for; it should have been "drive safely", with a smile.) I end up taking the lane between Wightman and Murray, just in case. There's got to be a better way...
ahlir
2013-08-07 21:02:25
Ahlir wrote:ask him to drive like a “normal” person. (In retrospect the latter comment was uncalled for;
Particularly since the "normal" driver goes 10 mph faster than the limit.
mick
2013-08-07 22:54:09
Today I had my very own dangerous driver incident! I was in East Liberty, riding north on Highland coming up to the ELB. I'm in the right lane which is clear, and the light is green; in any case I'd be turning right onto ELB. There is a row of cars in the left lane, presumably because the head car is trying to turn left. Suddenly a car pull out right in front of me. I have to stop very fast and end up tumbling. The driver pauses, looks back, then takes off. A couple of people at the bus shelter report the same and add that the driver was a woman. They are sympathetic and offer help, as does a biker who shows up shortly after (if you read this board, thanks! I really appreciated you stopping). The car was an older, squarish hatchback. Grey. With a Texas plate, the older kind that's all beige with black characters. I only managed to remember that the license has the sequence "355" in it. The plate is ~5 digits, divider, three letters. My impression is that the owner may live in Highland Park, or maybe travels through there on a regular basis. The time was ~6:30pm. Be careful around it. If you have information (like you spot the car and get the full plate number), please let me know by PM. After dinner and after the adrenaline starts to wear off, I have a chest pain (like maybe from a handle bar), a sore elbow and a bruised palm. I had a helmet, so even though I banged my head, it didn't get hurt. The chest hurt a lot when I sneezed. I'll wait until tomorrow morning to maybe worry about any of it. In the meanwhile, a couple of ibuprofens. The local police station is walking distance so I decide to go make a report. I'm not optimistic, but you may as well try. I learn the following: 1) If there's no hit, there's no hit and run. Officially your accident was caused by a "phantom" car. Nothing will be done. 2) Yes, it counts as dangerous driving, but only police witnessing the event can make that determination.
ahlir
2013-08-08 21:09:56
3) Helmet cam should override 2) in case of officer absence during the event
quizbot
2013-08-08 23:14:46
Large black Jeep SUV ESZ 2591 going east on Schenley Drive next to the Pitt Library on Thursday around 6:30 pm. Driver is around mid 30's, short reddish hair with short goatee and mustache, piercings on right ear. I caught up to him at the light and calmly said he was allowed to cross the double yellow to pass me (there was not other traffic when he buzzed by very close). He irritatedly said I needed to move over, at which point I stated I had a right to use the road also. His reply was "fuck off-you can take down my plate." I did not, but fortunately there was another cyclist at the light also listening to the interchange- when the driver left he gave me the plate and make of car and said he had an interchange with the same driver which was much worse. I neglect to say thanks to the other cyclist- but am doing so now- thanks! I did have an exchange that morning on Frew Street with a driver who buzzed me coming down the hill in the golf course. When I pointed out he passed me very closely he gave me puppy dog eyes and said he would try to do better in the future. I was convinced he would until as I was leaving he said "Hey, I didn't hit you, did I?"
helen-s
2013-08-09 13:11:01
Here's a good one... I'm coming down Wilkins, to the left side of the left turn lane since I'm turning left on Beechwood, and slowing down since I've got a red light. As I approach the intersection, a SUV/Minivan makes a wide right turn from Beechwood and starts coming at me head-on, in my lane, beeping the horn. I had ample time to swerve right to avoid any trouble, and as I pass, I see the driver (still honking) is also making a "what am I supposed to do" kind of gesture. Then I realized the reason she was in my lane was because she essentially right hooked another cyclist - who was luckily also turning right but was now stuck between her vehicle and the curb. A two-fer! Yet apparently the driver is too ignorant to understand how the entire problem was 100% her fault. sigh.
salty
2013-08-14 10:23:10
It's odd how some people all of a sudden can't imagine that they have to wait their turn and not run people over when it involves a bike.
rsprake
2013-08-14 10:42:16
Oh yeah, that reminds me. I was riding through Braddock a week or so ago, on the right side of the road, I hear a beep behind me and a second or two later a car passes me and makes a right hook turn right in front of me. The honk was the warning she was about to do this. Thanks, lady. I didn't get a license plate and anyway, in Braddock I think they've got bigger fish to fry.
jonawebb
2013-08-14 10:48:28
I love the self-aware right hook.
rsprake
2013-08-14 10:59:55
I was waiting at a red light to make a left in the left hand lane in front of PNC park this morning when a man was walking his dog in the crosswalk lawfully. There was a "no right on red" sign lit up for traffic in the righthand lane, but the driver rolled right through and made his turn just a second before the pedestrian and his dog got there. Without breaking stride, the pedestrian flipped the guy off. Must happen a lot.
stefb
2013-08-14 11:37:57
At the West End Circle recently I've been seeing drivers coming from 51/Saw Mill Run do left turns on red, and straight thru's on red. Once one person does it, others seem to think, OH! that must be legal! People are just making shit up now.
edmonds59
2013-08-14 12:10:04
edmonds59 wrote:At the West End Circle recently I’ve been seeing drivers coming from 51/Saw Mill Run do left turns on red, and straight thru’s on red. Once one person does it, others seem to think, OH! that must be legal! People are just making shit up now.
i saw this happen on grant yesterday, by the lighted crosswalk from the steel tower to strawberry way. one car just rolled straight through (the light had been red—this wasn't a failure to make the yellow). then, the car behind it went through as well, almost hitting some people who were crossing. also: this thread is depressing.
hiddenvariable
2013-08-14 12:58:43
ugh... I hate red-light cameras, HATE. They seem to generate most of their revenue off of a rolling-right-turn-on-red, which is ticketing the wrong people imho. Then I read the above and I remember why at one point in time I was a huge advocate for those things.
headloss
2013-08-14 13:15:59
Maybe we can talk the West Homestead police into start keeping an eye on some of these intersections? After all, their mayor said they are all about keeping us safe!
marko82
2013-08-14 14:30:07
@edmonds - I thought that if it's one way to one way, it's actually legal to turn left on red. The real problem arises when people don't even stop to look. I 311'ed the situation in the West End Circle a couple of months ago and asked for additional enforcement after I was almost plowed down walking in the crosswalk multiple days in a row. Drivers were looking to their right and ignoring me directly in front of their bumper. Now I just assume that every car is going to run me over and proceed accordingly until I make real eye contact with each driver.
pinky
2013-08-15 12:14:21
I venture out onto the streets with traffic maybe once a week... my very first day I got buzzed within about 18 inches. I've had the Contour (thanks to everyone here for the camera advice, it was invaluable!) on the bike for just a few days, and took Lilackadaisical out Dahntahn and I get a close call with a left cross. I had to use the Human Horn (and brakes). http://youtu.be/b92dHG_yd1k
rustyred
2013-08-15 19:52:11
Gotta love the pedestrians crossing against the light too.
marko82
2013-08-15 21:04:16
pinky wrote:I thought that if it’s one way to one way, it’s actually legal to turn left on red.
You're right about that left. Title 75, section 3112(a)(3)(ii). I was crossing Murray Avenue an hour ago, as a pedestrian, when a driver facing a red light pulled halfway into the intersection and just stopped. At least it was better than running the red completely. So kudos to you, SUV driver! Know that your vague half-hearted stab at competent driving was much appreciated, as I trust I conveyed to you with my eye-rolling and head-shaking as I walked into the traffic lane to get around your crosswalk-blocking vehicle.
steven
2013-08-15 23:52:05
Wife and I had our first legitimate near miss with a dangerous driver this afternoon while out on a mini practice run for part of the Pedal Pgh route. As we were approaching the T at the end of Mellon Terrace near Highland Park (an area of town that I'm not extremely familiar with), I yelled back to my wife, who was even less familiar with the area, that there was no stop sign, so we had the right of way. As we were turning left towards the park, a car came flying down Mellon Street from the park at an excessive rate of speed and forced us to slam on the brakes, which in turn startled the driver of the car behind us. I assumed that I had missed a partially hidden stop sign, and made more of a mental note of it being an unmarked hazard for next week's trip over this section. Before reporting it, I checked out streetview, looking for the sign I may have missed. Lo and behold, I DID have the right of way (no stop sign), and not only was the offending driver speeding, he also blew through a DO NOT ENTER/ALL TRAFFIC MUST TURN RIGHT sign combo in his direction of travel. Google shows Mellon Street to be One Way towards the park from at least Bryant Street to Mellon Terrace. Quite an experience on what was otherwise a great day for a ride.
smarchit
2013-08-18 21:24:00
I had two on Sunday. First I was biking home from work on Blvd of the Allies in downtown. I'm not on sidewalks because that's illegal. I stop at the intersection at Cherry Way and Blvd. Although there was no traffic AND they had blocked Cherry Way to my right(so I wouldn't be cutting across traffic if I went) I didn't go through the red light since that's illegal and drivers were behind me. Light turns green and the car behind me wants to pass but there is a car next to him for the turn lane at Grant and Blvd. Driver speeds up to at least 25 MPH within the lane and passes me with very, very little space. The part that pisses me off most is that the light at Grant and Blvd has been red the ENTIRE TIME. I get to the light and look at the driver with my arms outstretched and he yells "You need to get the f*** over!" I responded "I am over did you even look at the f***ing light? It's red you don't need to do that." He just says "fuck you" and speeds off. Later, the same exact thing happened to me at 5th and Wilkins with a driver cutting me very closely in order to get to a red light. However, I didn't say anything because they had their kid in the car and I would've flipped out on them based on what happened earlier. It's infuriating because for one I was following the law and the drivers weren't. Two, I was being "courteous" by not taking the lane which would've perhaps prevented them from trying. Three, if I HAD broken the law by going through the light at Cherry Way, I would have cleared Blvd of the Allies before that car came anywhere near me.
mjacobpgh
2013-08-20 10:44:32
mjacobPGH wrote:I was being “courteous” by not taking the lane which would’ve perhaps prevented them from trying
Stop doing that. I don't mean to criticize your riding, and it's just my opinion, but this almost always turns out bad for the cyclists. Taking the full lane forces the guy to either follow you in the lane or change lanes in order to get past you. Try it for awhile and see if it makes a difference for you. -I will share the road, but NOT my lane-
marko82
2013-08-20 11:10:59
Yea, I know. I do, at times, take the lane. I don't think I was consciously making a decision to not take the lane in this instance but I should probably do it more often. I honestly didn't think it was necessary on Blvd of the Allies since traffic was moving so slowly but I often do take the lane while I am on Fifth(which I am only riding on briefly) and people still pass VERY close.
mjacobpgh
2013-08-20 11:18:36
@mjacobPGH. Yeah taking the lane is no guarantee that a driver still won’t be a dick and pass you dangerously, but I think it gives the message that you are confident in what you are doing and that you belong on the road. (Which you also showed by stopping at the light! +1) Recent Bad Example: I was stopped at a red light a few weeks ago as the only vehicle/bike in the queue, bike positioned dead center of the travel lane – when a motorcycle stops behind me then passed me on my RIGHT in order to turn right on red. WTF!
marko82
2013-08-20 11:37:35
I'll name names here, as he's been mentioned both in this forum before as well as written anti-cyclist comments in the P-G. James Love. He does not own a car, but does have a license and rents a ZipCar every once in a while. We had it out on Facebook in a thread that went on for four days a few months ago; a few of you may have participated in it. Anyway, we got into yet another argument on Facebook yesterday. He firmly believes cyclists are breaking the law by taking the lane, and we should all be fined. No amount of quoting the actual law, or pointing out what would be blatantly obvious to any of us, makes any difference. Why I bring this up is that, since I know the guy so well, I can understand where at least this one is coming from. How well that can be applied to others is subjective, but the essence of it is this: They never learned how to think. They learned what to think, and further, learned never to question that. Yesterday's argument concerned this photo: ...to which he posted on Facebook: These bikers known as Bike Pittsburgh refuse to follow road rules. They refuse to allow traffic to pass them to keep up speeds of safety. Some on a two lane road take up whole lane which is permitted when safe to do. However they need to move to right when vehicles come behind them and they are refusing to let traffic pass them. One in a Bike Pittsburgh post in facebook main page has been caught for all of us to see driving in uncoming lane which is wrong. ... I refuse to involved with a bike group which refuses to follow road laws. If I see traffic behind me I have the brains to move to the right or stop to let traffic pass. And then, in the private conversation, this happened: Stuart Strickland In that photo, if you came up behind them, what would you do? (and those bikers are fully in the right, except for the guy in front who's a couple inches over the line) James Love blow my horn to have lane open to pass or call police to have you fined for un safe biking * * * So, there you have it, some insight into the sort of thinking of those behind the wheel giving us a hard time.
stuinmccandless
2013-08-20 12:15:21
I basically always feel "damned if I do, damned if I don't" while commuting; you can't make everyone happy. You can either be a nice, courteous biker and let people take liberties with you(sounds like a metaphor for life) or be a proactive biker who makes it harder for people to risk your safety but pissing them off more at the same time. Engaging with internet trolls hardly seems worth it anymore(I have done enough on the PG commentary but can't stop responding to some of the idiocy). Most of them aren't representative of drivers. I do truly believe that most drivers don't endanger bikers out of any hostility or malice but mostly pure impatience and ignorance.
mjacobpgh
2013-08-20 12:34:44
I've grown very familiar with my commute and act as I think appropriate on each individual road segment. E.g. approaching an intersection where I've gotten buzzed when drivers try to move around traffic in the left lane, I'll take the lane. But on a wide road where there's plenty of space to pass and drivers have never given me a problem I ride to the right. Since I'm familiar with the route and with what drivers are likely to do I'm happy to give them a little more freedom. But if I was riding an unfamiliar road I would be more assertive and take the lane more aggressively to prevent getting buzzed etc. The more used I get to this style of biking, the more I see myself as controlling the behavior of motorists and being responsible for my own safety, rather than simply being at motorist's mercy. You really don't have to just accept that you're going to get buzzed sometimes; you can do something about it. And you will find that the vast majority of drivers simply accept that you are taking the lane and will drive appropriately. Yes, you will get the occasional driver that lays on the horn and passes aggressively and illegally. But that is a lot more rare (and arguably less dangerous) than drivers who simply don't acknowledge your presence and pass far too closely, when you ride to the right.
jonawebb
2013-08-20 12:46:48
I find the courteous middle ground is to pull over and let people pass. In most places, there will be an opening to pass safely and normally soon enough but if that is not the case, I'd much rather help people to pass around me safely than be trailed by a queue of festering hatred. Regarding the photo above, I would probably be mad if I came across that group on a country road (though that looks more like a park) and they made no effort to let me pass safely. In a group that size I would think you need to have some plans beforehand on how to split into smaller packs such that people can get around you. Otherwise it's like apportioning a parade route if the pack is too big to get around.
andyc
2013-08-20 12:59:34
Oh, James Love. A stellar example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, to the extreme. So absolutely incompetent that he is absolutely convinced of his own correctness. For everyone else's info, I have met this person, and he is an odd, odd bird, his opinions should in no way be taken to represent the average thinking person's. How he is able to get the ear of any media is nothing more than an indication of the pathetic state of our media, just looking for sensationalism and ratings. @mjacobPGH - I use a mirror, which greatly reduces the element of surprise as to what drivers may be doing behind me. If I see a car coming up behind that appears to be on a line that will not give me adequate passing room, I will ease out further and leave them no option. If nothing else, that gives me more safe bailout space if they still decide to buzz close. For the 90%+ of the cars that pass, I just hold my line. Also fyi, I generally ride the right hand wheel-track of the auto tires, I find it to be the cleanest and safest line.
edmonds59
2013-08-20 13:02:41
Black 4-runner, P/D plate 3904F, definite contender for the "just plan stupid" award. On my way to/from work I climb over the short but steep hill on Negley between Fair Oaks and Wilkins. As I crest the hill, I take the lane, all the way to the yellow line, since I'm turning left at the bottom in either direction. My other reason for doing that is to dissuade people from doing exactly what this guy did which is try to pass me on a steep downhill where there's not enough room. And, in the AM direction there are often cars or contractor vehicles parked which is one more reason to take the lane. Yesterday at PP marko and I were talking about the importance of taking the lane to prevent unsafe passes, so that was also on my mind. Anyways, I heard the engine behind me and then got that little tingly feeling like "OMG this guy is going to pass me". The light was red and a line of cars were waiting so he especially didn't have room to do it, plus there was a car coming up the hill. I glanced over my shoulder to see him fully in the other lane. There were only two ways this was going to end, with a head-on crash (which the driver seemed pretty committed to) or with him swerving into me, so I hit the brakes. I think the guy coming up the hill must have done the same, but our hero just kept on going. The head-on had to be pretty close regardless. Then he had to slam on his brakes to keep from rear ending the cars in our lane. Keep in mind this is all in a few hundred feet of pavement, on a ~10% grade. I saw his window was down and all I could think to say was "are you f'n stupid?"... followed by "get off the road until you learn to drive". I didn't hear whatever he was saying back but I'm sure it was stupid.
salty
2013-08-26 09:44:35
GFB 2533, burnt-orange sedan (Chevy Cobalt? A smallish American car with spoiler, but 4-door), late-40s or early-50s white male. 2' pass on SB Neville between Centre and Bayard yelling "move over". As usual, light was red at Bayard--he then tries to tell me 4' law means I'm supposed to move over so he can give me 4'. (Neville, of course, is lined with parked cars. There was no 'over' to move to.) Trying to decide if the color of his car has infected his brain, or if he's so completely full of shit it's even turned his car the colour of diarrhea. Either way, watch out for him. (Other weekend fun: Harley rider who passed me @ ~18 inches on Arlington near 18th, then kept repositioning himself to block me from filtering past him and the pickup in front of him. I went around on the left to rejoin the other cyclists at the light. About two blocks later, he again passed me very close--I nearly let the inner mule take over.)
epanastrophe
2013-08-26 09:55:57
salty wrote:I saw his window was down and all I could think to say was “are you f’n stupid?”… followed by “get off the road until you learn to drive”. I didn’t hear whatever he was saying back but I’m sure it was stupid.
Yes! I think it's important to tell these people "You shouldn't be on the road." I think it's more effective than profanity and that most of them on some level know it's true. I would not be surprised if this guy had a suspended license, had enough points to be on that edge, or perhaps was even on probation of some sort.
mick
2013-08-27 10:42:32
It would have been fantastic to have that on video, even without the verbal interchange.
stuinmccandless
2013-08-27 11:26:57
I have a camera although I have very mixed feelings about using it for this purpose so I haven't used it in probably a year... Although I did charge the battery after that jackass left-crossed me a few weeks ago.
salty
2013-08-27 11:58:38
I wouldn't have any qualms at all about posting video of someone acting badly in a public space, especially when potentially harming innocent people. Good thing the guy's brakes worked, or there would have been a really bad scene. Had I been there with video rolling, I might have gone to the police with the video even without a wreck, just to point out how amazingly stupid a stunt the guy pulled. It's not a whole lot different from pulling out a weapon and firing horizontally just over people's heads.
stuinmccandless
2013-08-27 14:40:04
I believe this guys plate was GMX2485 but I may have the second letter wrong. I took the road coming inbound through friendship park, as usual. He buzzed around me on my right (in the bike lane) then swerves towards me (within 6 inches) to yell through his window. I then played legal asshole, filtered by him stopped behind a garbage truck, and he ended up behind me at the next light. He didn't lik...e this picture at all, rolled his window down, passed me at the light and said I needed to take the bike lane because I was holding up traffic. 1. The bike lane there isn't safe. Because of parking, side street traffic can't see you and pulls right out into the bike lane. You also have dooring possibilities but the former is why I don't take it. Plus it just ends. 2. I can go a fair speed here (20+) and rarely have confrontation. Anyone who thinks you should be in a bike lane because you're holding up traffic really thinks you shouldn't be on the road. Watch out for this guy. He seriously could have been safer had he passed me within the 1 or 2 feet on my right, but chose to swerve into me to yell at me. Adding to this: he got in the turning lane to cross Bloomfield bridge, the lady in the front had a green arrow but traffic was backed up and there was an ambulance coming with sirens going. I could hear the, I think, familiar horn going behind her. People who drive this way are overall aggressive drivers. They endanger me on a bike, sure, but absolutely endanger you in your car, in a crosswalk, on a motorcycle.
kitaira
2013-08-29 07:31:05
Yeah, that's the main point here. The same people who are buzzing bikes are almost clipping pedestrians, speeding, taking chances around other cars, etc. It's not really an issue only for us; we're just more aware of it because we're more vulnerable and we see what's going on on the road more readily.
jonawebb
2013-08-29 08:27:12
kitaira wrote:2. I can go a fair speed here (20+) and rarely have confrontation. Anyone who thinks you should be in a bike lane because you’re holding up traffic really thinks you shouldn’t be on the road.
i got honked at yesterday by a bus while avoiding a dangerous bike lane. i was coming inbound on liberty, just after the intersection at the bloomfield bridge and main street. it's a slight downhill and i was probably going along at 20-25 mph. there's a bike lane there, which an open door would completely block, so i take the lane. this bus driver was so eager to move up about fifteen feet, presumably so he could tailgate the car that was directly in front of me, that he couldn't keep his hand off the horn. i do appreciate the effort in giving us bike lanes, but i'd rather not have that lane from the bridge down to herron. the only place it's safe to ride is where no cars are parked, and at that point it's unnecessary. the only thing it accomplishes is angering drivers who think we should be relegated there, even if it's unsafe.
hiddenvariable
2013-08-29 08:59:42
The speed limit on the hill part of Liberty is 35, which is just absurd. I frankly wish that rather than 'refreshing' the bike lanes on Friendship Avenue, they'd been removed. The lanes along the park are too small, and put cyclists either in the door zone (inbound) or in the frequently debris-filled gutter (outbound); since the roadway isn't big enough for cars, let alone larger vehicles to pass safely, the only safe option is for cyclists to ride down the middle, where the sharrows should be. The bike lane on outbound Friendship between Cedarville and the park seems to be in use as a parking lane for the funeral home on that block about every third day. If they need it that badly, maybe we should just let them have it and eliminate this section as well. At the very least, sharrows should be added in the main lane beside every 'bike lane' marker---far too many still think that just because a bike lane exists, a cyclist is required to ride in it. (VC §3505(f), captioned "Mandatory use of available pedalcycle path", was deleted by Act 151 of 1998...)
epanastrophe
2013-08-29 10:09:47
buffalo buffalo wrote:—far too many still think that just because a bike lane exists, a cyclist is required to ride in it. (VC §3505(f), captioned “Mandatory use of available pedalcycle path”, was deleted by Act 151 of 1998…)
I was reading through the post about getting a ticket for taking the lane and was wondering if if a bike lane would count, therefore making it the law to use the "right-most" lane. You've answered that, Jonathan - thank you. (Same wave length, as usual)
kitaira
2013-08-29 10:25:58
kitaira wrote: I was reading through the post about getting a ticket for taking the lane and was wondering if if a bike lane would count, therefore making it the law to use the “right-most” lane. You’ve answered that, Jonathan – thank you. (Same wave length, as usual)
Jonathan is all over that issue... did you see his engagement on Stu's FB wall yesterday? I'm starting to think it's a good idea to memorize these laws word-for-word.
headloss
2013-08-29 11:26:06
Has the average Pittsburgh driver ever heard of the word "sharrow"? If they saw one on a road, would they know what it means?
paulheckbert
2013-08-29 11:57:52
@ paulheckbert Has the average Pittsburgh driver ever heard of the word “sharrow”? If they saw one on a road, would they know what it means? Then answers would be "no" and "no." OTOH, they are a clear sign that bikes somehow belong on the roads there I wish they would put them in of Fifth in uptown - too many drivers on that stretch tell me I shouldn't be on the road and I'd like to be able to point at a sharrow when they do.
mick
2013-08-29 12:10:04
Today's morning shopping trip: • Taking the lane by Costco at the waterfront. I came to a full stop while signaling my intentions to turn left. A pickup approaches from my left and starts to slow; as I enter the intersection he just keeps on going without stopping yelling for me to get off the road. If I hadnt of been paying attention he would have nailed me. (white male mid 40’s) • Sitting second in line at a stop light at 26th and Carson waiting to turn right. Light turns green and the car in front of me turns left. As I start to make my turn a small SUV from opposite me on 26th makes a left turn right into me. As I yell “hey!” as loud as I can she hits the brakes and puts her hand to her mouth in the classic “I didn’t see you” expression. I was wearing one of my neon green jerseys with my front blinky running. (white female mid 30’s with kids in back seat) • A few blocks up Carson near the Stop-n-go a piece of shit dark four door Chrysler with Jersey plates weaved off line so much that not only did he almost hit me in the bike lane, he almost hit a parked car. I yelled for him to put the phone away when he brake checked me and threatened to ‘get out and settle it’. As there were lots of people standing around he just took off. (black male early 30’s) • Going outbound on Carson towards Becks run. I usually ride in the right tire track here unless there are cars coming toward me in the opposite direction, then I signal and move over to take the full lane. When there is no more oncoming traffic I move to the right and wave the cars behind me to pass. I did that today and the guy immediately behind me was courteous and giving me some space. The dickweed behind him was laying on the horn. As I got to Paige’s Dairy I pulled into their lot, and the guy with the horn pulled in behind me. A very threatening situation ensued. Gold Toyota Camry HPK-3716. Police report filed. (two black men mid 20’s to mid 30’s) Edit: The officer was very professional & understanding while taking the report • Going up Beck’s run toward home. Two lanes southbound, I’m taking full lane with no other traffic in sight. Cream Toyota corolla passes me within two feet; although I must say she was probably the only car I saw going below the speed limit today. (white woman in 70’s or 80’s with two other silver hairs in the car with her) All this in under 30 miles & Hey it’s only 2 o’clock! I’m posting this because we always talk about profiling SUV drivers and such, but the only common thread is that each of these drivers was capable of causing me harm today. Different car types, ethnicities, ages, and temperaments. Be safe out there!
marko82
2013-08-31 13:29:15
WTF, Marko?!?! Are you okay?? I had a dangerous driver incident Thursday--white woman, 30s, white Chevy Aspen, license plate HGD-8808. I was in my car, so if this doesn't belong here, let me know and I'll edit the post--but I thought it was worth documenting this menace. She was behind me on Allegheny River Blvd, on the phone and eating, swerving all over the road, tailgating, running up on me and nearly hitting me multiple times. When I slowed down and motioned to her to back off the bumper of my little car with her big car, she positioned herself about a foot off my bumper, starting flashing her lights and laying on the horn. We drove that way all the way down ARB toward Washington Blvd, me going about 20 mph and her looming behind me, raging and trying to menace me with her vehicle. She finally passed me, very closely, and I ended up behind her at the light taking lots of pictures of her plate.
joanne
2013-08-31 15:31:09
totally should have called 911 and reported n erratic and possibly drunk driver. zone 5 could have set up a welcome party.
cburch
2013-08-31 21:28:33
@ joanne, just another day in paradise.... Thankfully Page's has cameras and had a few witnesses to discourage gun play.
marko82
2013-08-31 23:16:04
This is my first post on this forum. I am happy to see a place where one can vent frustrations with fellow urban bikers. My friends and family who don't cycle just don't understand. But anyways, I was a large cyclist through college in State College and then lived in Denver for a few years and cycled that city's extensive trail and bike lane system. I came back to Pittsburgh went on a few year hiatus from cycling till recently I became re-born with a vengeance. There are so many dangerous drivers, but some are more scary. There are ignorant dumbasses who drive in bike lanes, don't give 4 feet, etc, and then there are the dangerous short fused drivers who who want to deliberately attempt to cause an accident with cyclist. I noticed that Pittsburgh drivers are angry, hostile, and aggressive. I have so many stories of angry drivers from this summer that it isn't even funny. But I will rant about my one today. I was biking down Carson Street and got in the left turning lane to make a left onto the Birmingham street bridge bike lane. The light turned to a green arrow and I was behind two cars. I kept up at the same exact speed and was making a left in the lane in clear view of every car. A mid to late 20 something male driving a green SUV explorer was driving Carson St from the southside works making a right onto the Birmingham street bridge as my lane had the green arrow. He clearly had a yield sign, and had to wait for cars and bikes to come. (this would take 20 seconds). I was biking right behind a car and tried to get over to the lane, yet he just keeps going and nearly swipes me by less than a foot. Then he speeds around me barely missing me. As I yelled, he pulled down his window down and said, "you got a problem!?". Yeah, meathead, you almost took my life by driving illegally and then wind down your window to ask me that? He then slowed down on the bridge waiting for me. Cars behind him forced him to keep going. I did absolutely nothing illegal. It is one thing to dodge a driver who is ignorantly stupid, yet another to be pushed around by a tough guy in a suv pushing his gas pedal down, and yet this is just another typical day of biking the Burgh.
shooflypie
2013-09-01 20:44:57
@SFP, welcome to the message board! Just try to remember that there are many very nice drivers out there too. People that will wait to give you twelve feet of clearance, not just four. I know I just put a whole list together myself above, but the truth is that most of these assholes are being dicks to other car drivers too. It's more personal for us since our margin of safety is so small compared to a two ton piece of steel, but that guy would have cut you off if you were driving a car too. And, he probably went home and kicked his cat.
marko82
2013-09-01 22:36:45
@ShooFlyPie - Welcome to the board. You'll find that there are quite a few of us who have similar stories. But we also have ... the Good News Thread ...in which you can share stories of cool & fun & uplifting interactions with fellow travelers, motorized and non-.
stuinmccandless
2013-09-02 09:59:53
While biking in Cincinnati I came upon this sad sight: on this road: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Lunken+Airport,+Cincinnati,+OH&hl=en&ll=39.111621,-84.419452&spn=0.001261,0.00192&sll=41.117935,-77.604698&sspn=5.015043,7.866211&oq=lunken&t=h&z=19&layer=c&cbll=39.111708,-84.41939&panoid=rUK5bhChmO5hxGjc1OQvag&cbp=12,213.72,,0,1.76 east of downtown. A little googling turned up the story of Andrew Gast, a cyclist out for a pre-dawn bike ride to work, rear-ended by a car doing 50mph in a 40mph zone, and killed. Some reporting on the incident: http://www.ohiobikelawyer.com/bike-law-101/2012/09/andrew-gast-ohios-11th-cycling-death-of-2012-hits-close-to-home/ And how the sentencing turned out: "[The driver,] White pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide... Judge William Mallory ordered Melvin White, 50, to serve two years of house arrest and suspended his driver's license for three years. Mallory also ordered White to pay $1,000 to a bicycle safety program called Queen City Blinkies and serve 100 hours of community service". http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/melvin-white-charged-with-hitting-killing-bicyclist-to-appear-in-court-for-sentencing
paulheckbert
2013-09-08 13:52:46
Two years of house arrest? Wow, could be a real hardship... But I guess at least your friends (assuming you have any) can always come by and party with you. And you can always order in some pizza and most any other delectable; I bet Cincinnati has GrubHub! And of course he has the internets to keep him busy; what more do you need these days? The gift of otaku, it keeps on giving. That bicycle guy? Well, he's dead, so who cares. Sorry, it's all a bit frustrating. As a rule: always try to get the license number and call 911.
ahlir
2013-09-08 16:24:44
I dunno. I find the sentencing to be heartwarming compared with what happens with similar crashes in PA. (see, for example, Don Parker.) Here, unless you are actually drunk, you can kill a bicyclist and nothing will happen to you.
mick
2013-09-09 12:46:00
Can I crowbar some future Darwin Award winner pedestrians in this thread? (recorded last night near Heinz Field/Carnegie Science Center) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeQeLVr7V5U
rustyred
2013-09-14 12:51:00
Well, they might be both but they do have a legal right to cross in the cross walk with the expectation that traffic is supposed to stop for them. That might be a bit dangerous at night though.
helen-s
2013-09-14 14:17:58
helen s wrote:Well, they might be both but they do have a legal right to cross in the cross walk with the expectation that traffic is supposed to stop for them.
When the *Don't Walk* sign is lit up?
rustyred
2013-09-14 14:22:32
My bad- I thought this was at a crosswalk, not at the light. And as I said, probably both.
helen-s
2013-09-14 14:26:14
eh, cut the pedestrians some slack - there's one group that has it worse than cyclists. we should be working together for safer streets, not antagonizing each other.
salty
2013-09-14 16:17:50
The crossing signals at the Science Center are frankly awful.
mjacobpgh
2013-09-14 16:33:42
If they started walking after *don't walk* then it's a toss up... if they crossed while you had a green, then totally f-d up. The first pair seem to be walking recklessly and are in the wrong. "urban matador"
headloss
2013-09-14 17:28:39
Here's a driver doing something unbelievably dangerous to himself and others yesterday morning. Couldn't wait 4 seconds for me to get over the bridge and get to the bike lane? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfaSxiuRN1M
czarofpittsburgh
2013-09-21 10:09:16
that is pretty unbelievable, except that i had someone do something similar to me coming down a sharp curve on 18th a month or so ago. the pavement was garbage, and i was doing the speed limit, and she damn near forced me off the road, going into the oncoming lane around a blind curve. so yeah, it should be unbelievable, but i believe it. people have no concept of how dangerous driving is.
hiddenvariable
2013-09-21 10:46:43
czarofpittsburgh wrote:Here’s a driver doing something unbelievably dangerous to himself and others yesterday morning. Couldn’t wait 4 seconds for me to get over the bridge and get to the bike lane?
Dang. Scary. I'd like to post video of the confusing intersection at 7th and Liberty but or some reason, I can't get Contour to upload anything. Anyhoo, I think this is one of those intersections that only Pittsburghers know how it works, as I had an altercation with a giant SUV with Colorado plates after I left the BikePGH! (Park)ing Spot yesterday. I dawned me afterwards that this intersection has no painted arrows or signs to indicate that drivers in either lane should proceed straight, left or right. I'm so used to drivers just *knowing* that the right lane is for those who are going straight or turning right and the left lane is for left-turners and it might be confusing for out-of-towners, yes? Here's screenshots of Mister Giant Colorado SUV's "I'm going to cut in front of you." altercation: I pull up in the right hand lane with a red light: Mister Giant SUV pulls up next to me and turns his wheels like he's planning to cut in front on me: Then, I pull up further, make eye contact with him so he knows I'm there: When the light turns green, I proceed down 7th ave and he lays on the horn at me in the intersection and tries to cut me off. When we get down to Ft Duquesne Blvd, I stop on the side, next to where he's pulled up and give him the stink eye and gesture with some "What's your beef?!" arms. (ironically enough, right next to a "Friend, Carpenter, Cut Her a Break" bus shelter poster) The car *behind* Mister Giant SUV is beeping and the driver is screaming at Mister Giant SUV that he should yielded to me and that I had the right of way. Naturally, Mister can't hear what she's screaming from inside his Tank. She pulled up next to me and gave me words of encouragement. I don't know how you deal with shit on a regular basis. I don't think I have the intestinal fortitude. Should I have done anything differently?
rustyred
2013-09-21 11:12:41
That driver passing right when you're about to be in the bike lane is absurd not to mention you appear to be going pretty fast(probably close to 25MPH). In terms of doing anything differently, I'm not sure that there is much you can do. You could always try the most polite route and say "I had the right of way back there" and see what their response is and take it from there. I am helmet camera-less, so I try to limit my interactions with drivers as much as possible because there are some insane people out there.
mjacobpgh
2013-09-21 11:33:05
Honestly, I think you were totally in the right. As for doing things differently, any time I'm stopped at a red light, I try to stop in the dead center of the lane in order to avoid being right hooked right off the green. Plus, if someone's showing the signs of doing something that gives me the choice of being 'right' but unsafe or 'wrong' but safe, I choose the latter. I'd have just let the guy do his thing and go on with my life, albeit shaking my head in disgust. For example, I said I alway stop in the dead center? Here's a motorcyclist who comes up to pass me on the right! I could either let him do it and go after him or try to cut him off by moving forward. I just let him do it (with bonus red light running by another cyclist even farther on the right!). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTtcTys4D3o
czarofpittsburgh
2013-09-21 11:34:33
@czar, lame... we need a dangerous drivers segment on KDKA or something to show how stupid some people are. @rusty, it takes strength of character to stand up repeatedly to these jerks... if they didn't already have a self-righteous attitude to begin with, the interaction would have never occurred. Once in a blue moon, a driver will admit to a mistake and apologize. Perhaps kind words and facts one day (even if the message doesn't seem to sink in) will change a future outcome... hang in there.
headloss
2013-09-21 13:34:10
Ugh, the bad attitude by dangerous drivers after they do something reckless and wrong bothers me more than the reckless and wrong action itself! I'm sorry you had to deal with that.
joanne
2013-09-21 13:50:06
czarofpittsburgh wrote: Plus, if someone’s showing the signs of doing something that gives me the choice of being ‘right’ but unsafe or ‘wrong’ but safe, I choose the latter. I’d have just let the guy do his thing and go on with my life, albeit shaking my head in disgust.
This is valuable advice... I should have just hung back and watched him be a jagoff. I learned a lesson: that just because I make eye-contact with a driver, does not mean they're going to magically become courteous. My Jedi powers of persuasion must have worn off.
rustyred
2013-09-21 15:01:02
Dangerous Driver: Dark Blue Seabring Convertible - PA LP# DDG 9809. Ran me off the road as I was traveling east on Friendship Ave by West Penn Hospital. Then proceeded to yell at me like I wasn't supposed to be riding my bike on the road.
gwenvj33
2013-09-24 13:35:12
My friend at work was hit somewhere around McClure(he didn't say where in our conversation). A driver passed him too close while eating a breakfast sandwich and clipped him. She stopped, and got out with the sandwich still in hand to ask if he was OK. He was and he smacked the sandwich out of her hands.
mjacobpgh
2013-09-26 17:36:55
@czar, just be glad you weren't there when the guy gets his comeuppance. Driving like that, it's not far off. @rr, you could have backed down when he made it clear he was going to be an asshole. Being in front of a driver that's acting like can be dangerous. OTOH, it's not bad to stand up for yourself -- and in a situation like that, with an asshole behind me, I'd just take the lane. The whole time--so he's not pulling up beside me at the light, he's behind. If he leans on the horn, you know he sees you. Sometimes passive aggression is not only gratifying, it's also the safest way to go.
jonawebb
2013-09-26 19:15:35
I was biking the Beechwood bike lane in Squirrel Hill coming from Greenfield going to Shadyside. I met up with a pickup at the intersection at Beacon. I stopped completely (as I always do at the sign) and waited my turn and started heading up Beechwood parallel with him. When I came up to Beechwood I was approaching a red light. However, at the time of riding to the light I noticed the light for Forbes turned red while approaching the intersection. I looked both ways and did not stop peddling as when I started to go through the line of the intersection it turned green for me. I always stop at red lights and will only treat stop signs as yields in residential neighborhoods. However, I realized I would keep my momentum in this instance as the light for me was turning green in 2 seconds. I ride parallel with this truck down to the Wilkins ave intersection where the light is red. I stopped next to him. I am just minding my own business waiting for the light to turn back to green. He winds down his window and starts yelling at me for "running the green light" at Forbes. I responded by telling him that the light was red for both ways and by the time I entered the intersection it was green. I then proceeded to tell him that I didn't need his opinion. Then he and his wife were going on how bikers are a problem with this city, and I shouldn't be on the road. This of course sends my arrogant mouthy personality off as I take urban biking rights serious. I insult his obvious weight issue. He gets out of his truck and tells me "Get off the Bike." I calmly said, "Dude, you are like massively overweight and you really don't want to mess with a guy who runs and bikes everyday." while positioning my bike chain with lock on the end off my bag. I then go on more about being a fat ass who needed a large pick up truck to compensate for something. Ok, I looking back on it and realize I need to calm my mouth, but in certain instances I just let it go when I get really ticked. However, the light turned green and cars behind him are honking as he realizes he has to waddle back to his truck as he is blocking traffic by trying to act tough. This is when it gets bad. The guy gets back into his truck while I am back to peddling down Beechwood, speeds up and comes near me at a high rate of speed trying to intimidate me and force me out of the bike lane, and then gets in front of me in the bike lane and slams on his brakes forcing me to slam on my breaks and skidding. I bet his old larger wife in the passenger seat was really exited by how tough her husband was by using his truck as means of intimidation. Maybe making fun of his weight issues and need for compensation for a large Chevy truck made him mad. Maybe it wasn't right on my end. Even if I did fully run through a red light with no regard to traffic laws (which I didn't) nobody deserves to a close encounter of being severely hurt by a large pick up at a high rate of speed or having to almost ride into it. What I find really ironic is he is falsely accusing me of not obeying laws (at worst a small ticket) and then decides to try to attempt using his truck as a weapon (could be felony) in response. If you see a green Silverado with a large man with grey hair in the mirror, make sure you keep a good eye out. He is real tough behind that thing.
shooflypie
2013-09-30 21:54:56
First off, thanks for the report, we need this. We need video too, get some of these buggers off the road. Shameless plug: http://localhost/mb/topic/anyone-with-a-smartphone-and-wire-hanger-can-record-their-rides Will say one thing though, It's poor form to break into insults if someone just says something that annoys you. Stay on point, don't escalate, or if you're too annoyed or weary, disengage. Now clearly, anyone try to use 2 1/2 tons of steel is it as a weapon in response to a verbal slight is clearly not deserving of the privilege to drive. Just saying, there's no need to push buttons on ignoramuses to see if they're also hotheads and plenty of good practical reasons not to when in traffic.
byogman
2013-09-30 22:51:35
I go buzzed in a right hook at 5th and Robinsons by vanity PA license "Miss Jay." Apparently she can't wait (leterally) 2 seconds to make a safe turn. Nice to have a memorable plate!
mick
2013-10-22 10:19:41
Mick, I swear I've had problems with Miss Jay before when driving. Was it a black car - fancy like a BMW or something?
pinky
2013-10-22 11:52:53
Pinky I think it was japanese car red/pink or other pastel color. The way the person was driving, it struck me as likely there would be other problems wtih them, though.
mick
2013-10-22 12:05:46
I was buzzed very close last night after coming up through the golf course at Schenley. I had just come up from the stop sign joining Forbes and was close to cresting the top of the hill there next to some parked cars. The 61a was coming the other direction so I moved over some to make sure that no one could try and squeeze past. This guy still tried though and if I hadn't made a quick dive in to the right after the parked car I think he may have hit me. Green/turquoise BMW 3 Series, new looking, I didn't get the plate. Him: 6ft (ish) dark hair, pretty big build. So I followed him up Forbes where he parked near Little's Shoes so I stopped and calmly pointed out that he nearly killed me. He quickly turned (remained?) aggressive and told me that if I wanted to be on the road then I should follow the same rules as cars. I told him that I was doing just that when he broke the law. he continued to tell me that I should leave since he "didn't want to go to jail today" and after me attempting to get him to realize that since he got where he was going at the same time I did, he could have done it without endangering a life, all I got was "I don't want to waste my breath on you, walk away" So I did, I moved up traffic filtering along between the parked and stopped cars. He shouted something after me, so I got off the bike and walked back down on the sidewalk to find out what his deal was. I started telling him "I'm not starting anything here, I'm trying to make it home safely and would like some space", I was met with "walk away, stop getting all up in my face" (I wasn't even near him) "You're lucky my kids are here". A man that needs his children to be around to stop him from violence? I gave up, and walked away - no good can come from talking to someone like that who is incapable of having a reasonable conversation. Wish my camera was charged, wish I got his plate, wish this sort of thing was less common. Ride safe.
alanowski
2013-10-23 08:52:51
I stopped taking the lane through Forest Hills while I await the outcome of my appeal next week. But I may reconsider. Two close passes yesterday. License JBA-1777 License HTT-9354 BTW, the truck has $169.65 in outstanding parking tickets: 4862972 JBA1777 11/01/12 85.00 2.95 87.95 4891196 JBA1777 11/13/12 78.75 2.95 81.70
jonawebb
2013-10-23 09:14:16
A lot of times I just wonder what happened to people that made them become so miserable. It's really no way to live. Unrelated to being miserable but related to unsafe drivers, I had a front row seat to a car/car collision at 5th and Shady while waiting at the light. The sound of two cars hitting one another is entirely unnatural and unpleasant. It managed to shake me up a bit thinking about how exposed I am on two wheels. I'm finding that the more I ride my bike, the easier I take it when driving.
andyc
2013-10-23 10:08:16
andyc - was that Monday night? I saw the aftermath, although I was on my scooter instead of my bicycle. IIRC some SUV was all jacked up and up on the sidewalk in front of the apartment building. That was immediately after I nearly got left hooked by someone turning left on Walnut - luckily they stopped and I didn't have to complete my panic braking exercise. The front light on my scooter is larger and brighter than pretty much any bicycle light. This morning on Wilkins someone in a volvo SUV did a similar thing to me as what alanowski described, although they realized they weren't going to make it and hit the brakes. We ended up side by side at the light at Wilkins & Shady, but I held my tongue for once and didn't even look in that direction. I also ended up right behind them at Beechwood & 5th, despite the fact they were easily doing 40 down the hill... but stupidity persists.
salty
2013-10-23 17:23:10
Yes. Monday night - SUV vs car.
andyc
2013-10-24 07:51:54
I’m finding that the more I ride my bike, the easier I take it when driving. So true. My car driving keeps getting closer and closer to my bicycle riding. I think it would be useful if motorists convicted of one or another traffic infraction were sentenced to riding a bike for the next n months. I can't think of a better way to refocus one's driving habits.
ahlir
2013-10-25 21:09:32
Ah, imagine being forced to ride a bike. How awesome would that be? Met a German woman the other night--she told me that there, when a motorist hits a cyclist, the motorist is in deep shit.
jonawebb
2013-10-26 07:25:20
Silver Susuki Sx4 w/ PA license plate HRS-6180 Insane driver! This happened in the Northside along West Ohio Street through Allegheny Commons Park - there's a bike lane here which I was in as I approached the intersection of West Ohio and Brighton Road. I always check behind my left shoulder when approaching the light b/c you have to merge from the bike lane to the vehicle lane to take the lane for the light (otherwise you'll get right hooked at the light). Anyway, as I checked behind me, I saw this idiot weave into the bike lane so I dodged to my right so they wouldn't hit me. As they passed by (I could see it was either a very feminine looking man, or a very homely looking woman), he/she/it had a shit eating grin on their face almost like they thought it was funny. I come across aggressive drivers all the time in the Northside, but this was the first time I felt compelled to memorize the plate, make, and model of the vehicle. Please watch out for this maniac. -Ben
benjmartinez
2013-10-28 16:15:48
Seen on twitter, backed by several reports on facebook*: "Beware a charcoal Mini Cooper convertible driven by a balding white middle aged driver with curly hair. Pattern of threats towards cyclists." * several of those reporting incidents are also members of the board, but i'll let them name themselves or make other contributions if they want to.
epanastrophe
2013-10-28 23:48:45
Ben, please consider filling a report for harassment and menacing.
cburch
2013-10-29 07:23:48
I would also file a police report. There's nothing they can do now but say another person gets them on camera - there's then a documented pattern of behavior.
andyc
2013-10-29 07:48:39
I was directed to this thread for describing dangerous drivers. Last month in Squirrel Hill, along Phillips between Wightman and Murray, I was biking on my usual route home. I was riding in the middle of the lane, just out of the door zone, at about ~15mph. An orange-red Cobalt LS, license GFB 2553 honked and accelerated hard past me extremely closely, with plenty of space to his left. Half a block later, he pulled into a parking space at some food place, so I pulled up behind him and an overweight, balding white guy with hair pulled back in a ponytail got out. I held up four fingers, and said "4 feet please" rather forcefully. He launched into an explanation of how that rule didn't apply if I wasn't riding on the far right of the road where I was supposed to be, so it was really my fault and that -I- needed to be more careful and to obey the law. Let's just say the interaction went poorly. I got pictures of the car and plate, and have seen him in the same spot multiple times a week, around 5:30p-6:00p on weekdays. AFAIK dude still thinks it's his legal right to run bikes off the road.
bk7j
2013-10-29 09:38:55
bk7j wrote:I was directed to this thread for describing dangerous drivers. Last month in Squirrel Hill, along Phillips between Wightman and Murray, I was biking on my usual route home. I was riding in the middle of the lane, just out of the door zone, at about ~15mph. An orange-red Cobalt LS, license GFB 2553 honked and accelerated hard past me extremely closely, with plenty of space to his left. Half a block later, he pulled into a parking space at some food place, so I pulled up behind him and an overweight, balding white guy with hair pulled back in a ponytail got out. I held up four fingers, and said “4 feet please” rather forcefully. He launched into an explanation of how that rule didn’t apply if I wasn’t riding on the far right of the road where I was supposed to be, so it was really my fault and that -I- needed to be more careful and to obey the law. Let’s just say the interaction went poorly. I got pictures of the car and plate, and have seen him in the same spot multiple times a week, around 5:30p-6:00p on weekdays. AFAIK dude still thinks it’s his legal right to run bikes off the road.
It's disturbing that I am frequently seeing a trend where drivers are AWARE of the 4 Ft Law but then choose when to adhere to it. I've posted about a interaction I had months ago where a driver shouted at me that I had to "get over" even though he passed me WITHIN THE LANE I was travelling in on a four-lane road. At least drivers are aware of the law even if they aren't aware of how it should actually be followed.
mjacobpgh
2013-10-29 09:55:47
It’s disturbing that I am frequently seeing a trend where drivers are AWARE of the 4 Ft Law but then choose when to adhere to it.
I don't think this is a new trend, or at least not specific to the 4 foot law. Of the casual traffic law violations we see on a daily basis (pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists included), how many do you believe are due to honest ignorance? I'd say that the vast majority of road users are perfectly aware of the laws they're breaking.
reddan
2013-10-29 10:15:36
@mk71, why not file a police report? You have all the info you need.
jonawebb
2013-10-29 10:23:26
@reddan, Oh, I totally agree. I have had these conversations with people many times. Drivers(and bikers at times) generally break laws because they think they are doing so within reason. For instance, 2 Ft rather than 4 is viewed as acceptable. 35 MPH instead of 25 MPH is viewed as acceptable. A rolling stop is viewed as acceptable. No turn signal... ok we get it. I just think it is amazing that people acknowledge the 4 Ft Passing Law, which is relatively new, and yet claim that there are exceptions to the rule.
mjacobpgh
2013-10-29 10:33:03
jonawebb wrote:@mk71, why not file a police report? You have all the info you need.
Assuming that was to me, I did.
bk7j
2013-10-29 10:52:00
There are plenty of billboards and such telling people there's a 4 foot law, but not so many sources with the specific details. So people invent their own details, and figure the law *must* agree, since it's so logical (to them).
steven
2013-10-29 23:37:30
I think they know better and just think you're stupid because you ride a bike. Smart people drive cars. Duh.
rsprake
2013-10-30 15:52:41
Silver 4 Door Jeep, PA Plate GWF-3985 Buzzed me on West Liberty Avenue in the city. No prior conflict, words, or anything. Just felt like being a douche, I suppose. Watch the video, the driver did not even need to switch lanes, just did so to be an ass. I did not call 9-1-1 because I did not have time, I had things to do on Friday and could not sit and wait for a city police officer. I sent the video, but they said they could not do anything because I did not call right when it happened. http://youtu.be/OkktDXv7pGw
ajbooth
2013-11-03 12:10:14
Since the nature of the evidence is video, and you're the only one to corroborate anyway, what the hell difference does it make whether you did it right then and there or later in the same day? It's not like other crimes, quite without video evidence, can't be reported after the fact. Lame, lame stinking excuse.
byogman
2013-11-03 20:04:44
I hear you Ben...especially since Mt Lebanon was willing to prosecute based on "information received." I copied Stephen Patchan on my exchange with the Pittsburgh Police, and intend to follow up with him today.
ajbooth
2013-11-04 08:00:10
Will they do anything without any information on who the driver was? I wasn't able to get the Monroeville cops to do anything more than promise to call the owner. But they said they wouldn't send a ticket without an id of the driver.
jonawebb
2013-11-04 08:49:10
Correct me if I'm wrong, but if a stationary radar detector records your speed and snaps your license plate, the ticket is sent in the mail to the person who registered the vehicle. Likewise for toll violators at unmanned stations whose license plates get snapped. It's just the right default assumption. If it's wrong, someone can contest in court. Anyways, I don't see why it shouldn't work that way if a few decision makers decide that the 4 foot law actually ought to be enforced on par with other traffic violations (admittedly, quite a low bar there, but still, would represent a big improvement).
byogman
2013-11-04 09:25:10
I never called 911 when I went after the guy harassing me. I just collected evidence and showed up to file a police report. That line smells bogus to me.
pinky
2013-11-04 12:33:50
Funny how they can ticket a car when it's parked in the wrong place despite the driver not being there.
rsprake
2013-11-04 13:20:27
Yesterday, Penn @ Main. Red Chevy Blazer Lic. Plate Number JBA 7450 Police report filed. Passed me way to close and attempted to spit out his passenger side window at me. I don't know where that one landed but he got me when we were at the next light right in the leg before making an illegal right on red and almost causing an accident. White male, late 20's early 30's. Trashy lookin'. Lighter hair and a scummy goatee. Skinny guy. Be careful. People are not only dangerous but ape-shit crazy.
faunaviolet
2013-11-05 10:17:59
FaunaViolet wrote:Yesterday, Penn @ Main. Red Chevy Blazer Lic. Plate Number JBA 7450 Police report filed. Passed me way to close and attempted to spit out his passenger side window at me. I don’t know where that one landed but he got me when we were at the next light right in the leg before making an illegal right on red and almost causing an accident. White male, late 20?s early 30?s. Trashy lookin’. Lighter hair and a scummy goatee. Skinny guy. Be careful. People are not only dangerous but ape-shit crazy.
Holy crap. I'm speechless. Please let us know the outcome?
rustyred
2013-11-05 10:22:44
Be on the lookout for this moron: Deliberately passed very close and cut us off causing my friend to hit his rear bumper. Standard rant you cyclists think you own the road... meanwhile we were climbing pretty close to the curb, pretty quickly, and riding in a totally law abiding and motorist friendly manner. Called 911 but wasn't going to wait since there was no damage or injury.
byogman
2013-11-10 17:46:41
Super aggressive and was driving erratically on the 16th st bridge. Weaved between the two travel lanes toward liberty a few weeks ago. Took off doing at least 60 again on liberty. Remembered to post this now.
stefb
2013-11-10 22:13:10
Note the busted window on the Mustang.
stuinmccandless
2013-11-11 07:33:53
I can't know what preceded the busted rear window and whether he richly deserved it before being aggressive toward us, but I won't disown a little schadenfreude here. In no small part because that's a problem you CAN'T have on a bicycle :)
byogman
2013-11-11 09:11:30
stefb wrote:Super aggressive and was driving erratically on the 16th st bridge.
Also a scofflaw, parking ticket outstanding for 2 months now: 6119303 HZV7757 09/22/13 158.00 2.95 160.95
jonawebb
2013-11-11 09:55:14
jonawebb wrote:Also a scofflaw, parking ticket outstanding for 2 months now: 6119303 HZV7757 09/22/13 158.00 2.95 160.95
Where are you getting this info? I'd love to pull this up on some of my buzz-bys.
ajbooth
2013-11-11 10:46:47
jonawebb wrote:You can look up parking tickets by license # at https://step1.caledoncard.com/tickets/pittsburgh.html
Cool, thanks! My husband isn't thankful I just looked up my own plate # though. Apparently, he got a parking ticket USING *MY* CAR back in 2011... $20 expired meter that is now over $75. Grrrrr. >:(
rustyred
2013-11-11 11:35:07
One of the little-known side effects of reading the BikePgh message board is marital discord.
jonawebb
2013-11-11 11:42:08
also, what do you have to do to get a $160 parking ticket? handicapped spot? fire hydrant? probably more than he'd get for clobbering a cyclist in any case....
salty
2013-11-11 13:22:26
I got a $185 ticket for swimming in Shawnee Lake in 2011. But then, it wasn't like I did something minor like running over a cyclist or anything.
mick
2013-11-11 14:00:07
salty wrote:also, what do you have to do to get a $160 parking ticket? handicapped spot? fire hydrant?
It's $160 *now*. Doesn't say what it would've been two months ago. Those late fees pile up fast.
epanastrophe
2013-11-11 14:27:33
I'm not comfortable with how close this truck got to me this morning and I get these sort of buzzes all the time. Is this a 4 foot violation? http://youtu.be/H6AGHjEorY8
rustyred
2013-11-11 18:55:57
If you freeze the video at 11 seconds you can see that you are in the middle of the lane and the truck has its wheels at least a foot or more in YOUR lane. I'm not sure how wide that lane is, but I'd guess he is clearly closer than 4 feet. The second car looks close too, but without lane markings its hard to tell because of lens distortion.
marko82
2013-11-11 19:40:41
I'd say that lane is 9-10 feet wide. (Interstates are normally 12, and the minimum seems to be 9.) It looks to me like you're a bit to the right of the center of the lane, though after he passes you move left a bit. (Look at the tire impressions in the road, which are offset perhaps a foot or two toward the right side of the lane. You start off right between them, but by the time the truck passes you're almost over the left-side one, and roughly in the middle of the lane.) My best guess is the truck is right at 4 feet. It's too close to call. But unless he was going at a "careful and prudent reduced speed" (and how ofter do passing cars do that?) he's still in violation of the 4 foot law.
steven
2013-11-12 03:55:32
Your arm is probably about 2 - 2.5 feet long (full arm span is typically height, and your torso is something like a foot wide). So if you could reach out and touch the vehicle is is DEFINITELY in your space -- it should be close to twice that distance away.
neilmd
2013-11-12 08:59:35
I just moved to Lawrenceville and commute via Butler/Penn to get to downtown. Penn in the Strip has two lanes with the one on the right having a sharrow. At least 3 times a day I get passed closely by cars/trucks within the sharrow lane when there is an entire separate lane of traffic for them to go into(often without other cars). I gesture for them to do that, but it probably doesn't achieve anything. I'm new to this route so I'm not sure if there's a better way that I could go and avoid these interactions(even though I am biking in a perfectly law abiding fashion). I used to have a Contour to document this but it broke and they went out of business and I can't afford a camera at the moment.
mjacobpgh
2013-11-12 11:16:17
if you're not taking the lane. try positioning yourself smack dab in the center or slightly to the left. if you are already taking the lane and are just sick of the crap try this (except just ride next to the tracks until Railroad starts where google sends you up to Smallman): http://goo.gl/maps/PlWkX
cburch
2013-11-12 11:42:02
if you are already taking the lane and are just sick of the crap try this (except just ride next to the tracks until Railroad starts where google sends you up to Smallman): http://goo.gl/maps/PlWkX Just a minor note: the trail along the river from the convention center to 25th street is closed until February for some sewer work. I ride the opposite direction in the morning, as my office is at 25th and Railroad. Yes, I would call what the white truck did a violation. Let's say that lane is 10 feet wide. Your bike is probably 30-32" across at the handlebars. If you were perfectly centered, then you are 44" from the edge of the lane. So as soon as the edge of the car touches the line, he's too close.
ajbooth
2013-11-12 12:21:41
cburch wrote:if you’re not taking the lane. try positioning yourself smack dab in the center or slightly to the left. if you are already taking the lane and are just sick of the crap try this (except just ride next to the tracks until Railroad starts where google sends you up to Smallman): http://goo.gl/maps/PlWkX
Yea, I am already taking the lane and cars pass me half in the lane and half in the other when, of course, the entire other lane is available. Thanks for the tips on an alternative route.
mjacobpgh
2013-11-12 13:00:55
RustyRed wrote:I’m not comfortable with how close this truck got to me this morning and I get these sort of buzzes all the time. Is this a 4 foot violation?
If you aren't comfortable with that, I think you might want to take a different route. You can get on the trail and head up that way and enjoy the river view. Then run back roads for the most part. That pass wouldn't bother me much. I might not love it, but it was really close to okay. People are going to pass you on those roads and I wouldn't advice anyone to take lanes as suggested. Then you will deal with more road rage.
gg
2013-11-12 16:33:02
going up Wilkins this am I was behind another rider who nearly got left crossed by a car coming out of Murray. Then, when I was making a left on Beechwood, I got a new one - asswipe in the straight lane tried to left hook me making an illegal turn. 2-fer!
salty
2013-11-12 19:45:10
I've noticed a number of drivers lately using turn lanes to pass me when i've been in straight-going lanes. today's, however, was special: SB Neville at Fifth, I take the right to go into Oakland, and as I'm making the turn I notice movement to my left--turn my head, and there's a woman in a green SUV who's making a big right turn, shadowing me from the left/thru lane into the left lane of fifth...which was where i was headed, as I usually go left at Craig or Dithridge. glad i managed to turn my head and see her.
epanastrophe
2013-11-12 20:03:32
almost got hit this morning was riding past the penthouse club on my way to the river trail on the northside a guy pulled out from the curb so i moved over to give him room then he makes a u turn right in front of me i ended up right in front of his front grill he saw me at the last second
bear250220
2013-11-12 21:57:57
gg wrote:I wouldn’t advice anyone to take lanes as suggested. Then you will deal with more road rage.
Might be the worst possible advice. Taking the center of the lane is proven to be the safest option for cyclists. If you ride along the curb, cars think they can pass you without changing lanes, so they do. And you get close calls for the entire ride. If you ride confidently in the center of the lane, be predictable, and be visible, cars will change lanes the vast majority of the time, without incident. I'd rather have one or two drivers per week buzz me closer than I'd like than have dozens of drivers try to squeeze past me in the same lane.
ajbooth
2013-11-12 22:06:29
gg wrote:
If you aren’t comfortable with that, I think you might want to take a different route. You can get on the trail and head up that way and enjoy the river view. Then run back roads for the most part. That pass wouldn’t bother me much. I might not love it, but it was really close to okay. People are going to pass you on those roads and I wouldn’t advice anyone to take lanes as suggested. Then you will deal with more road rage.
Considering the trail is under construction until Feb, this was my only option. And as far as 'taking the lane' goes, on my very first day riding in traffic I had a "OMG, cars are scary, I need to stay as far to the right as possible to stay away from them" attitude. Bad Idea. A car came within a foot of me on a pass. This might have stopped me from ever riding on a road again... holy crap, that was scary. I'll take a hundred questionable/borderline passes that make me uncomfortable over one of those passes that make me almost crap my pants. I've only had questionable passes ever since I took the 'take the lane' advice.
rustyred
2013-11-12 22:18:31
If I use the line to my left as zero, and the line to my right as 100, I position myself at about 35 to 50 on a multi-lane road, maybe 55 to 70 on a one-lane-each-direction road. Definitely not ever > 75, unless I get off the road altogether and stop.
stuinmccandless
2013-11-13 08:24:58
ajbooth wrote:Might be the worst possible advice.
No the worst advice is not having a mirror to see a pickup like that coming from behind, so you can adjust yourself to about the 60 mark, using Stu's example and moving back to about 70. That way that pickup wouldn't have been close at all. I do it ALL the time and it works great. I also am able to prevent motorists to buzz me and if they are going to do it anyway, I always have room to move over because I never ride as far right as I can. I think I will take my approach, thanks, but without a mirror you can't do what I do. Also, I have many years of practice and that isn't something you can learn overnight. Good luck trying to muscle up to vehicles. I find that is a good way to get hit by one.
gg
2013-11-13 09:21:21
You're so macho hcurtis. What an inspiration.
cburch
2013-11-13 09:59:19
gg wrote:I think I will take my approach, thanks, but without a mirror you can’t do what I do. Also, I have many years of practice and that isn’t something you can learn overnight. Good luck trying to muscle up to vehicles. I find that is a good way to get hit by one.
Aside from having a mirror, which I do, I'm not even sure what the hell your advice is. Using Stu's example, you seem to be advocating riding somewhere between 60 and 70. I advocate riding with my wheels on 50. That is not "trying to muscle up to vehicles" but rather is being predictable and visible. My experience with moving from the right edge of the roadway to the center of the lane is that doing so causes significantly less close call passes. And frankly, the ones who do it now in an attempt to be intimidating would do it no matter where you are in the lane. By the way, your "advice" of moving to the 60 mark when you see someone in the mirror, then back to 70 when they pass, would actually have you moving closer to the passing vehicle. Ya' know, "trying to muscle up."
ajbooth
2013-11-13 10:08:39
I'm totally down with taking the lane. It's scary at first, but once you get used to it you'll find that motorists just behave a lot better. You get a few jerks who honk, but since they'll be behind you, unable to pass, they're much less of a threat than they would be making a close pass. And I ride in the middle or to the left of the middle, making it clear what I'm doing. Heavy traffic, approaching red lights, and multi-lane roads where the left lane may be occupied by someone turning left are all spots where it's important to take the lane. That said, I also look for opportunities to let motorists pass safely. If I'm in an area where there are wide lanes, I'll ride to the right, and the same applies when I see there's no oncoming traffic so the motorist can easily pass safely. In my experience, when I've been taking the lane, say at a stop light, and I move back to the right to create space to pass, motorists respond well, and give me a lot of space when they do pass.
jonawebb
2013-11-13 10:14:47
I find taking the lane to be the safest place to be. I take the lane almost everywhere. If I can move over to let a person or two pass, I will. That being said, most of my commute does not allow for such a gesture. I do not use a mirror. I find the best way to know what is going on around me is to keep my head on a swivel and eyes peeled. I did the same thing when I rode a motorcycle. I almost never used my mirrors. They seem to distort images, make things look better or worse than they are and give one a false sense of safety. IMO. Got buzzed yesterday and today by a PAT bus, same driver coming up Penn avenue toward Main.... and I mean BUZZED. He pulled into the turn lane with a foot or two and straight cut me off to get into the straight lane and let people on and off at that stop by the gas station. So, to keep him from doing it again, I got in front of him this time at the light and took the lane all the way to Friendship. This is what I call 'saving my own life'.
faunaviolet
2013-11-13 10:43:16
i ride that stretch of penn from about 29th to downtown a few times a week, and, yes, taking the lane is the only way to go. for one reason or other, this stretch of road is kind of awful for drivers not fully changing lanes, though. part of it is probably because of the left-side parking—in some places the left hand lane is considerably narrower than the right hand lane, and people seem quite averse to going all the way over. in those sections, i take the lane, but ride slightly right of center (and adjust based on right-side parking and strip district shoppers jumping out at me).
hiddenvariable
2013-11-13 10:51:16
ajbooth wrote:By the way, your “advice” of moving to the 60 mark when you see someone in the mirror, then back to 70 when they pass, would actually have you moving closer to the passing vehicle. Ya’ know, “trying to muscle up.”
? 100 is his right and 0 is his left. 60 is slightly right of center and 70 would be even more right. Maybe I am reading it wrong? All this is done when the vehicle is behind me by some distance. I call it "flashing" myself to the vehicle. Fully clothed of course. I also spit in their direction prior to them getting there, to let them know what they may be in for if they want to buzz me. Yep, there is a lot going on to never to be buzzed and I haven't been for months. Probably been buzzed once or twice in the past year of commuting. As I said, I am happy with my method and I don't feel the need to be predictable to motorist well behind me. I want them to be on their toes back there, not thinking oh this guy is riding straight, so I can come close to him. Nah, I will go with looking as though I am missing some glass on the road now and again, because I might want to as I am being passed. Whatever though. I spun my wheels long enough on this thread. There are people on here that feel like they have earned stripes if they have been hit by a car. I prefer to earn them if I never am hit. Enjoy the sunny day today. Great day to be on a bike.
gg
2013-11-13 11:09:27
Are you hcurtis?
stefb
2013-11-13 11:20:17
stefb wrote:Are you hcurtis?
Is that on-topic? Start a new thread if you want to discuss me. This forum is usually pretty good about staying on-topic. It is funny if someone's opinion differs from certain people. They switch subjects or resort to getting personal. Sort of like when I discuss issues with a Tea Party person. I try and reason with them and they immediately change the subject or attack me. With some folks it really does seem like I am talking to a Teabagger. No discussion and nothing to get out of it.
gg
2013-11-13 11:31:55
Oh really...
stefb
2013-11-13 11:40:25
So, you ARE hcurtis then?
cburch
2013-11-13 11:46:41
What's an hcurtis?
vannever
2013-11-13 12:12:44
cburch wrote:So, you ARE hcurtis then?
Why would anyone care? Really. It seems to me a bit bullying when you and Stef pile on.
mick
2013-11-13 12:26:47
Because I believe hcurtis was banned before for saying terrible things. And if it is a "no" then whatever.
stefb
2013-11-13 12:30:52
I also think it is insensitive to say something like "getting your stripes" if you were hit by a car. If I was hit by a car and seriously injured I would take offense to it. I think you are confusing egging someone on with bullying. I also haven't read the thread for a while and didn't even see that Colin already asked if this poster was hcurtis. Several others have speculated. I asked.
stefb
2013-11-13 12:33:18
There should be a name for pre-emptively suggesting someone is a troll before they've really gotten down to trolling, but are just being a bit argumentative. Can't we all just get along?
jonawebb
2013-11-13 12:39:45
ajbooth wrote: Might be the worst possible advice.
Tend to agree. Taking the lane (and riding in the middle of lane is not exactly taking the lane -- in 12 foot lane it just making car drivers aware that they have to cross a line to pass me). And for most drivers this is much more predictable than trying to pass someone almost on a curb.
mikhail
2013-11-13 12:40:32
+1000 Mick, some people watch too much MTV. Kind of like "If you don't play the way I want you to, then leave" idea. Thankfully the Pittsburgh Cycling scene is much more diverse than what exists on this board. That said, after watching Rusty Red's video, about 50% of drivers pass me with that amount of space. Although it is not 4 Feet , that is not what I call being buzzed.
ericf
2013-11-13 12:41:15
jonawebb wrote:Heavy traffic, approaching red lights, and multi-lane roads where the left lane may be occupied by someone turning left are all spots where it’s important to take the lane. That said, I also look for opportunities to let motorists pass safely. If I’m in an area where there are wide lanes, I’ll ride to the right, and the same applies when I see there’s no oncoming traffic so the motorist can easily pass safely.
100% Agreed.
mikhail
2013-11-13 12:42:25
+1 for giving room where possible. I've taken to doing that for Port Authority buses, primarily for my own protection.
ajbooth
2013-11-13 13:04:38
While taking a lane, I feel like I have a window of safety before I have to get over and allow people to pass (even though I could legally remain - and by get over, I mean get to the side while trickling along and wave people on by) I think that each approaching driver has patience timer before they turn into a rash a-hole. The people with no patience are the a-holes to begin with. (Note that I don't want to get into an argument over correlation and causation for this - that's not my point!) So for my own safety, I try and eventually get out of the way before the timer runs out. I also try to actively pedal if taking a lane. I don't feel it's right to lollygag about on a busy road the same way that I wouldn't drive along a busy road really slowly just so that I can enjoy the scenery. Of course, I'm slow to begin with and am generally in no hurry to get anywhere.
andyc
2013-11-13 13:40:15
I think the patience timer analogy is an excellent map to what I've seen on the roads. It's why I never cede the lane when there's a lane for passing, but off and on will when there isn't, mainly on uphill segments (though I try to alleviate some of the need for that by getting a jump on the light). Finally, it's why, when there isn't room to pass on a single lane extended uphill and when there's enough traffic density going in the opposite direction, I often choose to bail to the sidewalk.
byogman
2013-11-13 14:03:00
I feel like when I ride at 15mph, drivers are more aggressive. When I am going 20-25 they seem to be less aggressive.
stefb
2013-11-13 14:07:26
Nope. I take the damn lane. It's mine. You can wait till it's safe and pass me then. Too many times I've tried to be nice and move over for a pass when I thought it was safe only to be buzzed anyway or have some idiot floor it to close the gap that I was trying to get back into after I let a cluster of cars pass. I'll take predictable over polite any day on the road. Same reason I refuse to make Pittsburgh Lefts or pull through an all-way stop, on my bike or in my car, when it's not my turn. Even if the driver waves me on. Don't like it, too bad. I'm riding defensively, just like I drive.
cburch
2013-11-13 14:43:52
You have to think of the drivers as having very limited brain capacity. When you don't take the lane they're running along, they see a gap their car will fit into, more or less, and they go for it. It takes higher brain functions to think, "What about the four-foot rule? Maybe I should slow down and pass safely!" When you take the lane, you become an obstruction, like a tractor or construction equipment. It works even better at night, with flashing lights. The motorist's brain gets activated with something like, "Obstruction ahead. Steer around." And you get passed with the driver in the other lane. In this case it is actually more work for the motorist to think, "Asshole biker! I'm going to pass close, to teach him a lesson!" When you take the lane and then yield to get them a chance to pass another part of the brain gets lit up, something like gratitude. They were going slow, and now they can go fast. So they give you more space. That's why it works, I think. It's not a matter of challenging the drivers for the road, it's more fitting into a model that the driver already knows how to deal with, to your benefit.
jonawebb
2013-11-13 14:51:39
I'd rather annoy the driver behind me who thinks I'm an asshole for not moving over than get hit by the driver behind him who "didn't see" me moving back into the lane directly in front of them.
cburch
2013-11-13 14:57:59
One reason I prefer to take the lane unless I specifically choose otherwise: I screw up sometimes. Even with my mirror, there have been times when I wasn't paying enough attention, and didn't notice traffic behind me. If I'm smack-dab in the middle of the lane by default, I may get an impatient honk or suggestion that I "vacate the paved anal sphincter", but I'm also not getting a close pass when I don't expect it due to my own absent-mindedness.
reddan
2013-11-13 15:34:00
A very good point. The move left into a more comfortable lane position can be very dangerous indeed with inattention or misjudged distance on the part of the cyclist or motorist. I'm always watching very closely when I do it and that need can be the cause of some stress, especially when a douchebag driver guns it to fill the gap that should have been ample for me to ease back into. It happens sometimes. But I don't feel stress free claiming the lane and holding someone up when I might not have to be doing that. Maybe I should, legally I'm in the right and all. But I do think there is some correlation between that and some of the stupidest and angriest motorist behaviors, as andyc said that are more likely to come out with time. It fits my experience as well as my intuition about how feelings spiral in basically a cascading hormonal shit fit rather than according to logic. I can't know how to balance these factors. I've done ok I guess. In spite of my op-ed I really don't get much in the way of close passes and don't feel exposed to much danger (I don't think). But I guess I've just treated each repeated situation as another iteration in a binary search problem on degree of lane claiminess and made corrections (or not) based on what seems would work better (or works already) and is the least stressful. This probably isn't all that different than anyone else, I'm guessing we differ more in how we talk about riding than how we ride.
byogman
2013-11-13 16:36:45
I should explain more clearly. First, I'm tired of messing with Port Authority buses. They drive with the equivalent of diplomatic immunity. They can do no wrong, even if they break they law. So I've stopped fighting it with them. When I see the bus behind me, I get on the sidewalk or a driveway, let them pass, and then get back into the flow of traffic when I can. It sucks, it takes me longer, but I'm not gonna fight the power any more with buses. As for other vehicles, on rare occasion, I will do the same thing for a car. Example: I'm wiped out from a long day, and plodding along on my climb up West Liberty Ave, slower than I might like. If a car shows me courtesy, and I can return the favor, I do. But for the most part, I belong firmly in the "It's my lane and I'm taking it" camp.
ajbooth
2013-11-13 17:11:39
^ Paulheckbert, If it's a traffic incident I prefer to just call 911 and report it as I would any other driver. I'll use the complaint form for reporting a bus driver not stopping at a bus stop or some other business related issue, but not for a criminal report (ie. their driver breaking the 4 foot law). 911 might transfer you to the PAT police, but that's ok. You can still insist on filling out a police report and are entitled to a copy and can follow up just like any other police report. As an analogy, would you call the complaint department to report a passenger getting mugged? Besides, I want the 911 center to record the incident in their records too. The more eyes on the statistics the better.
marko82
2013-11-13 17:57:40
ericf wrote:+1000 Mick, some people watch too much MTV. Kind of like “If you don’t play the way I want you to, then leave” idea. Thankfully the Pittsburgh Cycling scene is much more diverse than what exists on this board. That said, after watching Rusty Red’s video, about 50% of drivers pass me with that amount of space. Although it is not 4 Feet , that is not what I call being buzzed.
Well said.
gg
2013-11-13 23:03:25
I often pull over to let motor vehicles pass. Sometimes I can't immediately get back in traffic and get delayed half a minute or so. That's OK.
mick
2013-11-14 12:05:40
On Beechwood to left of lane signaling left turn onto Forest Glen, always slow to near stop because of the bend coming in the opposite direction, drivers generally pass to my right. Tonight one yells "use the bike lane!" !? Fairly tame, but crazy -- do people actually believe that cyclists are supposed to take a left out of the bike lane?
neilmd
2013-11-18 18:11:04
Short answer: Yes. Of course the street markings don't help. My own peeve is Bouquet between Forbes and Clemente. It should really be sharrowed since people (at least me) need to turn left onto Clemente. And, yes, people do yell "get in the bike lane".
ahlir
2013-11-18 20:10:22
This seems to be the best thread for this, this morning. Be extremely wary of drivers with frosted over windshields when riding this morning!!! Once the sun comes up it will be even worse.
edmonds59
2013-11-20 07:29:45
Ahlir wrote:My own peeve is Bouquet between Forbes and Clemente. It should really be sharrowed since people (at least me) need to turn left onto Clemente. And, yes, people do yell “get in the bike lane”.
I almost always turn left on to clemente or Joncaire. I always take the lane here. Havn't yet had the pleasure of getting barked at by a driver here yet. I have nearly been in an accident with a jay walking pedestrian on roberto clemente drive a few times. Typically people on cell phones hopping out from between parked cars without really paying much attention. At least I can see folks crossing on Bouquet st, but the tall-ish SUVs hide pedestrians well on clemente.
benzo
2013-11-20 13:27:13
gg wrote:No the worst advice is not having a mirror to see a pickup like that coming from behind,
Sorry dude, but statistics indicate that only about 10% of car on bike crashes are by cars overtaking the cyclist. So even though your mirror technique may work, the majority of the danger is not coming from behind. (http://www.wright.edu/~jeffrey.hiles/essays/listening/home.html) Also, I have always felt that the Four Foot Passing Law provides a false sense of security.
ericf
2013-11-21 12:46:52
ericf wrote:Sorry dude, but statistics indicate that only about 10% of car on bike crashes are by cars overtaking the cyclist.
I'll take the 10% for the win. Thanks. There are other aspects of using a mirror that can be used, not just cars from behind. Just knowing where everyone is around you can be used as an advantage and timing certain things with traffic from behind that can make your ride more pleasant. Anyway, there is no way I would trust everyone texting, putting makeup on, surfing the web and playing with their navigation/hifi all at the same time behind me.
gg
2013-11-21 14:14:20
gg wrote:
ericf wrote:Sorry dude, but statistics indicate that only about 10% of car on bike crashes are by cars overtaking the cyclist.
I’ll take the 10% for the win.
Bicycle mirrors in current implementations require an individual to refocus which is pretty slow operation. And it leads to the point that one is temporarily loosing site of whatever is going in front you and on sides. Technically speaking it's equivalent to looking at you cell phone to see who called you when you raise phone in front of you.
mikhail
2013-11-21 14:32:49
Mikhail wrote:Technically speaking it’s equivalent to looking at you cell phone to see who called you when you raise phone in front of you.
I agree that there is a split second to look at your surroundings with a mirror, but it certainly doesn't equate to messing about with a cell phone. Timing is everything and it does take practice. I don't think a mirror would be for everyone, since you need to poses certain skills, that may not be there for all. Stick to what works for yourselves. I would have gotten hit on the Highland Park Bridge a year back without a mirror due to some drunken fools chasing each other in their cars and coming within inches of me. Thankfully, at the last second, I moved as far as I could on the stones/debris to get out of their way. I now ride the sidewalk across that bridge, but it might save me again someday. Better safe than sorry, but as I stated, it isn't for everyone.
gg
2013-11-21 14:48:18
When the options are: 1) Focus in mirror 2) Turn head all the way around 3) Ignore what's behind you I'll choose #1.
andyc
2013-11-21 16:01:32
I know it's unlikely, but getting hit from behind worries me more than anything else. I really like having a mirror to check now and then.
jonawebb
2013-11-21 16:34:55
I don't use a mirror - but maybe I should. Looking at a mirror takes a tiny fraction of a second. I'm not sure what you can do with phone in that time interval. Like, I suppose if you phone is a different color or flashes after you get a message, you could see that in the time it takes to glance in a mirror. A peek at a mirror would take less time than checking out an area code, though, and much less a whole 10 digit number. Mirror = on my "to get" list.
mick
2013-11-21 17:12:31
gg wrote:but it certainly doesn’t equate to messing about with a cell phone.
In terms I described it -- yes, it does. You have t refocus and recognize. I am not talking about answering, texting -- just a look at the phone if it attached at fixed place where eye movement is enough to reach.
mikhail
2013-11-21 20:12:23
andyc wrote:I’ll choose #1.
I prefer #2. :) I dropped all my mirrors due to a very limited pictures and necessity to refocus.
mikhail
2013-11-21 20:13:47
I should get a mirror. I've been using one on the motorcycle forever. I think I'd prefer one that clips on the helmet.
stuinmccandless
2013-11-21 20:20:09
Mick wrote:I don’t use a mirror – but maybe I should. Like, I suppose if you phone is a different color or flashes after you get a message, you could see that in the time it takes to glance in a mirror. A peek at a mirror would take less time than checking out an area code, though, and much less a whole 10 digit number.
Look at the mirror and recognize a car(s) behind is less then recognizing area code? Nope. Set 30 fps camera in front of you (60 is better). Set mirror and phone in positions that eye movement is enough, ask someone to csms you at sometime three digit number and look to the mirror so you can tell if car behind you is moving or parked (better both) person opens your mirror (you should look forward before). And after you should be able to tell number and describe situation behind you -- so it's jsut a glance but you prove you recognized everything. I cannot claim that I have statistics but my numbers were very-very close. :) Actually I found out that for me there is no difference between glance to cell and digital clocks.
mikhail
2013-11-21 20:23:20
I tried helmet mounted and handlebar-end mounted mirrors. The helmet was too distracting/I felt like it got in the way and the handlebar mirror did the same. I ripped the handlebar mirror off in pieces without disassembling it correctly because it pissed me off so badly. I prefer to use my sense of hearing and my direct sight (turning my head). I think it is safer to focus on cross traffic and traffic/road conditions in front of me, which as stated above, seems to be where most collisions come from.
stefb
2013-11-21 20:25:59
Mikhail, I don't accept you argument at all - mvement in the mirror announces cars behind. Three digits? Maybe if they are large. And moving. (Kind\a like a car in both respects) Probably not. No way ten. Iredcaoll something vaguely like what Stef said - on the other hand, that wasn't any time near this century, for sure, and it might not have been near the end of last century. Maybe in 1349 or something, like when I was just getting to be middle aged. So, I think I should give miorrors a go. Look even geekier than I do (who ever would have thought that possible?)
mick
2013-11-21 21:10:03
People tell me to get a mirror, but I've resisted. I pretty much agree with stefb's approach: most of the problems are up ahead. For example dooring. I'd rather concentrate on what's coming up. Sound is useful but not always. If I get nervous I look behind me. But actually this mostly means a quick glance and relying on peripheral vision to identify fast-closing objects. Of course your neck muscles need to cooperate. Glancing backwards is not (as most of us realize) turning your head around, it's more of a duck down and towards your shoulder and pretty easy to do fast, and without any of those refocusing issues.
ahlir
2013-11-21 21:24:38
cognitively, reading a few numbers is considerably more difficult than noting the relative positions of a few large and moving shapes. that said, i think mikhail is undermining his own argument by claiming a bigger victory than there is, and in my experience, he's still got the victory. it is true that finding the mirror requires a significant cognitive task, and i find turning my head around to be a lot more affective. it could be, though, that this is from prior training. i can't tell you how many times i've had a coach tell me i need to "keep [my] head on a swivel." it might come down to experience; i have no studies on this topic to cite.
hiddenvariable
2013-11-21 23:54:24
Ahlir wrote:I pretty much agree with stefb’s approach: most of the problems are up ahead. For example dooring. I’d rather concentrate on what’s coming up.
also: this. i have a friend who can't believe that a headlight is more important than a tail light. while, viscerally, being hit from behind presents a greater fear (and thus more stress, and thus it occupies more of our attention), we are far more likely to be "unseen" from in front. a significantly higher proportion of my "conflicts" (let's call them) have come from in front of me. which makes sense, since that's the direction i'm traveling.
hiddenvariable
2013-11-21 23:59:07
I used a helmet mirror for a few years and I thought I really liked it. When I got a new helmet I had to do without until I got replacement adhesive, and in that week I decided I didn't really need it after all. No doubt, it is nice to see what's behind you. I didn't think finding and refocusing was much of an issue, it's not much different than scanning your mirrors in a car. But, similar to stef, I thought the part of my forward vision it was blocking seemed more useful than being able to see behind me. Maybe I should try some kind of bar mounted mirror (tough since I have barcons) which wouldn't have that particular problem. Although, I also have severe doubts you'd be able to tell the difference between "that car is going to pass me" and "that car is going to hit me" soon enough to do anything about it.
salty
2013-11-22 01:32:33
I have a tiny little Zefal h'bar end mirror on my commuter bike that I find incredibly useful, although it has upright riser bars that put the mirror higher and more forward in my normal view. In combination with my ears, I can instantly see what is coming up behind me, and how much berth the vehicle is giving me. The most helpful condition is, on some of the 4 lane roads that I ride on (sections of Steubenville Pike) I can tell if one or a pair of cars is coming up, which my ears have not been able to tell me yet. If 2 cars are coming up behind, side by side, I will actually drift farther to the center of the lane to make sure the curb side car doesn't even consider squeezing through. The mirror becomes part of my normal constant sweep of the view, and doesn't detract at all from attention to conditions in front. More often than not, the most dangerous thing I need to watch for are holes and cracks in the pavement, rocks, and logs that could pitch me, and turning my head around to check for cars greatly increases the chances that one of those bogeys will get me. I have not found an adequate equivalent for drop bars, bar end mirrors on those DO require an inordinate amount of re-focus from things going on in front. I occasionally will use a Chuck Harris eyeglass mirror, just because I love the aesthetic, but those require a LOT of getting used to.
edmonds59
2013-11-22 06:30:43
My peripheral vision is terrible, so mirrors help me feel more aware of my environment. I've used mirrors on my helmet( way too much vibration), mirrors on bars, and mirrors on my eyeglasses. The eyeglass mirror works best for me when I'm riding an upright, at least partially because it fits into the same "glance into the rear view mirror" position of the scanning pattern that I learned as a novice driver. On my 'bents, mirrors mounted on the bars are already at eye level, so I can glance without needing to move my head significantly away from an eyes front position.
reddan
2013-11-22 07:51:24
@edmonds59 said: If 2 cars are coming up behind, side by side, I will actually drift farther to the center of the lane to make sure the curb side car doesn’t even consider squeezing through.If 2 cars are coming up behind, side by side, I will actually drift farther to the center of the lane to make sure the curb side car doesn’t even consider squeezing through. This is critical. I think one of the main reasons I have had so few "conflicts" is because of this: I sense that someone is back there, automatically determining if the vehicle is close enough to really be a problem, and if not, edging a bit left, for precisely the reason stated. If they're paying attention, fine. If they're not paying attention, there is precious little I can do about it, regardless of my lane position. (Think flip-flop boy.) The real problem is getting these idiots out from behind the wheel in the first place.
stuinmccandless
2013-11-22 09:00:06
No, wait. There's a high-tech solution to all this. Google Glasses + video camera glued to the back of your helmet (plus a bit of logic to factor out random head movement). Problem solved!
ahlir
2013-11-22 09:23:53
The idea that a quick glance down or over to a mirror is less safe than fully turning your head seems weird to me. Just like when I'm driving, I like to be as fully aware of my surroundings as possible, and a mirror adds to that. Do all the anti-mirror folks think that cars shouldn't have mirrors either? If not, what's the difference?
willb
2013-11-22 09:30:28
@Ahlir, there's another high-tech solution, involving a 50 KW magnetron tube and a bunch of charged capacitors, that I think about in situations like this.
jonawebb
2013-11-22 10:10:27
@Ahlir, there's this: Cerevellum Bicycle Computer – GPS, heart rate monitor and digital rear view mirror in one
marko82
2013-11-22 11:08:35
Had a mirror on the bar. Found I couldn't use it effectively both sitting (most of the time) and standing (smaller fraction of the time, but often when I most wanted to see behind me), and where I do ride sidewalk/trail sometimes the added width was an annoyance. When it broke I didn't shed any tears. It was useful in reducing the fear of getting hit from behind. It helps to see how much of the roadway is empty, and how early most motorists change lanes. Had one on the helmet, but found that to reflect back what I wanted required a head adjustment, and the fact that the mirror was adjustable was a problem because it didn't really stay in one place and the amount of head adjustment required varied and so I wound up not using it much, and when it "adjusted" off the helmet and disappeared entirely I was annoyed, but honestly hadn't been using it much, esp since I had zero trust in it to relate depth and it had some vibration issues (cars had circular headlights... spooky). It did save me some look behinds in the negative sense (I never trusted it entirely, but seeing a car coming up wouldn't have to look behind me to know not to merge then), and that did feel a little safer given my klutziness. I wouldn't necessarily mind having one again. The eyeglass mirror is a potentially nice one, too. But now, knowing what the solution has to be, I'm spoiled on the idea. Virtual eye in the back of the head FTW.
byogman
2013-11-22 12:48:24
WillB wrote: Do all the anti-mirror folks think that cars shouldn’t have mirrors either? If not, what’s the difference?
For me it's position of a decent mirror. I tried small one on helmet/glasses and it requires to shift eyes (I cannot move just one), refocus, shutdown the second eye so picture in front of it does not disturb small image (I learned to do it while shooting from the rifle with both eyes opened), estimate, shift eyes back and refocus again. It's a little bit less than a second for me in a simple conditions and a little bit over in more complex ones. In addition small helmet mirror does not show much and I had to turn head a little bit to observe fully whatever behind me (in this case it was close to 3 seconds). Turning head is approximately the same in terms of time but I use two eyes with no refocusing. And side mirror on a drop bar just requires head movement, refocusing and has huge blind zone (may be it just me). I scan mirrors in my car about every 15-20 seconds but use my head if I need to change a lane or turn even I have parabolic mirrors on my side mirrors. But when situation is real complex I noticed that I scan mirrors only when situation allows me to do it safely. Let say in Chicago in 6 lane freeway and speed about 70 and traffic bumper-to-bumper I pay much more attention to front and sides and reduce scanning rate. I think I would use system that works like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collimator -- I like how it's done on Toyota Prius for equipment panel and on jets/Formula 1 as HUD -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head-up_display.
mikhail
2013-11-22 13:55:14
Be advised, this morning the operator of Port Authority bus 5656, route 51 Carrick, was raging downtown. Already filed an online complaint.
ka_jun
2013-11-26 09:10:26
To each his own. I personally find the rearward glance more instinctive than trying to focus on a mirror. The actual movement is very similar to how you protect your head in a fight; tilt down and to the side, giving the aggressor the hard crown of your skull to contend with. Same move (to the left, obviously) and I can easily see what is behind me.
ericf
2013-11-26 09:32:17
Mirror or not. I almost got clobbered by a guy pulling out of a space and into the bike lane I was in on Liberty this morning. Then he proceeded to yell at *me* and said, " Do you know how many of you people run red lights around here?" As if because someone I don't know ran a red light once, my life is not of importance. Note: I was sitting at the light because it was red as he was yelling this. People are dumb. Be careful out there.
faunaviolet
2013-11-26 14:17:55
Maybe he was trying to say that he expected you to run the red light and not be where he was pulling out, but you flagrantly violated his prejudice.
steven
2013-11-26 14:36:30
We just had a cruddy encounter on Friendship, on the block between Penn and Howley, heading toward the park. Little silver car tries to pass us to get to the red light first, leaving about a foot between his car and Q. Stops at the red light, starts shouting, gets out of his car and yells "Next time I'll run you over!" I started (quietly) saying his license plate number out loud to make sure I would remember it, and he said "YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, GO AHEAD AND CALL THE COPS." At this point, I just said "you got the green light, buddy" and he got in his car and drove off. We did call the cops, but for all y'all out there: White guy, 45-50 years old, around 5'8", 280-300lbs, bald, sunglasses. Small silver car, not sure what kind, but the plate was MJK-77. Be safe.
emma
2013-11-30 12:34:53
@emma, Sorry to hear this, it sucks. Unfortunately, in Pittsburgh, in that age bracket (my age bracket- i grew up with these jagoffs!), you will get a lot of this crap. You did the right thing, just ride away as quietly and unobtrusively as possible. Helmet cam?
ericf
2013-11-30 16:03:16
@WillB I was thinking a similar thing; if my driver's education (and memory) are correct, both looking in the mirror and a sideways glance to check your blind spot are required for a safe lane change
sgtjonson
2013-11-30 17:57:52
This was a short while ago (and I'm, like, just waiting around for dinner to finish cooking) but on Murray, in Greenfield, I was crossing an intersection (ok, to the right of a bus that had just stopped). A guy in a pickup, coming up from the left street (after I'm in the intersection), turn left along my direction and pulls up to me, opens the passenger window and yells "I could have killed you!! What do you think about that!". I reply "Yeah, and you would'da got arrested" and keep on riding. In retrospect, I figured that I should have said something like "Hey, did your boss chew you out today?", or " What's a' matter? You girlfriend just dump you?" But I think I said the right thing in the moment. Such is life.
ahlir
2013-11-30 19:16:40
Ahlir wrote:This was a short while ago (and I’m, like, just waiting around for dinner to finish cooking) but on Murray, in Greenfield, I was crossing an intersection (ok, to the right of a bus that had just stopped). A guy in a pickup, coming up from the left street (after I’m in the intersection), turn left along my direction and pulls up to me, opens the passenger window and yells “I could have killed you!! What do you think about that!”. I reply “Yeah, and you would’da got arrested” and keep on riding. In retrospect, I figured that I should have said something like “Hey, did your boss chew you out today?”, or ” What’s a’ matter? You girlfriend just dump you?” But I think I said the right thing in the moment. Such is life.
What goes through some people's minds escapes me. Obviously an idiot, this guy thinks he is the only one who understands the basic laws of physics. Of course his multi-thousand pound vehicle will crush you. Like a bug. Thankfully this guy was functional enough not to do that. I have been trying to avoid just this kind of confrontation, usually by keeping my mouth shut and getting away as soon as possible. The reality is that this guy's GF might have just dumped him, because he has been robbing people to support his oxy habit. You just don't know.Too many guns out there for me to risk it.
ericf
2013-12-02 07:04:03
i had a hilarious experience recently where someone passed way close, but after i passed them, their retaliatory buzz was actually not as close. there's some hope for that moron, at least some part of their brain knows it's dangerous.
wassat
2013-12-02 10:59:28
BTW, one thing I discovered when converting this to the Wiki is that one guy has been reported twice -- Burnt-orange Chevy Cobalt LS, license GFB2553. This is not a guy who is just getting annoyed, he really has a hatred for cyclists.
jonawebb
2013-12-04 15:52:38
Pretty sure I've dealt with this guy, too! I didn't get the full license plate at the time and remember less of it now (though GFB is certainly right). On Forbes heading west approaching Beachwood Blvd. It was spring, I don't even remember the month. A couple pointless honks and one lay on the horn, while I was putting in a solid effort in the only through lane available followed by blatantly illegal use of of a right turn only lane lane to pass when going straight. Fortunately this was far enough back from the intersection that clearances ok. Reading this, I guess he wouldn't have cared much if they weren't though...
byogman
2013-12-04 16:48:29
I know this is a few months late, but as I was biking back from Mt. Washington after volunteering with bikepgh at one of the refreshment stations (that would have been August 25th at around 3 maybe) I was rolling down West Carson and the next thing I know, someone is holding me up from behind to get me out of the pool of my own blood. Based on the damaged to the bike. It looks like I got side swiped and knocked to my right. I landed just at the edge of my helmet, but I skidded from my forehead, all the way down my face, hit my shoulder and dislocated it along with taking all the skin off of it and continued to slide down my arm tearing off skin until my hip and right leg landed leaving only nasty buises. I was taken to Mercy where I got approximately 80 stitches to put my forehead and upper and lower lip back together after my teeth went through both. The ER didn't catch it, but I later found out I had a massive concussion and am still having massive headaches and migraines as well as extreme memory loss and confusion and fogginess. There was a police officer at the scene asking me questions which I couldn't answer since my lips were in threads, but I never heard anything else from him. The ambulance took me in as a level one trauma since I had LOC. Anyway, the point of this is to give as much info as possible to see if anyone saw anything that might help find the person who knocked me over. I'm scarred for life, and I'd just like to know why.
catpgh
2013-12-06 09:51:10
wow, that is truly awful; I had not heard about that until now. so, I gather it was a hit and run and none of the witnesses got the plate? Best of luck with your recovery, I know there are other people here who have had concussions and it's really frightening how long the symptoms last.
salty
2013-12-06 10:29:10
@catpgh - Wow how awful. You might want to call the police and ask for any updates they may have on the case, but I’m sure this will be infuriating since they probably did very little in the way of investigating this at the time. And since so much time has past since the crash you are unlikely to be able to get security camera footage, etc. from nearby businesses at this point. My best wishes on your recovery.
marko82
2013-12-06 10:52:53
Oh my, my thoughts go out to you and hope for a full recovery.
rustyred
2013-12-06 11:14:22
deleted
vannever
2013-12-06 11:44:46
Holy shit. So sorry. :(. Please update us if you get any info.
stefb
2013-12-06 17:18:29
This jagoff nearly plowed into me on the TRAIL under the WE bridge within the past hour. I hit the brakes scooted over to the side of the trail because he was NOT stopping for me and coming at me a good clip. At first, I thought they were undercover police as I see them back there frequently whenever someone throws 'evidence' off the bridge after a suspect has given chase. In the video he's forced to turn around and WAIT behind me because I got in the middle of the trail and wouldn't let him pass until we got to the Cardello building parking lot. http://youtu.be/q5NBeZNVEXM
rustyred
2013-12-30 09:26:09
@RustyRed: I forwarded your story & video to Jeffrey McCauley, Stewardship Coordinator for Friends of the Riverfront (I'm a trail steward with them for the Duck Hollow Trail) and he said he'd look into it. The next time you see a problem like this on one of the FOR trails, you might want to contact Jeffrey directly, in addition to posting here.
paulheckbert
2014-01-03 20:57:03
Pittsburgh police hope to resume use of helmet video cameras. http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/news/ipso-facto/item/37644-the-cautionary-instruction-pittsburgh-police-may-soon-be-zooming-in-on-you The article says "officers wore the cameras for six months beginning in September 2012, before realizing the cameras violated the state’s wire-tap act. The department took them off the streets." but new legislation has proposed "an amendment to the Wiretap Act to permit recording devices on police motorcycles, bicycles, horses and uniforms", extending the current law, which authorizes police to use video cameras on dashboards, only.
paulheckbert
2014-01-12 21:26:40
I thought that motorcycles, bicycles are vehicles. So cameras mounted on those should be permitted.
mikhail
2014-01-12 22:00:41
I think cameras alone would be fine, but recording audio is treated differently. PA is one of 12 states where all parties to a conversation normally must give prior consent to its recording. There's an exception for police (Title 18 Section 5704 item 16) , as long as they're clearly identified as police, they eventually say that they're recording, they're near the people they're recording, and they're operating an approved device "the recorder of which is mounted in the law enforcement officer's vehicle". I'm guessing it's the last bit that's the problem. Helmet cameras probably don't send the signal back to the car before recording it. I don't know of any similar restrictions on recording video in public, but I'm not a lawyer. The recording restriction doesn't apply if the parties have no reasonable expectation of privacy. That's so vague I can't tell if it would apply to police recording their activities. But I'm guessing the police think there might be an expectation of privacy in the conversations they record. Perhaps that also means a cyclist using a helmet camera with audio is violating PA law unless he gets the angry motorist to agree to be recorded prior to turning it on.
steven
2014-01-12 23:25:10
Seriously, stop taking cellphone pics of people on bikes while your car is in motion!
rustyred
2014-01-13 10:30:11
Steven wrote:Perhaps that also means a cyclist using a helmet camera with audio is violating PA law unless he gets the angry motorist to agree to be recorded prior to turning it on.
Not if it's in public
atown
2014-01-13 11:47:32
Well, the law doesn't say anything about "in public", only "reasonable expectation of privacy". Is there a reasonable expectation of privacy when you have a shouting match with a motorist? Maybe not. How about when the two of you calmly and quietly discuss who caused the accident, and exchange insurance info? That seems like any other private conversation, where you expect you're not being overheard even if it's taking place in public. And the police seem to think that at least sometimes when they talk to people in public, there's a reasonable expectation of privacy (hence the need for a change in the law).
steven
2014-01-13 13:11:51
The law doesn't define reasonable expectation of privacy further, but courts have.
atown
2014-01-13 13:50:28
Then if it's legal, as you imply, for a cyclist to record audio and video with a helmet cam, why do you suppose the police think it's illegal under the Wiretap Act for them to do the same?
steven
2014-01-13 15:42:29
Police are government actors and subject to 4th Amendment restrictions.
atown
2014-01-13 15:49:37
But would amending the Wiretap Act (their proposed solution) get around those 4th Amendment restrictions? If the US Constitution can't be overridden by PA law, how can the 4th Amendment be the issue here? We know they're planning to fix it, whatever the issue is, by amending the Wiretap Act. It stands to reason they think there's something in the Wiretap Act that's keeping police from using helmet cams now, no?
steven
2014-01-13 23:11:58
"But would amending the Wiretap Act (their proposed solution) get around those 4th Amendment restrictions? " I don't know what the Wiretap Act says, so I can't answer that, but presumably legislators will try. "If the US Constitution can’t be overridden by PA law, how can the 4th Amendment be the issue here?" If a PA law conflicts with the US Constitution, then it could be challenged and struck down. The issue is exactly that the Constitution can't be overridden by PA law. Presumably, legislators are worried that as the law stands now, it could be stricken down in the future and they are re-drafting to attempt to avoid that.
atown
2014-01-14 11:45:52
About police helmet cams, PoliceOne.com says http://www.policeone.com/police-products/body-cameras/articles/6721466-More-agencies-to-implement-body-cameras/ In Maryland, "The camera is always on, but does not save anything until Waddell pushes the button. He activates the device when he enters a private residence but must ask for permission to continue recording. At the end of his shift, he dumps the camera at the roll call room in headquarters and the data is uploaded to cloud storage maintained by Evidence.com, a service offered through Taser. Waddell can review the footage he captures throughout the day, either at a computer at headquarters or through a smartphone application. But he can't delete or edit it. The officer can flag a video if he thinks it might be needed as evidence or if he feels a complaint might arise from the incident. All video is stored for at least 181 days, and longer if it's flagged. He can only review footage from the camera issued to him, but his supervisor can look at his videos and those of other officers."
paulheckbert
2014-01-14 23:09:54
andyc wrote:PA / JBK5538 Overlook drive by the oval heading towards Greenfield Rd. (Schenley Park) Driver honks a few times then passes me with inches to spare. (The opposing lane was empty.) I filed a police report as that was not just badly behaved traffic but was assault.
I just had a similar encounter with this exact driver! It was also in Schenley Park--this time on Panther Hollow Road. It was basically the same behavior. The driver was following behind me honking. I was able to get a very good look at his facethen. Then he passed me VERY close. I would say within a foot or so. Definitely close and slow enough that I could get another good glimpse of his face. I wear a helmet camera and the relevant footage is below. There is some bad language. Also, to the cyclist on the sidewalk, if you read this: message me! Another witness would be helpful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJbkhuMEa5E I also filed a police report with an unbelievably helpful officer who took the issue seriously. I am hopeful that something will come of it.
czarofpittsburgh
2014-01-18 00:36:53
Also, posting that video made me realize that I had not posted one from this previous summer in nearly the same spot. PA plate HBH 3955. This pass was a bit farther away but much faster. I also filed a police report, but I don't know if anything happened there. In this case, there was a huge amount of traffic in Oakland, so we ended up in traffic next to each other! We had some highly unpleasant words. Long story short, the guy concern-trolled me with a bunch of "Buddy, someone is gonna kill you on the roads. I'm watching out for YOU by honking. I'm trying to show you that you need to be safe out there" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcNy3p2qgHU
czarofpittsburgh
2014-01-18 00:47:38
Wow, that is messed up and clearly a pattern of this behavior - clearly someone who should not be permitted to drive. I'll be interested to hear if anything comes of it.
salty
2014-01-18 01:51:12
BTW, there is a dangerous drivers page on the BikingPgh wiki (http://bikingpgh.com/index.php?title=Dangerous_Drivers). PM me if you'd like an account to update it. I'll need the username you'd like, your email, and real name (for the registration form on the page). (We blocked user account creation because we were getting a lot of spam.)
jonawebb
2014-01-18 08:36:21
Wow that was totally uncalled for. Hopefully the cop will follow up on this.
marko82
2014-01-18 09:29:36
Marko82 wrote:Wow that was totally uncalled for. Hopefully the cop will follow up on this.
I think he will. The fact that there was a police report/post on this person before definitely caught the police officer's attention. The officer followed up with me a couple times and collected the video. Between the video and the fact I was able to see the driver well enough to provide a detailed description was plenty of evidence. The officer I spoke with was very good and helpful. I believe this will end up with some citations being issued. I don't want to post too many details in public as of now, but I will once it's all resolved! In the meantime, be careful on Schenley Park roads with this guy out there.
czarofpittsburgh
2014-01-18 14:43:13
I gotta go through my tweets and make a list of the plates I tweeted.
stuinmccandless
2014-01-19 09:57:20
I remember that car and it was the worst incident for me of the summer. Stupidity and ignorance roll off my back quickly enough (after all, we are all stupid and ignorant in our own ways) but this was a belligerent deliberate assault IN A PARK.
andyc
2014-01-20 10:02:50
Some kind of dark colored truck, ladder on top, weird light green accents, paw print stickers on the back - License plate # YZY4634 Pulls up behind me at the light on Liberty & Main. Hasn't been following me (so was not slowing him down). I wasn't in the bike lane because it's on and off icy and crap right now. Starts yelling to get in the bike lane. I point out the ice, he says he doesn't see it (passenger is yelling at this point). He tells me he has to pass me with 4 feet so I need to get in the bike lane, calls me an asshole and flips me off. Light turns green, we head towards the next light. He lays on his horn the ENTIRE time (I was pretty tempted to point at the snow as I rode) and as soon as oncoming traffic clears, he passes me with maybe 1-2 feet, then slams on his brakes in front of me (because the light was red). I ended up behind him at THE NEXT light (Herron, Ligonier, Liberty). At this point Liberty opens up to be a 4 lane road and he could have passed me safely. BUT he didn't make it any further than I did before this point (lots of opportunity for me to stare at the back of his vehicle)... The day I think about bringing a camera and leave it at home... (this counts as 2 negative folks, right? passenger yelling and obviously the driver agreed...)
kitaira
2014-01-24 13:05:55
I had the driver black Ford Ranger (with a ladder rack) honk and swear at me as I rolled across the top of Baker street, headed towards the 62nd street bridge. He was headed in the opposite direction. I stopped and looked back, he reversed about 40 feet, rolled down his window and called me a dick. I asked for an explination, and he told me I ran a stop sign. I calmly informed him there was no stop sign in my direction, and he wasn't too happy with that answer, as his crestfallen face revealed that he knew I was correct. He swore at me some more, I made the assertion if there was dick in the vicinity, it was the guy sitting in a truck smoking a cigarette, more swearing on his end, I suggested he should find more productive things to do with his time, he drove off. Really, really angry dude, grey hair and mustache, mid-40's - 50's.
eric
2014-01-25 16:47:11
Ok, guys, I have a proposal... From now and on every bicyclist in PGH should care about 30-40 these - Haribo Gummy Candy, Sugarless Gummy Bears and in case of altercation should act friendly by giving to a dangerous driver 15-20 candies with words: "I know life is tough and bicyclists are obstacles for you. Let's brighten it -- here is something for you!"
mikhail
2014-02-05 07:16:13
I like the "here is something for you" part but prefer paintballs.
jonawebb
2014-02-05 08:03:21
Riding up Ellsworth, I stopped at Spahr and had this asshole pass me fully in the other lane as he blew the stop sign. Bonus points for doing it while the wind is blowing like crazy and the roads are icing up. He would have had to follow me another 1/4 of a block before I got to the dentist. I debated going left at the stop sign, glad I didn't do that or the asshole would have hit me for sure. PA handicapped plate 33154
salty
2014-02-05 16:21:49
The 54D. 440pm. Outbound on liberty around 38th street. Was biking up on the line that divides the bike lane (covered in ice and snow) and the outbound travel lane. Bus can't wait 5 seconds until I pass bus stop. Front half of bus passes me as I see the middle/back half cut me off diagonally. Yes. Bus pulls over to let someone off right in front of me and comes within 6 inches of hitting me in the process. Had to think fast. Couldn't put left foot down because bus was that close. Couldn't put right foot down on Rutted ice. Couldn't really stop at all without it being dangerous, as I had to swerve to the right to avoid being hit. Had to ride over thick rutted ice on a bike on a knee that I had ACL reconstruction on 3 months ago. Didn't lose control and didn't hurt myself luckily. Once I cleared the bus, I got in front of it and took the lane until a bit past 40th. I wasn't going to take the entire lane up liberty on a slow fat bike. Just about every driver who passed gave me 2-4 feet before that happened. But regardless of that, the driver would have cut over in front of me no matter my lane position. Driver was a middle aged black woman with braided hair in a larger pony tail. I believe I witnessed same woman doing the same thing last year to a cyclist ahead of me on a bus route that takes friendship to negley last year. PAT doesn't do anything to fix problems like this. Saved my time and didn't contact them.
stefb
2014-02-06 21:45:19
If you get a moment, this would be a good comment to add here: http://talent-city.com/BusCameras. Bus drivers can be bad about passing, especially dangerous in conditions like these... this cutting cyclists off before the stop is a major category of the problem, and PAT is a black hole. All bears repeating.
byogman
2014-02-06 21:57:42
To the rider I saw at around 4PM yesterday coming down Blvd of the Allies and turning right to drop down Greenfield. Hope you're okay after that close call, that older red Mercury didn't have to make that pass on you on that blind curve honking all the way and crossing into the ice/slush filled unplowed section to make an impatient and dangerous move for all road users, completely unneccesary. My stomach clenched up just witnessing that. I'm only sorry I wasn't close enough to see the plate, otherwise I'd post it here.
ka_jun
2014-02-10 10:41:34
Unfortunately, I have to revive this thread. It's hard to see because of glare but I'm pretty sure the plate is RC1259 it's an early 2000's Honda Civic. You can see the MIT bumper sticker and USMC emblem. Driver is a man probably in his 70's. I was biking along the 31st Bridge this morning, I actually was thinking how peaceful everything looked along the river, I use the shoulder for most of the bridge until the end where I have to turn left on to River Avenue. I'm in the lane and this guy is behind me laying on his horn so I flip him off(maybe not best idea), he pulls up along side me, pleasantries are exchanged. This driver then speeds ahead of me extremely fast, slams on his brakes at the light to the point his tires are screeching, gets out of his car and threatens me telling me I'm not a car and I need to get off the road or bike to the side. I explain I need to turn left, but he doesn't care, threatens me some more, gets back in his car and keeps yelling from inside. Stay safe everyone!
mjacobpgh
2014-03-11 16:51:07
Grrrr. Driver (who claimed 'I ride my bike everyday') passes me soooo close. She's stuck at a red light with me now and I let her have it. I managed to keep my temper at defcon 4 though. PA HNX 4675 Black Hyundai Veloster http://youtu.be/hnnhYSwc6J4
rustyred
2014-03-16 15:16:27
Holy crap that was close. Also, I love the drivers who bike every day - it explains why they suck at driving so much 'cause you know, they are on their bikes so much. Dipshit!
marko82
2014-03-16 21:39:00
I'm sorry, but you were riding in the middle of the left lane even though there were no cars in the parking lane. I'm all for taking the lane when necessary, but not when there is a more reasonable alternative. Sure, you were passed super close, but you were riding way too far to the left given the road circumstances. I would think someone that can afford a helmet cam would at least have the sense to understand that you left the car with no room to pass you without going into the oncoming traffic lane on a busy road.
steve-k
2014-03-16 22:20:59
steve k wrote:I’m sorry, but you were riding in the middle of the left lane even though there were no cars in the parking lane. I’m all for taking the lane when necessary, but not when there is a more reasonable alternative. Sure, you were passed super close, but you were riding way too far to the left given the road circumstances. I would think someone that can afford a helmet cam would at least have the sense to understand that you left the car with no room to pass you without going into the oncoming traffic lane on a busy road.
I totally disagree. There wasn't a more reasonable alternative. On stretches of road where there are intermittently parked cars in the right lane, it's unsafe and poor cycling to swerve in and out of the parking lane. The safest thing to do is pick a straight line in the rightmost lane that doesn't have cars parked in it. It makes you predictable and visible. @RustyRed did nothing wrong. She was even to the right of her lane such that she could be passed with safe clearance to her left. The driver didn't do so. And the most important thing... the 4 foot law doesn't have any requirement that the cyclist be behaving legally. You can't buzz someone just because you don't like how they're riding.
czarofpittsburgh
2014-03-16 23:00:10
steve k wrote:I would think someone that can afford a helmet cam would at least have the sense to understand that you left the car with no room to pass you without going into the oncoming traffic lane on a busy road.
It was a low-traffic Sunday afternoon. I counted 3 oncoming cars in a minute and half. Not 'busy' by any stretch of the imagination. There were cars parked to my right when she buzzed me. What video were you watching?
rustyred
2014-03-16 23:14:31
Not only is there no oncoming traffic, but they saved literally zero seconds by not waiting for an opportunity to pass. Regardless of any of that or the position of the cyclist there is absolutely no excuse for what that driver did. FWIW, 99% of the time I get buzzed like that it's because I'm riding too far to the *right* and some asshole thinks they can squeeze between me and oncoming traffic.
salty
2014-03-17 00:05:25
On a positive note, when the car passed you again (and the next car also) there was ample room. So maybe the first driver showed she can be educated. I thought the conversation a the red light was pretty cordial considering how they sometimes go.
helen-s
2014-03-17 06:12:05
"Driver (who claimed ‘I ride my bike everyday’)..." Yeah, see, a stationary at LA Fitness doesn't really count.
edmonds59
2014-03-17 06:29:46
RustyRed wrote: PA HNX 4675 Black Hyundai Veloster
Arrgh. I mean HXN 4675 Damn you, dyslexia! I'm not certain I changed her mind about anything, she accused me of being rude and said "It's people like you..." before I rode off. My only regret was that I made the dumbass move of getting in front of her after she already endangered my life once and that I didn't say to her. "I'm being rude? I think I'm being very civil to someone who just nearly killed me"
rustyred
2014-03-17 06:49:05
salty wrote:saved literally zero seconds by not waiting for an opportunity to pass.
Not to mention that that light is yellow changing to red as the car starts to pass just a few feet away from the light. Also, RR's riding technique and lane position have zero accountability here. For arguments sake let's say that RR is 100% wrong, that does not excuse this driver one bit. It might explain the driver's frustration, but I dont care how frustrated she is, that pass was dangerous and 100% the driver's fault.
marko82
2014-03-17 07:55:41
The idea of being behind a cyclist is too much for some frail egos out there, no matter the circumstances. Sorry to have what I assume otherwise, based on the traffic report, a rather pleasant ride, interrupted by such a jag-off. Impressed by the cool head you kept.
byogman
2014-03-17 08:55:21
I'm with steve k, there's a balance between "dodging between cars" and being sanctimonious. My cycling has trailed off lately, but over 5 years and 5000 road miles in and around this city, I've only been buzzed/honked at/felt unsafe once or twice that I remember. I tend to err on the side of "keeping a low profile" because I'm not out there to be a martyr. Not to defend her buzzing you, but people tend to give respect when they receive it as well. Just my opinion though.
rice-rocket
2014-03-17 10:25:07
I fail to see how anything RustyRed did was disrespectful or sanctimonious.
byogman
2014-03-17 10:35:27
This is a big conflict of how people think things should be done. Differences in opinions between the 'vehicular cyclist', who prefers to operate as if the bike were a car, and prefers to always take the lane, and the other side, people who don't always subscribe to that mold and prefer to bear to the right most of the time, taking the lane only when needed, doing what 'feels safe'. You'll have a hard time convincing either side that they are wrong. I'm not even sure either is. It's a religious battle, like arguing over chain cleaning / lubing strategy, or whether miller lite or coors lite is better.
benzo
2014-03-17 10:48:29
helen s wrote:On a positive note, when the car passed you again (and the next car also) there was ample room. So maybe the first driver showed she can be educated.
+1 on this. First thing I noticed.
czarofpittsburgh wrote:And the most important thing… the 4 foot law doesn’t have any requirement that the cyclist be behaving legally. You can’t buzz someone just because you don’t like how they’re riding.
Unfortunately, that is only true if the police enforce it, and the DA and Judges understand the law. Today, none of those things happens, even with video evidence. Until that changes and those groups are educated about the law, the law is more like a suggestion than anything that will protect us.
ajbooth
2014-03-17 11:03:32
ajbooth wrote:Until that changes and those groups are educated about the law, the law is more like a suggestion than anything that will protect us.
I agree. I've had drivers roll their eyes when I tell them they are supposed to wait if they can't give me 4 feet when they pass. Hell, I've had cops roll their eyes. OTOH, if we keep insisting on our rights, most folks will come around. People may react badly at the stop light, but unless they're assholes looking for a fight they'll want to avoid it next time. Also, if we get more drivers following the law, peer pressure comes into play. I've noticed that when I get one close pass, the next driver often will, too; when I get a pass with a lot of clearance, the next driver will, too.
jonawebb
2014-03-17 11:22:02
I find that when I get one close pass, then yell, hold up 4 fingers (not four middle fingers, but my whole hand minus the thumb) , then take the lane more, the following drivers have to decide if they are willing to cross the middle line to pass me, and usually do not.
helen-s
2014-03-17 12:03:09
It must be the nice weather…. Brentwood Area - Hot headed driver- black Hyundai GYS-9735 This jerk passed me on a side street with an oncoming car in the other direction. I yelled “what the F**k dude” with a full raised WTF arm (not just one finger). The guy slams on his brakes and starts yelling how bikes don’t belong on the street, etc. I started to say “dude there was a car coming (the other way)” when he sped off toward the stop sign a block away. Naturally I caught him at the stop sign & the dude got out of his car and started to come at me. I grabbed my u-lock and yelled at him to get back in his F’n car. He was hesitant, but there were a lot of witnesses at the intersection and the dude looked like he was in need of a fix. I caught him again a few blocks away and took a pic of his plate. White middle aged man with dark, dirty, stringy, receding hair.
marko82
2014-03-18 16:29:04
Marko82 wrote:It must be the nice weather…. Naturally I caught him at the stop sign & the dude got out of his car and started to come at me. I grabbed my u-lock and yelled at him to get back in his F’n car.
Jebus.
rustyred
2014-03-18 17:08:26
Not a "dangerous driver", but one time while biking near Morgantown, a dog darted out and bit me on the foot, so the second time I biked past his yard I had my large Kryptonite in hand. The dog did not reappear, so I never got to practice my bicycle polo...
paulheckbert
2014-03-18 19:48:44
rice rocket wrote:I’m with steve k, there’s a balance between “dodging between cars” and being sanctimonious. My cycling has trailed off lately, but over 5 years and 5000 road miles in and around this city, I’ve only been buzzed/honked at/felt unsafe once or twice that I remember. I tend to err on the side of “keeping a low profile” because I’m not out there to be a martyr. Not to defend her buzzing you, but people tend to give respect when they receive it as well. Just my opinion though.
I second. There was no reason to take the left lane for a good block length, and then do it again after the light. A car parked 200 yards away in not equal to intermittently parked cars. Especially on a Sunday, with low traffic, it's hard to justify those riding habits by finding it difficult to merge back in. Your moving to the right would have allowed those few vehicles to pass you safely.
rainbow-dog
2014-03-19 11:02:23
rainbow dog wrote:car parked 200 yards away in not equal to intermittently parked cars.
I also would have taken the empty right lane prior to the parked cars, then merged to the left, checking my rear view mirror, before them. I know about the "dodging in and out of the lane" advice, but IMHO that applies to situations where parked cars are more frequent than shown in the video. Taking the lane as @rr did doesn't justify the driver's buzzing him, of course. But we can ride in a way that makes it easier for drivers to show courtesy and follow the law, while still protecting our safety.
jonawebb
2014-03-19 11:14:37
RustyRed wrote:There were cars parked to my right when she buzzed me. What video were you watching?
Seriously, go watch the video again. There's a lot of obnoxious bike riding that goes on out there, but this isn't it.
willb
2014-03-19 12:53:03
WillB wrote:Seriously, go watch the video again.
OK, I did. There are no cars in the right lane until between 12-17 seconds, and then from 1:06 on. The buzzing occurs at about second 15. I would have ridden in the right lane until about second 10 or so, then merged to the left. I would have checked before merging and slowed down or stopped if the left lane had traffic. And I would have then ridden in the right lane from about second 17 to 1:06. I don't think I would have gotten into an argument in this particular case because I suspect the driver who buzzed @rr would have passed me sometime when I was in the right lane before the parked cars at second 12. Again, not justifying the buzzing. The driver was wrong. But there are ways to ride to reduce the chance for conflict, while protecting our safety. That's the way I ride, unless I'm pissed off. Oh, BTW, jumping back in front of the car and taking the lane again at the red light really is creating a conflict where there doesn't need to be one. The driver got ahead of you, by whatever means, let it go. Stay in the right lane, and merge left when it's clear, or stay in the left lane, and continue taking the lane. Don't go around stopped traffic to grab the left lane again just to show you can.
jonawebb
2014-03-19 13:09:01
I definitely would not have riden in the right lane with a line of parked cars coming up, even though I could have and then merged. What would be the point? There's a boatloads of room to pass to the left anyway. It's in no sense disrespectful, discourteous, whatever, if it's not likely to create an inconvenience for the driver. And sorry, having to go around doesn't count, unless you think parallel parking is also intrinsically disrespectful. No? Then the only way your thinking makes sense to me is if you think it's specifically disrespectful that it's someone on a BIKE. A bike, OUT THERE. In which case, riding toward the right probably only partially alleives the guilt and perhaps you're better off at LA Fitness. I'm not sure whether I would have done what RustyRed did, cutting in front again, or not. Surface level maybe not, it's clearly not in her individual best interest. But adrenaline can make you do interesting things. Anyways, I think at the very least it deserves a pass both for being legal (filtering is and she didn't move till the light), and for illustrating important points that help us all if they sink in (stupid passes don't get drivers anything, and cyclists are not easily bullied). Bonus that the driver apparently learned to pass properly on the second go-around.
byogman
2014-03-19 14:52:03
Sorry but I think insisting on riding (or driving) in the left lane when the right lane is empty is disrespectful towards other road users, regardless of what type of vehicle you operate. The line of parked traffic you refer to was coming up in about a block, not a couple car lenghts. This of course doesn't justify the close buzz.
rainbow-dog
2014-03-19 15:42:57
In the paraphrased words of one famous denizen of this board, "take the focking lane." Not "disrespectful" at all, at any time, but especially on a Sunday afternoon with light traffic. Be consistent, be visible, and be predictable. RR was all of those things. NOTHING justifies a close buzz. I'm thinking of a jersey that says "Carry Permit On Board: Pass Close At Your Own Risk"
ajbooth
2014-03-19 18:16:51
I have been remiss in saying - Marko - good story. Glad it ended ok. I need to make myself a ulock holder that's a quicker draw. http://youtu.be/J0BrdMi-oyc
edmonds59
2014-03-20 06:45:58
ajbooth - what focking lane are you proposing to consistently take? The leftmost? That was a four lane road. The whole right lane was empty. My estimate is that RR was riding at 12 - 13 mph. Slow traffic should keep to the right - whether it's a bicycle, a car or an Amish buggy.
rainbow-dog
2014-03-20 07:06:40
rainbow dog wrote:what focking lane are you proposing to consistently take?
Yeah. Riding predictably doesn't mean always riding in a straight line, forever. You are allowed to change lanes. And it definitely doesn't mean maneuvering around stopped traffic at a red light so you can take the lane again, ignoring the empty lane to the right. Use common sense, and be courteous to other road users.
jonawebb
2014-03-20 07:24:03
The generic "slow traffic" argument doesn't wash from my standpoint because slow is a relative statement requiring there be other, statistically significant traffic to have any meaning. Per her statement, 3 cars in the opposite direction in a minute and a half. Two cars pass in her direction by the end of a minute plus video. That's NOTHING. Throw a bike or two in there and the prevailing speed drop back down to something closer to RR's pace. Heck, under those conditions you see a lot of joggers in the road too sometimes. It's silly to me to defer reflexively to your own detriment (even if it's infrequent, it's still easier to ride straight than merge right and left) because there ~might~ be someone coming up behind you eventually. Someone who can trivially get around you at that. When things are thin, YOU are the traffic. And that's ok, even if you're not "at least going the speed limit" (breaking the law) or whatever such nonesense motorists have in their head as a requirement to be deserving of lane space. Some motorists get this already and are pretty nice. Some have to be taught. Unfortunately RR came across the latter.
byogman
2014-03-20 07:44:49
Let's agree to disagree. I ride a lot, on the road, during the rush hour, I don't avoid the traffic, and I can count on one hand the number of times I got honked at or buzzed. My riding philosophy is based on common sense, awareness of the road and respect for others, not on slogans taken out of context and applied indiscriminately. If the above situation happened during the rush hour, with a steady flow of back-to-back traffic, I would've undoubtedly taken the left lane because I would be riding at more or less the same speed as the rest of the traffic, and it would be difficult to switch lanes. If that were a two-lane road, I would've taken the lane without hesitation. However, taking the left lane on a four-lane road on a Sunday afternoon when the right lane is empty is obnoxious in my book. Especially so in scant traffic. If would take 10 seconds to maneuver over to the right, let them pass, and then switch back. It would be a courteous thing to do. It would not aggravate the driver. It would not perpetuate the hostility towards cyclists among the general non-cycling population.
rainbow-dog
2014-03-20 08:30:39
The true moral of the story (as quizbot will tell you) is don't post videos here unless you enjoy victim-blaming and being told what a terrible cyclist you are.
salty
2014-03-20 08:47:16
salty wrote:The true moral of the story (as quizbot will tell you) is don’t post videos here unless you enjoy victim-blaming and being told what a terrible cyclist you are.
Amen, Salty. Aaaaaa-fucking-mmen.
rustyred
2014-03-20 08:50:28
Normally, I will get over to the right, between parked cars when traffic is heavy and we've only got one lane in both directions, but not on a low traffic day AND there’s plenty of room to go around me. I’m glad some of you have the ability to deftly weave around parked cars, I sometimes don’t… especially on hills. Some of you may not know I’m a middle-aged arthritic woman who’s slow and still a bit wobbly at times. I’m not dodging and weaving around parked cars in a situation where it’s not warranted. Like the older gentleman using a walker or the mother pushing a stroller and holding the hand of her toddler and taking longer to cross the street than we would like, we need to be patient with them. Just as there are pedestrians with varying degrees of abilities, the same applies to cyclists. That mother shouldn't drag her child quickly across the street so she doesn't inconvenience a driver for a few extra seconds, nor should I overextend my rickety joints going up a hill so Miss LA Fitness can get to that light a few seconds before me.
rustyred
2014-03-20 09:26:15
^@Salty - semi-lol. Now I kind of feel like getting a camera and recording some of my rides so I can find out what I'm doing wrong [searching for the "sarcasm" font on my keyboard].
edmonds59
2014-03-20 09:36:06
RustyRed wrote:I’m a middle-aged arthritic woman who’s slow and still a bit wobbly at times.
Nice job, though, working your way around the cars at the stop light to grab that lane again. I guess you were feeling especially spry at that point, eh?
jonawebb
2014-03-20 09:43:08
My take is that if the driver is behind you, it's just so much easier to be surprised by their actions. If someone is an ass to you, at least it's better that you keep that ass is in front of you where you can keep an eye on them and you can tell if they are going to do something dangerous or stupid again.
benzo
2014-03-20 09:48:08
C'mon guys, video started at Stainwix. Stainwix-Chancery way -- 180-190 feet or less than 70 yards. After Chancery cars are parked. You go 10-11 mph and is about 5 yards/sec or you cover it in 14 seconds. Chancery-Market -- 200 feet. Also less than 70 yards. Market-Woods -- around 500 feet and in the middle again cars are parked all the way to Woods with some interruption for garage entrance. Woods-Smithfield -- around 580 feet, cars are parked all the way. Smithfield-Cherry -- about 300 feet Cherry-Grant -- about 300 feet. And I don't see anywhere free right lane for more than 70 yards. No 200 yards.
mikhail
2014-03-20 12:34:48
rainbow dog wrote:ajbooth – what focking lane are you proposing to consistently take? The leftmost? That was a four lane road. The whole right lane was empty.
I would propose taking the lane she took. I'm not sure what video you were watching to say that the whole right lane was empty. It's not. In fact, there were cars parked in the right lane at the point in the video where the driver buzzed her. Switching back and forth between the right lane and the left to accommodate parked cars is inconsistent and unpredictable. TWO cars passed her in the entire duration of the video, so traffic was clearly very light. I may not have done the filtering and passing the car again after the light changed, although in the heat of the moment, I understand the desire to do so.
ajbooth
2014-03-20 12:40:18
jonawebb wrote:
Nice job, though, working your way around the cars at the stop light to grab that lane again. I guess you were feeling especially spry at that point, eh?
I'll go with the adrenaline if you think that was spry. I did mention before that I regretted getting back in front of her. That was super dumb on my part. Adrenaline. I *can* thank her for enabling me to get a killer 15 minute workout in after we parted ways.
rustyred
2014-03-20 13:01:04
ajbooth wrote: I would propose taking the lane she took. I’m not sure what video you were watching to say that the whole right lane was empty. It’s not. In fact, there were cars parked in the right lane at the point in the video where the driver buzzed her.
We don't know from the video how long the driver has been following her for. There was ample room to let that one car pass. Again, in my opinion light traffic is an aggravating factor against RR's case, not a mitigating one. I would think twice before switching lanes in heavy traffic, but it's hard to justify not doing so when the traffic is light. All it takes is one frustrated driver. Anyway, this is turning into beating a dead horse. Implying that a cyclist might be in the wrong on this message board is like saying there is no god. Sorry for not holding hands and chanting kumbaya.
rainbow-dog
2014-03-20 13:22:51
@rr, I'd missed your earlier regret, sorry. In that case, I'm pretty much OK with your video. I would have ridden in the right lane at the beginning, but that's a judgment call, based on the limited field of view of the video, and we're only talking about 10 seconds anyway. My interpretation of the earlier part of the video was being colored by what you did at the light.
jonawebb
2014-03-20 13:29:31
We don’t know from the video how long the driver has been following her for. There was ample room to let that one car pass. Again, in my opinion light traffic is an aggravating factor against RR’s case, not a mitigating one. I would think twice before switching lanes in heavy traffic, but it’s hard to justify not doing so when the traffic is light. All it takes is one frustrated driver.
The car had ample room to pass regardless, there was absolutely no traffic coming the other way. If they didn't and got frustrated that's on them. You didn't address the parallel parking analogy from before where motorists make other motorists wait or go around so I have only one way of understanding pre-emptive cowering... the idea that the roads really aren't for us, we're just using a little bit if that's ok with everyone. If you're feelings on the subject are different let me know, and explain your reasoning, because I REALLY don't get it at the moment. As for the wisdom of being out there in the middle of the lane... in general you're more visible out there and that combined with the fact that there's so much space makes it a clear winner in my book. Yeah, it's possible to annoy someone and you may be slightly more likely to be buzzed, but you're much less likely to be flat runover by someone who you think you've negotiated the merge with, but isn't actually paying attention you were out of their field of visual attention by riding to the right earlier and they're not paying all that much attention generally, so the 2 or 3 seconds you've been in lane in front of them isn't for your presence to register.
Anyway, this is turning into beating a dead horse. Implying that a cyclist might be in the wrong on this message board is like saying there is no god. Sorry for not holding hands and chanting kumbaya.
There was a video posting, someone who was slapping mirrors of vehicle partially blocking the liberty avenue bike lane. That guy did not fare so well in the comments. But most have a motivation to share video that shows others being jag-offs and paints them as the grown-up, so that's most of what you see. I actually say, props to RR for showing the whole sequence, including the 3rd act. We're all human out there, and adrenaline does funny things. I could share some video that would, appropriately, net me much more criticism... filtering, weaving, cheating light after light etc... But I don't, because I'm a weanie who doesn't like criticism. Also, that's not how I ride most of the time, but like I think with many, it also depends on my mood and how much time that behavior nets. RR in this video by comparison is a saint, even with the 3rd act.
byogman
2014-03-20 15:13:26
Hey, Viking ride this Saturday...
marko82
2014-03-20 17:20:02
rainbow dog wrote:Anyway, this is turning into beating a dead horse. Implying that a cyclist might be in the wrong on this message board is like saying there is no god. Sorry for not holding hands and chanting kumbaya.
I'm sorry if reasoned discussion is beyond you. If the horse is dead, stop pounding on it.
ajbooth
2014-03-20 20:39:31
rainbow dog wrote:We don’t know from the video how long the driver has been following her for.
What? Are you serious? You never rode Blvd of Allies in that direction?
mikhail
2014-03-20 20:47:08
ajbooth wrote: I’m sorry if reasoned discussion is beyond you. If the horse is dead, stop pounding on it.
I explained my reasons repeatedly. However, it seems like everyone is sticking to their opinions. Peace.
rainbow-dog
2014-03-21 07:08:28
Mikhail wrote:
rainbow dog wrote:We don’t know from the video how long the driver has been following her for.
What? Are you serious? You never rode Blvd of Allies in that direction?
All the time, and I stand by my statement.
rainbow-dog
2014-03-21 07:19:22
New dangerous driver in Crafton. Red Chevy full-size pickup, probably mid-90s. Passed me yesterday (3/20) morning by speeding directly into oncoming traffic, almost running another car off of the road. Occurred on Crafton Blvd, at the corner of Josephine. Same Red Chevy full-size pickup passed me yesterday afternoon while laying on the horn and flipping me off. Driver is a white male, short hair, tan Carhardt jacket. Passed me this morning (3/21) while laying on the horn, driving a different vehicle (Red full size work van). Too dark to see driver, but it was at the exact same time and location as yesterday's morning incident. I firmly believe it's the same driver with a work vehicle. All three incidents in the same area. I have video of all three. I will be filing a police report tomorrow. Will share the plates once I pull them off of the videos.
pinky
2014-03-21 07:24:06
byogman wrote:
The car had ample room to pass regardless, there was absolutely no traffic coming the other way. If they didn’t and got frustrated that’s on them. You didn’t address the parallel parking analogy from before where motorists make other motorists wait or go around so I have only one way of understanding pre-emptive cowering… the idea that the roads really aren’t for us, we’re just using a little bit if that’s ok with everyone. If you’re feelings on the subject are different let me know, and explain your reasoning, because I REALLY don’t get it at the moment.
There is no way to parallel park without slowing other traffic behind you. Which was not the case in the posted video. I don't think it's a valid analogy. As for your statement that "the roads really aren't for us" - well they are not there just for us, which seems to be the prevailing line of thinking among the warrior cyclists here. Sharing the road means being aware of other road users.
rainbow-dog
2014-03-21 07:27:35
There may be no way to parallel park without taking up the lane and holding up those who choose to stay behind, but there are plenty of ways to PARK without taking up the lane and holding up those who choose to stay behind. Use parking lots. So, yes, I think the analogy fits perfectly. And no, I don't think too many motorists pine for their fellow motorists when parallel parking. Some may feel stress because they suck at parallel parking (that would include me) and prefer parking in lots, but there isn't this notion that it's something you should feel guilty about. And it's not like there aren't plenty of lots downtown and someone really has to go out of their way to make that choice. Still, everyone accepts street parking as a normal thing. Why? Because it involves cars. But then someone on a bike? Occupying space?! Why for sure, THAT's something to feel guilty about. And when there's no traffic? Why, that's not better, that's worse! No, I don't get it. The streets are for us. And by us, I mean us as citizens, regardless of the sort of street legal vehicle we choose. And yes, I try and be nice about sharing lateral road space so as to avoid holding up faster traffic when there's a safe way for me to do so. But there was plenty of road to go around here, so it's totally inapplicable line of reasoning. You don't have to be a "warrior cyclist" to ride in a way that's convenient and pleasant to you when you're out on the road practically by yourself. There was no "war", what RR went through was more link a terrorist bomb threat.
byogman
2014-03-21 10:46:43
pinky wrote: All three incidents in the same area. I have video of all three. I will be filing a police report tomorrow. Will share the plates once I pull them off of the videos.
Cripes. Hope you're able to get him off your back soon.
rustyred
2014-03-21 11:17:17
rainbow dog wrote: I explained my reasons repeatedly. However, it seems like everyone is sticking to their opinions. Peace.
yes, how dare anyone aside from you stick to their opinions when yours is clearly the only correct one. you should throw a little tantrum to make sure everyone knows how right you are.
salty
2014-03-21 12:05:57
rainbow dog wrote:
Mikhail wrote:
rainbow dog wrote:We don’t know from the video how long the driver has been following her for.
What? Are you serious? You never rode Blvd of Allies in that direction?
All the time, and I stand by my statement.
Then I don't understand how your phrase "how long the driver has been following her for" -- it could not be long at all.
mikhail
2014-03-21 12:41:57
It's totally unfair to call that statement a tantrum. To me, his reasons don't seem solid given the circumstances. A few, me most determinedly, undercut them, I think successfully. But if rainbow dog doesn't see those arguments or analogies as relevant, then there IS nothing more to talk about. Agree to disagree, because they're no other agreement in sight. BTW, Marco... aghhhh. So sorry.
byogman
2014-03-21 12:47:19
byogman wrote:Agree to disagree, because they’re no other agreement in sight.
It's more philosophical... Some of us see themselves as a part of traffic, some of us see themselves as holding traffic.
mikhail
2014-03-21 13:04:09
Mikhail wrote:Some of us see themselves as a part of traffic, some of us see themselves as holding traffic.
I definitely see myself as part of traffic. But I choose to behave more kindly to motorists than they do to me, usually. And that means acknowledging that I am slower than motorists and getting out of their way, if I can do so safely.
jonawebb
2014-03-21 13:40:09
jonawebb wrote:
Mikhail wrote:Some of us see themselves as a part of traffic, some of us see themselves as holding traffic.
I definitely see myself as part of traffic. But I choose to behave more kindly to motorists than they do to me, usually. And that means acknowledging that I am slower than motorists and getting out of their way, if I can do so safely.
Well, bicyclists are generally slower than cars -- this is true. But getting out of their ways in this particular case means that driver did not have any other way to go through. And she had plenty of space to correctly bypass RR. If their is a lot of traffic and there is no way to pass me while I am biking then I would "dive" into freee space and let car pass me. If there is no traffic then I would not do it in situation like RR was in. 60-70 yards are not enough to justify for me shifting to free space.
mikhail
2014-03-21 14:00:59
Pinky, good luck with the police. Real a-hole, needs to be punished. Even more luck if it makes it to trial, getting the legal system to make it stick. Sigh...
byogman
2014-03-21 14:38:52
Wow. Reviewed the videos. It was three separate vehicles, but identical behaviors. I've saved the license plates and videos in case I run into any of them again, but I don't feel like I have much of a case to take to the cops right now, especially since I only saw the driver in one incident. I'm not sure if I'm: A) Encouraged that I'm not being harassed by one jagoff B) Sad that three different people drive that badly and aggressively C) Worried that one jagoff who has access to three vehicles is harassing me
pinky
2014-03-23 12:12:49
Two weeks ago riding down E. Carson St in the middle of the week. Was in the bike lane till it disappeared and then stayed as far right as possible. Unfortunately I came up to a bus that would stop frequently to pick up/drop off passengers. After the second time I signaled, moved over and got into the line of traffic where traffic had stopped due to a red light. Well, a guy in a car came up behind me and I heard him yell, "Share the road!" Guess he was pissed because I was in front of him in this line of traffic. So I yelled back, "Do you have a problem because last I saw, the bike icon on the street is right in your lane so if you like I can ride all the way down E. Carson in front of you." Then I said, "I tried to stay as far to the right as I could but the bus made that impossible so give me a break!" After the light I went back to the right but I really wanted to just ride down the street with traffic. :p
rainbowskies
2014-03-23 13:53:15
byogman wrote:I could share some video that would, appropriately, net me much more criticism… filtering, weaving, cheating light after light etc… But I don’t, because I’m a weanie who doesn’t like criticism.
You, and 99% of the cyclists in the world. There are certain affordances that we all feel justified in taking advantage of, it is part of being unhindered by the steel cage. You can see more, and are more maneuverable. That is until the camera is pointed at you, nobody wants to be told they are wrong. If you do something that makes you feel embarrassed or guilty, then you probably shouldn't have done it in the first place.
ericf
2014-03-24 04:51:06
rainbowskies wrote:Two weeks ago riding down E. Carson St in the middle of the week. Was in the bike lane till it disappeared and then stayed as far right as possible. Unfortunately I came up to a bus that would stop frequently to pick up/drop off passengers. After the second time I signaled, moved over and got into the line of traffic where traffic had stopped due to a red light. Well, a guy in a car came up behind me and I heard him yell, “Share the road!” Guess he was pissed because I was in front of him in this line of traffic. So I yelled back, “Do you have a problem because last I saw, the bike icon on the street is right in your lane so if you like I can ride all the way down E. Carson in front of you.” Then I said, “I tried to stay as far to the right as I could but the bus made that impossible so give me a break!” After the light I went back to the right but I really wanted to just ride down the street with traffic. :p
After the bike lane ends on Carson I never hug the right. You are 100% legal to ride in the middle of the lane. My first 3 months of cycling the city is when I had majority of all my close encounters because I was timid and hugged the door zone inviting close passes and begin doored. Then I started riding in the lane unless I was going much slower than traffic such as up hills. Once I pass 7th street I ride about 2 feet from the sidewalk up to 10th street bridge. I allow cars enough room to pass if there is not traffic coming the other way. These three blocks I typically go about the speed of traffic and can get passed closely by some impatient driver who needs to get to Jacks to relieve his shakes. Otherwise I am typically cycling the speed limit and they have no reason to pass. Once I get past 10th I am in the middle of the lane, absolutely will not cycle on the right in the door zone. Especially on Carson where most cyclist are doing the speed of traffic even on a lighter traffic day. There is no reason for a South Side meathead to make you feel bad for being in the lane on Carson.
shooflypie
2014-03-24 09:26:52
Headed down Beechwood towards 5th this morning, I was nearly done in by someone making the "left" onto Reynolds. I did a panic stop - not my best work, I locked the rear wheel hard. It would not have been enough - there is no doubt that if the driver had not stopped she would have hit me, or I would have t-boned her. I ended up stopped in front of her vehicle; I yelled something and got a dumb "what did I do?" kind of look in return... but then decided to just ride away (possibly after calling her a jackass). A coworker stopped me in the hall later at work and told me they were behind me and saw the whole thing... so I guess at least I would have had a witness.
salty
2014-03-28 22:18:11
If any of you got side swiped in the last couple months by a silver Lexus ( pa plate Dax 8709) I have info on how you can find the driver. This thread is far to cluster fucked to spend time searching.
p-leon
2014-04-02 14:05:17
I made a Dangerous Drivers page on the wiki (http://bikingpgh.com/index.php?title=Dangerous_Drivers) and grabbed all the info I could from this thread back when I set it up. It's easier to search there. But there's nothing about DAX 8709 there.
jonawebb
2014-04-02 14:18:14
04/11 around 7:25am Heading up Forbes through Frick Park from Regent Square to Squirrel Hill. Driver passed me then sat completely in the bike lane the rest of the way up the road. He(?) was very close behind the 61a bus heading up there, so there was no way he could have seen if the bike lane was clear. No idea what his deal was, the road was fairly quiet, and he didn't turn right on S. Dallas. Silver SUV, looked like an Acura but hard to tell from a distance, he only started acting like this after he passed me (which is likely why I'm writing at work rather than from beyond the grave).
alanowski
2014-04-11 13:14:52
2:45pm 19 Apr 14 corner of Ellsworth and Morewood Black Audi PA plate GTX 2013 I was stopped at the left side of the west bound Ellsworth lane waiting for a green light to turn left on to Morewood. I heard an car running high rpm and turned round to see a speeding car coming towards me. I think he indented to buzz me at speed but then saw the red light. He chose to skid to a halt rather than blow the light and kill a father, son and dog crossing on green. Ended up stopped about a foot to the right of me staring right at me. His only response to my polite WTF was to spit on himself and then race off again well over the speed limit. Unfortunately the shutter went off just before he spat on himself. Note the dejected look of disapproval on the dog's face. He lives near that corner and has seen too many self important arseholes using Ellsworth to avoid Fifth Ave.
devohelmetguy
2014-04-19 14:33:19
Jowls: probably well into his 60s (or, a smoker?) Age-inappropriate short-short gym shorts. But a nice shirt. Door locked, but window down. A big bag of probably-not-so-good-for-you goodies from Panera. Or just a thrifty recycler? Late for a very late lunch? Maybe. Google "Audi GTX 2013": vroom
ahlir
2014-04-19 15:56:13
I'm going to venture that that is not a vanity plate, that he just got luck of the draw. Pretty slick set of wheels alongside that plane, though. I fear the day that someone's going to post one of these photos and I actually recognize the driver. This town isn't that big, and as I posted here once, I ended up working alongside someone I previously had a face-to-face with one time.
stuinmccandless
2014-04-20 10:16:17
God forbid, I don't want to be in my 50s feeling the need speeding around in my big bad Audi endangering other's welfare to make up for my dick not working.
shooflypie
2014-04-20 14:38:19
ShooFlyPie wrote:God forbid, I don’t want to be in my 50s feeling the need speeding around in my big bad Audi endangering other’s welfare to make up for my dick not working.
that is so funny. at a place I used to work, a 53-year-old showed up in a BMW two-seater very pleased with his new ride. His first interaction with his new toy in the parking lot was when the other guy said to him, "Sorry to hear your dick's not working any more". Absolutely priceless.
vannever
2014-04-20 19:30:33
I don't know if it's the warm weather or what, but I've been buzzed a bunch of times recently--way more often than usual. White Honda, PA plates. DST-2975. Beechwood Blvd. Silver car, PA plates. HFS-1367. Greenfield Ave. Silver van. PA plates. EZS-9977. Beechwood Blvd.
czarofpittsburgh
2014-06-02 09:59:58
I witnessed a car nearly hitting a pedestrian at Beechwood & 5th the other day. I was on Beechwood in the right lane, our asswipe is in the left lane, turning left. As soon as the light turns green, I hear the engine rev, then almost immediately screeching tires as the car comes to an abrupt halt. Oops - there's a pedestrian crossing 5th. Seriously, how hard do you have to "gun it" to get up to tire screeching speed in a few tens of feet? Pedestrian says something about the "walk" sign, driver says something probably idiotic before speeding off in the same manner. Nice to see you learned your lesson, jackass. Of course, if they had actually hit the pedestrian you would have heard the same tired old "didn't even see them" bullshit - zero consequences for the driver, and everyone blames the pedestrian or at least casts some aspersions their way.
salty
2014-06-02 21:40:57
I was buzzed too closely by a UPS truck on Camp Horn (sometimes spelled Horne) Rd yesterday. When I caught up when he stopped for a delivery I told him I expected better from a professional driver. When told about the 4 foot law, he said he did not believe me that it existed. He also said I should feel good because he did not hit me. It was a fairly cordial exchange- hopefully gave him something to think about and look into.
helen-s
2014-06-04 07:27:17
I was being stubborn yesterday (I know, shocking). I was at the intersection near the end of the jail trail. A friend and I were in the travel lane waiting to make a left turn onto 2nd ave (I hate using the chute). It was 5:30pm and the traffic was heavy so we had been waiting there for a while. One of the UPMC shuttle vans approached from our right and waited for a break in the traffic to make a left turn to go into the lot. When a break occurred the van driver started to turn immediately, without letting us make our turn first. It would have been nice for her to let us out first, but she didn’t. As she started the turn she realized that we were too far forward for her to complete the turn without the van hitting us, so she emphatically motioned for us to move. I would not! She sat there blocking two lanes of traffic for a while getting very angry that I wouldn’t move for her. She kept inching forward and I held my ground. She eventually passed with the van's rear wheel missing my front wheel by about 3 inches. Boy do I wish I had a helmet cam. I know I was being a dick, but there was plenty of opportunity for her to let us make our turn in front of her which would have opened up the street to let her make her turn, but she didn’t. She caused the conflict not us – Fu*k you!
marko82
2014-06-04 08:34:42
Commercial drivers are uniquely vulnerable to complaints about their driving. All the information you need is right there on the truck, bus, or van. Just call up their employer and complain.
jonawebb
2014-06-04 08:42:07
Yesterday while going north on S Negley between Ellsworth and Centre, only a few yards past Ellsworth, a silver Nissan Altima with plate FDR-1233, behind me, laid on the horn and then revved the engine, accelerating past me aggressively and within only a few inches of me (I was all the way over on the right). There were cars coming the opposite direction and he didn't have the space to pass, but that didn't stop him from going out of his way to try to kill me.
maxg47
2014-06-04 10:02:33
I updated the Dangerous Drivers thread on the Wiki. You might consider filing a police report, or at least calling 911. Might make a difference to someone if the asshole eventually injures or kills someone.
jonawebb
2014-06-04 10:40:36
I've started a hobby of trying to memorize the PA Vehicle Code. The four-foot rule is § 3303. Overtaking vehicle on the left. (a) General rule.--The following rules shall govern the overtaking and passing of vehicles proceeding in the same direction, subject to the limitations, exceptions and special rules stated in this chapter: (3) The driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a pedalcycle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left of the pedalcycle within not less than four feet at a careful and prudent reduced speed. More reason why I think a 25-question written exam is needed for each Class C renewal, focusing on changes in the law. At the very least, a website with a mock exam should be linked from the PennDOT website. And for those who don't have (easy) web access, a paper copy of all exam questions, and an answer key, to be mailed to any state resident upon request, free of charge.
stuinmccandless
2014-06-04 14:45:14
The 4 foot law may give a prosecutor a specific law to use but it's irrelevant to educating most of the drivers indicated in this thread. The kind of driver that buzzes you on purpose isn't going to follow the traffic code. I would also argue that the behavior falls under both assault and reckless driving and doesn't need it's own law.
andyc
2014-06-04 16:57:37
I got buzzed yesterday twice on the way to work. Both times seemed like deliberate harassment to me. I got a license plate for Silver Jeep SUV, PA JJA-8319. I couldn't find anything on this plate with google, but maybe this thread will change that. I was going down 5th Ave from Oakland to the bridge, when this guy passed within maybe a foot of me, going at a rate considerably over the 35 mph speed limit. Typical of his ilk.
mick
2014-06-04 20:58:16
Isn't the limit 25 there Mick? I didn't think it ever went back to 35 after neville or craig or wherever it switches.
salty
2014-06-05 01:10:25
@ Salty, I should check that next time I go down the street. Not that it matters, much. This guy - and most other drivers on the hill there - go considerably faster than either speed, with no threat of law enforcement.
mick
2014-06-05 01:48:42
True, they might as well not even bother putting the signs up. I heard there was some kind of "enforcement blitz" on Beechwood the other week, I wonder how many tickets they wrote and how many days they stuck with it. I'll set the over/under at 1 for both.
salty
2014-06-05 01:53:30
A manchild almost knocked me to the ground with some kind of monster truck monstrosity on this lovely morning. Super cool. This was in Millvale, of course, on North Avenue. Plate # JMT 9142 or JMT 9124
callahan
2014-06-05 07:28:54
Friday the 13th with a full moon... I had more bad driver interactions today than I think I've had for the whole month. The best was when a driver passed me as I was stopped at a stop sign on a side street waiting for a break in traffic to turn left (which did not have a stop sign) . Brilliant!
marko82
2014-06-13 17:29:34
This doesn't involve a dangerous driver, but I didn't think it warranted a new thread. I had an angry confrontation today with a couple walking their dog leashless in Frick Park. I feel kind of bad about it, but it all happened in the heat of the moment. I was just casually riding the main walking trails and not doing crazy mountain biking and coming out of nowhere from the woods. Like most people walking their dogs, there was a leashless one up ahead of me, urinating to the side of the path. I moved over the other side, and gave the animal plenty of room between us. I guess I surprised him because as I passed, he jumped right in front of my bike and I had to slam the brakes and take a spill. I was going pretty slow, luckily (probably no faster than a decent runner) so neither I nor the dog was hurt. What pissed me off was the owner was about 20 feet ahead and not even paying attention to the dog. After I got back up and passed him, I say to him, "It must be nice being above the leash rules." The guy goes ballistic and tells me to stop my bike so he can kick my ass. Thankfully there were other witnesses around (though they were walking their dogs leashless too, so maybe they wouldn't have been fair if this altercation ever had to be recounted on record). So I stop my bike, because I'm pretty confident that he wasn't going to physically hit me with other people around. I was totally willing to talk it out. He rushes up to me and when he gets to my face, he makes a move like he is going to strike me to make me flinch or maybe try to get me to hit first. Again, I was feeling pretty confident in what he would or wouldn't do, so I didn't move and just stared him down. We exchanged some angry words with each other, and then I told him if he kept threatening me, I'm calling the police. And so on and so on, I got out of there pretty quick because I didn't want to risk him seeing me on his drive home and taking revenge. So, what are everyone's thoughts? I know there are rules against walking dogs leashless, but the reality of the matter is most people ignore it. As a cyclist, I tolerate them and just try to get past them without any incident. This time was just a bad situation that got even worse. Anyways, rant over. I guess a high number of leashless dogs is just a reality that I have to accept.
atown
2014-06-18 18:57:38
Some dogs off leash are very well trained, and ignore pretty much everyone on the path. Other dogs who are off leash will run full force off the sidewalk into traffic to "get" the bike. Bad owner, bad! Also, did UPMC change their employee shuttle route lately? I see one every day on Neville between Joncaire and Fifth. The first encounter was an aggressive pass (gave me four feet though) around a blind turn, forcing oncoming traffic to slam on the brakes. This morning, the driver actually understood my out stretched palm "stop sign" and avoided another head-on thread at the same curve. I even got a friendly toot of the horn and wave. I think he may be more careful for a while at least.
mattjackets
2014-06-19 08:45:02
@atown, I think leash laws will never be fully enforced, same as most speed limits. Perhaps you could have nudged some contrition out of the owner by opening with "Your dog made me crash. Maybe you should keep him on a leash?" But this belligerent dog owner's behavior is inexcusable. Public parks are for everyone, not just this jerk and his dog. As you pedaled away, a good rejoinder would have been "Hey dog! Next time you go out, put a leash on that lunkhead!"
paulheckbert
2014-06-19 09:35:34
I'd recommend treating dogs like blind, unpredictable pedestrians and go pretty slow around them. Leashed dogs would be nice. It's kind of a shared space though and its not quite a thoroughfare
sgtjonson
2014-06-19 11:41:54
> Leashed dogs would be nice. It’s kind of a shared space though and its not quite a thoroughfare It sure would be nice. It's also the law.
§ 473.05 (b) …Dogs are not permitted in parks, except when held on leash and under the control of the owner or other person having the dog in charge.… No dog or other domestic animal shall be permitted to be at large, except in areas specifically designated by the Director as Off Leash Exercise Areas (See City Code at 633.22), and any owner or person in charge of the animal shall be responsible for the control thereof.
In fact, it's law multiple times over:
§ 633.08 … No person, whether as owner or person in possession, shall permit his or her dog to run at large…. A dog shall be restrained by the use of a leash, or a chain not exceeding six (6) feet in length, at all times when upon public places, streets and parks [except at an OLEA under 633.22].
epanastrophe
2014-06-19 12:14:53
A very rarely enforced law.
atown
2014-06-19 12:49:28
Dog owners put us to shame when it comes to disobeying the law. When animal control tries to enforce the leash law, they send the word out to each other. Next time, call Edgar: http://www.edgarsnyder.com/dog-bite/
jonawebb
2014-06-19 13:07:55
@atown Frick is really bad. I don't mind and can co-exist with those dogs off leash that are under verbal control, like mattjackets noted. That said, I've also seen some bad owners who let their dog menace kids in Frick, then blamed the kid. I thought it was a $300 fine, or something.
ka_jun
2014-06-19 15:30:30
Riding in the bike lane on Liberty outbound just before the Bloomfield bridge I hear a *honk* and an engine rev, as I move into the green section of the lane he pulls on to the entrance ramp screaming obscenities and generally ranting and raving towards me. I shrugged and gave him a confused look like, are you talking to me? He sped off on to the bridge. To be perfectly clear, traffic was backed up in the travel lane and I was riding in the bike lane. This is a similar situation to the last incident I had here where the driver was so pissed that he floored it on to the ramp and ran his car into the jersey barrier.
rsprake
2014-06-24 07:57:41
Relevant to dangerous drivers: PITTSBURGH, PA (June 11, 2014) – Mayor William Peduto and acting Public Safety Director Stephen A. Bucar today announced the upcoming public phases of the city’s search for a new Pittsburgh Police chief, including six public meetings and a site for online remarks. …“This is going to be a public outreach directly to the people of Pittsburgh asking them what they want in a police chief,” Mayor Peduto said. …Throughout the summer, Public Safety Councils in all six of Pittsburgh’s policing zones will hold forums to provide residents with the opportunity to be involved in the process of selecting a chief. A full list of meetings is below. During these community forums, residents in each zone will have the opportunity to share their ideas about how to improve policing in Pittsburgh, identify their priorities, and suggest the qualities they believe are essential in the new chief. …Mindmixer is a site for encouraging and collecting community input on civic issues. Those interested in the search for a police chief may log on to http://pittsburghpa.mindmixer.com/ and answer three general questions: - What priorities does your community need the new Chief of Police to address? - What qualities and skills does your community need the new Chief of Police to have? - What can you and others in your community do to help realize the vision of policing in partnership with the community? more info: http://pittsburghpa.gov/mayor/release?id=3168
paulheckbert
2014-06-25 11:47:23
Note also that the first of said public meetings is tomorrow, 6/26 at 6pm, at the Teamster Temple in Lawrenceville (on Butler St near the cemetery).
epanastrophe
2014-06-25 11:51:42
Two major pain incidents within the last two weeks on Forbes avenue coming back from Oakland. Both times I am LEGALLY in the sharrow lane staying away from the door zone while keep the SAME SPEED as traffic. The first time a old geezer jumps in the other lane with traffic coming in that lane. I am going the same speed as the car ahead of me. He then jumps back into my lane honking at me for cycling 100% legal almost hitting me. Then at the red light of Forbes and Wightman he whips me off and tells me I shouldn't be in the lane. I told him if he didn't understand PA's driving laws and what a sharrowed lane is for then he shouldn't be driving. Also the man was probably 75+. This man endangered my life with little regard that he could have carelessly jumped back into the lane I was legally in hitting me causing a three year old to grow up without a father. This 2 extra seconds must be important in the last years of his life. At this age this man should not be handling an automobile having to make quick decisions that he obviously is unable to handle. What really ticked me off is him insulting me and telling me I had no right to be cycling legally as the law requires. I have a picture of his licence plate. It was a Silver Chrysler Sebring; GFY-4888. This guy is very ignorant about the law, will put people's life in danger, has no regard for other people, and should not have a license. Then the same thing happened today again. Same location; Forbes avenue, Squirrel Hill, Eastbound out of Oakland where it goes downhill to Wightman. This time a grayhair, obese fat angry man honking in his SUV, fists waiving out the window, cursing me out for now speeding down in a door zone and cycling in a sharrow lane. He then got violent and tried to run me off the road almost hitting me. I am still majorly pissed over this guy. This guy unlike the first one was high on major masculinity issues. He was raging and ranting and honking at everything in his way. Has to be angry about something. This type of stuff makes me want to leave yinzer land and hit the west.
shooflypie
2014-07-06 13:04:25
ShooFlyPie, I pass through that area daily and I eventually altered my route to take Darlington to bypass those couple intersections. You can access it very easily from the Schenley Drive golf course. It lets you get to Wightman/Murray very quickly with minimal interaction with cars.
atown
2014-07-07 07:54:35
Keep in mind that biking in Frick is technically prohibited by a city ordinance. Or at least it was quite recently. I know that getting that unenforced ordinance changed was a priority for years among bike advocacy groups. I don't know if it was ever changed. I ride in Frick all the time and try to be extra slow and courteous around other trail users on the wide crushed limestone trails. While it might be their fault for not leashing their dog or running unpredictably while using headphones, avoiding confrontation is still best. In other parts of the country, park user conflicts have gotten so adversarial that bikes have been banned from some parks and trails or trail systems. My best encounter recently was a dog walker who screamed at me that my bike bell didn't mean she was going to jump out of my way. I had to calmly explain to her that ringing the bell from afar was to prevent startling her or her dog, and that I always pass slowly and with courtesy. She wasn't buying it that day but when not in the heat of the moment, she probably felt guilty.
dfiler
2014-07-07 15:26:12
See this old thread. The city updated their park rules, which currently say
Ride bicycles on a paved vehicular road, or path designated for that purpose. A bicyclist is permitted to wheel or push a bicycle by hand over any grassy area or wooded trail or on any paved area reserved for pedestrian use.
steven
2014-07-07 15:59:48
Thanks for the update. That's good news.
dfiler
2014-07-07 17:06:17
I was t-boned wednesday afternoon by a driver who seemed genuinely apologetic (with the excuse that they're not medically fit to drive). They made a left into shadyside hospital parking lot without yielding to oncoming traffic. I'm surprisingly injury free. The jag in this photo immediately started inciting drivers in adjacent cars to get out and attack me. He called 911 screaming that there was a bike bike blocking traffic. UPMC security came out and threatened me to leave or else... And the requested mob started to form. I rode away and was harassed by rusty SUVs all the way to cmu along Ellsworth. Pretty messed up. And sad that the mob was dominated by people crazy because they're so badly hit by the economy that they can't afford food with vitamin-b in it, and those angry because they're too fat to reach their own genitals. Yay Pittsburgh!
devohelmetguy
2014-07-11 17:12:48
Mercedes, dark blue or gray, some sort of special plate DO87. I was riding in the right lane of Forbes Avenue westbound between the end of the bike lane and South Dallas Avenue when the driver sped past me leaving less than four feet of space. He was driving aggressively. 7/16/2014 at approximately 7:30 AM.
mjost7
2014-07-16 11:26:36
On Sunday a car passed me with < 2 feet clear (I could easily have touched the car, almost with an extended elbow) just north of Penn on Dallas (i.e., when it goes from bike lane to sharrow). I gestured as the car passed for it to give me more space (I tend to put my left arm out, palm outward, and push it away, then hold up 4 fingers). Immediately after that *another* guy came by with even less clearance. All of that rush was to get to a red light at Thomas, so I pulled up to his open window and we had the following (paraphrased and abridged) exchange: Sir, you are legally obliged to give me 4 feet. I'm not going to pull out into oncoming traffic to pass you. Then you have to stay behind me. Don't tell me how to operate my vehicle. I'm telling you the law. Then I will hit you (with my car). I don't have plate numbers. He was actually not animated -- kind of matter of fact. Aside from just reporting the incident, I wonder whether his treat rises to threatened assault with a deadly weapon?
neilmd
2014-07-17 13:54:02
Not blaming the victim (you), but in that situation (bike lane turns into sharrowed narrow single lane) I would take the lane. That's the safest thing to do. I don't know if it's threatened assault, but I do know you have 0 chance of getting any legal action on this. Also, I would put any intersection where that happened on a "Jon Webb road diet." Which means I take the lane there. Based on your experience, that intersection is now on a Jon Webb road diet.
jonawebb
2014-07-17 14:03:47
I did partially take the lane, in the sense that I had a good safe buffer -- as a consequence I had plenty of space to squeeze over when this happened. My sense is that they would have gone around me unless I was less than a car's width from the LEFT curb... I do not generally get over the the far left of the lane as has been discussed in various threads unless the street or conditions are dangerous enough for me to need to actively block a car from trying to pass. An example of that would be Hobart coming up from Murray where it curves to the right near the playground. On that rising curve, I ride very near the double yellow in case some idiot even starts to think that passing around a blind curve would be a good idea. However, on a straight such as Dallas north of Penn, I give a door and change to parked cars or 4' to the curb and expect cars to obey the law. There are various flavors of "take", but I never give up a safety margin.
neilmd
2014-07-17 18:01:25
Very close pass by a guy driving in a blue/black Nissan, PA license plate HVB-9751 (caught with Fly6 camera)
rgrasmus
2014-07-23 08:31:53
I was walking under the Parkway in Sq Hill to cut onto Beechwood in Greenfield. I see a cyclist taking that lane that you turn left onto to get to Homestead. He's going fast, has lights, but a car behind him speeds really fast up to a few inches behind him and then slams its brakes at the last second. I think, "Oh crap, this person really hates cyclists! Better get the license plate in case something happens." So I jog up a little bit and it turns out not to be some angry person raging against the cyclist but a teenager texting on her phone and not paying attention. I think I would have preferred an anti-cyclist.
atown
2014-08-06 09:37:42
I've read second-hand on facebook that there was a red pickup truck yesterday on Butler St that was "rolling coal" on a cyclist and city bus.
rgrasmus
2014-08-08 10:12:32
Today, ~5pm, Broad in E. Liberty. Next to the Target. Red coupe. Passenger throws a full (plastic) bottle of pop at me. Misses. I get annoyed and speed up, to catch up with them at the ELB light. Made a show of pulling out my phone and taking a photo. Driver gets nervous, cuts across lane and speeds off on ELB towards Penn. I didn't get a pic and didn't bother trying to memorize the tag. It seemed enough to demonstrate that bikers react non-passively and will cause you grief if you attack them. Ideally the driver yelled at his passenger about almost getting him in trouble.
ahlir
2014-08-11 19:03:04
The belligerent driver of a teal and white Chevrolet pickup truck (late 80s?), Ohio license plate FQD 3191 yelled "get off the fuckin' road!" at us, on Crane Ave at Beechview Ave, in the South Hills, 2014/8/16.
paulheckbert
2014-08-17 14:25:05
Coming in off the Smithfield Bridge Downtown, some dude was reading the paper as he drove. Should've taken a pic...really egregious behavior.
ka_jun
2014-08-19 10:36:04
Green Kia Soul plate - JJT 1792. Riding down Commercial St at 3:15pm. Jag couldn't wait 50 feet for me to get to the stop sign. Honked horn and drove straight into oncoming traffic instead. Smart move.
sarapgh2
2014-08-19 14:55:07
I swear i'm not a jerk, you might think I am until you get to the middle, so if you read please read the whole thing... Yesterday afternoon I was riding down the bike lane on Saline Street towards Panther Hollow. Since it randomly ends, I took the road the rest of the way. There was a guy turning around in the street who backed out in front of me. A little annoyed, I stayed behind him. He stopped at the stop sign and sat there for what seemed like a few seconds, so I assumed he was lost or something and trying to figure out where he was so I just rode out to the right of him, stopped at the stop sign, looked both ways, and then.... when I looked in the direction of his car, his window was down and him and his wife were both looking at me. DISCLAIMER: I HAD KIND OF A ROUGH DAY SO I WASN'T IN A VERY APOLOGETIC MOOD. Belligerent guy: "Hey why aren't you riding on them trails we made for you?" When people are completely ignorant like this I tend to respond in kind. His "us vs. them" mentality really irked me too. Sadly, I probably would have given this guy directions if had asked me. Me (pointing to the ground): "Because I am riding on this road." ... The reason I'm posting this is because of what happened now. That's all I said to him. My entire contribution to this dialogue was "because I am riding on this road". I'm assuming I beat him in the rhetoric category because the only thing he could do after this was start calling me an "asshole". I started riding away, and his wife leans out of the window and screams "YOU BETTER WATCH YOUR ASS YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE". OK. That's why I posted... yeah, I'm still laughing about it but when people threaten me like that I take it to heart. So, I did my loop through the Schenley Park (ironically on 'them trails they made for us'), and decided to come back down Saline to see if I could snap a picture of his license plate to share with the group. If you made it this far, this is the most ridiculous part of the whole ordeal. His car was parked there, right outside of the Italian restaurant! I am assuming these two shameless people were going out to dinner, completely lost it on me right in front of where they were going, and walked in like nothing was wrong. By the time his wife was screaming he was stopping to park. I am honestly ashamed for them.... yelling at someone on the road while you're driving is a little more ephemeral, but these two had no problem causing a scene right in front of a restaurant that's typically pretty crowded, and then walking in to said restaurant with no shame. The end. PS - what's the protocol there? Should I have taken that trail? I was on a road bike.. i've always taken the road.. not sure if I'm in the wrong? Cheers. Mike
mscalamogna
2014-08-22 08:23:34
You're talking about the point where Saline makes a near-right turn, right? The trail goes off into the park and the road goes towards Acorn St. I would have taken the trail, but only because I like getting as far away as possible from cars. And I think Saline is pretty wide there so, legally, I think you're supposed to stay to the right (opinions differ, the law is worded strangely). BTW, the road bike / trail bike distinction seems a little strange here. The trail is smooth asphalt. Surely it's OK to ride a road bike on a paved asphalt trail.
jonawebb
2014-08-22 08:33:53
mscalamogna, you are ok to be on the road. Unless there's a sign that explicitly indicates that you have to be on trail, you can ride on the road. Yesterday, I was doing a recon ride of the Pedal PGH route through the city and had a couple of minor incidents. First one was making a left turn from East Liberty Blvd to Hamilton Ave. I was in first position at that traffic light and it was red. When it turned green, I thought about making that left but saw that another cyclist was coming the other way going straight and I gave right of way to him. The motorist who was behind proceeded to yell and honk at me. I didn't bother to note any information since I wasn't buzzed or anything, but I did have to keep an LOL to myself when I turned back and saw that it was an obese, angry driver. I just thought, "well, there's something you don't see every day (sarcasm)". In any case she sped right past me once I was on Hamilton.. only for me to catch up to her at the next red light. The other "incident" occurred as I was going up Dallas Ave. A driver decided to pass me so it could make a right turn less than 100ft ahead. As I prepared myself to get right-hooked, the driver reconsidered, stopped ahead of me and waited for me to ride by. No harm, no foul here, just odd how that worked out.
chrishent
2014-08-22 08:53:32
I've been called an asshole rather recently in a different new bike lane situation. There was a car I saw pull into the lane ahead of me and park. I knocked on the window and said, matter of fact but not rudely, "No parking here, bike lane". The guy look a little annoyed but says "ok". I saw "thanks, have a nice day", not sugary, but not sarcastic... OK was a pretty good response. Nothing that registered as unusual. I bike on, cross left toward schenley drive slow, and make my left and he blows by on the right yelling, "full stop asshole!" inadvertently illustrating one of the reasons that's an intersection I never stop at if clear (people like to speed over that bridge, granted it's usually more of a problem with cars coming the other way around the the right hand turn with shorter sight lines, but it's the same thing... drivers going too fast so things work more smoothly and safely if you clear the intersection quickly).
byogman
2014-08-22 09:30:08
Jonawebb - it was the corner of Saline and Frazier street. He was headed to Big Jim's on The Run. I'm not making a distinction between a road bike and a trail bike... there is a curb there that I'm not going to jump over to get onto the trail regardless of the bike. I went out of the bike lane when it ended and got onto the right hand side of the Saline heading towards Boundary Street.
mscalamogna
2014-08-22 10:33:29
There's not really a corner there, though it looks that way on the map. Frazier is overhead. I apologize in advance for pointing it out, but if you'd said, "I'm going to the trails -- I just didn't want to have to jump over the curb back there," things might have gone differently. Their reaction was extreme, but, well, you were getting in their way to have a beer at Big Jim's. Some folks really don't like that. But you didn't do anything wrong that I can see. Maybe they'd just been reading Internet comments about cyclists.
jonawebb
2014-08-22 11:24:57
mscalamogna, you didn't do anything wrong. Sounds like you handled it much better than I would have. That's all I'm going to say.
edmonds59
2014-08-23 07:37:26
This does bring up an issue I have been wondering about specifically related to those two new bike lanes. When are we required to use them? The answer is above I believe - if a sign says so, but where are the signs ( how frequent etc). For example the lanes on Schenley drive near Phipps and over the bridge if I am going down Frew and taking a right toward Oakland, especially at the speeds I generally adopt. My reaction is that the Oakland bound bike lane way over on the left-hand side of the street is kind of pretty but hard enough to get over to that I'll just stay in the regular traffic lane. I'm sure that is going to generate some snark from drivers at some point.
neilmd
2014-08-23 09:04:20
I would prefer to think of the bike lanes as an option for bikers who would hesitate to ride alongside cars. And it's an excellent way to keep them off the sidewalks, leaving those to the pedestrians. In any case, let's see what happens at the three-way intersection. Signals? That would work for me, especially outbound. (And again, is there really no public posting of the plans? As a taxpayer, blah blah-blah I demand blah blah...)
ahlir
2014-08-23 09:35:06
Just as a reminder: And, my friends, in this story you have a history of this entire movement. First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you. -- Nicholas Klein. Third Biennial Convention of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (1918) [sometimes attributed to M. Gandhi] I would like to believe that bicyclists fit into this pattern. So relax. Let them yell if they want. We're already well into the monuments phase (i.e. the dedicated bike lanes).
ahlir
2014-08-23 09:54:49
NYC has a law that cyclists are required to use bike lanes, if they are usable, but leaves usable up to the cyclist and, probably, the cop. So cyclists do get tickets there for not using the bike lanes, sometimes. We don't have a law like that here.
jonawebb
2014-08-23 10:23:24
The lanes up and down the avenues are relatively nice and, on the whole, you probably want to stick to them given what's typically going on in the car lanes. I can accept that bikes might be penalized for wandering into traffic. But we're talking about Pittsburgh. In front of Phipps.
ahlir
2014-08-23 13:09:02
There is no requirement to use the bike lanes. There used to be one, but it was repealed in 1998. For myself, I will use the bike lanes where it makes sense to, but where or when it does not make sense to, I will use the regular traffic lanes. In practice: It makes sense to use the chute instead of Second Avenue, transitioning to the bike lane on Saline. I have already had three or four opportunities to use it. OTOH I have yet to encounter any of the others, since I rarely go that way. My Critical Mass ride next Friday will try to employ the Penn Avenue lane, whatever state it is in by that evening.
stuinmccandless
2014-08-23 15:09:00
There is every bit as much of a reason to be a defensive, polite cyclist as a defensive polite driver - in fact rather more. That reminds me I have to get my insurance info to the ambulance company... Not infrequently that includes politely and defensively taking a lane and moving rather quickly. I use the chute coming toward CMU if I am going up Panther hollow but 2nd ave if I'm going up Greenfield Ave. I never use it inbound. Too narrow and I get to the turnoff quickly enough.
neilmd
2014-08-23 18:58:16
I was thinking about drivers telling cyclists they had to use the bike lanes would be just like telling drivers they had to use the highway to get anywhere. Or both parties could use normal roads if they chose to.
helen-s
2014-08-24 20:22:36
Hey Folks, just arrived to work today, had a run in I would like to follow up with. Does anyone know how to dermine who I should contact regarding an individual with a Municipal Plate? Verona Road this morning, guy made a dangerous pass, illegal, close pass on a blind curve, which started a bit of a debate as to the laws, rights, etc. I would really like contact whomever is this fella's supervisor and make him aware of how he is driving that car we are funding..... Any help wpuld be appreciated. Len
lenk42602
2014-08-25 07:41:39
I would start by reporting it to 911. They might have ideas on who else you should talk to. But a 911 report will grab people's attention.
jonawebb
2014-08-25 07:56:51
Municipality would be Penn Hills, right?
lenk42602
2014-08-25 08:27:43
Yes
jonawebb
2014-08-25 08:35:12
New to the board. I was involved in a verbal altercation at the bottom of Greenfield Ave where it meets the chute. Coming back from town I walk over the tracks then make a left from Saline? to go up Greenfield hill on the sidewalk. Waiting to make a left (oncoming traffic) a woman was coming toward me (toward panther hollow) with her phone out recording me. She scolded me stating I was required to be in the bike lane. I told her not only was that not the law, but it would be incredibly unsafe and impractical as I would have to make a left across traffic going the same way as me to go up the hill (whether by street or sidewalk). Of course she did not buy it, we went back and forth and I finally told her it was against the law to drive and shoot video out her window and that it was illegal to block traffic at an intersection. She stated she was not blocking, then people started honking at her. Of course, I lost my cool and gave her some choice words as she left. But it is clear that some people do not appreciate the bike lanes (though they were not paid for by local taxpayers) nor do they understand the laws. I was mystified at how dense she was.
ultimate5
2014-08-25 12:33:54
Welcome to the board. As I said a few posts up, yes there used to be a requirement to ride in a bike lane, if present, but it was repealed a long time ago.
stuinmccandless
2014-08-25 13:00:38
I encounter a lot of "bike haters" in the run. Several time I seen people trying to police cyclists on Saline from the Panther Hollow trail to the Jail trail there. Typically overweight and mad that others are out enjoying life and transportation without a large over-glorified rascal requiring gas. I have had several times people trying to scold me from their vehicle for doing something not even illegal and not even impeding traffic, but just being a cyclist in the lane. Such as an old man who was trying to pass me in a sharrowed lane while I was doing the same speed downhill as traffic and shot back into my lane as an oncoming car was heading towards him. He then whipped me off after almost hitting me! I was pissed. I argued the laws and even explained what sharrowed lanes where for and the old geezer wouldn't hear it. I doubt the old man could even see the painted sharrows and was from the generation that can't go obtain a gallon of milk without needing a large hunk of giant metal operated by gas. When I realize I am dealing with an unreasonable imbecile that's when I go to step two which is the immature and ridiculous step; make fun of their weight, intellect, and small dick trucks or pointless status cars. Anyways, I use to cross the tracks. I just go down the street and avoid the chute and tracks all together. If it is rush hour making a left onto second and going up Greenfield Ave is just as easy anymore.
shooflypie
2014-08-25 13:01:06
Update on my situation. I got a hold of the Sargeant of the Penn Hills Police Department. I conveyed the scenario, and that a municpal plat-ed vehicle was operated by an individual violating chapter 33 of the pa municipal code, sections 3303 (1.,2., 3.), all of section 3305, ans section 3306 (1., 3.). The Sargeant was actually quite attentive, agreed with the fact hat while most motorists think they know what the laws, they actually do not. He also explained that he injured a cyclist by opening a door without checking first. Due to pa law, he was held responsible. he explained he rides mountain bikes, and also rides motorcycles, and understands how challenging it can be driving two wheel vehicles in general. He took the plate number, said he would call me back once he finds out who was driving the vehicle. Not bad though. I will say he did mention bicyclists running stop signs and intersections - I agreed with him that those that do so are no real help to our collective image. just peacefully wanna ride towork every day and not have my life threatened due to jagoffs. Len
lenk42602
2014-08-25 13:15:47
Bottle thrown at me from somebody I didn't even cross. They went out of their way to do so. Coming home from the Jail Trail. I can't stand the montrosity of bike infrastructure called the chute. Traffic is light, so I go to 2nd ave and make a left. All cars in the left heading to Greenfield are clear, and there is a white SUV in the right lane for Irvine St. in the right, but ways down. I get in the left lane and head to the light waiting behind other cars. I am minding my own business and stay to the right as the light turns green while cars kindly pass me on the left to go up Gfield. The SUV catches up 30 seconds later at the intersection in the lane next to me and a white Neanderthal looking guy in his early 20s chucks a bottle out at me. There was a group of un-evolved looking dudes all chuckling like they just accomplished something super badass. I had little time as I was heading up Gfield and they turned right in the other lane down Irvine. While they drove off I got a good couple of insults out about how he threw like a wimp along with a Bill Hicks sounding imitation of hillbillies. It probably all sounded like mindless dribble though in the moment. Anyways, what a big man. Throw a bottle out of the comfort of your own SUV while driving the other way and escaping like a coward. Big man he is. I wish I had a helmet cam. I could capture the plate as throwing something out of your car is clearly a misdemeanor assault or thrown projectiles out of a moving vehicle or something like that.
shooflypie
2014-08-30 12:22:14
EXT 5562 - bright blue Saturn or Subaru wagon. twelve inch pass on a wide open Butler St near Fisk.
epanastrophe
2014-09-01 08:08:23
I am just wondering, why would you allow a pass on Butler St near Fisk? Were you not just taking the lane? I see so many people hug door zones on Butler allowing cars to pass closely to them squeezing them between moving cars and parked cars. I just take the lane on this section of Butler. Then again, maybe that's why I get objects thrown at me. Anyways, who cares of my opinion on this pretentious forum..
shooflypie
2014-09-02 07:07:23
We're pretentious? I hasten to disagree. We disagree on a bunch of things, but I don't think anyone here is trying to pretend to be anything we're not. We're brutally honest at times, occasionally snarky, not politically correct fairly often, mad as hell every once in a while, but not pretentious. Yes, take the lane. Particularly on Butler. If you get something thrown at you, take down a plate number and call 911. I know buffalo^2 personally; he is not a curb rider, and not the sort to report things that are out of line with reality. If he said he got a 12" pass, then it happened. Chances are excellent that some jackhole decided to try a pass along there. Precisely the point of this thread, to document such cases, with positive ID where possible.
stuinmccandless
2014-09-02 09:31:17
What makes this group pretentious?
mscalamogna
2014-09-02 09:53:30
The person who referred to folks they encountered on the road as "neanderthal" and "un-evolved" is calling the message board pretentious?
rsprake
2014-09-02 13:24:47
I am just wondering, why would you allow a pass on Butler St near Fisk? Were you not just taking the lane? I see so many people hug door zones on Butler allowing cars to pass closely to them squeezing them between moving cars and parked cars. I just take the lane on this section of Butler.
my post was terse because I was writing from my phone, about two minutes after the incident, and while waiting to meet someone for a ride, so I'm sorry if I didn't provide sufficient detail to appease you, O Great Rider I've Never Met. I was, in fact, taking the lane. Driver waited until just after the 'yield for pedestrians' mini-sign at 43rd, then blasted past having moved over just enough to not actually hit me. He of course caught the red light at 40th, but it changed just before I got there; by the time I did catch up, at 34th, all their windows were up, so I merely took the long way around their car to get to the plaza. (funny how it's possible to describe an incident without resorting to attacks on your perceptions of the physique or intelligence of the individuals involved, isn't it?)
epanastrophe
2014-09-02 14:40:57
Shoofly, I take full credit for things getting thrown at you. Sorry. That said, your post was really lame. If we ever meet in person, remind me to throw something at you as a showing of my appreciation.
headloss
2014-09-02 23:09:13
Wow, I came so close to getting doored on my way home from work, in the bike lane on Beechwood. I was only doing ~10mph but the timing was impeccable and it was over before I had any chance to react - even by the time I yelled "whoa!" It was already too late. Or maybe not, because I think he did stop before the door was completely open; I'm not entirely sure. It was a late-model car, maybe even 4 door, but definitely not some old American boat with huge doors. I gather the dude was talking on the phone or something, and certainly not paying attention. I debated going back to yell at him but decided to let it go and keep riding. Definitely a bit of a "wake up" moment. I thought riding near the left edge of the bike lane was a safe distance. I thought I was pretty good about spotting people in their cars. I probably allowed some "that will never happen to me" to creep into my mind. I was wrong on all counts, and only escaped by luck.
salty
2014-09-03 00:58:21
Thanks for the report. It's a place I also tend to be quite complacent. Good wake up call.
byogman
2014-09-03 07:36:21
This morning I was bombing down S. Neville St. hill past the cloud factory, going over the 25 mph speed limit, when a car still decided to pass me. They at least crossed into the empty opposing lane to give a wide pass, but still...
rgrasmus
2014-09-03 09:13:57
@rgrasmus that's so annoying.. This happens to me every time I ride down Greenfield Road, Greenfield Ave and W. Warrington Ave. All three are downhill and with a little effort you can break the speed limit by at least 5 or 6 mph. However, cars still choose to pass. Maybe it's a depth perception thing? They just assume that the person on the bike is pedaling slower than the speed limit and don't realize it until after they pass? Either way, I'm sorry and that is definitely not a fun way to start your day.
mscalamogna
2014-09-03 09:54:22
No, people just drive fast. Try going the speed limit in your car: you still get passed, or you collect a convoy behind you.
ahlir
2014-09-03 11:40:17
Maybe we shouldn't let drivers use the roads until they learn to follow the laws?
mick
2014-09-03 12:09:53
Oh, I also forgot to mention the DPW truck that followed me the entire length of the Junction Hollow Trail as a shortcut
rgrasmus
2014-09-03 12:49:43
"This morning I was bombing down S. Neville St. hill past the cloud factory, going over the 25 mph speed limit, when a car still decided to pass me. They at least crossed into the empty opposing lane to give a wide pass, but still…" I've always wondered why this road was never sharrowed, despite the fact that it's one of the most used roads for cyclists connecting from the east end to the jail trail.
benzo
2014-09-03 15:00:24
Sharrows can't fix stupid, whose Venn diagram with impatience, cockiness, horsepower, and bike hate, involves a lot of overlap.
stuinmccandless
2014-09-03 15:16:02
I had one very angry truck pass me on the section of S. Neville just south of 5th. (Going south.)
andyc
2014-09-03 15:20:57
When I rode down Beeler St. daily I'd have someone pass me while I was doing 25-30 (in a 25 zone) at least once a month, despite the fact I would hug the double-yellow to deter them. The really dumb ones would pass me in the "kink" which you can't really see around due to trees. Now I get passed daily while doing 25-30 down Beechwood to 5th, while riding in/near the bike lane. And I've had plenty of idiots get pissed at me for leaving the bike lane, even when landscaping trucks are blocking it (which also happens many times a week). The absolute cake, though, is the asshole who passed me on the right on Beechwood (using the bike/parking lane) while I was *driving*! If I were king I'd have undercover bike cops riding down these hills and pulling people over all day long, for as long as it takes. But of course no one dares stand up to the collective whining of drivers about how unfair it is to expect them to drive legally and safely.
salty
2014-09-03 19:56:24
The absolute cake, though, is the asshole who passed me on the right on Beechwood (using the bike/parking lane) while I was *driving*!
This doesn't seem to be a once off event. Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. Today I was driving and stopped at Britton and Ardmore—a no turn on red intersection—when one, then two, then three, people came barreling down the shoulder despite my turn signal, and those of the two cars ahead of me being on. They all turned right on red.
rsprake
2014-09-03 20:52:41
@rgrasmus what makes you think that's a shortcut for the DPW truck? DPW is in charge of park maintenance including emptying trash in the cans along trails.
mjacobpgh
2014-09-03 21:22:55
On another thread, @drewbacca wrote "And please ignore gg, he has a habit of inflammatory posts on here. He fails to realize that this is the reason no one likes him on this forum." And here: "Shoofly, I take full credit for things getting thrown at you. Sorry. That said, your post was really lame. If we ever meet in person, remind me to throw something at you as a showing of my appreciation." The whole pot / kettle thing seems to be a recurring theme.
ericf
2014-09-04 05:19:31
Until bollards are installed on the Penn track I suggest being very careful since I had two cars drive directly down it towards me.
mjacobpgh
2014-09-04 07:32:44
@mjacobPGH I had my Fly6 turned on and I have video of them trailing me the entire length from Boundary St to eventually pass me on Saline St and turn onto Second Ave (presumably towards the DPW building on Swinburne). I wouldn't have said shortcut if the video had shown them making any stops on the trail.
rgrasmus
2014-09-04 08:07:57
Fair enough, that's why I asked.
mjacobpgh
2014-09-04 08:17:24
@ stu Sharrows can’t fix stupid Truth.
mick
2014-09-04 10:03:16
They do make it fun when you catch up to the car though. "OK, so what do YOU think that bicycle stencil in the middle of road means?"
byogman
2014-09-04 10:30:00
They do make it fun when you catch up to the car though. As a pedestrian I had developed a habit of slapping cars on the trunk when they pass too close (especially when they're just done something illegal, say turning the corner during 4-way pedestrian lights). I first got into this habit when trying to cross the street while walking my son to the school-bus stop. Anyway, one time the driver screeched to a halt hopped out of his car and started to scream at me. I ignored it and kept walking (it was Forbes&Murray; felt safe, lotsa people..). But I still do it. Think about it: there's no damage to the car (well, it might smudge the dirt) and it ideally gets the driver worked up, in one way or another. Depending on the temporal proximity this seems like the most reasonable thing to do that can condition driver behavior. Is this the right thing to do? I tend to think of it in terms of creatures like porcupines or skunks: everyone's figured out it's best not to annoy them. (Even though you always catch up to the offending driver's car at the next light, I've more or less given up on politely knocking on the car window and trying to say reasonable things. Those people seem alarmingly unpredictable, when you think about it. I wouldn't necessarily call them sociopaths, though.) Is license plate + 311 the only reasonable thing anymore? What should you do?
ahlir
2014-09-07 19:14:29
I have that same instinct for some stupid reason. Once this dude was mad that I was in his way and wasting his time yet he had the time to abort his right turn, accelerate past me and cut me off to stop me and threaten me. He came charging toward me and I growled at him "YOU GET BACK IN YOUR CAR. GET BACK IN YOUR CAR." and luckily he did.
rsprake
2014-09-08 08:21:08
After 35 miles of Montour Trail Sunday afternoon, I discovered that the airport connector doesn't get you anywhere close enough to the bus back to town, so I rode back down and then up the hill to IKEA. On Park Manor Rd going up the hill, was passed in succession by four cars none of which was more than two feet away, the last of which was barely a foot. This road of course is two lanes wide, and there was nobody in the other lane... (And yes, I was taking the lane... the first might've just been being an idiot, but I'm pretty sure by the fourth, it was deliberate.) I of course caught them all at the light at the top of the hill. Wanted to ask what their prize was for winning the Race to the Red, but couldn't get the words to line up in the right order...
epanastrophe
2014-09-08 13:54:45
The Airport Connector is closed through November 14th. (But when it's open, you can get from there to the 28X bus pretty easily, via the moving walkways and an elevator.) I imagine the following drivers took their cue from the first bad driver. Doing exactly what the driver in front did saves wear on the brain for the remainder of the herd.
steven
2014-09-08 22:33:25
I have found that you can take advantage of this by doing what Grant Peterson recommends (and someone else here also came up with independently) -- ride unpredictably while the cars are still distant. If you wander to the middle of the lane and look like you're barely in control of your bike you can make the first motorist give you more space, and that can lead to a beneficial follow-on effect. Just make sure you're not doing this while a car is really close.
jonawebb
2014-09-09 07:31:58
Maybe a different kind of dangerous driver. Didn't know where else to put this. North Korean propaganda tweeted by @copenhagenize.
jonawebb
2014-09-09 09:02:21
A summer biathlon?
andyc
2014-09-09 09:42:50
A curious Bibiathlon. I love the camo. So hilarious. That might be a screen background right there.
edmonds59
2014-09-09 09:47:41
ZBK-7233, pickup truck, intentional <12" pass, East St at Mt Pleasant. Thirty feet of empty road to his left. Mean sonofabitch.
stuinmccandless
2014-09-10 13:07:20
Just wanted to post this because it was such an excellent example of the madness bicycles induce in some motorists. I was coming down Forbes towards CMU this morning, approaching Beeler, and taking the lane. A motorist entered Forbes behind me, and, after I stopped at the red light at Beeler, switched to the left lane so he could turn right onto Beeler, crossing the lane in front of me while the light was still red. I can't imagine this happening if I was in a car, slow moving or not. Really bizarre. It's beyond not noticing me. It was a deliberate effort to show that I was an inferior road user.
jonawebb
2014-09-14 19:47:43
FWIW, I was on a PAT bus today, inbound on Forbes in the right lane, at a light that had just turned green (at Morewood I think), and a car in the left lane cut in front of the moving bus as it entered the intersection and made a right. The bus driver braked hard and managed not to hit the bad driver's car. While some idiotic driving may be bike-specific, some is universal.
steven
2014-09-14 22:03:33
I was on Hamilton Avenue on Saturday in my car, going slightly above the 25 mile per hour speed limit, and some living piece of human stupidity decides to pass me. So yes indeed, it is indeed universal, don't feel specially put upon, people are assholes, getting behind the wheel of a car just magnifies it.
edmonds59
2014-09-15 12:33:07
Saw two drivers stop at a stop sign and then cutoff a senior citizen trying to cross the road using a cane while they had a 'walk' signal TWO TIMES IN A ROW at friendship circle. I pulled in to the middle of the intersection on my bike and waited for her to safely cross afterwards. WTF Pittsburgh?
benzo
2014-09-16 09:25:20
Not new tan minivan PA JRS-0571. White male driver, mid-20s-mid-30s, thin, very short or buzzed hair. This encounter happened on Thursday 9/18 ~ 6:45 PM. I was on Penn inbound. No cars behind me, I got in the left lane around 17th & Penn in preparation to take the new bike lane. Got the red on 16th & Penn and stopped. Some cars caught up. Light turned green, tan minivan behind me sped up and slowed down - seemed to not know it was left only for cars there. Not a surprise, so I continued into the bike lane. Minivan then cut off cars to illegally go straight and pulled alongside me, matching my speed. Cars behind him started to get pissed because I was probably only doing 12-14 mph. He said something, so I looked over. He was very pale, either drunk, stoned, crazy, or all three. Very glazed-over looking. Very creepy and not blinking. Asked me if I had any Grey Poupon but didn't even grin or laugh. I responded, "Please leave me alone" and hit the brakes hard. He hit his brakes and almost was rear ended. Then he gassed it and we played this weird game from ~13th and Penn until 7th and Penn where he'd slow down, I'd slow more to avoid him, he'd speed up because of angry traffic, etc. He was obviously trying to get closer to me repeatedly, but I wasn't having any of it. He eventually hung a hard fast left on 7th and Penn towards Liberty and I booked it out of town towards home. Nothing overtly aggressive happened, but this guy had my hackles up way way higher than I've ever had them, and I trust my gut feelings. Sadly no helmet cam tonight - I forgot it at work. But keep your eyes open for this creeper and be careful out there.
pinky
2014-09-18 19:11:29
Dude was harassing you. Not just being an aggressive driver. 911
jonawebb
2014-09-18 20:48:32
Pinky that person might have just been some drunk. Asking if you have any Grey Poupon is from some old commercial and meant to be funny. I would have responded, "but of course". Probably harmless, but most likely drunk or stoned. I run into some really drunk people or high people on my commutes, especially if I am on the road at 4:00AM or 1:00AM, which sometimes is my commute time. Heck I have seen someone going the wrong way down Penn Circle laughing and carrying on. Another time I was in my car and someone tried to open my door handle completely drunk. He was asking everyone if he can have a hamburger. Not everyone is out to get us, but it can be pretty scary. Glad you both went on your way, but I have a feeling this person was just trying to be funny.
gg
2014-09-19 09:02:38
A black SUV with plates ansys-pc was driving along the south side trail without a care in the world this evening.
mattjackets
2014-09-25 16:25:00
@mattjackets: The car presumably belongs to an employee of ANSYS (engineering software company based in Southpointe, that I consulted for many years ago). Contact info: http://www.ansys.com/About+ANSYS/ContactsLocations
paulheckbert
2014-09-25 16:31:41
They have an office in Station Square.
stuinmccandless
2014-09-26 12:23:45
Oh my, that makes me worry that driving on the trail could be their normal route. The driver didn't even slow down as he squeezed by me.
mattjackets
2014-09-26 12:44:39
And that's why I keep my keys right handy.
edmonds59
2014-09-27 06:55:21
A van from Allegheny Youth Development buzzed me on the way to work today. I got the plate number and reported it to the employer. The van buzzed me on the Blvd of the Allies. I passed the van on Craft, he passed me on 5th, then I passed them again at 5th and Kirkpartick. I thought about stopping at the Kirpatrick light to tell the driver what he was doing wrong, but I didn't. I did, however, point out to their employer that they did not save any time at all by passing me. Felt good.
mick
2014-10-02 10:33:15
"A few familiar names in this report:" Yeah, I love how the crawl at the bottom of the screen made me look like I was mowing down crossing guards on my bike. I'm really hoping that the report wakes PAT up to what their drivers are doing and that they're being watched. Additionally, the reporter started this investigation BEFORE the roll-down-the-hill bus drag racing thing happened.
rustyred
2014-10-03 09:54:18
Imagine if they did the same kind of story on drivers who aren't driving buses! I'm sure their advertisers would never go for that.
salty
2014-10-03 10:21:08
Marko82, PAT must have some great attorneys. I think those settlements are really low to the point it is hard to believe.
gg
2014-10-03 10:52:46
I believe the maximum payout per incident is limited to $250K. Not per person, per incident. So if 10 people are hurt in one incident, we're talking an average $25K/person. I believe this is state law. I'm too lazy at the moment to look up the statute.
stuinmccandless
2014-10-03 11:33:37
@rr, you should post that screen grab in the wheelset-of-fortune thread - the theme is "walls"
marko82
2014-10-03 11:56:01
I hooked up my front camera this morning, at long last, and rode into work. Hardly two miles down the road, I get an intentional close pass by a black sedan, HP (handicapped) 48098. I was well to the right, and the four cars that preceded him had no problems with my presence. I issue my industrial strength "YO!!" and of course, the guy gets caught in traffic 100 yards ahead. His window was down, so I engaged him in conversation about the four-foot law. He wasn't having it. I got the earful about needing to get a driver's license and a tag and insurance. I will upload the video later.
stuinmccandless
2014-10-07 14:49:11
Dark blue 4x4, license ZCV 9101 passed me with inches to spare at 5:25pm on Darlington between Schenley Drive and Darlington. He had plenty of space to move left but I guess simply chose not to. Thanks to Stu for the idea to yell out his license plate at him to help me remember.
bk7j
2014-10-07 16:46:04
Thanks Stu. I would be interested in see the video. I haven't had any issues in so long.
gg
2014-10-07 23:18:30
I like the idea of a bounty system. Someone purposely causes you harm or harassment, you capture it on video, you get a share of the fine. That would make a serious dent in the stupidity, and quickly.
stuinmccandless
2014-10-08 10:27:39
Ow. We have a bazillion bunnies on the trails and squirrels are everywhere, so I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often than it does. Or maybe there just happened to be press coverage on hand for this particular one. I shredded a bird in my front wheel one time, but I wasn't going that fast, and it wasn't that large, so hardly impeded my velocity enough to overthrow me.
stuinmccandless
2014-10-09 05:39:39
It took me a couple of days, but here is the aforementioned close pass. The sequence begins just after the 13-minute point, where I end up in a line of cars at the Rochester Road light. The light turns, I stay right with cars in front of me until the hill begins after the intersection, at which point I move to the right. One car passes me with plenty of space. Then comes 48098HP. Why was that necessary? A car then follows him, but also leaves plenty of space. Of course, 100 yards later, we're all queued up at the Highland Avenue light, so I approach, and his window is down. I will not try to transcribe the entire conversation, but I think I kept my cool, and he replied that I should have a license and registration, and in general that I shouldn't be on the road. The light then turned green, he went right, I went straight. White male, maybe 65. Fast forward to 13:00.
stuinmccandless
2014-10-10 11:58:55
That video is a textbook example of poor drivers. You don't appear to be "taking the lane" and there is thus plenty of space for a safe pass as many other cars manage to do. As is often the case, you catch up to him showing that his pass didn't save him any time(not that it should matter but it does in the mind of drivers). When confronted, the driver comes up with false attacks which, even if they were accurate, in no way justify endangering another human being. My adrenaline gets going ever time I watch these videos; glad you're OK.
mjacobpgh
2014-10-10 12:08:38
This situation is really a pain, because you were trying to be a nice guy and creating space for drivers to pass you when you were going uphill and the road was wide enough. I do the same thing. It's just being a polite cyclist. So some guy takes advantage of it and buzzes you. What an asshole. Note, BTW that he's still driving to the right of the line of traffic when you catch up to him. His close pass might not have been intentional at the time; he might just be having trouble centering his car. But his reaction to your complaint suggests he meant to do what he did. The only real solution is to take the lane the whole time. Stop and go traffic, like this, you're not really slowing anybody down.
jonawebb
2014-10-10 12:17:27
It was 9 a.m. and really busy, and on that uphill, I slow to a crawl. Sometimes I take the lane, sometimes I don't, too many variables to describe. As the video shows, though, the cars ahead and behind the guy had no problem getting past me. I hadn't been recording my travels for over a year, and just that morning hooked up the camera to the front, and that was the rig's maiden voyage. Wow, just 10 minutes out and I run into that. FWIW, that night the Fly6 was waiting for me, so getting that in place is tops on the To Do list. It would have been very useful to capture the guy purposely moving toward me. Alas, no recording. Yet. Meanwhile, I'm shopping for a 4 terabyte drive to store a crapton of video.
stuinmccandless
2014-10-10 14:04:48
Stu, I think I would try reporting this to the local police. Let them watch the video and have a copy of the four-foot law with you. It worked in Mt. Lebo so you never know... Glad you're safe.
marko82
2014-10-10 19:57:35
Watched the video Stu. You were well to the right on the uphill and he had plenty of lane to the left of you. Screw that guy.
rsprake
2014-10-13 13:49:10
When I was driving to work on Friday, I was passing thru the West End Circle, and 2 bike police officers headed from the West End Station toward town. I got behind them a car length and matched their speed heading toward the Carson Street ramp. Unfortunately, they were edge riding and not taking the lane. A white pickup truck passed me and squeezed between the left lane traffic, and came within about 2 feet of one officer, and the officer took no action. Here is apparently one reason (among an infinite number) that I am not a cop, because I would have had that asshole out of his truck spread on the hood. Someone sorely needs to get the Pgh PD bike police officers a savvy cycling course or something. Very frustrating.
edmonds59
2014-10-25 11:34:22
I've also seen the Pgh. bike cops hugging the curb in areas where I would normally take the lane. I'm not saying that I'm right and they are wrong, but when they get a less than four foot pass you would hope that they would respond accordingly. Also, I know the bike cops go through a skills & handling course, but I'm not sure what the rest of their bike training consists of.
marko82
2014-10-25 21:10:25
It would be awesome if someone could shoot a video of a bike cop getting buzzed by a car and the cop doing nothing about it. (but I'm not recommending that a car do that to any cop, or any other cyclist.) Such a video would make good evidence of non-enforcement.
paulheckbert
2014-10-25 21:49:42
I witnessed some idiot in a black pickup on Penn Ave in Lawrenceville near the Wendy's muscle up to some guy with Iron City Bikes jersey on. I was on foot and the cyclist was waiting in line for the light to change near the curb not passing anyone at first doing a track stand then putting his foot down. This moron in the pickup moved his truck within an inch of the guy on the bike. I kid you not. The cyclist said something and picked his bike up and got on the curb and went on his way. I was about ready to approach the moron on the pickup, who was an older guy maybe in his 50's to tell him off and the light changed, so I didn't get my chance. I didn't get a plate number, but watched what was going on to see if there would be another confrontation. The cyclist was long gone thankfully. I have never had anyone do this to me and it was pretty disturbing. Glad the cyclist got on with his day. I wouldn't have been as nice. That jerk would have had a dent in his truck for sure.
gg
2014-10-29 10:50:56
Gosh, I was at a loss as to exactly where to file this story: Trooper hit by car in Westmoreland County. "The crash is under investigation", lol. I don't see what investigation is needed. The law clearly states that drivers must slow down, give room, and pass safety vehicles safely. This idiot needs to lose their license permanently and have their vehicle sent to a crusher. Clearly not capable of operating one. http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/10/29/injuries-reported-in-2-vehicle-crash-in-east-huntingdon/
edmonds59
2014-10-30 06:18:19
I was literally run off the road today by a guy in a gigantic pickup truck. It happened right before Beechwood meets 5th, as the road turns left, just after the bike lane ends. http://goo.gl/maps/fb7AW I heard the guy coming then saw him start passing me - it's certainly not the first time that has happened. The difference was, this guy wasn't staying in the left lane, and he also wasn't going to stop - fortunately there are a couple curb cuts there so I was able to get off the road before he hit me. While it was happening, I was screaming "HEY!" as loud as I could (also didn't make him stop). After I stopped on the sidewalk, right beside his truck (the light was red, as if it needed to be any more senseless for him to pass me), I was completely dumbfounded and just stared at him with my arms outstretched in the "WTF" pose. He rolled down his window and said "I'm really sorry". Great. I think the lesson is I need to get the hell out of the bike lane and take the lane much earlier, when there's still time to react if someone does something dumb. It's a pretty busy area for pedestrians so being able to escape the way I did certainly wasn't a given. I was probably still doing 20, and I generally maintain 25+ down the hill, so the guy was almost certainly speeding to be able to "catch" me that late - probably doing 40+ like basically everyone else.
salty
2014-10-30 20:32:25
"I think the lesson is I need to get the hell out of the bike lane and take the lane much earlier" Hell yeah, I started doing that on Carson going from Downtown to the Southside. Between 6th and 7th when there is traffic I put my left hand out and point down boldly demanding that I am merging in when the bike lane is coming to an end. I do the same thing on Beechwood and cut merge over before that bike lane ends as you have to watch people coming off or onto Renyolds and I feel safer being in the lane at that point than in a bike lane in the door zone. I never hop over when the bike lane ends, I keep my speed and merge over with anticipation and a demanding finger point.
shooflypie
2014-10-30 21:15:58
Uggh, I saw this on the news. Thought she hit a pole. So you don't stop even if you hit a pole??? Should probably not even be allowed to operate a grocery cart.
edmonds59
2014-11-07 13:13:51
Was just talking to someone last night about how one of the few places in the city I have consistent, repeated issues with drivers is on the Millvale Avenue Bridge, where I often get passed by drivers in brand-new, unplated or dealer-plated Mercedes-Benzes very close at high speed, which of course immediately turn off onto the street behind the dealership. Today, however, it was a driver in a brand-new, unplated BMW who passed me at about 18 inches, then turned into the P&W service center on the left side of Millvale at Baum. As a bonus, he was texting...
epanastrophe
2014-11-07 13:13:57
Buffalo, if this happens often, why not just be ready for it and scrap the side of the car as it goes by with something and of course say, oops, I didn't realize you were within inches of my bike. Sorry about that. F them.
gg
2014-11-07 14:10:17
Maybe I should take my video-equipped bike for a ride or two over Millvale Avenue. If I catch a non-plated car pulling some stupid stunt, should I go to the dealer or the cops?
stuinmccandless
2014-11-07 15:09:31
I say go to both - for dangerous and inexcusable driving
helen-s
2014-11-08 12:56:22
Slightly OT, but didn't BMW introduce a line of badged bicycles a couple of years ago? Anyone know that worked out? Maybe not so good, since I have yet to spot a bicycle department (or even racks) at the P&W dealership. Though I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed trying out a sporty 100 or maybe a plush 700.
ahlir
2014-11-08 17:09:51
Yes. Marlboro had a line of Mtn Bikes as well, back in the day. Even Jeremy Clarkson thinks BMW drivers are ponces' (that's British for douchebag), so, there's that.
edmonds59
2014-11-08 18:31:03
To be more precise: (by googling "define: ponce") ponce -- päns BRITISH informal noun 1. derogatory: an effeminate man. 2. a man who lives off a prostitute's earnings. verb verb: ponce; 3rd person present: ponces; past tense: ponced; past participle: ponced; gerund or present participle: poncing 1. live off a prostitute's earnings. One would hardly think of the Marlboro man as a ponce (cf. the horse, unless I missed some lonesome or brokeback connection). In any case, I believe that the M.Man ended up with lung cancer; there's a video out there somewhere of him, bald, in a hospital/ hospice bed, explaining that smoking is a bad idea and that you shouldn't do it. Life's like that.
ahlir
2014-11-08 19:26:56
I think Marlboro licensed a folding bike that had a pretty good frame. Not just the normal Hi-Ten steel. I was looking for one a while back, trying to find a bike I could take on the bus. Never could find one, and then all the buses got racks.
jonawebb
2014-11-09 20:28:53
JKY-6227, grey Jeep, Perrysville Ave between Watson and Marshall, around 10 this morning. I'm sailing along in a 25 zone, there is a line of parked cars on my right. Jeep pulls off of Watson, zooms up behind me, and honks just as I'm even with the last parked car. At that exact moment, there was one oncoming car. Pretty close pass, too. If this driver had waited even one second, I would have been over in the parking lane. S/he was going well over 25 to have caught up with me from turning off of Watson in only a few seconds. I have the whole thing on front/rear video, which I will upload later. My front camera malfunctions such that I get only six or seven seconds per video. The rear, the Fly6, was working well but at the moment is mounted sideways. I will see if I can do some editing later before I upload it. Note to self: Go back through the tweet stream for the past year to see if I previously tweeted this plate #.
stuinmccandless
2014-11-12 13:11:26
are we talking about pizza or dangerous drivers still. I am confused
hikeabike
2014-11-13 23:46:01
Apologies if this is already the case, but is there a hashtag associated with this thread? Say #dangerousdriverpgh (#pghbaddriver seems to have the wrong valence.) This would create an easily searchable database (sifting through this thread is not efficient). It just needs license plate, intersection and an action (e.g. "close buzz"). There would still could be a post with more detail, ideally. This would also provide timely notifications, i.e. warnings. And if it works out, maybe we can get the authorities to monitor as well: Both as an ongoing reminder of the problem and as specific event reports.
ahlir
2014-11-14 19:10:39
I been noticing a lot more douchebaggery harassment lately. Nothing serious like thrown objects or trying to be run off the road. Today a douche in a truck took the time to wind down his window and call me a homophobic slur while I was minding my own business in a bike lane. Another old douche was yelling at me to ride on a sidewalk as I rode Carson up the bike lane not even in the way of anybody and there was no sidewalk. Just Neanderthal douchebaggery out of the middle of nowhere. Maybe it's the local media and their current obsession about stirring up the pot for the local imbeciles who get their only news from WPXI and Fox. Because a real journalist shouldn't take the time to educate the public about the actual laws, emotional click bate is far easier. Or maybe its just douchebaggery season.
shooflypie
2014-11-14 21:43:37
Not so much a bike vs. car incident, more of a rant about what, exactly, a driver has to do around here to get some police correction. On my way in today, I'm in the left lane at an intersection where the right lane is usually bogged down by right turners. No turn-only lanes. A marked police car is directly to my right, and two cars in front of me is some beige car. The light turns green, and beige car (in the left lane) throws on his right turn signal, and pulls a right turn CUTTING OFF THE SQUAD CAR! Police just keep on rolling straight ahead. So, I just learned that it's OK to make a right turn from the left lane in heavy traffic as long as the only car you cut in front of is a Pittsburgh Police car. This tops the police car I saw honk at the guy running a red light instead of pulling him over. Nod to buffalo buffalo for the following:
A bicyclist is held responsible for all actions taken by other cyclists. A driver is rarely held responsible even for his own mistakes.— Pedal2DC (@Pedal2DC) November 9, 2014
mattjackets
2014-11-17 10:16:58
Today was my first assault. Video to follow, but here is the rough description. Perrysville Ave between Marshall and North Charles. White car passes me super close. No horn. I issue a "Yo!", he pulls over, jumps out of the car, and pushes me. All caught on both front and rear video. My hands never left my handlebars. No damage, no punches. But serious road rage. Video and plate # after I get the details to the police. I already stopped by the Zone 1 precinct, but I first need to upload the video so they can see it.
stuinmccandless
2014-11-25 11:58:18
Very glad it wasn't worse.
jonawebb
2014-11-25 12:08:07
What the hell is wrong with people?
rustyred
2014-11-25 12:19:22
This is more of an annoying/entitled driver than a dangerous one, but lady honked at me going south on that road that goes along the SS trail by all the UPMC sports complex buildings. I pointed towards the whole other lane she could pass me in and then she pulled alongside me at a stop sign five seconds later and pointed to the bike trail. She then pulled into one of those modern looking buildings parking lots, incidentally, in front of a window that was filled with like ten bikes. (which I imagine don't magically get from the trail to the building with a road between the two) I didn't want to be aggro and get in her face and I also didn't want to yell across the street, so I just gave her the finger by the swing gate. (don't think she noticed though)
sgtjonson
2014-11-25 12:46:12
@ Stu It's good you got video of this. It would be nice to see a well-publicized case of aggravated assault over this. I hope that isn't wishful thinking on my part.
mick
2014-11-25 13:58:33
With all due respect, @Mick, and even with as much biker's bias as I can muster, I'm having a hard time getting from a close pass + a push to aggravated assault.
jonawebb
2014-11-25 14:44:43
It's a good practice run for knowing what to do in case I have something real serious happen. I did a lot of things right: * Both cameras were fully and recently charged * The camera that doesn't overwrite old data was empty * The chip for the one that does overwrite was put back in place * I more/less kept my cool, did not engage (other than to stop), did not argue. * I yelled out the plate # loud and clear enough to hear through my camera case when he pulled away. When I make them public, we can discuss what I might have done differently. Right now, having not yet pressed a formal complaint, I'm deciding what I want the police to do: * He was clearly within four feet. (Hell, he was within one foot.) * He could easily have crossed the double yellow to pass, as there was no oncoming traffic. * I estimate my own speed at 20-23 mph, his at about 38 mph, in a 25 zone, based on when we each passed a couple of landmarks. So they at least should have a little talk with him to tell him what the rules about passing cyclists are. I doubt they can ping him for speeding without having an official reading. Do I really want to press an assault charge? I want them to do something. The ultimate end result here is that I want him to treat cyclists with the same respect they give a backhoe they have to follow down the street, and know they may legally pass the cyclist if it is safe to.
stuinmccandless
2014-11-25 15:21:33
I would want him at least to get a ticket for the close pass. And I would press a simple assault charge. He was clearly intending to hurt or scare you, right? If the police refuse to file the charge, I believe you can swear out a warrant for his arrest. You should be able to get all the information you need from the police since you have the license plate number and video. Yet another case where having a video camera (and keeping your cool) makes all the difference.
jonawebb
2014-11-25 15:36:13
. Do I really want to press an assault charge? I want them to do something. He came at you - that was assault. He pushed you. That was either battery or aggravated assaut, depending. You have video evidence. I want you to press an assault charge. Probably some other folks, too. I'm guessing this is one of those habitual road rage folks. You are doing everyone a favor if you take him off the road, even for a few days.
mick
2014-11-25 16:46:08
That is good that you have this on camera for evidence. From your description a pass at 38 MPH by only a foot or less would cause me more grievance than a shove from a hot headed bro. But since he approached and shoved you now the police will actually make an attempt to find him and charge him with something. I am assuming only a citation will follow, but the embarrassment of a charge and video of a raging asshat may teach him a lesson.
shooflypie
2014-11-25 18:35:31
Front video: http://youtu.be/fsYbEGBORHI JJV-1316 passes me at 6:58 in video with only a couple inches to spare. No oncoming traffic. He pulls over, jumps out and immediately pushes me off the bike. My front camera is in a plastic case bolted to the handlebar, so mostly what you hear is road noise. Voices are muffled, but clear enough. I think you can make out my spelling out the plate number. Rear video: http://youtu.be/DypmrT289aw I ride to the right where practicable; see first couple of minutes. At 5:30 in video, two cars pass me without incident. JJV-1316 comes into view at 7:30 of video, passing a church. At 7:37, I cross stop line at Marshall Ave; at 7:39, he crosses stop line. I traveled about 200 feet (hydrant by Milroy Street to stop line) in 7 seconds, about 20 mph. He traveled about 500 feet (church to stop line) in 9 seconds, about 38 mph. Posted 25 mph. Continuing south from Marshall, slightly downhill, I am going about 23 mph. This is where he decides to pass me with only a couple inches of space. This is the Fly6, mounted sideways.
stuinmccandless
2014-11-25 20:02:48
That really pisses me off. That guy needs charged with assault. First, that pass was meant to be a buzz by that could have been detrimental, and second to pull over and push somebody shows that this is a dangerous demented individual who needs to be charged. Just from this video this is a raging dude that is going to cause serious harm to somebody. Sorry that you had to run into this person. I ride Perrysville here 3 or 4 days a week. I ride in the same style you were riding. You are moving close to the speed limit staying out of any door zone. Please keep us updated with how the police handle this.
shooflypie
2014-11-25 20:59:09
Stu: I think the driver of JJV-1316 was angry that you weren't intimidated after he buzzed you. You had the temerity to yell at him so he felt it necessary to assault you. He might be tempted to buzz closer, next time.
paulheckbert
2014-11-25 21:07:49
Stu, I sincerely hope you will press assault charges. To my eyes he is clearly a sociopath and if he gets away with what he did to you, it will just embolden him. I am so sorry this happened to you, and I am grateful it wasn't worse.
joanne
2014-11-25 21:16:01
Trying to post a photo from the video showing a shot of a middle aged angry man in a fighting stance. It is pretty obvious this is a dangerous man and quite possibly the most sex deprived individuals in the metro area. I will figure out the tags later, its late.
shooflypie
2014-11-25 21:37:59
Stu, that guy needs to spend some time thinking about this, while in jail. Please make that happen. Also, BTW, you handled that amazingly well. Calling out the license plate # after getting shoved over and picking up your bike shows amazing presence of mind.
jonawebb
2014-11-25 21:40:42
Stu, so glad you are ok. That could have been deadly - both the pass and the driver's aggressiveness afterwards. I hope you follow through with the assault charges because that guy was out of control and needs something like charges to cool him down. If he is this hot after such a minor confrontation (you yelling stop) what does he do in more stressful situations – beat his wife/kids, pull a gun? You asked for a critique of your riding style and I can’t see any issues with your riding leading up to this encounter, and it's irrelevant anyway. Even if you were riding completely wrong, that does not give that jerk a right to touch you, nor does it excuse his close pass. You handled the situation way calmer than I would. Please stay safe.
marko82
2014-11-25 22:35:58
This is why you own a camera; this is why I purchased a camera. Nothing justifies what that idiot did and, had you even attempted to defend yourself, he was in a fighting stance wanting to try to injure you more. This guy should not be on the roads since he is clearly a danger to everyone if that incident engendered that response. You have all the proof you need to press charges and I hope you do so, but that is your choice. Please, keep us informed.
mjacobpgh
2014-11-26 09:22:00
One thing I thought of, Stu -- NOT to criticize your riding style or anything, but I would not have stopped for the guy after he made a close pass. He wants to pull over, ride on by. You weren't at a stop light, right? I think there's very little to be gained in a situation like this by stopping so he can confront you. You're safer staying on your bike, IMHO.
jonawebb
2014-11-26 09:35:35
But if you pass on by, they could just hit you with their car which is certainly more extreme but I don't think out of the question for a hot head like that guy. Catch 22 I suppose.
mjacobpgh
2014-11-26 09:40:28
Stu, thanks for pursuing charges. I hope you are able to follow through with that. This incident was relatively minor but he could be the type of guy that goes even further in the future. In the very least, having this on his criminal record is important. My take is that he expected you to ride in the parking lane for him to pass. He likely also wanted you to ride closer to the parked cars. He probably doesn't understand how dangerous that is, constantly weaving in and out of the driving lane, or to ride in the door zone. This isn't an excuse, but it does contribute to his road rage. If you can take this to the media later, it would be an excellent opportunity to raise people's awareness of why cyclists shouldn't do either of those two things. There are some truly tragic dooring videos on youtube that can illustrate that point if such a story were to run.
dfiler
2014-11-26 09:41:40
One thing I thought of, Stu — NOT to criticize your riding style or anything, but I would not have stopped for the guy after he made a close pass. He wants to pull over, ride on by. You weren’t at a stop light, right? I think there’s very little to be gained in a situation like this by stopping so he can confront you. You’re safer staying on your bike, IMHO.
When a driver stops for a confrontation, it is best to remain behind their vehicle. They just might decide to "scare" you with a near hit. That near hit can accidentally or purposefully become an actual hit.
dfiler
2014-11-26 09:43:53
Reasonable people can differ on this. I think I'm safer staying on the bike. Lots of things can happen -- there can be other traffic, he can get caught behind another car, etc. I think that if he wanted to hit me he would have done it already. I'm not saying Stu did anything wrong. I just wouldn't have stopped.
jonawebb
2014-11-26 09:56:27
Stu, this is not the typical close pass by a driver: speeding on a backstreet, distracted on a cell phone, or medically unfit to drive. He buzzed you while shouting and pulls over to attack you. No question you need to press this with the police. And I'd like bikepgh to request formal comment on this from pgh police and his insurance company. They can't dismiss the evidence or attack your character. The outcome may swing my stance on the "Pittsburgh is a cycling paradise" circle-jerk.
devohelmetguy
2014-11-26 10:10:36
^ - seconded
rgrasmus
2014-11-26 10:40:33
+1 to what devohelmetguy said. The driver of PA plate JJV-1316 went out of his way to menace StuInMcCandless. You today, one of us tomorrow. That was qualitatively different. Glad he didn't injure you, that had to potential to go very, very badly. Stay safe, out there.
ka_jun
2014-11-26 10:59:50
Stu, You have this guy on video. This is a no brainer. Charges for assault should be filed. This footage should be presented to local news stations. This is the quintessential, adversarial, uninformed, short tempered, volatile, and potentially deadly driver profile of any number of dangerous drivers in Pittsburgh. You MUST use what video you have compiled to hold this menace accountable. Atrocious.
lenk42602
2014-11-26 11:33:00
If I've learned anything from riding, if someone decides to be a jag like the cool dude in the white compact, do not stop riding if they pull over, especially if you have them on camera. That is just playing with fire and asking for confrontation. just keep rolling to the police station
thedood
2014-11-27 19:01:53
@Lenk42602 "You have this guy on video. This is a no brainer. Charges for assault should be filed" But the video fails to show him actually assaulting him, just the camera moving and bike falling down then some aggressive stance. It would not make it far at all... try to get a wide angle lens for next time. also why would you show it to the police? Aren't they all just racist, and violate our rights anyhow? double standard
thedood
2014-11-27 19:11:48
The police have all the info they need. Now let's see what happens.
stuinmccandless
2014-11-27 20:12:14
probably nothing :(
thedood
2014-11-27 21:10:49
@stu, please dont be complacent, make sure that charges are filed. This is a serious situation that deserves serious attention. You are in control of what charges are filed, keep in touch with the police contact as much as necessary.
marko82
2014-11-28 00:23:43
"But the video fails to show him actually assaulting him, just the camera moving and bike falling down then some aggressive stance. It would not make it far at all…" I read stories on larger internet forums that have a national coverage where cyclists were able to have police cite drivers from helmet cam video. There is visible ample evidence of careless driving and him harassing stu. Even if the actual assault of him shoving Stu is not on camera itself this should make it to a point where this ass has to pay unwanted money for a lawyer to get him off on a technicality or a large fine. Otherwise he should be paying a fine or money for a lawyer. What is simple assault anyways? A fine, anger management classes? I am in no way a lawyer, but watch a lot of Law In Order. If the Pittsburgh Police don't arrest this guy or at least give him a citation I will be angry as a tax paying citizen.
shooflypie
2014-11-28 09:50:27
Hopefully the guy isn't himself a police officer. :/
edmonds59
2014-11-28 10:09:26
In general, always try to do something. Worst case is that you waste time, but you'll feel better for having tried. And people here will give you sympathy...
ahlir
2014-11-28 19:00:41
This morning, I was inbound on the 1900 block of 5th Ave, when a truck passed me. It wasn't a particularly dangerous pass, although It was likely closer than 4 feet. The driver was going at an excessive speed, although he was likely going faster than the 25 mph speed limit. A voice came out of the passenger window -"Get on the sidewalk". Not all that bad as far as these things go- it's jsut that they go all too often. The truck had some kind of municipal/gov plates and stopped at the next red light when I got their license number PA 5426A Here's the thing: There was some kind of PennDOT logo on the dirvers door. This was my tax dollars at work! I would like to change the way my tax dollars are being used, because I do not like paying a half wit (uh... "quarter wit" maybe?) to say things like that. Who can I contact in PennDOT about this? What elected officials can I email about this? Also, this is a stretch of road that I have recommended for sharrows - I've gotten so much harassment there. Who can I contact about that? 3-1-1?
mick
2014-12-04 11:22:38
Call PennDOT and ask to speak to a customer service person but do not stop there. Ask that person for a direct number to the division that operates in this area and contact that division. There's no excuse for such harassment.
mjacobpgh
2014-12-04 11:31:00
"What elected officials can I email about this?" Member of the House for this area is Jake Wheatley: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?id=1026 Not sure where on Fifth that is; the relevant Senator is either Wayne Fontana (http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senate_bio.cfm?id=1041) or Jay Costa (http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/senate_bio.cfm?id=254). They're between sessions at the moment, so committee members are not set, but you might also keep an eye out for the committees overseeing Transportation. If you'd like to have local leaders contact PennDOT on your behalf because you think the City and/or saying "hey, don't do this" might have more benefit, try these folks: - City Council district 6 rep R Daniel Lavelle: http://www.pittsburghpa.gov/district6/ - City Council Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs chair is Dan Gilman: http://www.pittsburghpa.gov/district8/ - Not sure who the relevant county council district rep is, either William Russell Robinson (http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council/dist10.asp) or Amanda Green Hawkins (http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council/dist13.asp). There are also two at-large members; see http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council/members.aspx - Joe Catanese is County Council's Director of Constituent Services and Government Relations. http://www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council/dircs.aspx - The Mayor and County Executive's offices may also be of interest to you.
epanastrophe
2014-12-04 11:51:47
I believe there are still old signs up around that part of Fifth designating it as a bike route, even if there aren't any sharrows. So some PennDOT worker thinks bikes don't belong on a bike route. (Applying the word "thinks" may be giving him too much credit though.) The driver was going at an excessive speed, although he was likely going faster than the 25 mph speed limit. Confused here by "although". Did you mean to say "wasn't" one of those times? If the offense was just an ignorant comment, not unsafe driving, perhaps calling lots of officials would be overkill. Might be better to try to talk just to PennDOT, and go up the ladder only if you don't get a reasonable response.
steven
2014-12-04 13:57:05
I meant to say "the driver was NOT going at an excessive rate of speed..." Oooops. I start with bad typing and it's all downhill from there.
mick
2014-12-04 14:13:32
Whatever it takes to get someone called on the carpet, go ahead and do. For myself, since the above sort of incident happens on average about once every five miles, I don't bother with it, beyond tweeting the plate if I'm not in that big a hurry. We need a huuuuuge public information campaign about dealing with law-abiding cyclists.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-04 16:32:59
HGS4698. Turned left onto 11th from Penn without looking, nearly hooking me as I was traveling inbound in the bike lane. Just two weeks ago I saw the same thing happen at Penn and 10th to a cyclist in front of me.
ted
2014-12-08 10:40:13
This is, unfortunately, one of the major problems of this design. It's an unnatural setup. That said, I think this is less a dangerous driver, and more a dangerous design. I will use the lanes at every opportunity, but just the same, I would rather we spent our collective capital in educating motorists about the 100,000 regular intersections and lane-miles in the area where cyclists can be expected to appear.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-08 22:23:40
Somebody is going to be J-hooked sooner or later downtown. I look over my shoulder on every intersection and if I have not been aware of looking for a J-hook I would have been struck by now.
shooflypie
2014-12-10 21:52:04
"I look over my shoulder on every intersection ...." Uh, that's what everyone should be doing, always, everywhere, anyway.
edmonds59
2014-12-11 08:46:23
True, also true for anyone driving a car.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-11 09:12:36
"Uh, that’s what everyone should be doing, always, everywhere, anyway." Thanks for the insight. I should have added that by doing so I have avoided many close encounters here of J-hooking that have never occurred at such a high incident rate as anywhere before. And this is due to a bad design.
shooflypie
2014-12-12 19:03:54
Checked out the new bike lane leading up to the 40th St Bridge. Guy didn't pay attention to the yield to bikes signs and nearly ran into me. Then tells me to watch it. Blue Kia Sedona, License plate FJK-5704. Middle aged white male driver. http://youtu.be/v8Ptd0-LyFU
toastyoats
2014-12-13 09:34:23
I didn't know that was to be a bike lane. I always use the sidewalk to get up to the 40SB, then ride on the upstream sidewalk. It's human nature for motorists to cut corners. He should've seen you, at the very least, and at least stayed behind you, so I agree that this is a dangerous driver. But I do have to question whether that is supposed to be a bike lane. It looks like a problem waiting for a chance to happen. And it happened.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-13 13:21:27
@toastyoats, excellent video. I love/hate watching them, because you know something bad is about to develop. Also your bront-blinky shows well on the signs so you are clearly visible. I haven't been there in about a month, so I'd like to ask: is that really a bike lane? and I ask because: there's a lighted/blinky bike-ped crossing at the bottom of the ramp, that would put you on the sidewalk ramp up the hill, and deliver you car-free to the eastern sidewalk across the bridge. I'm NOT saying bikes belong on the sidewalk, but in the video you ended up used the sidewalk on the bridge so I'm wondering about using the sidewalk up the ramp. I also haven't seen the yield-to-bikes sign, so in general my question is firmly grounded in outdated info-understanding. Either way, this is a shitty dangerous move by the driver. Just asking about the lane and the uphill sidewalk. cheers, VB
vannever
2014-12-13 14:08:06
I agree -- it's an odd place for a bike lane, and even if it is a bike lane I doubt the intent was for cyclists to use it to travel from the left side of the lane to a sidewalk on the right side while making a left turn with auto traffic. I would feel really uncomfortable doing that. I would suggest just taking the lane at the light, signalling for a left turn, and then moving to the sidewalk on the right during the turn.
jonawebb
2014-12-13 14:35:05
@toasyoats: It looks like the pavement markings aren't complete yet, so it's hard to tell from the video what the intended traffic flow is supposed to be through that intersection. In general, if you're making a left turn, the law requires you to turn into the closest lane, i.e. if you are in the leftmost lane and you are turning onto a multi-lane road, you should end up the leftmost lane immediately after the turn. Then, if you want to change lanes, you can signal and do so. With that mind, being in the leftmost lane and turning into the rightmost lane (or onto the sidewalk) seems both inherently dangerous and possibly illegal. It looks like the van driver had assumed you would be staying in the left lane through your turn, and when you cut across the lanes mid-turn it created the near-collision scenario since the driver was caught off-guard. Of course, that doesn't excuse the driver's inattentiveness to the situation and ignorance of signage telling him to yield the right of way, but it was a contributing factor. Hopefully, once the construction is done and all the markings are down the situation will improve. I agree with jaws: it would probably be safer to start your turn in the right lane so that you avoid cutting across traffic during the turn. To do this safely it will simply require that you change lanes as you go up the ramp to the bridge. Easy peasy.
jaysherman5000
2014-12-13 15:05:35
The orange signs in that lane appear to say "Bike Lane". Perhaps they're planning to add one of those green "bikes crossing here" paths across the intersection to connect up to the sidewalk, or wherever it is PennDOT imagines bikes going from there.
steven
2014-12-13 15:19:01
My thoughts on toastyoats' near-accident: I think he was fully in the right and the driver was fully in the wrong. The lights on the bridge deck are showing only one lane green toward Lawrenceville, so toasty had the right of way to get into the rightmost bridge lane. But the signs before the turn are confusing. I guess the "yield to bikes [arrow to the right]" is a sign to the cars in the lane to the right. That arrow is confusing. Better would be: above bike lane "[bike icon] [left turn arrow]", and above car lane to the right "[left turn arrow] YIELD TO BIKES". Why did PENNDOT (or whoever) build this bike lane? I think it creates more problems than it solves, given that there is already a pretty good sidewalk on that ramp. Did they consult with cyclists on this design?
paulheckbert
2014-12-13 16:53:58
Boy, is this muddled. 1) What a shitty design. 2) Southbound can be one or two lanes, depending on time of day. It switches from two down to one around 9:00 a.m., and in the 5-minute changeover period, the signals indicate a yellow X. 3) Cyclists absolutely should take the lane, even if they have to get off the bike and walk it in front of another car stopped at the light. Guess how well that would go down, each time it's tried? 4) I would absolutely never try getting over to the downstream sidewalk from that position. Whether the motorist in this case was dangerous or not, that just seems like a foolish thing to attempt. Stay in the traffic lane, and take the lane, if you are not going to be on the sidewalk. For myself, I am going to continue using the sidewalk up to the bridge, and use the upstream sidewalk. In the rightmost lane of the bridge, southbound, there is a chunk of pavement that bumps up out of the surface, high enough to throw a cyclist. I've been threatening for years to go over there with a hammer and chisel and bust the damn thing off by hand, but the point of my mentioning it is that you should just stay off the bridge deck. All of this is avoided by using the Rt28-side sidewalk up to the bridge, and the upstream sidewalk to get across the river. Granted, it's a clusterfuck down at the Foster St corner, every direction, but at least that gets you across the river safely.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-13 18:19:10
Is that really a bike lane? The sidewalk is adequate in this area having a biker go across the outside lane of traffic or merge with traffic makes no sense. The lanes on the 40th St bridge are not set lanes as they are controlled by lights so this is asking for trouble nor would I want to bike in the road on the 40th St Bridge, personally. This seems like a bad idea in a lot of ways.
mjacobpgh
2014-12-13 20:02:36
I think that there is a lot going on here..........most of it not good. Obviously, PennDOT is not finished here, so much of what follows is speculation, but I don't think I'll like the finished product. toastyoats, I don't believe that you are interpreting the intent of the "...yield to bikes" sign correctly. I don't believe that the intent is to have a bike and a motor vehicle beside each other at the intersection, and then for the bike and motor vehicle to weave as the make a left turn through the intersection. The following is a combination of looking at your video (with time points) and looking at Google Streetview. 0:11, there appears that there will be three lanes (LT to RT), a NB bike lane, a SB bike lane, and a SB vehicle lane. Streetview show two SB vehicle lanes. 0:28, there are two large green existing overhead signs on this section of the roadway, these two signs are also in Streetview. This makes me think that the addition of the bike lanes is an afterthought, not part of the original design. It's doubtful that PennDOT would erect (and pay for) two signs, neither of which fit the condition with bike lanes. With the bike lanes, these two signs need to somehow be combined into one message for the now single vehicle lane at this point. 0:57, there are three signs on the cross arm (LT to RT). The "...yield to bikes" sign, "LT turn only", and "ST only" (illuminated and changeable). Streetview also has three signs on this cross arm (LT to RT). #2 and #3 from your video plus a "ST only". However, the locations of the two common signs have been shifted on the cross arm from the time of the Streetview video to your video. 0:58, new pavement and new pavement markings end. Original dashed lane line continues up to the intersection. Also in this segment the SB bike lane disappears. Now, my guess as to what the finished product and its intended usage are supposed to be, travelling SB... Somewhere the SB bike lane ends and bike traffic is to merge into the left traffic lane. The "...yield to bikes" sign tells motorists in the left traffic lane to yield to bikes leaving the disappearing SB bike lane. Unfortunately, from your video it seems that the SB bike lane ends well before the sign. Either the sign should be moved back, or the SB bike lane should be extended further south. Also, when there is a single left turn lane at the intersection, mainline SB 28 traffic that wants to turn left onto the bridge must also merge left in this same area. This happens in your video, a truck from the mainline merges into the left lane in front of a car and turns onto the bridge. So, essentially, you will have three lanes merging into one...bikes merging to the right, motor vehicles from Millvale (hopefully) slowing to yield to these bikes, and (probably) higher speed mainline traffic merging to the left (very likely in front of the slowing Millvale traffic)..........a recipe for the mainline vehicle hitting the cyclist because he/she won't see the cyclist. I'm not very confident that any tweeking of the signage/pavement markings can mitigate this potential for bike/car crashes if the final product matches my speculation above.
offtn
2014-12-13 23:23:35
From a simple-minded shallow perspective (coz thats how i roll) its fantastic that a sign saying YieldToBikes exists.
vannever
2014-12-14 04:21:26
The only logical infra here would be to make the middle lane of the bridge a protected bike lane too, yes? IMG_20141214_112113
rustyred
2014-12-14 16:24:16
You biker kidz should know better than trying to figure out your presents before Christmas morning. Now you're all puzzling: if this is the start, where does it stop? Will we get to have a lane across the 40th Street Bridge? Will this project continue inbound on Route 28, providing similar accommodations at the 31st Bridge ramps? Hey @Erok, got any insight ?
vannever
2014-12-14 23:14:41
The 40th St Br sidewalks are reasonable for bikes. If would help tremendously if the upstream walk was widened by ~1m or more to better accommodate 2-way bike traffic and pedestrians. Can't be that expensive (certainly compared to all the money sunk into rt.28).
ahlir
2014-12-14 23:42:13
Those signal boxes on the posts by the overhead signs on the upstream sidewalk should be replaced or at least rotated on the post a few degrees. I've nearly walloped one a time or two.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-15 04:00:06
FWIW, I only took the lane there because a friend told me it just got installed and I was curious. I always have taken the sidewalk before and will continue doing so. My first thought when I heard about this was "Wow, that seems like a bad place for a bike lane". Go figure, eh?
toastyoats
2014-12-15 07:58:12
OK, just got an update on this. It's PennDOT, and the city had no part in it. FWIW, this ramp section is called East Ohio St. Heading up, there is supposed to be a merge arrow toward the end of the bike lane, directing bikes to merge right, into the left turn lane, to share that lane in order to complete the trun. Also, I'm assuming that's what the warning sign is for, to yield to bikes merging into the left turn lane. Hoping to at minimum get them to add some sharrows in the turn lane, which currently are not in the design. There is also supposed to be a bike lane heading east down this stretch, with a merge at the bottom, just before the "crosswalk", and sharrows continuing on that sorta left, heading into Millvale proper. They also seem to have added a sharrow or 2 on the north end of the bridge, which is wild to me. I personally use the sidewalks and will continue to do so, mostly the eastern one, as i'm usually going to/from the trail to/from central lawrenceville via Foster. I could see this being sorta useful for people who are continuing up 40th St, or are going to be heading west on Butler, as crossing 40th St at Foster is horrible.
erok
2014-12-15 17:10:40
Thanks Erok!
vannever
2014-12-15 19:02:13
Pictures from Yale Cohen this evening. New bike lane on ramp from 40th St Bridge toward Millvale (note sidewalk to right of concrete wall). Redundant, eh? Bike lane on ramp from Millvale up toward 40th St Bridge (same one toastyoats videoed, but now with painted hatching).
paulheckbert
2014-12-15 20:10:40
That's cool but it runs on the left side of the turn from 28 south onto the 40th street bridge toward Lawrenceville. There is a nice Yield To Bikes sign, but during am rush hour there are two lanes of left turning traffic. How is a cyclist going to get from the far left lane over to the right lane or perhaps the sidewalk? Or am I missing something?
edronline
2014-12-15 20:32:54
It looks like the new configuration takes the left turn down to one lane, not two.
erok
2014-12-15 21:40:49
Just to be difficult: The center lane should be a bi-directional bike lane, with rumble strips on either side. And with suitable green lanes at either end.
ahlir
2014-12-15 22:55:15
Count me curious but skeptical. And it would have been nice if they'd involved us a little closer. Even @erok apparently found out about it here. Here's a idea, PennDOT: Put a QR code on an 8.5x11 piece of paper in a plastic sheet protector and duct tape it to a wall near the construction site, pointing to a "Here's what's happening" website.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-16 12:10:05
the city dpw and planning found out about it here.
erok
2014-12-16 12:57:53
"the city dpw and planning found out about it here." That frightens me. Way to communicate, PennDot!
rustyred
2014-12-16 13:12:13
It's good that they're hiring a bike/ped coordinator.
jonawebb
2014-12-16 13:17:57
Does the city need to know if it's not in the city?
callahan
2014-12-16 14:18:33
These lanes might be a result of the Millvale Pedestrian/Bicycle meetings?
callahan
2014-12-16 14:19:24
no, the city does not need to know if it's not in the city. I was told the section at the top is city responsibility. if it's not directly owned by the city, they are responsible for some maintenance. and you, know, it's a courtesy as it connects directly to city streets
erok
2014-12-16 16:45:32
Yeah, this is entirely within Millvale. City line is mid-river at the bridge, crossing Rt 28 about 2,000 feet downriver. (Red box is Millvale boro limits, per Google Maps.)
epanastrophe
2014-12-16 16:50:27
I've been to several of the Millvale Ped-Bike committee meetings, and do not recall this being discussed.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-16 17:55:06
The whole bridge is penndot. That's how we did the mural without going through the city public art committee. Penndot just said do whatever. Then folk vandalized it :(
devohelmetguy
2014-12-16 18:07:28
I chair the Millvale Borough Bike/Ped Committee, and I can assure you we had nothing to do with this. What were they thinking? That's how I USED to go to get on the 40th, no more. Notice that there is one sharrow painted on the bridge itself, as if they got up there and thought, well, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all. This is the sort of thing that gives bicycle lanes a bad name. The sidewalk arrangement along the river side of the lanes is excellent, no reason not to paint bike/ped markers along there (but I'm careful to ring my bell when approaching peds from behind when on the bridge- I hate to startle them)
jfmclaugh
2014-12-16 18:36:48
When is the next meeting? I have missed all of them. I commute from Lawrenceville through Millvale every day, and I have a list of suggestions! (I wasn't blaming the committee for the lanes. I was just trying to think about how this even happened at all. Sorry about that!)
callahan
2014-12-17 09:00:19
Timing was great. Around 5:30 in SouthSide at 27th street and Jane Street. I turned right onto 27th from the Aldis parking lot and heard a car approach rapidly behind me. I prepared to stop at the four way stop sign which is only seventy five feet or so from the parking lot. A white male meathead, late twenties in a white VW pulls up behind me and immediately lays on his horn while I come to a complete stop because there is already a car (who has right of way) at the intersection. I then proceed to go straight when the VW tries to pass me on the RIGHT in the middle of the intersection. I yell an F’bomb and come to a complete stop just past the intersection with my bike at an angle to force the VW toward a parked car. The driver starts screaming that I am in the middle of the street and to get the F out of the street. I start to yell back when not ten seconds into the confrontation a cop car pulls in behind the driver with his lights on. The cop asked what happened and the meathead actually says “he was in the middle of the street so I had to run the stop sign to try to get around him.” The cop asked me what happened and then said he would talk to the driver and let him know what the bicycle rules are. I would have preferred the guy get a ticket, but it’s better than nothing. Oh, and he told me to be careful (as I stood before him wearing a reflective safety vest, two front lights, two rear lights, reflective tape on: bike frame, helmet, gloves, boots, and pannier).
marko82
2014-12-20 19:29:30
Authority police said the two were speeding and engaging in horseplay just before the crash, which occurred on the inbound parkway between the McKnight Road and Venture Street interchanges. They said Mr. Frauens’ bus collided with Ms. Maier’s, sending it down an embankment, and that after briefly stopping, he left the scene without reporting the crash. Wheee. The interior camera shot didn't show any passengers. I'm really hoping there weren't any...
ahlir
2014-12-20 20:05:34
@Marko, I wonder if "be careful" was just a positive-vibe parting. So awesome that a cop showed up.
vannever
2014-12-20 21:15:43
@ Marko82 The cop didn't do any kind of sobriety test? The guy was driving and acting like a drunkard. What is the point of a cop being there, otherwise? Even a perfunctory check might have been a life-changing experience for that driver. Also the cop's "Be careful" might have a been a friendly reminder of how much you could lose in an encounter like that. We both know the guy could have killed you ("He came out of no where, I didn't even see him!"), then maybe not even get a ticket for it.
mick
2014-12-21 14:49:10
We need a new thread for the new bike lane on the Millvale approach to the 40th St Bridge.
stuinmccandless
2014-12-22 12:36:19
"You really shouldn't be driving, dude." A lot anti-bike guys bring up license, registration, inspection, and insurance to complain about bike riders. All are necessary to legally drive a car. One reason for complaints is so many of thes drivers have some issue with one or more of those things. Most of us would like for the jerk driver in Marko82's report to stop driving. He is a hazard to bicyclists - and to pedestrians, other cars, dogs, buildings, and himself. Now the policeman who was there could not legally say "Sir, you are driving like a jerk. I'm going to have ask you to leave your car and have it towed and you must surrender your license." It's ashame, but the law, in it's wisdom, will not allow it. I'm guessing, (just a guess) that there is a legal reason that guy shouldn't be driving. I'd guess that he was NOT licensed, registered, inspected, insured, AND sober. Probably some of those things, sure. Not all. He had shown a reasonable cause for the policeman to investigate those things and if the cop found a problem (I beleive he would), deal with it legally. Honestly, most of the guys that give you crap don't have their ducks in line - and they know which ones are off, even if you don't. So, I say to problem drivers: "YOU shouldn't be driving." Sometimes shuts them up quickly.
mick
2014-12-23 11:55:04
@mick. I agree. The dude I had the run in with didnt seem obviously drunk etc., but who knows. The look on his face as the cop pulled in behind him sure would have been nice to get on video though. As much as I complain about the police NOT writing tickets, I think it's more of a system issue. Most workers respond to what is going to either bring them more money or a chance for advancement, and I dont think the police are any different. So if we (society) want them to write tickets we need to show it by making it a priority and rewarding them for those actions. I was talking to a cop for a few hours this summer while marshaling an event and he claimed that it's drug busts, DUI arrests, and violent crime arrests that gets you promoted (and the good old boys network which is a different topic). So a good cop who is only writing tickets, responding to minor thefts, domestic disputes, etc. has a hard time getting promoted.
marko82
2014-12-23 12:59:18
Registered (as bus15237, my Twitter handle). I'm not sure if I will try to backfit all the incidents I've tweeted about, but at least now I will have a mechanism to register more formally the incident I tweeted about. My tweet can give me enough info to work from for when I get online later and can compose and type a more coherent report.
stuinmccandless
2015-01-08 13:12:05
I was headed up Darlington when two cars squeezed by just before the JCC. I waved the 2nd, a dark blue highlander, back, but it passed fairly quickly at about 2.5' and promptly stopped just before the crosswalk, in the middle of the street, to discharge a kid into the crosswalk. WTF?? I think 4' problems will be worse in the winter...
neilmd
2015-01-08 19:36:13
"There’s now a national database for dangerous drivers. It’s called the Close Call Database: http://closecalldatabase.com" Here's the backstory behind the creation of that database: "Ezis designed Close Call out of “bitter experience,” he wrote in a Web post. He moved to Boulder, Colorado, in 2012 and was around for the local trial of a dump truck driver who allegedly killed a 73-year-old cyclist by pulling his truck into the cyclist’s lane. Apparently, the driver had a documented history of road rage against riders. The fact that his repeated acts of aggression eventually killed a cyclist prompted Ezis to start the database." http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from-the-field/Database-Tracks-Driver-on-Cyclist-Hate.html
rustyred
2015-01-12 22:29:51
While I generally like the idea of the database, is the information cataloged in it worth anything in a court of law? Say there's a problem driver that multiple cyclists have identified through the database, and that the driver ends up hitting a cyclist for driving carelessly, then claiming the classic "I didn't see the cyclist!". Assuming there's no video evidence from this collision or any of the other instances of aggressive driving, are those eyewitness accounts from previous incidents helpful in getting a conviction for the driver? I'm not being cynical. I really would like to know if this type of evidence would be helpful. Also, the website says that they'll contact police when multiple incidents occur for the same driver. Assuming these incidents don't result in an accident, what can the police do with this information other than paying the driver a visit to discuss his/her's alleged driving habits?
chrishent
2015-01-13 10:01:06
To @chrishent's post, I can see where there can be a concern over legalities. I think what I will do is try to process and post video for each situation I deem worthy of a tweet. Then will cross-reference the URLs for the videos in the post on this website, along with a cross-reference to the tweet. To reiterate: * a tweet of the license plate * front video, trimmed to the situation in question, posted publicly * rear video, the same *URLs for both * a verbal description of what happened, with date, time, location * any other relevant detail, such as the city CCR # and/or police report for a criminal complaint concerning the driver * all of the above mentioned in the description As much of the above as possible, for each instance. Yeah, that's a lot of work. We want to nail these bastards, right? This is how it's done.
stuinmccandless
2015-01-13 20:45:39
It is still worth something, even iif it can't be sued in court. My neighbor rides a bicycle sometimes, but usually, he's a jackass in an SUV. I'd love to point out to him sometime that his plate number was in a DB.
mick
2015-01-14 10:33:07
Wow, it would be a shame if somebody complained to his employer about one of their employees (someone who teaches children...) making threats of bodily harm against human beings.
rustyred
2015-01-17 14:12:43
And then there is the tweet just prior to this. https://www.flickr.com/photos/26723674@N06/15683215413/
Get all these jag-offs riding bikes OFF the road. Pay nothing to be there, careless @billpeduto @BikePGH— A Bloomfield Tale (@Coach_Warzu) January 16, 2015
Also favorited by JayRKay77 and Jimmer Besterci a.k.a at-sign mrgameseven. JayRKay77 also retweeted it. Going back a bit further, on Dec 19 2014, he had this one, too:
@CBSPittsburgh: #Pittsburgh Bike Share plans to use grant money on 500 bicycles for city bike share program" STOP THIS NONSENSE NOW!!!!— A Bloomfield Tale (@Coach_Warzu) December 19, 2014
...retweeted by Ryan Fortney (MTNEER4LIFE) and sevenwithcheese.
stuinmccandless
2015-01-17 15:48:45
Well, let's hope his social media stream of consciousness/diarrhea doesn't translate into harmful actions.
chrishent
2015-01-17 18:05:27
Kind of hard to understand somebody who works as a high school coach retweeting messages vulgar like this:
MILF teacher arrested for sex with student (while out on bail for having sex with 3 students) http://t.co/LXztUVElM8 pic.twitter.com/VQx1TFrtyi— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) January 12, 2015
vannever
2015-01-17 19:43:32
Coach seems to have two jobs, at least according to his LinkedIn page No pic, but there's a few on Facebook that you can check out (in case you're wondering if he might be the guy who just ran you off the road). Bishop Canevin seems to be a nice Jesuit-run school. Though I thought that meant they were supposed to promote Christian values (well, you know, at least those in the Bible). Maybe there's some dispensation for when you're Tweetering...
ahlir
2015-01-17 20:57:30
One must ask himself; "Who would Jesus run of the road?" I see he is one of those idiots that can't figure out how to center or crop a photo right in his FB cover photo.
shooflypie
2015-01-17 22:55:26
Chris Waruszewski seems like a pretty scary dude. Hope I never deal with someone like that in my travels. WOW!
gg
2015-01-18 10:08:59
Roll video. The grainiest video is always more damning than the best memory.
stuinmccandless
2015-01-18 11:41:29
If that FB is indeed the guy, what a moron. This is someone building the minds of children who are sent to catholic schools to avoid those "scary" public schools.
edmonds59
2015-01-18 12:39:20
We don't have to get all nasty on Coach. That's up to his employers (Canevin, CMU/SEI). Bear in mind that this is someone living a stressful life: food service manager by day, b-ball coach by night (and he mainly identifies with "coach"). With a 10+ mile commute between the jobs. A 2-year gap in his resume. (Wife? Kid?) Maybe he'd calm down some if he got a job at Central (assuming he's observant). But I don't really have a clue about the politics. Coach is is just some dude. The challenge is how to get such people to be responsible, irrespective of their circumstances (apparently their own responsibility, in today's America). I have no ideas.
ahlir
2015-01-18 21:02:35
Just look at one comment section of the Post Gazette's FB post yesterday about the Mayor's performance so far. Most of it is comprised of 60% who like his progressiveness in certain matters, and 40% are the yinzers waiting for the return of the steel mills who are pissed off over bike lanes and the "extra traffic". There are a lot of bike haters out there. There are a lot of people who are opposition to bike infrastructure and our way of transportation. There is no point in personally focusing on one trivial yinzer in Bloomfield. Just keep moving forward and slowly like all other social changes the percentage of bike haters will be falling. In a decade from now the bike haters will be a much smaller percentage of our population. Anyways, I had another buzz by while taking a lane on Liberty Ave by the upper 20th streets going from the Strip to Bloomfield. I was in the middle of the right lane on a slow traffic Saturday. Everybody is kindly and easily passing me fully in the left lane as traffic was low. Some ass in a BMW SUV swerves into my lane and passes me very close to prove a point. I catch up to the self-centered homicidal asshat at a red light and he is arguing about how I dare to be riding in the middle of that lane. He had a full left lane with nothing slowing him down. Traffic was low, and the left lane was fully open. Educating the public on cyclists rights and how to properly ride for our safety should be a priority. This goes for both drivers and cyclists. I continue to see so many door huggers out there as well. Instead our media focuses on "Bike Lash" and our bike community only focuses on more bike lanes on streets that really don't need them over others.
shooflypie
2015-01-19 09:16:42
"John Strahs" is incorrigible. Quoting: Well get out of the way ya little twerp! When you get an operators license and a registered license plate you will earn my respect but until then you are just another member of a minor fad fringe group that wants special things for your fringe group. And you better make sure you too respect my 4 foot clear zone around my motorized vehicle too! Cement-headed dinosaurs like him, I don't know what you do, but he's 68 or so, and won't be around that much longer, driving, anyway. Coach_warzu is 32 or so (his birthday is next week), so I'd focus efforts on folks like him.
stuinmccandless
2015-01-19 09:55:24
Yale and Marko and I watched this evening as this Black Escalade Limousine coming from Liberty Ave on 6th St turned right onto Penn Ave (driving the wrong way on a one way street), driving in the bike lane for 200 feet, then up onto the sidewalk, and driving 50 more feet on the sidewalk, then parked in front of the Heinz Hall stage entrance. PA license LM-27320. The sticker on the car's lower right says 0371. Marko spoke with the driver. The guy in the wheelchair was not pleased, either, probably because the sidewalk was now impassable to him.
paulheckbert
2015-02-09 01:18:25
That picture with the wheelchair is newsworthy. You might want to run with that one. Maybe even super selfish people like that dumb limo driver would feel a little guilty for totally blocking that guy in a wheelchair. He probably would care less, but i can dream that he might have a tiny bit of compassion.
gg
2015-02-09 08:01:14
I would contact Heinz Hall. The driver must have been picking up an entertainer. They would probably be able to figure out who it was.
jonawebb
2015-02-09 09:15:49
Here's another pic Paul sent me which shows the tire tracks on the sidewalk that prove just how far this ass drove on the sidewalk A few things really piss me off here. We were waiting on 6th street opposite the Escalade at a red light as this guy sat with his turn signal on indicating that he was going to turn up the lane. When the light turned green he started his turn and then stopped momentarily. I assumed he was going to back up, but then he just stared to drive down the bike lane. He then pulled up onto the sidewalk because a cyclist was in the cycletrack headed inbound straight at him and I think it was a panic reflex on the driver’s part. He then momentarily paused and I thought he was going to turn around, but then he decided to continue his journey on the sidewalk until he spotted the wheelchair. The thing is, when I confronted the guy he was very very very apologetic. He kept apologizing to the point it was irritating. I told him that when you do something wrong just stop and don’t make a bad situation even worse by continuing in the wrong direction, etc. He said “I know” and kept apologizing. He was the most soft voiced mousy man you could imagine. I’m sure he is a very nice and caring individual who normally wouldn’t hurt a flea ever. But somehow he managed to break a half dozen traffic rules in under a minute in a rolling two ton metal box. I’m sure this guy will never drive in the bike lane on Penn again; but I’m also pretty sure that when this guy gets in his next confusing traffic situation, he is going to just keep driving blindly.
marko82
2015-02-09 09:19:58
I shared the pictures with Kristin Saunders (Pittsburgh bike/pedestrian coordinator).
paulheckbert
2015-02-09 11:53:39
I have had a couple of cases on streets narrowed to just one pair of ruts in the snow where oncoming drivers simply press on, assuming that I will bail and get out of their way. One this morning on Darlington between Wightman and Murdoch; she wasn't going all that fast, but she was sure persistent. Even with studded tires and all, I certainly prefer riding on pavement. Of course, I DO bail; I'm not interested in asserting my rights from underneath a vehicle that happens to be in the wrong.
neilmd
2015-02-19 08:54:37
I had to dodge an angry middle aged red pickup truck driver with a crowbar today. Another typical "angry male in a red pickup truck" came barreling down on me on 5th avenue as I cycled the right lane towards the Shady intersection. I turned left off of Highland ave onto 5th to go to Beechwood. Nobody is around me and traffic is light. A red pick up comes barreling down in the right lane and barely moves over into the full left lane trying to prove a point. I whip him off and yell. He screeches to a halt and gets out with a crowbar yelling at me about how I shouldn't be in the road. I take off towards Oakland on my bike getting away from this disturbed individual. At this time more traffic approaches. I turn around with other witnesses and he speeds off to a red light. I captured his plate and called 911. I never dialed 911 on other times, but this time was enough. Red Pickup, angry middle aged black male with crow bar, Plate number ZFM9450. Appears to have little or very low IQ, does not comprehend laws, and very angry. Consider him stupid and dangerous. What pissed me off more was they sent a cop to write a report. The first cop brushed it off. I told him I was a tax paying individual and if somebody is coming at me with a crow bar I am dialing 911. I have a right to use the services I fund. This cop was a thug and as a tax payer I found him offensive. They send another older lady who takes the report. She ends up pretty much saying I should use trails and not cycle on the road "cause their are dangerous people out there who need to get where they are going". Apparently it is OK to drive close to a tax paying family man and chase him with a crow bar cause I shouldn't be on the road. Ready to take my degree and experience for the Great North West and leave Yinzerland once and for all.
shooflypie
2015-02-24 14:05:44
Police officers: “cause their are dangerous people out there who need to get where they are going" Also, don't own expensive things because there are ppl out there who will steal it. WTF? the Dept should be made aware of uninformed officers ignorant of the law, you have the two officers names, yes? tweet that, IMHO @ChiefCSMcLay I'm very glad you weren't injured...
rustyred
2015-02-24 14:20:21
The lady who took the report gave me her card. The first officer who responded pissed me off just in the way he shrugged me off. He asked me if he hit me with the crow bar. I told him that I was on my bike and could escape him. He then drove up Shady toward Dunkin Donuts with more important things to do. I do not have that Cop's info. When he was reaching in the back of his truck I was actually in a freeze. I didn't know if he was pulling a gun. I still am going to call the cops if somebody comes after me with a crowbar regardless of if he hits me. If somebody is dangerous enough to buzz by another human with little regard cause they are riding in the road and come after them with a weapon then it should be reported. Anyways, I post on this forum only when bad things happen once every three months. I have to try to forget about it and concentrate on the rest of the 95% of the time I enjoy cycling and most drivers treat me well. But its the 5% of the time with assholes and incidents like this that make me want to put my bike away for a while.
shooflypie
2015-02-24 14:41:02
Does Chief McLay use his Twitter account after that dust-up with the Union? I know that McLay is more conscious of the bike community than your average LEO but it would be nice to get a better response out of an officer than something so easily dismissed. If you were in a car and someone came at you with a crow bar, would that be dismissed as well? Clearly, this man is a threat to public safety. In addition, its extremely frustrating when people buzz you on a street that has TWO lanes. Not that it's ever excusable, but really? Sorry to hear about your experience. I haven't had a real bad driver interaction in about a year of daily commuting so that's good I suppose. I also like having a helmet cam mostly as a deterrent because if you assault me it will all be on video and I think pointing that out can help to defuse a situation.
mjacobpgh
2015-02-24 14:58:54
Oh, hell. He deleted his Twitter account over that. Thanks for the heads up Jacob. Well, there is @PghPublicSafety
rustyred
2015-02-24 15:21:39
Yea, I knew he stopped using the Twitter account but I didn't realize it had been deleted. Sounds like his route needed 5th in order to easily get to Beechwood. The only other option would be the sidewalk. I used to have to use Fifth to get from Neville to Wilkins and it was pretty scary with almost daily close passes. It's unfortunate because the road doesn't really need to change: the drivers do. Obviously, road design can influence behavior but so could better enforcement and/or reduced speed limits. There's no reason that a driver shouldn't be able to slow down and wait a few seconds to get in the other lane to safely pass. It's simply indefensible not to.
mjacobpgh
2015-02-24 16:03:35
Ready to take my degree and experience for the Great North West and leave Yinzerland once and for all.
Sounds about right.
jamesa
2015-02-24 16:38:57
re Highland→Beechwood 5th totally sucks. I would suggest getting closer to Beechwood on a different street. But I'm with you on using arterial streets: they're generally easier to ride (pace the cars). Coming up Denniston to 5th works for me. If you time it right, you're on a downhill (and visible) stretch of 5th and you're close enough to Beechwood that drivers seem to deal with it (oh and don't forget to take the lane). You can get there straight off the end of Walnut. If you're coming from E. Liberty you can short-cut by Alder →Marchand →Denniston. The Bakery Sq^2 (formerly Great North East) Passage is open and they seem to do a reasonable job of maintaining it (though I haven't been through there in the past week or two). Mellon Park clearing is mostly OK (they salt the bit along Penn). And if you're like me, you're slowly figuring out how to deal with (smooth) ice patches (coast through in a straight line; try not to sneeze). Looking forward, we absolutely need sharrows between Shady and Beechwood; it's a natural bikeway. What is the PROBLEM? And I forgot to mention speed limit enforcement. Waiting for a light at 5th and Beechwood is profoundly scary. It's like at the edge of a rural highway.
ahlir
2015-02-24 20:33:50
Critical Mass, this Friday, 6 pm, Dippy. Down to Heinz Field, back out on Forbes.
stuinmccandless
2015-02-25 08:47:40
Port Authority driver 031. This is not related to an incident with a cyclist, but rather overall behavior from this particular driver that would lead me to believe he can cause some problems. This driver is a regular on the 21 bus route between downtown and Coraopolis/Sewickley during the afternoon shift. It's been several times now that I've observed aggressive driving behavior from him. Yesterday, I had a clear view to his speedometer and I saw him get up to 69 mph on 35 mph Neville Rd in Neville Island. Then he went 50 mph on 35 mph Island Ave/PA51. He usually treats the stop sign for merging onto northbound Mckees Rocks Bridge from the Bottoms area as a suggestion (surprisingly, he stopped yesterday) then ramps up to 50-60 mph on the bridge before breaking hard at the light for PA65. Then he went up to 65 mph on PA65 towards downtown (speed limit: 40 mph) before pulling a ridiculous maneuver when entering the Fort Duquesne Bridge: traffic was backed up on both lanes, so he swerved onto the right merge lane that comes from the North Shore area before merging back into the bridge, saving himself about 500ft worth of traffic backup. I find that the other PAT drivers that I've encountered on this route are courteous and generally respectful of traffic laws. This guy is the exception, so if you bike in this area during afternoon rush hour, you might have to deal with him.
chrishent
2015-02-27 12:04:13
If the GPS system is working like I think it is designed to, they can pull the records for that guy's trip and easily corroborate that information. You have route number, direction, time of day, day of week, and a pretty good description of the driver. That should be enough for a positive ID. Used to be, the only way they could nail a driver for that sort of thing was to send a supervisor out with a truck to wait on a handy street, but the drivers know how that works and knew to slow down at the likely waiting points. But GPS is everywhere, all the time, and dead-on accurate.
stuinmccandless
2015-02-28 11:21:48
@stu, I definitely put in a complaint through the PAT site. Not sure if much will come of it. We'll see...
chrishent
2015-02-28 15:58:32
What? the owner of "SamSon Heating & Cooling" in Pittsburgh is a dangerous driver and then a bully on top of it? I guess anyone wishing to have heating or air conditioning done by "SamSon Heating & and Cooling" in Pittsburgh would be better served calling another company to give their hard earned money to.
marko82
2015-03-10 09:26:28
It's painful to hear that Pittsburgh, and especially Brighton Heights has a company like SamSon Heating & Cooling. I bet they also do plumbing, you know residential and commercial. They're the ones on Shoreham Street, right? Btw, isn't that stuff called HVAC?
ahlir
2015-03-10 10:20:39
Ahlir, Why yes, I do believe HVAC is the correct term for heating and cooling systems. I'd assume SamSon Heating & Cooling does HVAC work in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. #SEO
mattjackets
2015-03-10 15:54:13
I cracked up at "leave them a Yelp review". This is where we are now. Threat of physical violence on the street = leave a Yelp review. Something Woody Allen would have come up with in his heyday.
edmonds59
2015-03-11 06:10:32
@edmonds, with video evidence and a cool head you can probably get the police to do something about a threat of physical violence (which is what I'm hoping is happening with Stu's assault). But if you get involved in a fight with a driver and it escalates and you don't have video evidence or injuries I think the police are likely to say, well, it's two hotheads getting into a scrap. Even when one of the parties has a name suggestive of violence, like SamSon Heating and Cooling.
jonawebb
2015-03-11 11:29:39
There's been a development in my case from November, not a good one. I don't want to discuss it online. PM me if interested in the details. Frankly, I could use some help (ideas, not money).
stuinmccandless
2015-03-17 12:43:07
White male, in his 30s, facial hair, tattoos driving an older probably late 90s Grey Chevy Cavalier today around 5:15 PM on Smallman and somewhere in the 30's in terms of cross streets. The guy pulled up next to me within a couple of feet, yelled something at me about choosing a side I think (even though I was just biking in a pretty predictable and legal fashion), called me some expletives and sped off while turning completely around in his car to give me the finger. Unfortunately, I didn't get much more info because my bike camera was dead and I thought it was running and I could look at it later. I caught up to a police officer and told him what happened but he said he was responding to another call(which happened to be a lost dog I think which another officer was already at). Incidentally, I don't think the cop could've found the guy since this was a few minutes later and I didn't have a good description. Clearly, this guy is somewhat dangerous given I wasn't really doing anything besides existing on the road and it was completely unprovoked. In fact, I wasn't even taking the lane because Smallman is wide enough where I was for me to get to the side. I can't recall having ever seen the guy in the past nor was he wearing work clothes so hopefully it's not a route home for his evening commute. Just in case, I'm going to make sure every day before I leave work the camera is charged and ready to go. At the very least, I think he noticed it and it deterred more stupidity.
mjacobpgh
2015-03-30 16:45:50
@mjacob It's rough when people act like that. Hopefully this creep will just evaporate never to be seen nor heard from again.
mick
2015-03-30 18:24:53
At one point in time I would yell back "s'matter, girlfriend just dump you?" or maybe "hey, boss just fire you?" I know now that I was very foolish. Fortunately I figured it out on my own, before needing the assistance of some crazed driver. But I'm glad that our police force realizes the importance of reuniting dogs with their owners; I can think of few things more important. On the other hand, I'm surprised he didn't think to use his radio system (or computer!) and ask for backup.
ahlir
2015-03-30 18:38:49
Yea, it wasn't my first time dealing with a driver but I wasn't ready for it because I wasn't doing anything that normally draws the ire of the more irrational motorists nor was there any warning like honking that preceded it. That being the case, I just reciprocated the middle finger. When the cops told me that he had another call I accepted that mostly because I figured he wouldn't find the guy even if he tried but when I saw the call was a lost dog which another officer was already attending to, I was definitely a little annoyed. I'm all for returning lost pooches to their homes but an aggressive and dangerous driver seems like a bigger priority.
mjacobpgh
2015-03-30 20:00:49
Fun thought that occurred. I have a Steelers sticker on my helmet because I like the Steelers and I figured it would make drivers somewhat nicer to me. I have it on the left side because I figure this will be more visible to drivers even though on a Steelers helmet the logo is on the right. Maybe he was saying "wrong side you f'n ahole" regarding that. If so, my plan totally backfired.
mjacobpgh
2015-03-30 21:03:04
The cops are not going to do anything for you unless the guy ran you over, put it in reverse, ran you over again, and then drug you for 100 feet before dumping you in a river. They may then proceed to follow up on him to give him a harassment charge if that happens. Not to be negative or blow off your situation. I had a plate number, description, and had to be chased with a crow bar to just be told that I should use the trails instead and stay of the roads that I legally ride. They aren't going to go out of their way for helping a tax paying citizen. 10 of them are sitting in the Bagel factory every morning after I take my son to daycare. Even the one that did my police report. I want to walk up to her one day at her breakfast and ask her for a follow up. After all they are on my tax money. If the cops did come help they will most likely put a few rounds in you for being called to the scene. This is Murica after all. Anyways, still driving a late 90s cavalier in his 30s? Probably a basement dweller in his Mom's house pissed at the ways his life is ending up.
shooflypie
2015-03-31 14:44:42
Yea ShooFly, I had read about your most recent encounter and it was very discouraging. Still, I just so happened to see a police officer and figured I would at least give it a try. I think it's definitely a fair assumption that the guy was a very angry, bitter person considering I wasn't affecting him in the slightest. Oh well, no sign of him today thankfully and got the camera working it seems.
mjacobpgh
2015-03-31 16:55:43
I am tempted to agree with @ShooFlyPie about the police not wanting to get involved. I mentioned my dead-end above; while that dead-end is on me, it took some convincing on my part to get the cop at the desk to proceed with the charges I was trying to press. I had in my hand a stamped recommendation from the D.A.'s office, with CCR number and all the photos and paperwork they needed in order for me to proceed. Even with all that, he didn't want to go forward with the four-foot objection, saying that they had to witness that. I said I had front and rear video, with the URLs. What really more did they need? To be sitting in the front seat of the offender's car with a measuring tape? He relented and let me make my case, but jeeeze, it should not have been that difficult.
stuinmccandless
2015-03-31 17:10:20
@StuInMcCandless I know you had posted you would prefer to not divulge certain details publicly so don't comment if you don't want to, but that guy clearly laid his hands on you on video. That, in and of itself, isn't enough to proceed with some sort of action?
mjacobpgh
2015-03-31 18:47:50
Perhaps of interest: there is a "You & The Police" brochure summarizing rights, responsibilities, and advice about how to talk to and deal with the police. It's an updated version of a flier created in the mid-1990s, after Jonny Gammage died when police subdued him after a traffic stop. Relevant to cyclists: "You have a right to record (audio and video) police activity so long as you can do so safely and do not physically interfere with their work." http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2015/03/17/Community-groups-police-create-updated-flier-on-interactions-with-police/stories/201503170049
paulheckbert
2015-04-01 12:36:57
Yesterday at Rt. 51 & Rt. 88 intersection. I was sitting at a red light headed south in the middle of the lane when this ass tries to pass me while traffic streams past us with absolutely nowhere to go. So he was stopped in the opposite lane blocking potential oncoming traffic for the whole four or five minute light cycle. We exchanged words and a lady in another car offered to call the police as this guy gets out of his car and threatens me. The guy just laughs as she says this then gets back into his car. The lady was real nice and asked if I was ok. Late fifty's male driver with an F.O.P. badge (Fraternal Order of Police) attached to his plate. JRX-9339
marko82
2015-04-06 08:28:39
That car and your experience screams cop, or former cop.
jonawebb
2015-04-06 08:37:10
@jonawebb That car and your experience screams cop, or former cop. I pm'ed a similar suggestion to Stu-in-mccandless about the assault he experienced.
mick
2015-04-06 12:17:21
What would be considered some of the worst roads for aggressive drivers?
jason-pgh
2015-04-06 16:59:18
What would be considered some of the worst roads for aggressive drivers? Yes.
jaysherman5000
2015-04-06 17:46:53
6:15ish PM yesterday evening going up Hazelwood Ave (away from Sq. Hill) at the fork in the road where you can bear right for Bigelow Street or stay left and go down Hazelwood toward Irvine street I was blatantly cut off by a maroon SUV, MICHIGAN plate no. DC 8336. I was going to stay left and head down Hazelwood Ave and the car was going right for Bigelow St. I want to say it was a Ford Escape but not 100% sure. To their credit I was probably going a lot slower when they decided to pass me than when they actually did pass me (this fork in the road happens about 10 feet after the hill crests and they passed me as I was starting to accelerate). They were also obviously not from around here. But whatever, I'm posting on here because 1) that's a amateur driving move regardless of locale and at the end of the day I still almost got run over by a car, and 2) so other cyclists know to be careful on that street.
mscal
2015-04-07 07:40:47
There was something in the air, yesterday. I've gone a long span without any "incidents" and 1) had a very close pass during a lunch group ride by a car on the right with Illinois plates on Smallman while turning left next to Lydia's 2) PAT bus merging into me at Smithfield and Forbes 3) Pittsburgh Police high speed chase passed me in Bloomfield yesterday...I think the whole Zone was chasing this individual. Normally, this wouldn't be a major issue but I was with my co-pilot on the trail-a-bike coming back from the hospital. Careful, out there.
ka_jun
2015-04-07 10:43:21
Spring time: the cage windows open and the road rage that has been cooped up all winter rolls out.
mick
2015-04-07 11:36:02
Full Moon...fools out...
yalecohen
2015-04-07 13:43:51
Spring means more morons driving around on the roads. I can't believe some of the crap I am seeing now. Welcome to warm weather riding. Love the heat, but hate the people that come out of hibernation. Oh well, just be extra careful. Saw some lady driving in the wrong lane in front of Target in East Liberty. Had no idea what she was doing at all. Glad I was on the sidewalk, or I would have been in a head on I guess. Geez!
gg
2015-04-09 23:37:25
I can't read the plate numbers on this. I *really* need to get into the habit of yelling the plate numbers as I see them. https://youtu.be/EMZCfEY5dOk
rustyred
2015-04-11 21:21:14
People are idiots. Riding back on Rt 51 yesterday night from the 300k, lit up like a Christmas tree, I had drivers in my lane slow, pull up close behind me, before finally deciding to change lanes and pass. This is the four-lane section before Aliquippa, heading south, with minimal traffic. But still not quite getting the "change lane technique."
jonawebb
2015-04-12 07:50:58
Just shared this video to the Pittsburgh reddit since the top post on there is a rant about bikers filtering: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9bsWWPetHo Funny that it is already down voted. Filtering, a nuisance, is worse than endangering the lives of others. Got it.
mjacobpgh
2015-04-13 21:50:13
YYJ-7941 silver pickup truck. No horn, but passed me on the right in an intersection. Impatient fucking asshole. Also passed >=1 car.— Stuart Strickland (@bus15237) April 13, 2015 I do have front and rear video, if it matters. YYJ-7941, silver grey pickup.
stuinmccandless
2015-04-14 00:32:59
MOST INSANE DRIVER OF 2015 Im on a MOTORCYCLE heading outbound on Friendship. Im rolling. A car is FLYING up Millvale (at friendhsip park)... I slow down cause she is going 50mph and doesnt look to be stopping... She jams the brakes and slows down and waves me on yelling at me... I am prob going 30mph down friendship and she is behind me honking and pulling to the side to pass me.. She runs the stopsign at Evaline(?) to pass me into oncoming traffic. We both get green at negley. She runs stopsign at sharp edge, turns right.... Line of traffic at Baum looking at PIMS. SHE FLYS UP THE LEFT SIDE AND BLOWS OUT ACROSS BAUM. It was seriously the most insane shit I have seen in awhile. She was smoking the whole time. It was awesome. Im really surprised more people dont die.
steevo
2015-04-15 08:41:43
Might be the same demure blossom I encountered downtown around 5:30 PM yesterday. I was at the end of the inbound bike lane at Penn and Sixth, waiting to turn left onto Sixth. Facing me, there is a truck in the outbound traffic lane indicating to turn right (we both intend to go the same way, he has priority). The light turns green and there is heavy pedestrian traffic in the cross walk. He waits, yielding to peds. I wait, yielding to him and the peds. The lady flies up behind me, makes a sharp left blowing in between the two of us, almost rams into the pedestrians, smoking and mouthing everyone in the process.
rainbow-dog
2015-04-15 10:05:10
this identification and arrest was driven by online sharing of dangerous driver events: http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/crime/2015/04/17/tr-boy-charged-attempted-murders-bicyclists/25935697/ Authorities say a 16-year-old Travelers Rest boy faces six attempted murder charges and at least 17 other charges alleging that he targeted bicyclists as revenge for the deaths of two of his friends in a car wreck last December. The Greenville County Sheriff's Office says the boy tried to run bicyclists off the road or strike them with his car, shot fireworks at them and taunted them.
vannever
2015-04-20 08:58:46
JLL-5295 going westbound on Penn Ave and 33rd St. I suppose he gave me a 1-foot pass because he wanted to show me how badass and fast his white Kia sedan is. I must say, I was really impressed with his ability to get to the 32nd St red light faster than me!
chrishent
2015-04-20 19:32:15
Hit last night by a lady on her cell phone. Flipped over the bars on my new carbon fiber road bike on North Shore drive face first. The thing was less than 2 weeks old. I was sent to Allegheny General till about 11:00 PM and State AE security took my bike for safe keeping. Knocked out my front two teeth and my face is all messed up. Wrists hurt a bit, but other than that I need my bike fixed so I can be out on the road again. This is not stopping me. I have to call the cop who took care of it while I was getting treated by the paramedics. I will have to see how that goes. My bike less than two weeks old needs a new front wheel hub that is bent to shit, and front handle bars are bent. The frame isn't scratched though. I went to Stage AE at 12:00PM while the Modest Mouse concert was getting out looking frantically for my bike I just worked hard as hell for.
shooflypie
2015-04-21 06:43:26
Wow, that really sucks. At least it sounds like you didn't suffer any major injuries, so that's good. Hope you're out riding again soon!
chrishent
2015-04-21 06:56:09
"Hit last night by a lady on her cell phone." Ugh. So sorry SFP. :(
rustyred
2015-04-21 07:25:39
Knocking out teeth, to me, is a major injury.
stuinmccandless
2015-04-21 08:55:02
...but it could have been so much worse.
jonawebb
2015-04-21 09:04:57
Sorry to hear about your teeth and your rig. Heal up fast. Cellphone while driving lady's insurance going to pay for your damages, hopefully?
ka_jun
2015-04-21 09:16:45
Horrible, driving on your phone needs to be stigmatized the same way we stigmatize drunk driving. It's not just that you're more likely to cause an accident, it's you're making a conscious decision to be more likely to cause an accident.
mjacobpgh
2015-04-21 10:32:41
Was anyone else in the Strip District this afternoon around 2:00 harassed by a few sports cars? I was biking down Railroad Street at about 15-20 mph and was passed by three sporty cars (racing cars) going at least 50 mph. Too fast to get a license plate, but they look like they harassed another biker at the 40th Street bridge.
jason-pgh
2015-04-26 19:20:03
I saw a guy get out of a Lamborghini and go into the Ten-Penny restaurant at 10th & Penn about that time. Yeah, the guy parked illegally blocking the crosswalk. He wasnt driving like a dick when I saw him though.
marko82
2015-04-26 21:17:00
"We found that people are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cell phone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood-alcohol limit” of 0.08 percent, which is the minimum level that defines illegal drunken driving in most U.S. states, says study co-author Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology. “If legislators really want to address driver distraction, then they should consider outlawing cell phone use while driving.” http://www.unews.utah.edu/old/p/062206-1.html In my experience, I would estimate that ~1/4 of the drivers on the road in Pittsburgh are legally drunk, at least while they're driving through intersections (whilst I wait on the cross-street). Once I almost bought it when some guy on a phone went through a red light as I was entering the intersection. Judging from his gesticulations he seemed contrite. How sweet. I'm just happy that others didn't have to witness the spectacle of him having to wail over my dead (or maybe writhing) body. Why is there no traffic law enforcement in this city? Seriously.
ahlir
2015-04-26 21:22:47
Sunday morning around 1130 am I was riding down streets run road toward the jail trail I had a scary encounter. An electric blue jeep liberty PA license plate HLW 9792 buzzed me. That's fine, whatever, it happens. I was on the shoulder and I've noticed that when you're on the shoulder people are more likely to not give you four feet. After he passed me, he slammed on the brakes and stopped along the shoulder of the rode and watched me in his rear view mirror as I almost skidded into his car, then waited for me to unclip and gather my bearings and sped off. I know a lot of people complain about the police not taking cyclists seriously, so I had a pretty slick idea. I just called 911, said I wanted to report a dangerous driver told the operator EXACTLY what happened (minus the fact that I was on a bicycle) - I was being tailed and eventually passed by an aggressive driver on streets run road heading towards Hazelwood. He then slammed on the brakes in front of me causing me to almost to almost skid into both the guard rail and his vehicle and then sped off. I gave her a description of the vehicle and the guy's license plate number. The operator said she'd notify the police in the area an thanked me for reporting it. I get buzzed all the time, but this was borderline assault so I decided to report it. Not going to be calling 911 and crying wolf every time someone buzzes me.
mscal
2015-04-27 08:43:25
That's a really good idea. Just give the exact report of what happened, but don't mention that you were on a bicycle.
jonawebb
2015-04-27 09:00:16
@mjacobPGH Horrible, driving on your phone needs to be stigmatized the same way we stigmatize drunk driving. All manner of bad driving needs to get that stigma. When a car is going over 40 in a 25 mph zone, people should be shouting at them and calling 9-1-1.
mick
2015-04-27 11:51:04
*recharges camera batteries as he reads this*
stuinmccandless
2015-04-28 07:18:35
Wed 4.29 around 2.40pm, Blvd of the Allies outbound, rolled up behind a huge pickup with this sticker in the window: and the plate is: who would spend money on a "piss on bikes" sticker, that isn't way out of normal range?
vannever
2015-04-29 19:49:36
Probably rolls coal.
neilmd
2015-04-29 20:38:21
Long-time lurker, first-time poster (actually registered just now so I could post this). I had three encounters with aggressive drivers today in the mere two miles I ride each way to and from work, but only got the license plate for one of them: heading northbound on S. Aiken between Ellsworth and Centre this afternoon, I was stopped in a line of cars waiting for the light, my bike positioned more or less in the center of the right lane. As we were edging forward, a guy making a left turn out of the hospital garage decides he wants to be in my lane and tries to turn more or less on top of me. I guess he thought I was supposed to just stop and pull over to the curb, since he was really aiming right at me the way he was turning. Because my need to assert my rights sometimes trumps my survival instincts, I did a quick mental scan of the situation and decided we were moving slowly enough (really crawling at this point) that I felt comfortable continuing to move forward taking the lane, making it clear to him that I was staying in position and he could merge in behind me. His windows were open and once he'd gotten in behind me (and we were stopped again because of course there was too much traffic for anyone to move very far), he yelled at me, "My turn signal was on, where was yours?" I'm still baffled by this since I was moving straight ahead, but my best guess is that he believed that somehow my shifting my bike slightly to the left (which I did to make it clear to him that I wasn't allowing him in) while still in my lane somehow counts as a "lane change" and I should have been signaling my intentions. Perhaps he assumed when he saw me on a bike that I was filtering on the right of traffic, and therefore was surprised to find me right there in the lane? To make it clear in case someone wants to suggest I was riding dangerously, I was absolutely taking the lane from the start, probably only a little bit right of center, and it should have been abundantly clear to anyone turning left from the hospital that I was already IN the lane. He was just trying to bully me. Anyway, in response to his yelling about my lack of turn signal, I yelled back, "I was going STRAIGHT. I was already IN the lane and therefore I didn't need a turn signal to move forward." No response or further yelling from him after that. I'd like to believe his passenger pointed out that he was being an idiot and shut him up, but more likely he was mentally composing a letter to the Trib opinions page. Of course he buzzed me as soon as he was able to, heading up Liberty into Bloomfield. Shitty grey car, HRN9372.
ratatosk
2015-05-04 15:12:18
@ratatosk, I don't think you did anything wrong, BTW. You tried, and at least the guy acknowledged you were there. Couldn't claim you came out of nowhere if he'd misjudged and hit you. Had an interaction yesterday that worked out. Close pass on Graham Blvd in Wilkinsburg, a two lane road at that point, no opposing traffic. I caught up with the driver at the light, passenger window rolled down, "Sooo... do you think you could give me a few feet when you pass?" "I did!" "Nooo... You didn't brush me, exactly, but you didn't give me more than a foot." "Did you see how narrow that road was?" "You're supposed to cross the line. You are legally allowed to cross the line." Pause. "All right." Drove off. So, maybe some education there. Young woman. I imagine her giving cyclists more space from now on. The circumstances have to be just right to educate instead of just fight with folks. But sometimes you get a chance.
jonawebb
2015-05-06 11:41:12
Anyone else ever have an encounter with a fellow driving a van with "The Pittsburgh Stop, Inc." on the side, while riding through Pitt's campus in Oakland? I think he needs some education on bike/traffic laws. This appears to be the t-shirt vendor set up at the corner of Forbes and Bigelow. I don't know if this was Charles L. Bonasorte himself, who appears to be the owner. I rode down Schenley Drive from Squirrel Hill to Oakland this morning around 9 am. I was on the right side of the street, not in the protected bike lane which is all the way over on the left side. (I know there have been conversations on the board about the awkward connection to this particular segment if you're coming down from the golf course. In my view, it is too risky to cross over traffic, then back again, just to be in the protected lane, particularly if you're headed straight to Bouquet Street and thus would have to cross back over yet again.) Anyway, traffic was pretty mellow and I didn't have any problems taking the lane as I approached Schenley Plaza, where the bike lane ceases to exist anyway. I was continuing to Bouquet Street. As I approached the stop light by the carousel, where Schenley Drive becomes Roberto Clemente Dr., a van pulls up behind me and honks, with the male driver yelling something about getting in the bike lane. I respond that there isn't even any bike lane where I'm riding. He says back that I should have been in the bike lane the whole way down, then I should have crossed over at the end. He also complained about the thousands of dollars that had been spent on the bike lane. I told him he was confused about what the law requires me to do, and that I don't feel safe crossing over traffic in order to ride on the stretch of protected lane. He then passed me on the right, and turned right, in the direction of his business. Presumably he drives around this area a lot, and could use some better understanding about what he is entitled to expect from his fellow road users. I have video, which I may be able to upload later. Here's my attempt to link to a screenshot of the gentleman: http://imgur.com/r6bkcOB
chinston
2015-05-06 12:45:13
yup, that's the tshirt stand's van, and he's it's owner. i've never personally had an experience with him while riding, but his trucks are perpetually parked illegally; that van or his personal jeep are often parked _on_ the corner in front of his stand or in front of the fire hydrant across the intersection, and the company box trucks (which are basically stockrooms on wheels) are parked for days or weeks at a time in metered spaces--now that they've moved back from the marathon, they'll likely not move again until football season. and the stand itself of course blocks off a huge chunk of a very well-used sidewalk...
epanastrophe
2015-05-06 12:54:14
I find that the "you should have been in the bike lane" rant is very common. The other day I was riding down Penn bike lane into the city, and at the intersection of 11th street, a driver honked their horn. I looked around trying to figure out what, if anything I was doing could be construed as improper behavior, then saw a cyclist riding in my same direction in the traffic lane. Of course, the cyclist turned right at the very next intersection. Drivers can be a rather privileged, impatient and rage-happy folk... Last summer, I was riding with my partner at the time from Atlantic City back to Ocean City, NJ. We were on some very sketch road before we could get to the bike lane on that same road. We had a woman in a pickup rant that we should be using the bike lane and my partner said, "we are intending to...we just haven't gotten there yet...." sheesh.
gimppac
2015-05-06 15:01:33
Prior to 1998, there was a state law requiring cyclists to ride in a bike lane, if present. Since repealed. Again, I believe motorists should be required to pass a written test with license renewal. Even if it's a take-home or do-online-at-home test with the answers on a sheet provided with the renewal. Just ask 20 questions about changes in state traffic law in the last 10 years, and include some basic questions about dealing with bicycles and pedestrians.
stuinmccandless
2015-05-07 12:10:38
I suspect Tshirt van man sends the Men in Blue a few Tshirts now and then to allow him to continue to bend the arc of the law toward just his. Perhaps even a few of those little green Thank You notes. People LOVE Tshirts!
edmonds59
2015-05-07 12:36:29
And how do we feel about training/testing/licensing bikers? How do they find out about changes in the law--or even what the law is? [The issue is not so much the law, but common sense safety and enforcement--I would bet (and I don't have numbers) most of the drivers that act unsafely towards bikers, et al., don't care about the law--unless it was enforced...bikes on their road are a nuisance and in their way--just as slow cars, pedestrians, etc.] I'm all for testing...including an insert in the renewal that lists changes in the laws and/or laws that need more visibility like school bus laws and littering--which I recall showing up in my license renewals...
yalecohen
2015-05-07 12:36:44
Iguana, as you imply, this bullshit on-road bullying using "the law" is a straw man, a smokescreen. These entitled shit-sacks don't want bikes on THEIR road, and they'll use any hackneyed excuse to try and bully them off. Fuck anyone who tries saying that to me.
edmonds59
2015-05-07 12:44:38
Depending upon the perpetrator, I could go for that kind of intercourse...:-) ...but I'm just a lizard...
yalecohen
2015-05-07 13:02:34
:O !
edmonds59
2015-05-07 13:07:49
Someone needs to tell this dude, straight to his face, that he is screwing with the wrong crowd. All he needs to do is stop being stupid. I don't give a rat's ass about his truck, his shirts, blocking paid parking spaces, whatever. But if he disses me on the bike, he's gonna know about it. If I learned nothing else about my run-in on Perrysville back in November, it's how the mechanisms of the legal system work. And I will be happy to share my knowledge and experience with anyone else who has a problem, and the evidence to back it up.
stuinmccandless
2015-05-07 14:24:52
@Stu:
If I learned nothing else about my run-in on Perrysville back in November, it’s how the mechanisms of the legal system work. And I will be happy to share my knowledge and experience with anyone else who has a problem, and the evidence to back it up.
It would be awesome if you would write this up for the Wiki. Might have a really big impact in people taking action against aggressive drivers. Even if you only have notes, and don't have time to put it into Wiki form, I would be happy to help organize it and put it online.
jonawebb
2015-05-07 15:43:53
"And how do we feel about training/testing/licensing bikers? How do they find out about changes in the law–or even what the law is?" How do drivers find out about changes in the law?
benzo
2015-05-08 11:44:53
Recall Stu's original post/proposal, that prompted my post: "Again, I believe motorists should be required to pass a written test with license renewal. Even if it’s a take-home or do-online-at-home test with the answers on a sheet provided with the renewal. Just ask 20 questions about changes in state traffic law in the last 10 years, and include some basic questions about dealing with bicycles and pedestrians. "
yalecohen
2015-05-08 11:58:19
@Iguana - Agreed that would be great. Since most people who bike also hold drivers licenses (something like 90+%, but I'm not sure the actual percentage) , this would re-educate most of them too. I don't see this happening in the near future. I'd love to see it become a reality though.
benzo
2015-05-08 14:09:57
Getting a drivers license in PA is kind of like an inverse lottery, with a 1:1,000,000 chance of failing. You read a little book, go take the test, the test gives a randomly selected number of (lowest-common-denominator) questions that are not even close to a comprehensive set of the entirety of traffic law. If you happen to get a set of questions that you happen to know, or can guess if you have a thimble full of common sense, you win!!! Off you go! And make sure you follow whatever other traffic behavior you make up or fabricate on the fly that fits your personal convenience.
edmonds59
2015-05-09 06:37:53
The discussion about education and PA licensing was on my mind this morning as I biked home from the gym: a driver passed me with at most a foot of clearance, on Ellsworth. As she sped away, I noticed she had Ohio plates. I'd like to think passing that close, at that speed, would be obviously dangerous to any driver regardless of their knowledge of PA laws. But with passing laws varying from state to state, it might make sense to have occasional signs up, particularly on roads that see a lot of cyclist traffic, reminding drivers of the four-foot passing law. Maybe they'll do as much good as "Share the road" signs do (none, as far as I can tell), but at the very least it becomes harder to claim ignorance of the law, and maybe someone who genuinely didn't know about it would learn something new.
ratatosk
2015-05-09 08:02:09
Can we have a thread for "Annoying Drivers". The ones that aren't dangerous, but just obnoxious low IQ douche bags? I am coming home from a good Sunday morning loop to the Montour,South Park,back to Greenfield. I am just literally sitting behind a row of cars at the main intersection of lower Squirrel Hill on Pocusset to make a right onto Murray and even have my right arm extended out signaling my future right turn. The light turns green and I literally follow two cars at the same speed to the right up Murray. Then this big tough guy in a blue pickup trucks pulls up and yells, "Follow the rules of the road Asshole!". I had to yell back following him insulting his apparent low IQ and hillbilly status. It is nothing dangerous, not a big deal, and nobody got hurt. But what the hell? I was in Manhatten the last week and did about 60-70 miles through the Island. There was no harassment and the population of hillbillies in big pickups was at a minimum. It was great, but come back to Pittsburgh and it's like a monster truck rally in West Virginia.
shooflypie
2015-05-10 11:58:36
I was in a car on Shady Ave today at 1:29pm, coming from the north, waiting in the left turn lane at the light to turn left (east) onto Forbes, I was stopped at the red light and the cars to my right were stopped, also. There was a "no turn on red" sign illuminated over the intersection. A policeman on a bicycle passes me ON MY LEFT (riding in the lane for oncoming traffic) and does a right hook in front of our two lanes of waiting cars to proceed west on Forbes. Hah! The impression he left is that waiting or filtering is beneath him, and that traffic laws (e.g. "don't turn right from the leftmost lane of the road") don't apply to cops. He had no siren or flashing lights.
paulheckbert
2015-05-10 13:55:17
@ratatosk it might make sense to have occasional signs up, particularly on roads that see a lot of cyclist traffic, reminding drivers of the four-foot passing law. +1
mick
2015-05-10 16:16:15
@shooflypie - That's one use I put my Twitter account to. Anytime I can catch a plate number, it gets tweeted, which forms a permanent record. I highly recommend the practice of yelling the plate number, rather than anything at the driver. If you have a camera, even if pointing the wrong direction, it will pick up the audio of you yelling the plate. If the guy does hear it, might make him realize that his harassment is not anonymous. Saying the plate out loud also reinforces it in your own head long enough to get the phone out and post it. If, later on, the guy ends up in court, we can go back to this record to point out that there is a recorded history of abusive comments.
stuinmccandless
2015-05-10 16:49:59
Unrelated, I found JJV-1316 today, parked in front of the house whose address matches the driver's license of the guy who police records say the car is registered at. So maybe my November incident is not a dead issue.
stuinmccandless
2015-05-10 16:52:42
Hey cyclist, you're not supposed to be in the going-straight-ahead lane to go straight ahead! Get over in the right-turn-only lane! Here, I'll honk at you! That's not good enough? How about I pass you in the middle of the intersection with stopped traffic waiting to make a left turn? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w3BDSftaoI Babcock Boulevard, outbound, at Thompson Run. This is at least the fourth incident in a couple of weeks I've had at this corner. PA plate JDK-3107
stuinmccandless
2015-05-20 15:15:52
Stu, that is pretty good quality. What are you using? I am committing to buying a camera after incident number 2 at the Murray/Forward/Pocusset intersection in Squirrel Hill. I had another last Sunday and it was just beyond ridiculous and similar to your video. Some young 20 something douche came up behind me extremely close honking as I went through the intersection downhill on Murray the same speed of the bus in front of me. Then he sped off passing within a foot to make it between me and the bus so I could follow the moron the same speed one car length behind him. He looked so intelligent. He must be a physics major or something. But I want a camera. I have had more than a few bad experiences and it's time to document it.
shooflypie
2015-05-20 19:28:52
I'm using a Fly6, combo camera/taillight. @RustyRed has the same one. They're not cheap, $173 with shipping. See her review on their website. I took her suggestion to ziptie a plastic J-pipe (like under a sink) to my rack, then mount the Fly6 to that.
stuinmccandless
2015-05-20 21:30:45
Riding home from work back in February or something, I had a _pedestrian_ troll me to get in the bike lane! This was on Broad St. near the Target lot (I'm suspicious that he was walking to his car which he leaves parked there against the rules) and no bike lane in sight.
erink
2015-05-21 11:54:56
I been told by a driver to get in the bike lane in that same location as well. Also, I want to put out a public service announcement for all cyclists. Please use caution on Saturday while riding in the city. There will be a lot of drunkard middle aged men from the hills wearing cowboy hats in over-sized pickups. This crowd is not too fond of cyclists. Please cycle with extra care.
shooflypie
2015-05-21 12:20:25
To be fair a lot of those drunkards are young. And aside from pickups they also seem to drive "muscle" cars that always seem to have bad mufflers. Fun fact: I read that talking on a phone has the same effect on your driving as having two drinks. (Maybe three; I forget.)
ahlir
2015-05-21 18:26:41
What is with drivers in Pittsburgh getting out of their cars and trying to assault people? Another case in McKees Rocks on 51 right across the bridge where there is street parking. I was taking the lane. This oafy looking dumbass probably had to wait 2 seconds till I released and let him pass. He was so pissed he came up from behind me honking, swerved and almost hit me, then stopped and got out and was gonna beat me up or something. It was like 6:30 in the morning yesterday. I didn't get a license number. And what was real annoying was I pretty muched followed this asshat after the situation up Neville Island going slightly slower but he was in my sight the whole time. A 18 wheeler got between me and him and I followed this violent unstable idiot with caution. This moron probably does not have the intellect to understand that he doesn't need around a bike if the velocity is about the same rate regardless of the vehicle. But I doubt this dude ever studied physics. Again, I rode in Philly this week up through Lancaster Ave, throughout the west side to the Main Line and back. NO harassment, no immature hillbilly shit, nothing. Come back to Pittsburgh and it starts all over. I am getting sick of this god damned town. I swear it is like one large Kenny Chesney concert full of hillbillies and rednecks. Ready to start sending my resume to the west.
shooflypie
2015-05-31 08:32:15
Stu, that looks like a tough intersection. I don't think I would have the guts to take that lane there. It was amazing how may SUVs and Pickups that passed you on that ride. What you are doing there is correct of course, but I might opt for the turning lane and try and time everything using my mirror and hope to not have an SUV next to me when getting through that tough spot. I know that isn't technically right, but my heart was sort of racing just looking at all those giant vehicles. The north hills is sure loaded with the behemoth truck types. Stay safe and leave enough time for yourself.
gg
2015-05-31 09:33:02
Yesterday morning I was on Brownsville crossing Rt. 51 heading towards Brentwood. I was sitting next to a car and talking to the guy driving. Light turns green, I clip in and start pedaling with traffic. The dude I was talking to drives past and when I get across 51 the work van behind him honked loudly so I turned around and looked. The driver was screaming at me and giving me the middle finger. I gave him kind of like a Celine Dion "my heart will go on"/"wtf" arm motion and kept riding. I looked back after a few seconds to see if he was still back there and got a glimpse of the side of his van just as he slammed on the brakes and drove into a parking lot. It turns out this jerk was on the clock at work (company info at the bottom of the post) Got the company name and number off the side of the van, stopped and called. I used the same tactic I used with 9-1-1 the last time I had a close encounter.. I just called the number and politely said something like "hey I wanted to let you know one of your guys got dangerously close to me and almost caused me to go off the road at the corner of Brownsville and Rt. 51. He was screaming and giving me the middle finger." I just left out the fact that I was on a a bicycle because that shouldn't matter. The van was from John Diggins Heating & Air Conditioning on Baptist Road. Ha, now that I'm looking at it the "customer service" person I talked to was probably Mrs. Diggins and middle finger guy was probably Mr. Diggins himself; Google streetview is a picture of a house.
mscal
2015-06-01 07:43:55
Hey Mick, I don't see the note. Do you mean there's something already on the page about him being an angry person? Or that there's some space there where I should make a note?
mscal
2015-06-01 12:54:14
"Be the first to review" Yelp or Facebook might be more effective, since it doesn't sound like they or anyone else use their G+ page... (does anyone other than mick use g+?)
epanastrophe
2015-06-01 13:22:50
I just got it when I googled the business name. @mscal, I'm guessing the same complaints you told the police would work for an on-line review.
mick
2015-06-01 15:26:58
I just got back from a long weekend in Montreal. Biked everywhere, people biking everywhere. 60 hours without touching a car, not a single honk, close pass, nor did I observe a single incident of those being done to others. I almost don't even feel like riding around here. Frigging Neanderthals.
edmonds59
2015-06-02 12:18:08
@edmonds59: my home town! Of course, Montréal has an actual transit system so you don't really need a bike, let alone a car, to get around. I'm a bit surprised that you didn't have issues with the cars; apart from Boston it's about the, um, liveliest street scene on the continent. At least it was when I was growing up. Of course, back then the safest part of the street was the double-yellow down the middle...
ahlir
2015-06-02 21:01:38
Cyclist biking wrong way in Darlington no lights no reflector no helmet looking at iPhone. That counts as a dangerous driver for me...
neilmd
2015-06-02 21:22:54
Ahlir - I was going to do a kind of trip report on another thread when I get a chance. It was fabulous.
edmonds59
2015-06-03 06:50:54
@neilmd, people have the right to make mistakes. The bicyclist riding unsafely is almost entirely a danger to themselves, not others.
jonawebb
2015-06-03 07:11:08
Running stop signs and red lights is not a mistake; using an iPhone while riding (a car or bike) is not a mistake...nit looking when crossing a ride (whether an intersection driving a car or bike or wheelchair or donkey) is not a mistake...it is against the law, is stupid, moronic, imbecilic, ... DANGEROUS...and doesn't a biker have the same rights and RESPONSIBILITIES as drivers....and lest we forget those below the bicyclist in the travel chain: pedestrians--some who make the "mistake" of walking in bike lanes or jaywalking...but dangerous biking is dangerous to these lower life travelers... If you want equal rights on the road: A dangerous biker on the road is a dangerous driver.
yalecohen
2015-06-03 07:26:53
Yes I know, and posting that on this thread was meant to provoke a bit. However, he was really pretty hard to see, even with my RIM, so in addition to himself he did pose a danger to me. I might assume that he would have noticed a car coming up behind me (there was none) but he sure did not notice me. I did say "you really should get a light" and he did not even look up from his screen. It was the combination of at least 4 separate major safety violations, at least 2 of which were illegal, that made the cumulative effect cross over some line for me.
neilmd
2015-06-03 07:55:21
That's funny. Yesterday evening I was coming back from Oakland up Panther Hollow protected bike lane. When it ends at Anderson Playground I typically keep an eye on my mirror and with no cars close by I go through between the bollards and keep going down the ramp to Overlook drive instead of taking the very poorly makeshift bike path there where it is just not a good mix with pedestrians and bikes. Anyways, going up the ramp on the white line comes an idiot with no helmet, no light, breezing the wrong way down the road with a minivan coming his way. I said, "Dude, you make us all look like idiots!" The van had to honk at him, or maybe it was me for following laws. One never knows. Maybe it was the same vigilante you saw up on Darlington. Possibly WPXI is paying people to go around the city biking like this to help us look bad and help their audience rant on their website more about how we never stop at lights and think we "own the road".
shooflypie
2015-06-03 08:37:26
That little do-si-do with the bollards can be quite exciting under the best of circumstances.
neilmd
2015-06-03 08:43:56
Look, people can do stupid things (@ig, it's still a mistake, even if it's deliberate). It's just not the same level of danger to others as a driver in a 2 ton vehicle. Of course there's some level of risk, especially to pedestrians. But posting the item here puts it on a whole other level. If you want to start a "Stupid bicyclists I have seen" thread, go ahead.
jonawebb
2015-06-03 08:58:19
Generally speaking, I find that the folks who ride like that (i.e. playing w/ phones), also drive and act the same way as pedestrians (i.e. playing w/ phones), basically acting without a sense of self-preservation.
ka_jun
2015-06-03 10:49:47
I was jsut hanging out with a friend yesterday. She was VERY concerned with things like not drinking water from the tap, worrying about how long food would wait at at take-out before we could pick it up, me drinking from a glass that had not been washed since it had been in storage for a while and stuff like that. But she was totally OK with cruising down the city streets making on a cell phone with no seat belt. Ugh.
mick
2015-06-03 11:03:54
Maryland plate 5BT7954, white Nissan. On this part of Babcock Blvd, the shoulder is non-existent and a large hole (actually a sunken drain grate) exists at road edge. It is not possible to share the 12-foot lane, too narrow, but near-constant traffic flow opposite makes it difficult to pass, and farther up, bushes block the shoulder. It's level and straight, making drivers want to travel much faster than the posted 35. Since it is not safe to pass, I forcibly take the lane. Car passes me anyway on the outside of a blind curve at the end of the straight section, nearly hitting someone head-on. Rear video Front video As I said in a tweet later, "Doesn't matter if I'm a bike, a backhoe or a Buick. I'm there first, you follow. Patiently. If you can't do that, you should not drive."
stuinmccandless
2015-06-03 17:34:36
I went for a long ride through the Strip District and Downtown yesterday and I ran into a common problem, turning, two times to be exact. 1. I was going towards Downtown on the Penn Avenue bike lanes at the intersection of 11th Street. I had a car come within 1 foot of me, making a left turn, because he failed to yield. (Didn't get a plate number) 2. Same intersection, this time going outbound, I had a car facing me, almost turn right into me making a left turn. I don't know why they couldn't see me, I was wearing a reflective tape and it was the middle of the day. (Again no plate number.) But the worst moment was on Smallman Street between 32nd and 34th Street. I had a Miller Lite truck come up behind me (I was moving pretty good, about 20-22 mph in a 25 zone) with no oncoming traffic. He then decided to race me to the stop sign with traffic in front of me. Luckily, he decided to stop. We then continued this for a couple more blocks until 35th Street. I decided it would be safest for me to move over and just let him pass. Plenty of space, no oncoming traffic, I pulled over a bit and waved him around. Well, its a good thing I brought my hand back in, because he passed me with about 1 foot to spare. Miller Lite Truck, white, plate number ZD something - 6462.
jason-pgh
2015-06-04 07:34:10
Maybe he pegged you as a Michelob Ultra drinker.
edmonds59
2015-06-04 08:03:54
Jason, I have also had issues with drivers turning left even when you are coming right towards them on the Penn Ave bike lane. Sometimes people are stuck in the rush hour mindset that they need to fit in any space they can or they might miss a light. However, when you're going straight on the bike lane you're probably not going to turn right at that intersection which means there's no need to cut you off. In addition, those Miller Lite trucks, as well as some other beer brand trucks, all come from a warehouse at the end of Smallman on the Lawrenceville end. I have also had a Miller Lite truck pass me extremely closely on Smallman only to go to that commercial gas station one block later.
mjacobpgh
2015-06-04 08:10:34
I complained about the left turns into the downtown Penn Ave bike lane so many times now. Was told that it isn't a problem because I should just be safe and watch my shoulder or something. As one person never had a issue because they are careful. I still personally find it to be a pain in the ass every time I have to stop my vehicle for somebody turning their vehicle because they either don't see me, or just feel that since they are in a car they can override me illegally. However, this is just People for Bike's reinforcing the ideology that we don't belong on the road even if it makes more sense to just sharrow it here.
shooflypie
2015-06-05 06:23:27
Just now, riding down Butler Street, I almost got hit by a charcoal gray Mustang (unfortunately I didn't get a plate). I was headed toward Central Lawrenceville from Downtown. Just past Iron City Bikes, I saw the driver was coming down 39th. He got the the intersection at Butler and 39th and stopped at the stop sign as I was a maybe 100 ft or so away. We made eye contact, so I know he saw me (I also have reflective stickers all over my frame and front and rear lights running), but as I was directly in front of his car, he started pulling out onto Butler causing me to swerve. He then proceeded to pass me on the right (after I swerved out of the way) to speed off to the red light at 40th. Unfortunately, the light turned green and he turned left toward the bridge before I could grab a plate. What a jagoff!!!
njpearce22
2015-06-05 20:52:11
Gold GMC mid-sized SUV, white overweight male, 40's or 50's, PA license JRR-9063 (not 100% sure of last four digits) I had a bad encounter with an overly aggressive driver going up Becks Run today. I called 911 (several times) and waited TWO hours for a police officer to show up before I finally gave up and left. I plan on going by the station tomorrow to file a report, and get an explanation for the wait.
marko82
2015-06-07 18:12:40
"waited TWO hours for a police officer to show up before I finally gave up" Oh, hell. That's insane. I thought I had it bad with a 10 minute wait after calling my own township's police for a mailbox thumping, they insisted the delay was because they were *in-between shifts*. Good to know that when the shifts end/start/overlap, that's the best time to commit crimes!
rustyred
2015-06-07 18:51:55
I do love when us cyclists never fail to use "overweight" in our description of the assholes.
shooflypie
2015-06-07 19:58:31
Karma's a bitch sometimes, isn't it? This morning on 6th Ave, the light at Wood St turns red in front of me, so I stop. And promptly get a horn in my ear and a black SUV passes me. I then get a police siren in my ear and a city cop then pulls over the SUV, who'd run the red. Front video: https://youtu.be/Z5LVcCZphK0 Rear video: https://youtu.be/jFzRZfXfe2Y I told a pedestrian that I'd stop to tell the cop that I had video, but thought better, as he already had the ticket book out when I went by, so I merely said "Thank you!" I didn't even bother getting the plate. Things were well in hand.
stuinmccandless
2015-06-08 10:53:23
"I do love when us cyclists never fail to use “overweight” in our description of the assholes." That's an important aspect: not only is the vehicle outclassing us, but the driver is too when they get out of the vehicle to "have a word" with us. I suspect they're being prudent and sizing us up before they make the decision to stop the car and have a chat. "I can take this guy." Or will they see a large/meaty cyclist and think better of it? Tall man on a little bike ***Awesome video, Stu. That made my day.
rustyred
2015-06-08 11:15:06
I suspect Marco was merely being descriptive. I love Stu's video, too. Marco's not getting a police officer to come in response to his request reminds me too much of #whitePeopleProblems. Not that it makes it any better; the police should have shown up; but there are lots of folks who have given up on getting any help from the police, based on years of experience.
jonawebb
2015-06-08 11:25:58
@Stu - you should have let the cop know. He might have been writing a warning due to lack of solid evidence or something. It is a wonderful image. I always fantasize about cars that hassle me getting into legal trouble down the road. Marko, that is horrid. I suspect it was, "Driver hassling a bicyclist on Becks run? Why bother?"
mick
2015-06-08 12:45:59
I agree with you Jon. I have had both very good and not-so-good interactions with the police over the years in any number of situations. And every time I've been treated over aggressively, or treated dismissively, I think how much worse it must be for people in a minority group. But race, etc. doesn't apply here. And by not showing up in a reasonable time frame, all of the potential witnesses (which there were quite a few) had left. As for describing people, I was being kind. Also, nice video Stu!
marko82
2015-06-08 12:53:29
Today, I got to play the age old game of, "Race the biker to the stop sign" with a rather large truck. Coming down Friendship Avenue, I noticed that there was a rather large truck coming up behind me. Friendship Avenue is fairly narrow where I was at the time (approaching S Evaline) and it was in no way safe for the truck to pass me. Then, only seconds later, the truck was accelerating as he approached my back wheel. Surprised, I downshifted, and in a moment of pure knee-jerk reaction, sped up to try and get to the stop sign. The truck eventually backed off, but has anyone else had this happen to them?
jason-pgh
2015-06-17 16:18:05
Yes, this happens to me often. Typically on residential streets heading to a stop sign I will have cars hurry up and pass me to get the the stop sign. I typically then follow them at the same speed. I give them a thumbs up showing how my appreciation of their stupidity. Usually I just hold the lane and don't move leaving them in the opposite lane at the intersection making them feel stupid.
shooflypie
2015-06-18 12:08:38
@jason. The most memorable time this happened to me was on Sydney street is southside a few years ago. The guy was driving a marked parking authority vehicle and ended up in the wrong lane at a four way stop, car opposite us, and one wanting to turn into that lane. I stopped at the stop sign and put my arms up in a WTF gesture, the turning car started to make his turn and had to stop because genius was blocking his lane, and a pedestrian on the sidewalk started yelling at the guy. He was trapped with at least four witnesses to his douchebaggery. Total cluster-F because this guy had-to-get-around-the-bike. And on a quiet side street with lite traffic to boot. Wish I had video to send his boss.
marko82
2015-06-18 12:29:10
@Marko82 I think the craziest time I had that happen was at the corner of Northumberland and Denniston next to the Children's Institute going towards Beechwood. Lady in a SUV was on her cellphone and ended up stopped in the wrong lane next to me at the four-way. I never understand the lack of logic there. Especially on a street with multiple stop signs down the whole length of it, like Northumberland.
ka_jun
2015-06-22 13:15:20
I had a close call last night in Millvale. Red minivan, PA plate EKJ-7456, comes up behind me on North Ave just past Klopfer, and passes me with somewhere in the vicinity of 9" to a foot of room. Rear video While there was a car going the other way, had the minivan been going a bit slower (appears to be going > posted 25), there would have been all kinds of space to get by. No horn, just a high-speed thread-the-needle pass.
stuinmccandless
2015-06-24 15:50:38
I now have a YouTube playlist of my collected "Motorists behaving badly" videos. Enjoy. Sort of.
stuinmccandless
2015-06-24 15:54:52
http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8618268-74/speed-lebanon-drivers excerpt: More than 80 percent of drivers exceeded the speed limit past tracking devices in Mt. Lebanon and Bethel Park recently, some as fast as 77 mph in zones with posted limits of 25 mph and 35 mph, data show. Police produced the speeding study with data obtained from electronic speed trailers that tracked and stored information on 300,000 vehicles in the municipalities in April and May. Good sample size! But more useful statistics than fraction of drivers exceeding the speed limit, or max speed would be average speed. This is a huge departure from the standard heuristic: set speed limits to be at the 85th percentile of vehicle speeds: http://www.motorists.org/speed-limits/faq
paulheckbert
2015-06-29 23:02:37
Two cents added.
stuinmccandless
2015-06-30 04:31:59
HRC6354 Silvery, light blue (?) compact car. Insane close pass followed by "I will run you over." Babcock Boulevard in Shaler. Heavy sigh.
callahan
2015-07-01 09:33:04
My favorite comment regarding the Mt. Lebanon speeding article. Thomas James Fitzpatrick · Upper St. Clair High School says: "Speed limits are artificial anyway. If tou are going to post maximum speeds you should post minimum speeds as well. Speeding doesnt kill people. Differentials in speed does." What a dope.
gg
2015-07-01 11:29:15
I need to go back through my Twitter history to see if there are any repeats. And that bit of Babcock in Shaler is a real PITA.
stuinmccandless
2015-07-01 16:12:36
Around noon today (07/01)I was struck on the left side of my butt by half of a large apple thrown from a car. Light colored sedan, could not get make, model, or plate. Happened traveling north on Shady just past Wilkins. Tried to give chase, but they made the light at 5th, while I did not.
helen-s
2015-07-01 17:47:42
Close 2' pass on Hazelwood just at the bend near the top. I chatted with the guy at the beechwood light and he was amiable enough. he pointed out that there was an oncoming car, I pointed out that 4' was the law. For me a conversation is more important than an argument.
neilmd
2015-07-01 20:09:21
Quotes: "Insane close pass followed by “I will run you over.”" "left side of my butt by half of a large apple thrown from a car." Karma will catch up to these 'people'.
rustyred
2015-07-01 21:44:10
If there is a tree branch down in your lane and an oncoming car in the opposite lane, you stop. Same thing with a bike, only the tree branch is moving down the road at 15-20 mph. I do not know why this is a difficult concept for some people.
stuinmccandless
2015-07-02 07:33:58
Just as George Carlin said; “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” Now let me expand. “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that and they all operate a 4 thousand pound piece of machinery at 60MPH”
shooflypie
2015-07-04 07:52:37
PA HFN 3918, baby blue older model caddy. Very close pass on Hobart btw Murray and Wightman. Driver (balding, with pony tail I'm sad to say) angry because I was taking lane on the curve coming up from Murray ("what do you want, the whole lane?" was an actual quote). He wasn't very interested in the details of the law...
neilmd
2015-07-07 09:02:00
Close pass by PA plate "Chaos 01" Somehow not surprising.
mick
2015-07-07 13:13:07
@ ShooFlyPie “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that and they all operate a 4 thousand pound piece of machinery at 60MPH” ... in a 25 mph zone.
mick
2015-07-07 13:14:57
PA HFN 3918, baby blue older model caddy. Very close pass on Hobart btw Murray and Wightman. Driver (balding, with pony tail I’m sad to say) angry because I was taking lane on the curve coming up from Murray. Older caddies actually require approximately 1 1/2 lanes of the average Pittsburgh street. I can see that he might have found the situation you presented difficult to deal with. Perhaps his next car should be a Fiat?
ahlir
2015-07-07 18:22:35
Blue old model 4 door car with handicap sign, 35-45 year old African-American female driver. At around 10:15, I had just finished climbing Liberty Avenue and made the left onto S Millvalle Avenue. While the upper part of it does not have a designated bike lane, there is a white line painted on the side of the road that serves as a bike lane. I allowed a much faster biker to pass me on the left, so I slowed down, IN THE BIKE LANE (this is very important to note.) Another point, I would have been turning right onto the Friendship Avenue bike lane, so at no time I would be in mixed traffic. This wasn't good enough for the driver. She raced up behind me and yelled, "Come on, get out of MY way." Baffled as to how I could be in her way, I came to almost a complete stop, in the bike lane, and waved her on. As she passed, I was flipped off. A pedestrian on the side of the road and I kind of looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and I said, mostly at the driver, "Crazy drivers these days, everyones in a rush." I followed her for a bit as she went around Friendship Avenue Park and continued down the other side of Matilda to see if I could get a plate number. She was speeding so I couldn't catch her.
jason-pgh
2015-07-11 10:28:00
OK I have to vent. The 4' law has nothing on the pedestrians in crosswalks law. This is just insane. I'm riding to CMU with my younger daughter because she is in a program here, and there are two intersections where I have her dismount and walk rather than trying to navigate in traffic: 1. Douglas and Shady, and 2. Wightman and Darlington. Both have crosswalks. The 2nd even has two of those "yield to pedestrians in crosswalks" signs. Most cars don't slow down in the least bit, even with a kid standing out in the crosswalk, dismounted. This morning she was there about 3' out into the crosswalk, with the added feature of me standing with my hand out, and a tan minivan simply honked and blazed right on by. I chased her down because the light was red at Beacon and "said" "That was my child in the crosswalk" (she had a kid about the same age in the passenger seat). She yelled, added a honk, and sped off. I have always hated that Wightman intersection, but at least there I can basically plant myself in the northbound lane because I am out in traffic to make a left, but that still does not restrain the southbound traffic. Today's trick was a car overtaking one that had stopped and was going to turn left and passing that car on the right, while my daughter was crossing the crosswalk. A fairly large fraction of drivers do obey the 4' law, but almost none pay any attention to crosswalks. We spent a winter in a little village Switzerland about 7 years ago when the girls were quite young, and the girls (along with all the other kids in town) would walk across town to school on their own. There was absolutely no fear -- drivers would stop if it looked like a kid was thinking about crossing a street. Here I am petrified to have a teenager anywhere near a crosswalk without an actual light. This is just nuts.
neilmd
2015-07-15 08:17:20
Wightman is interesting in that area- when waiting to cross Wightman heading east on Darlington, I often have cars stop to let me ride across. But then again, there are those cars that are oblivious to pedestrians in crosswalks in that stretch of road. One can never assume anyone will do the right thing, and only be pleasantly surprised when they do.
helen-s
2015-07-15 08:28:20
People *do* sometimes stop for me as well, when I am behaving like a vehicle. I actually don't like that either, because I have no expectation that all of the other traffic will come to a halt. This is especially true when I am making that left onto Darlington, if an oncoming car stops and there are any cars behind it, as often as not they will just peel around to the right like that car did this morning when my daughter was walking across. I can't actually get angry with cars that are deferring, because they are trying to be nice, just as I can't really get angry with those drivers that hover behind me for ages because they are afraid to cross the double yellow but want to be safe. However, the whole situation would be easier if people understood and obeyed the laws. Treat me like a vehicle when I am a vehicle and treat me like a pedestrian when I am one. Sorry, I'm fairly calm when it is me but not when my kids are involved....
neilmd
2015-07-15 08:43:56
Disgusting. I would LOVE to see/help with a sting. Cameras, media, cops: let it be known that you're going to get a ticket if you don't yield. Here's an interesting article on who yields and for whom: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Churchill-Black-or-white-crossing-Albany-5553013.php#photo-6451441 Yesterday, I was yielding (in a car) to peds at Liberty and Fifth and the PAT bus behind me laid on the horn. Don't these people ever try and cross a street themselves? Where is the empathy?
rustyred
2015-07-15 08:45:12
They tried a sting here several years ago: http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_625244.html. Don't know of anything more recent. That was great, but we need many more of these to educate drivers. Maybe, since they did one, they can be encouraged to do another?
jonawebb
2015-07-15 09:06:50
I did email the young O'Connor. He called me during Pocusset gate, so maybe he'll call back about this. I also tried to cc Kristin Saunders but was basically guessing at first.last@pittsburghpa.gov. It doesn't seem to have bounced, so maybe that was correct.
neilmd
2015-07-15 09:30:25
@RustyRed Don’t these people ever try and cross a street themselves? There is no street between the couch and the garage and no road between the couch and 'fridge. Why ever would they cross a street?
mick
2015-07-15 10:56:27
Jeebus, I just witnessed a driver yell at a group of peds in a crosswalk in that same stretch where the sting was... one of the peds yelled back "You don't see the sign?" (pointing to the bright yellow YIELD signs) the driver flipped them the bird and yelled "I've got a sign for ya!" Wow.
rustyred
2015-07-15 11:58:38
I bet it wouldn't be too difficult to round up four video cameras, placing them just up- and downstream of that crosswalk, both directions, and have a team walk back & forth across the street for an hour or so.
stuinmccandless
2015-07-15 12:18:32
Those Russian videos are fascinating. In particular the auto-critiques by some of the drivers: I can't image that ever happening in this country. Also, we need to get more wrestlers involved in cycling...
ahlir
2015-07-15 19:01:58
Regarding those Russian activists: The Nashi youth group is most famous for defending Vladimir Putin at opposition rallies and has been known to intimidate opposition leaders. For the past year the group's StopHAM movement (aka "Stop a Douchebag") has gone on a crusade against Moscow's notoriously shameless parkers who often double and triple park their cars and block traffic. (The above from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StopHam_(organization) and an ABC news article).
paulheckbert
2015-07-15 23:25:02
Oh dear. Didn't know they were Nashi's. Probably explains the wrestlers. Probably also explains why they'd be saying things like "hey you sound like you have a Caucasian accent" to some of the drivers (as near as I could tell).
ahlir
2015-07-16 11:52:13
GTZ-1883 grey Subaru Legacy, white male driver. Another unusually close pass, maybe not dangerously close, but unsettling nevertheless. Eight cars and a motorcycle pass me on the rise from Three Degree into the hamlet of Perrysville. The ninth car, the one just after the motorcycle, does a straddle pass, and I was already fully in the lane. The road at this spot looks wide, but it really isn't. The hill off to the right has eroded enough to cover the curb, and the adjacent trees regularly drop broken limbs and other debris, never mind the human supplied trash, from broken glass to exhaust pipes. So it really only is a 12-foot lane, at best. That said, I take that lane, and usually people pass in the adjoining lane without any trouble. Look at the rear video first; they're both only about 1:45-2:00 long and start at the same spot, where I've been waiting out a red light at Sewickley-Oakmont Road. As usual, I'm at the "40 line", about 40% of the way from the left lane line to where the right lane line logically would be if they bothered to paint one. I might have drifted just slightly right to about the "50-line" as the motorcycle came up. But I am still fully in the lane. Rear video Front video The only issues are that the left lane becomes a left-turn-only lane at the light, but this is little used; and that the amount of space directly in front of me is diminishing some, though IMO there is still a lot of space (see front video). I considered arguing, but opted not to.
stuinmccandless
2015-07-20 11:52:36
from facebook via several folks: driver of dark blue Dodge Challenger, PA plate JWD 6345, was seen to "get out of his car and throw a girl off her bike for riding too slow in front of him" on Butler Street near Allegheny Cemetery https://instagram.com/p/5fPChaM-6k/
epanastrophe
2015-07-23 14:07:02
It certainly got covered.
neilmd
2015-07-23 20:05:48
So, now what? A followup story in the P-G with "suspect apprehended" in the headline? I hope that's not just me kidding...
ahlir
2015-07-23 20:18:31
Wow. I hope this is taken seriously by the police.
marko82
2015-07-23 20:42:59
This fat fuck throws a female from her bike for riding in the lane on a busy Butler Street? What does he do when kids are walking in the cross walk in front of him? Shrimp dick probably hasn't been laid in 20 years.
shooflypie
2015-07-24 07:23:56
Should we look out for his license plate number and if we see him, subsequently call the police? On another note, one thing I have noticed about Liberty Avenue, some drivers are oblivious to the fact that there is a bike lane there. I was biking down Liberty today and saw that at least three cars were treating the bike lane as their very own travel lane.
jason-pgh
2015-07-24 07:42:04
Uphill or downhill on liberty? I haven't taken Liberty Ave downhill from Bloomfield to the Strip now since the summer of 13. I always take Liberty through Bloomfield but turn onto Main street and make a left onto Penn and ride the hill down to the Strip in the middle taking the lane. I hate the liberty ave bike lane downhill by a busy door zone, especially near the Church Brew works where people are double parking and opening doors non-stop. I place this as one of my most annoying bike lanes in the city. I would rather just run somewhat parallel on Penn and ride the middle of the lane the same speed of traffic.
shooflypie
2015-07-24 08:19:14
The crazy thing was that this was the bike lane in Bloomfield. The first one happened at S. Millvale Avenue and then the second at the light with Pearl Street. I think in the future, the city should shift the parking to the outside of the bike lane and provide protected bike lanes on Liberty. This would also be an option on E. Liberty Boulevard.
jason-pgh
2015-07-24 08:22:57
Can attest to the obliviousness of drivers in Bloomfield to the bike lanes. Just this morning I was out running in Bloomfield and was first nearly hit on the sidewalk by a driver exiting the gas station onto Liberty, who had his head turned all the way to the left because he was looking for oncoming traffic on the road, without realizing that he was simultaneously moving his car forward across the sidewalk, where pedestrians could be coming from either direction. After my near-miss, I had my eye on him and watched him proceed on Liberty toward S. Millvale Ave. As he approached that intersection, there was a truck in front of him waiting to turn left at the light. Despite the fact that his car (and any car) was too wide to be able to fit in the space to the right of the truck to go around him (due to parked cars), this guy moved his car over as far to the right as he could in order to wait out this guy's left turn, thus completely blocking the bike lane. This is a regular occurrence when I'm biking, and I frequently have to try to thread my way around cars partially or totally blocking the bike lane because they tried to use it as a travel lane and then realized they couldn't. And I hope the asshat in the Butler St. incident sees jail time for assault. Unbelievable.
ratatosk
2015-07-24 09:17:06
It's pretty awesome that, thanks to people having their camera phones ready, the police will be able to catch and charge this guy.
jonawebb
2015-07-24 09:25:35
That POS responsible for the Butler St. assault, wow. Grateful that people had the presence of mind to get the plate and pics of the d-bag. Good job, Zone 2.
ka_jun
2015-07-24 10:55:50
So after 2 weeks of biking with my 14 year old to CMU, nobody ever stopped for the crosswalk across Shady at Douglas. Nobody. Every day this week she would walk half way out when the uphill traffic was clear, and every day at least one car would just carry on downhill without a care in the world. Girl standing there walking a bicycle, absolutely no hint of even slowing down. Zippo, nothing, nada, nichts, rien. I should have had her sort of roll the bike into the crosswalk just for the sake of seeing what would happen.
neilmd
2015-07-24 19:53:59
Harassment? Harassment is yelling at somebody and insulting them. Physically throwing a smaller person off their bike is assault. I'm not even going to read the comments on that story. I am sure they are beyond dumb, and I don't feel like being subjected to the vile side of stupidity right now. KDKA and the other news sites just covered this story so they can whip up the bike vs car agenda. Notice how they don't bother to report the laws on taking the lane on a busy Butler street? They just interview two sides who explain how they are frustrated with the other.
shooflypie
2015-07-25 12:56:11
It sounds like about the right charge: "A person commits the crime of harassment when, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another, the person: (1) strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects the other person to physical contact, or attempts or threatens to do the same;" here It's a summary offense, which probably means a fine. Too light IMHO. BTW the same law applies to someone who "engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits acts which serve no legitimate purpose." Ulp. Maybe I should rein in Tag-o-rama and randonneuring.
jonawebb
2015-07-25 13:16:24
Anybody know the guy that rides a black honda scooter around Bloomfield with pa plates J3529? Darkhair, overweight, tortoise shell glasses. He does not understand bike lanes and seems a bit unhinged. Chased/confronted/threatened me after blocking/cutting me off. I'd like a few references before escalating the matter: E.g. Is he just a reckless idiot or a truly dangerous individual.
devohelmetguy
2015-07-26 13:24:16
The legal defense for this Lawrenceville Bike fiasco is hilarious. This is the excuse from the a-hole that pushed the woman off the bike, "Mr. Abdullah contends, however, that the couple purposefully rode slowly in front of him as he attempted to take his autistic son to a therapy session. The couple would not let him pass after he decided to not make a turn at the last-minute, he said. Mr. Abdullah said the couple continuously gave him the middle finger and rode slowly for several blocks. He parked his car and approached the couple screaming, and Ms. Orzechowski let go of the handle bars of her bike and hit a curb, he said. He tried to catch her as she fell over, he said, but was accused of pushing her instead." She let go of the handlebars and just fell to the curb? This isn't cow tipping Mr. Abdullah, bikers don't just fall over when they let go of the handlebars.
jason-pgh
2015-07-26 18:37:16
You have the right to remain silent, anything you post in a letter to the editor can and will be used against you in a court of law.
benzo
2015-07-27 08:52:20
Interesting that there is no comments allowed...
benzo
2015-07-27 08:52:52
@benzo I've noticed that the PG does this for articles that involve violence of some kind. They did it for the earlier article about this incident. In any case, I think there are a few witnesses that can corroborate Ms. Orzechowski's story
chrishent
2015-07-27 09:23:12
Fehmi Abdullah has been in the press a lot lately. This one is mostly about his attorney; he was arrested for having a gun in a car he was driving: http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/courting-controversy/Content?oid=1340013 And here's something about his store, Right Market on Penn Ave in Wilkinsburg: https://wilkinsburgsun.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/business-is-booming-in-wilkinsburg/ I agree, the police shouldn't have trouble proving he pushed Ms. Orzechowski . But if they do, he's admitted to the physical harassment charge anyway.
jonawebb
2015-07-27 09:41:46
Damn, if there were comments, this would be a supremely tricky territory for the wingnuts. Who you gonna hate more, cyclists, or the dude with Islamic sounding name??? Aghh, headhurt.
edmonds59
2015-07-27 09:52:17
"Who you gonna hate more, cyclists, or the dude with Islamic sounding name???" ...and his gun-carrying rights may have been infringed upon! *twitch* *twitch* (head explodes)
rustyred
2015-07-27 11:32:36
I know this has nothing to do with cycling per se, but after witnessing homicidal driver after homicidal driver on my daily commute on 79, I purchased a dashcam for my car. It's not a high end camera, but the picture is pretty darn good. It captures license plates and functions well in pretty much all light. Today was my first day in use, and I've already captured two drivers (a motorcycle and an SUV) performing maneuvers that were not only illegal but seriously dangerous. My plan is to collect enough videos to make a compilation, throw it on YouTube, post it to the usual places of visibility (Reddit, BikePgh, etc.), and hope it gets enough hits to publically shame the homicidal drivers. And I hope they are shamed, because the type of driving I REGULARLY witness is not negligent, it's reckless, and often maniacally so.
doublestraps
2015-07-27 13:18:55
Dude, contact the company with the time and location that happened. I think they'll be interested to know about that driver.
jonawebb
2015-07-28 11:57:32
To "Keith on the GAP" who commented on Youtube (but I assume is from here) that changing lanes in the tunnel was dangerous and illegal: Yes, I know that but I wanted to get his license plate and I did not feel safe driving next to him in the tunnel. And I didn't attempt to get his license plate after the tunnel because that bridge is four exit lanes where everyone is weaving in different directions, and based off what I just saw him do, I did not want to be anywhere near him as he got in the far left lane to get on the left lane 279 North exit. So yes, technically illegal, but it's not that different than the justification behind doing a slow roll through a stop sign on a bike when there are no cars around.
atown
2015-07-28 12:53:37
@atown not once, but twice?!? sheesh, some dangerous stuff, right there. For the record, Fehmi Abdullah apparently doesn't own Right Market on Penn Ave in Wilkinsburg, his cousin does, he's the manager, though, it seems, in addition to being a loose cannon.
ka_jun
2015-07-28 12:57:42
That was scary. Yeesh, posting to Reddit brings out the cream of the crop of the Interwebs Trolls! My favorite comment is the rebuke for using salty language. When you're in a situation where your life looks like it's about to end, use whatever expletives you want.
rustyred
2015-07-28 13:17:47
I'm about 80% sure I just saw the piece of shit Fehmi Abdullah weaving at high speed through parkway east traffic while I was driving. I can say without hesitation that I hope the asshole kills himself without taking anyone else with him, and soon.
edmonds59
2015-07-30 14:40:23
*****ATTENTION ALL CYCLISTS**** A hit and run has occured in the East Liberty neighborhood involving a young cyclist. Be on the lookout for a BLUE BMW. Around 7:15-7:20 a young cyclist (16) was hit and flipped over a the windshield of a Blue BMW at the intersection of East Liberty Blvd. and N. Highland. The cyclist was proceeding through a green light on N.Highland when a car traveling at approximatley 60 mph flew through the red at E. Liberty, hitting the cyclist, then fled the scene. The car will be missing part of the exterior right side mirror as a result of the crash. The cyclist was only 16 years old and left the scene (alive, barely conscious) in an ambulance. Please report any information to the police. The link to the piece of the asshole's car that was left at the scene can be found here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3ZQr506ByTCdjJUOTJQWEVZSmtGalVXTk9JMnc4elRadldN/view?usp=sharing
jason-pgh
2015-08-02 18:54:12
That's terrible; hopefully the kid is OK. I tweeted the PG and Trib in hopes they might give this story more exposure to perhaps find who did this.
mjacobpgh
2015-08-02 21:38:47
Thank you. I have visited the cyclist in the hospital. He has some broken bones, but it otherwise in fairly good spirits. I also may have some evidence to turn into the police so here's hoping they will find the coward.
jason-pgh
2015-08-02 22:29:15
It's likely that the gas station on that corner has video cameras, hopefully they might have caught the car. I hope the kid's going to be ok.
marko82
2015-08-03 07:22:32
atown, I would send that to police. That is crazy to say the least.
gg
2015-08-03 07:30:32
WESA 90.5 FM just reported on this during their local news break. No new details, but at least it's more eyes looking for the car & the perp.
marko82
2015-08-03 07:44:59
^^ !!
scott
2015-08-03 11:27:09
Whoa! UnrealMachine please tell me that's been called in?
lcdill
2015-08-03 11:43:30
Yes, police are aware of the car and detectives are on it.
justin
2015-08-03 11:48:24
I didn't take the pic. Just re-posted it here.
unrealmachine
2015-08-03 11:51:09
Where was this car spotted?
jason-pgh
2015-08-03 12:28:04
The breast cancer ribbon is a nice touch.
edmonds59
2015-08-03 12:31:44
The car is gone.
justin
2015-08-03 12:58:00
Where was it last seen? I am in the area looking.
jason-pgh
2015-08-03 13:00:50
A local broadcaster has a surveillance video of the hit-and-run. Don't watch it. Against my better judgment, I did, and immediately regretted doing so. Good to see that the kid will be OK
chrishent
2015-08-03 13:03:39
I did watch it and it's pretty impossible to say that the driver ran a red based on the video alone. The only traffic moving off of Highland is the cyclist. This could be a case of the cyclist timing the light just right for when it had just turned green since witnesses apparently said the cyclist had the green. I learned very quickly not to do that as drivers often go through lights when they just turned red in an attempt to beat the opposing green and they often push this way too far(almost got killed by somebody doing this coming off Dallas on to Penn driving). Text book reason for red light cameras.
mjacobpgh
2015-08-03 13:09:17
Precisely. The video shows the collision but is otherwise inconclusive about who had right of way or other relevant details. Not worth watching over and over. Let the cops handle it.
chrishent
2015-08-03 13:20:52
The question still remains, who's car is this? Has anyone seen it?
jason-pgh
2015-08-03 13:21:47
This comes from the police statement that says that he ran the light. I spoke with numerous witnesses and the cyclist, who clearly state that the car ran the light.
jason-pgh
2015-08-03 14:08:08
That's pretty aggravating the report says that when witnesses say otherwise. Seems like a good chance that's the car based on location and the eye witness statements as to the direction it traveled in.
mjacobpgh
2015-08-03 15:09:42
I learned very quickly not to do that as drivers often go through lights when they just turned red in an attempt to beat the opposing green and they often push this way too far(almost got killed by somebody doing this coming off Dallas on to Penn driving). Text book reason for red light cameras.
I see this a lot in PGH, unfortunately. I'm not sure cameras will completely fix it (I come from a country they're very common) and they bring their own problems with rear-ending collisions.
sully
2015-08-03 15:20:00
@unixd0rk: That looks like the same street, but if you're suggesting that Streetview caught the same blue BMW car as http://www.nevertellmetheodds.org/t.php?id=139 , the car in Streetview is a different model.
paulheckbert
2015-08-03 15:42:53
The video does show that the cyclist ran the light, however, fleeing the scene is a serious offense and if it involved injury, carries a minimum 90 day sentence and a maximum of 7 years.
jason-pgh
2015-08-03 16:13:44
How did it come to be that the police said the cyclist was at fault? This smacks of tacit assumptions. It should be very easy to determine the approximate speed of the car.
stuinmccandless
2015-08-03 16:14:07
Have been talking with some media outlets as well as looking at the video myself. While it does appear that the cyclist was running the light, what witnesses were very clear about was that the driver of the car was traveling way over the speed limit at the time, and for sure did not stop. While that alone does not absolve the cyclist, it may help explain as to why the cyclist continued into the intersection, believing they had more time than was actually given. And again, fleeing the scene is illegal in Pennsylvania.
jason-pgh
2015-08-03 17:08:41
Yea, I'm sure people will blame the cyclist and justify fleeing by saying that drivers are always the ones at fault in collisions. However, that is in no way true and promoting that idea only leads to more people falsely believing that and thus fleeing accidents.
mjacobpgh
2015-08-03 17:36:28
Spotted a dangerous cyclist. Was crossing the entrance to the Costco parking lot in Waterfront on Sunday afternoon. I stopped at the stop sign. A car had reached their stop sign before me. The lady in the car and I smiled at each other, and I waved her through. She waved thank you and started to move, and then an older cyclist in his 50s or 60s, bright green jersey, grey beard/goatee on a cyclocross bike blew past us and forced the car to slam its brakes. The cyclist yelled something at her and then pointed back behind him. I waved in apology to the driver for the other cyclist and then let her go before I crossed.
atown
2015-08-04 10:26:24
Could we create a different thread for this stuff? I think dangerous drivers (meaning motorists) are very different from dangerous cyclists, since dangerous cyclists are mainly a danger to themselves, while dangerous motorists are a danger to anyone in their path, at very little risk to themselves. I see cyclists behaving foolishly often, too. I would call them out if I thought they would listen. But I see the purpose of this thread as, one, to let off a little steam, and two, to document dangerous behavior by motorists in case it leads to death or injury.
jonawebb
2015-08-04 10:36:00
We started this thread a long time ago. Time to revive it.
stuinmccandless
2015-08-04 10:39:29
The weather today was nice so I decided to take a nice bike ride on the Penn Avenue bike lanes, and I've become even more convinced drivers and pedestrians alike are clueless. Pedestrians: Numerous times I had to swerve in and out of bollards without being able to check the lane first, potentially creating a hazard. Thankfully there were no cars there. Sometimes they didn't even cross, they just stood in the bike lane. But the main event was my run in with a car. Following two cyclists through the 7th street light into the 6th street block, I could see that a car was parked in the bike lane and two gentlemen were standing outside the car. As we passed, the first cyclist said something with the impact of, " wow, you just want to go to jail don't you?" He kind of scoffed at it and kept going. This car was blocking about 4/5 of the bike lane, causing many bikes to go into the travel lanes. I stopped and said, exactly, "Hey buddy, I don't mean to bother you, but this is a bike lane and you're not allowed to park or stop here." No provocation or anything, but he says, "Why don't you get the f#@k out of here. Get out of here you (slang term for bundle of sticks.)" We exchanged some words, ending with me telling him to watch his language. Couldn't get a plate, and he was gone within 5 minutes.
jason-pgh
2015-08-06 15:21:10
I had a pretty remarkable experience just now. Walking to work down S. Millvale Ave., I was crossing Morewood (at the corner of Millvale and Morewood). When I was just about in the middle of the street, a woman driving northbound on Millvale approached the intersection and gunned it to make a left turn onto Morewood, clearly not seeing there was a pedestrian in the crossing. She came right at me, and as I screamed and tried to go limp (thinking for sure she was gonna hit me), she swerved around me at the last second. I caught a glimpse of her face as I yelled at her, and she appeared to be shocked and horrified. I continued on my way, totally rattled and yet also feeling like this was fairly typical (the main difference being that she was driving straight AT me in the intersection, as opposed to just driving right in front of me to turn and making it a deliberate near-miss). About half a mile later, on Centre as I was approaching Craig, I heard someone behind me yelling, "Excuse me, miss! Excuse me!" I turned around and it was the woman who nearly hit me, running down the sidewalk to catch up. Outside her vehicle, I could see she was clearly very young--I'd guess early 20s at most. She began a series of profuse apologies, telling me she felt absolutely awful, that she just hadn't seen me there, and she could not be more sorry. I was honestly touched that she had apparently driven around to find me so she could apologize to me like that. I thanked her for doing so, and put out my hand to shake her hand. She hugged me. She was super upset. So I felt just slightly better about that incident, but overall? Meh. Still bitter and cynical. Things like that happen because we have a culture that teaches us that dense city infrastructure--just like our highway system--is there for people to get from point A to point B as quickly and conveniently as possible, and pedestrians (in one of the most walkable neighborhoods in the city) are always a surprise. And because there are never significant consequences for someone injuring or killing another person with their car (unless drugs or alcohol are also involved), so no one gets behind the wheel of their car thinking about the fact that they need to drive carefully so they don't injure a pedestrian. And because "I didn't see you" is a real excuse, even when it's daylight and the person was directly in the path of their vehicle.
ratatosk
2015-08-11 07:01:37
The apology helps, though. Yesterday, coming down the hill on Penn in Wilkinsburg, somebody decided to make a three-point turn right in front of me. I barely managed to stop my bike from running into her car, yelled at her, and heard something that sounded like a non-apology. Much worse than an apology.
jonawebb
2015-08-11 07:17:48
Absolutely it helps. I appreciated knowing that she recognized that she was in the wrong, and that her actions nearly injured or killed another person. And it wasn't just an apology yelled out the window, she took 10 minutes to track me down so she could talk to me. She clearly wanted to do whatever she could to make it right. It just bums me out when I contemplate the bigger issues, and the near-misses I experience every day as a cyclist and a pedestrian. Most of those don't come with apologies or even any apparent acknowledgement that I exist.
ratatosk
2015-08-11 07:24:21
I don't know who Lower Valley Ambulance is, but it sure was fun having their mirror go by <1' from my head so they could beat the red light @ Liberty & Edmond.
epanastrophe
2015-08-11 07:32:43
^the real apology would be for that woman to slow the F down and start paying attention. I'm sure she will for the rest of today, maybe even tomorrow, but I bet she's back to flying-left-turns by the end of the week. It's ironic that she was in such a hurry - but then took ten minutes to find you. I wounder if she realized that part of the equation.
marko82
2015-08-11 07:39:53
Marko82, yep. Refer back to my bitterness and cynicism above. I have no doubt that she was shaken enough that she's going to drive carefully for the rest of the day. I doubt that she'll be thinking a whole lot about this experience by Friday.
ratatosk
2015-08-11 07:44:48
This is relatively minor compared to the rest of the postings, but it just really got my blood boiling. Not sure if it belongs here or the idiot cyclists thread, but the other guy was in a car, so here it goes. I was riding in to Lawrenceville this morning a bit after 9am after dropping my son off at the zoo for camp, and at around 55th or 54th I take the lane as there are cars parked on the side and the lanes narrow. Pretty standard stuff. I hit a red light at 52nd and the guy in the car behind me starts yelling at me that I should be all the way to the side and not in the center of the lane. Says he's a bike rider and I'm riding dangerously. I chalk it up to another misguided non-rider. After the light he guns it and passes me and he does have a trunk rack on the back of his car. He pulled into the Sunoco at 51st and starts walking to the street to continue yelling at me as I passed, so I pulled in. He claims to ride down Butler every day and I was doing it all wrong, various profanities spewing from his mouth. But what really riled me up is that he yelled that he hoped that I got hit. I threw back various other examples of "things" in the road that might slow him down, including other cars, pedestrians, kids running out between parked cars, and he said that he hoped they all got hit as well. This guy was a bearded rastafarian type, with either long hair or dreads and a knitted beanie. Driving an older white sedan with a trunk rack. Claims he wasn't riding today because of a toothache. Guy needs to take a chill pill.
abm760
2015-08-12 08:31:59
What I take from that is, if you're disabled enough by a toothache not to mount a bicycle, probably you shouldn't be driving, either.
stuinmccandless
2015-08-12 12:05:17
Butler now has sharrows(at least the outlines for them) placed squarely in the center of the road. That guy is just a jag.
mjacobpgh
2015-08-12 13:16:41
Yeah, I usually let these things roll off but the fact that he claimed to ride and he labeled me a "weekend warrior" or some such got to me. The whole "weekend warrior" comment was amusing since today is Wednesday. And if he is a rider, I don't really fault him too much for the tooth issue. I had an infected tooth back in late January that ended up requiring surgery and I stopped riding for a good chunk of the winter because of it.
abm760
2015-08-12 16:09:30
Today was my first bike commute in a while, and I managed to get successfully buzzed by a pass on the right. Traveling on O'Hara/Bigelow/Bayard toward Pitt, I'm waiting at the light where Bayard turns into Bigelow at the T-intersection. I want to go straight, so I'm in the left lane behind the other cars waiting for the green. We get the green, I pedal through the intersection and slowly making my way back over to the right lane. Lo and behold, some impatient old lady in a gray sedan (either Toyota or Hyundai - she was going to fast to tell and for me to catch up - and I was extremely shocked by the situation) blows by me on my right, leaving not much more than a foot between me and her side mirror. The proposed Oakland bike infrastructure will hopefully eliminate this type of interaction.
njpearce22
2015-08-13 06:10:18
There are dangerous drivers and there are flagrantly illegal drivers. I encountered one of the latter yesterday. I was on my SCOOTER....not biking. I was heading north on California Ave, north of Marshall. A car is behind me. We are both travelling the speed limit, or close thereto. A huge motorcycle comes roaring up from behind and passes us both in a single shot, crossing the double line to do so. He was easily travelling 2x the posted speed limit. All I can see is a huge/wide rear wheel and the unhelmeted head of his female passenger from this point on. We all continue north on California. In the mile or so before he disappears from view, I see him a. blow through a stop sign....no slowing, no intent to stop b. pass another vehicle in the single outbound lane, crossing the double yellow line to do so c. blow through a red light d. cross the double yellow line for no apparent reason. e. accelerate or at least maintain the extremely high rate of speed that I had first observed. Anyone trying to cross California in that 2-3 minute stretch yesterday would have been in some serious danger. No plate that I could catch.....just a big dude with a girl on the back of a big cycle. No helmets anywhere to be seen. Scared the crap out of me. I might have noticed him less if I had been on a bike instead of the scooter. But, a reckless driver is a reckless driver, and puts us all in danger. I really, really hope that there was a true emergency that they were trying to get to......but that is always my way of rationalizing this sort of driving.
swalfoort
2015-08-13 07:24:27
Well at least there's signs of reporting improving - "cyclist hit by car" is accurate, and no editorial mention of helmet use. So, bright spots?
edmonds59
2015-08-14 08:55:44
The PG article about the woman hit this morning has been updated:
The woman was conscious and alert when paramedics arrived, according to assistant Pittsburgh public safety spokeswoman Emily Schaffer. Ms. Shaffer said the woman had been taken to a hospital in stable condition. The vehicle that struck her stopped after the collision. Police are investigating. It is unclear if charges will be filed.
epanastrophe
2015-08-14 15:35:19
Long story short - yesterday 8:45 AM biking downhill inbound on Liberty on bike lanes. I got the light at Ligonier and kept going at a pretty good pace. I was probably going 25+ MPH at 31st St with a green light, so I didn't turn off to get on Penn. As I passed 29th St, the light at 28th turned yellow so I continued with the plan to turn off at 28th St to get on Penn. A PAT bus left no more than 3 inches next to me passing me and then cutting me off and then hitting the brakes at the light. I rode up next to the bus, knocked on the window and told the driver that there's a 4' law. His response was, "this street isn't for bikes. you can't ride here. You have to get on penn and ride on a bike lane." I tried explaining to him that there are suggested bike routes, but that bikes are allowed on the road. Just as the bus isn't limited to only the busway. I was blown away at the stupidity of somebody who drives for a living. Bus 6042 Thursday August 20th around 8:45 AM. Who can I contact at PAT that might actually listen?
justin
2015-08-21 15:23:03
The telephone is useless. Don't waste your time. The website is slightly better than useless, but make darn sure you preserve a copy of what you send in before you press the button. They will get it and read it, but you will never see the text again. Better would be an unpublicized blog post, so that you can refer to it later. Using that, then send your complaint in via the website, with a link to your post. Better still, follow that with paper and a postage stamp.
stuinmccandless
2015-08-21 15:57:32
I have similar bus experiences at least once a month: driver buzzes or touches me when they have plenty of space and/or no need to pass, then yell bikes don't belong on the road, proudly proclaim they have impunity. I know bikepgh met with pat mgmt about this a few years ago and it was claimed bike training was madatory for drivers. I've seen no change in driver behavior. Scott/Erok, time to push this again.
devohelmetguy
2015-08-21 18:05:30
As ACTC president, I too have some pull.
stuinmccandless
2015-08-21 18:25:23
When I was in my 20s and hot headed, I would retaliate by moving the bus driver's mirror inward so they had to park the bus, get out and fix it. They can't do it from inside. I did it half a dozen times when having close calls with bad bus drivers. Hopefully they can just teach their drivers the law since there are many more bikers and it would be horrible for a cyclist to be crushed to death by a PAT bus that is driving like a dickhead.
justin
2015-08-21 19:25:18
Justin, a pat driver already crushed a human cyclist using their other tendency of not yielding to oncomming right-of-way traffic. Stu, thanks. Anything you can do is much appreciated.
devohelmetguy
2015-08-21 19:51:18
JTC-5582 KIA something I was riding back from Boyce Park dealing with all kinds of assholes today usually found riding the eastern suburban roads. Honked at a couple of times, passed closely many, typical hillbilly western Pa Murican crap. I get to Beechwood about back to my house and think, "well it's all cake from here". I turn left onto Dallas from Forbes to the intersection, make a left onto Beechwood and am just casually cycling in the bike lane. Around the bend I hear tires squeeling and a shitty Kia coming at me at about 50 MPH taking the curve in the bike lane. They almost hit me while in the bike lane. Shitty little teens with no regard to other people's lives. Not only do they almost take my life they start yelling and threatening me back after yelling "holy shit you almost killed me asshole!"
shooflypie
2015-08-22 16:30:52
Fun aggro dude on Sarah Street in the South Side at about 3pm today (I remind you, a beautiful clear sunny day!) who pulled around us at a red light to get in front of us as we were the first vehicles at the light..... On a street with a traffic light at every single block. He shouted out the window that what we were doing was illegal. We told him to have a beautiful day. We were never in danger but it was just so surprising to encounter on suuuuuuch a slow street. Of course he was still parking when we passed him later.
emma
2015-08-22 20:06:39
On Friday evening I was biking up Hazelwood, approximately at Nansen, when I heard a kid in a car coming down the hill yell something like "Hey!". I noticed a kid leaning full (bare) torso out of the rear driver's side window who then threw what I am pretty sure was a full can of beer at me. He had a pretty good arm but missed about 10' in front of me; I heard a sploosh on the curb. The car was a small black 4-door sedan but I can't say much more about it -- I kept climbing. There was also a drive by shooting in the 100 block of Flowers yesterday morning. I presume they are unrelated... Went up Flowers this afternoon and there was no remaining sign of police or EMT work.
neilmd
2015-08-23 16:40:49
Crazy night to be riding. About a half hour ago, encountered a dark sedan on Forbes while I was riding towards Schenley Drive. Vehicle had turned left into the parking lot for those apartments across from St. Edmunds and started backing out into oncoming traffic (i.e. me) without looking. I yell and go around him. Apparently, his idiocy of backing into me isn't enough, I hear him come up behind and he retaliates with an intentional close pass. PA plate JVE 4049. That was aside from the individual who threw a bottle as they drove down Schenley Drive, and the driver who cut the turn tight while coming left off of South Dallas as I was going down Hastings to turn right onto the South Dallas bike lane and who almost clipped me. Stay safe out there.
ka_jun
2015-08-28 23:02:32
I've been riding with a mirror for most of a year, and taking the lane on four-lane roads for longer than that. Friday's ride in featured my first intentional ditch because someone refused to change lanes and would have run me over if I hadn't. I'm on Perry Highway, southbound, climbing the hill past the park & ride lot and HOV lane entrance. Posted 35, wide open left lane, sight line of almost a quarter mile, I am centered in the right lane, which is very wide. I see the car coming up behind me, and unlike everyone else, the turn signal doesn't come on and the car doesn't change lanes 100 to 150 yards back like everyone else does. 75 yards, still no sign of lane change. 50. 40. I'm at the top of the hill, doing maybe 10 mph at best, and while this guy is not speeding, he's closing fast. 30 yards. I pull way over, and he sails past, seemingly unaware I was there at all. I'd guess his age to be 80. Don't quote me on the plate; six-letter all-alphabetic word like "studey" or "strada" (intentionally not in all-caps because I'm not sure). Mid-size sedan, maybe a Buick. Time to hang up the keys, grandpa.
stuinmccandless
2015-08-29 04:02:06
Public service announcement: tonight, 29 august, is a full moon.
ahlir
2015-08-29 16:38:11
I used the complaint form at http://www.portauthority.org/paac/RiderServices/CustomerService/Feedback.aspx Incident Details Route Number: ? Date of Incident: 08/30/15 Time of Incident: 04:29 pm Where you boarded: FIFTH AVE OPP #2358 Direction: inbound Bus Number: ? Operator Number: ? Comments: I was bicycling down the hill on 5th ave, inbound, approaching Birmingham Bridge, when a bus stopped at the bus stop nearly hit me as I passed the bus on its left. Apparently the driver didn't check the rear view mirror before merging left into traffic. The inbound traffic has two lanes there, plus curbside parking. The bus was at the curb, and I was bicycling on the left side of the right lane. The bus was stopped as I started passing it at 20 mph. Although I was in the right hand lane, the bus didn't wait for me to pass it, but rather it started pulling out of the bus stop, accelerating down the hill and merging left into my lane. I had to swerve left suddenly, onto the line between the left and right lanes, to avoid being hit by the bus! The bus came within about 3 feet of me. I waved wildly at the driver through the driver's window as the bus matched my speed and I came up even with the driver. I was so shaken that I didn’t get the bus number. The time was exactly 4:29pm, according to my (very accurate) GPS record. From the time and location, you should be able to figure out which bus & driver it was, if you have GPS records for the past 7 hours. Please review this incident and talk to the driver. Pennsylvania has a four foot law that says drivers need to give cyclists at least four feet of clearance when passing. The driver should have checked the rear-view mirror before merging left into traffic (me)!
paulheckbert
2015-08-30 21:57:48
Not sure the four-foot law would apply, since you were passing the bus rather than the other way round, but §3334 says, "no person shall ... enter the traffic stream from a parked position unless and until the movement can be made with reasonable safety", which presumably would include not running over passing cyclists... There's also § 3303(a)(2), which says a driver being passed "shall not increase the speed of the vehicle until completely passed..." (as always: no lawyer, I; no legal advice, this. don't take my word for it.)
epanastrophe
2015-08-31 05:32:32
There's a poll on PG today asking, "Do you typically follow the speed limit?" Of 5,101 people polled so far, the results are as follows: 70% answered "Yes" 26% "Ha, no, not at all" 4% "I don't drive" The last option, of course, assumes only drivers can exceed the speed limit. And my guess is that a good chunk of that 70% isn't aware of what the real speed limits are on city streets
chrishent
2015-08-31 06:39:10
70% is a big steaming pile of mendacious bull-pucky.
edmonds59
2015-08-31 14:33:22
I am always impressed, during the all-neighborhoods ride, when we cross the Glenwood Bridge. 25 mph speed limit. I would be amazed if one car in 100 was going that slow. The wide lanes invite speeds of 50 mph+. Because that way you get to Hazelwood that much faster.
jonawebb
2015-08-31 14:35:39
It's the Scotch Bottoms they're after....
yalecohen
2015-08-31 15:24:02
Nice video. Coming to a stop at a red light and having a car fly past through the red is so common that I almost don't notice it anymore. I've always been ambivalent about traffic cameras (they're a little too Big Brother-y), but at this point I think I'm ready. People just really don't give a damn about the traffic laws in this city, and they're not going to until we start ticketing consistently.
willb
2015-09-03 14:23:46
^^ very nice. Now get on the sidewalk!
marko82
2015-09-03 14:47:02
Some crazy lady in a newer VW bug, yellow with some numbers in black on the side and she was at first parked in front of Winchester Thurston and then passed me very close on Ellsworth. I caught her and passed her at the red light which I did stop at and then proceeded through the light going quite fast down that hill toward Negley. I would have caught her again, but she frantically took a right on red. I went after her a little bit, but she had clear sailing, so I went back to Ellsworth. I think there was something wrong with this woman, so be careful. She has a very distinct car with those black numbers, so I will probably see her again and maybe have some fun. She can stick it! Interestingly I went on Google Maps and there is a yellow bug without the black numbers on it in front of the school and on the rear it has a temp tag on it. Hmmmm, maybe she is there often. I won't forget that car. :)
gg
2015-09-05 16:47:43
After this afternoon's thunderstorm, I encountered a dark traffic light at the five-way corner of Perrysville and Vinceton. I staked out a spot a safe distance away and watched the festivities. For those unfamiliar, Vinceton and Bascom meet at almost a right angle whose point is at Perrysville. Another leg of Vinceton runs off to the east. The two legs headed west have a steep drop-off, and Perrysville itself is on a pretty good slope, north/outbound being uphill. All segments are posted 25, though south/inbound has just dropped from 35. Overall, about 7 in 10 cars stopped, correctly treating it as a four (OK, five) way stop. Nearly everyone coming up Bascom or Vinceton waited, as sight lines are bad, and I suspect they were justifiably worried about traffic on Perrysville. ...as worried they should be. While inbound P'ville traffic turning onto Bascom or Vinceton came to a complete stop, almost without exception, drivers on Perrysville itself checked in at 25+ mph through the light at least half the time. Chances of this were higher if the driver was operating a pickup truck. In 15 minutes of watching, I must have seen 30 cars blow that light, fewer than half even trying to slow down. About 1 in 10 were going 35+. Soooo, about them bikes at stop signs....
stuinmccandless
2015-09-05 21:22:27
Pedestrian Related Dangerous Driver: Plate ETB-3741 Around 8:00, I was in my car heading down Friendship Avenue going to continue straight through South Negley Avenue. There was one car ahead of me, the plate number I listed above, it was a black, "rich type" car (BMW, Audi, etc.) A pedestrian was about 3/4 of the way through the intersection when the car sped up as if it was about to hit him, then slowed down, then sped up again before he cleared, as if to intentionally hit him. I have seen this driver around before. He was involved with me in a close pass on Negley Avenue a couple weeks ago.
jason-pgh
2015-09-10 20:36:06
Spent several days commuting by motorcycle, five or six trips in and out of the city. I am simply amazed at how rampant speeding is. I just got behind a line of cars and followed them: * 41 mph on Perrysville Ave (posted 25) * 57 mph on outbound East Street (posted 35) * 61 mph on parts of McKnight Rd (posted 40) * 51 mph on inbound Liberty through the Strip (35) * 34 mph on inbound Butler between 40th and 34th (25) * 48 mph in the right lane of the 16th St bridge, and was passed in the left (25) Is it any wonder many cyclists are scared to ride on the road? Is it any wonder cyclists are being honked at by motorists because we're supposedly holding up traffic? Does anyone even fucking care about obeying the law? Or enforcing it?
stuinmccandless
2015-09-16 05:42:20
Yes, and you see why, as I had mentioned before some time ago, I ride like I do. There are way too many idiots out there in cages, doing everything BUT driving. I agree that there are very few out there, who do obey the speed limit. I live in the Oakland area, so I see quite a bit of bad driving. It pisses me off, when going through a school zone, very few go below or at 15. Vehicles should be crawling through. I saw a cop car, approaching a school zone, puts on lights and siren, just until the end of the zone. now it could have been the call was cancelled, but I doubt that. Many times, I have seen them blow through red lights, for the sake of not sitting there in traffic. PAT buses are notorious for breaking traffic laws...remember the two buses that raced, and one went over the hill? Good to know they are being charged! Riders, just be aware of your surroundings, and that goes for the dumbass bikers that also break the laws..(of common sense , etc.) Good day, folks!
look-out
2015-09-16 07:20:58
Distracted driving: *the_cops_don't_care*. I was refusing to move and yelling at a driver to "Put down the phone!" after she nearly left-hooked me and a officer gave ME crap for blocking traffic. Seriously, this is BS. put_the_phone_down
rustyred
2015-09-16 08:47:39
One time coming up Greenfield ave a SUV was passing very close. I stuck my arm out to signal to move over and give me a room. A cop was behind her. He started yelling at me that I was trying to hit her car. I said I am signaling she should give me 4 feet, and maybe if you knew the law as you should for your job you would give her a ticket. He said she gave me plenty of room. I asked, "Oh, my arm is 4 feet? You must not know math too well either. No wonder all you could do is become a cop." The waste of tax money didn't like that too much. Be a smart ass back. You have every right to tell that thug who is working on our tax dollar what you think, especially if you have a camera rolling.
shooflypie
2015-09-16 09:12:47
You could send the video to the chief as an anniversary present. Good will n'at.
marko82
2015-09-16 09:19:15
Well, aren't cops themselves distracted drivers, what with that onboard laptop that they are constantly looking at? So of course they don't care about that stuff
chrishent
2015-09-16 09:37:31
@SFP, I'm guessing you're white.
jonawebb
2015-09-16 09:43:43
@atown How much driving does that represent? Seems to be pretty good fuel for the "cars-should-not-be-allowed-to-be-on-the-road-until-they-can-follow-the-rules" argument. If your video is clear enough to get the bus number and the date-time is recorded, that should be submitted to PAT. (Perhaps Stu can tell you how it can most effectively be used?)
mick
2015-09-16 11:09:04
I got right-hooked and nearly collided with a burgundy Toyota Camry/Corolla while biking home from work on the newly installed Bigelow/O'hara/Bayard lane outbound. This happened at the intersection of Bigelow and Tennyson. The driver must have saved so much time to speed around me and almost crush me. To top it all off, she gave me the finger too.
njpearce22
2015-09-23 14:36:13
I should probably reevaluate my Friday night rides through Central Oakland. Riding on Bouquet towards Bates and making the right up the hill on to Bates, guy in a dark sedan (Kia maybe?) honks, then as I'm climbing up Bates, rides up next to me and starts to squeeze me into the parked cars, he pulls up, then brake checks me. Whole time I haven't reacted, no finger, no yelling, nothing...mostly because I'm shocked at how aggro this guy is for no apparent reason. Regretfully, didn't get the plate, but he had a magnet on the left side of the plate that was of the profile of a hawk that looked like the Iowa Hawkeye symbol with the letters "IC" in it. This guy had much hate for life, hope no one runs across him.
ka_jun
2015-09-25 22:25:04
anybody got a contact at the postal service, or know how to report drivers to them? Not seeing anything on USPS.com relating to reporting drivers other than for problems actually receiving mail... I was standing on southbound Craig Street, waiting for the light to change to cross Fifth Avenue, when USPS van 1520432 passed on my right, with about a foot and a half of clearance.  The driver seemed likely to pass right through the light until I called out something about there being a No Turn on Red sign. The driver stuck his head out the window and asked what I'd said, so I repeated myself "There's a No Turn on Red sign." "So?" "So, you're supposed to stop at the white line." "When you get a license, you can tell me what to do." I said the vehicle number was on the back of the truck and I would be reporting it, to which he said "Go right ahead.  Tell them my name is Leroy Brown."
epanastrophe
2015-09-30 09:36:13
From USPS.com: "If you observe any unsafe driving by a Postal Service contractor or employee, report it immediately to the facility manager." Couldn't find "facility manager" but there's this: John Phelan District Manager Western Pennsylvania 1001 California Ave., Rm 2001 Pittsburgh, PA 15290-9996 (412) 359-7771 (412) 321-3373 (FAX)
jonawebb
2015-09-30 10:12:50
Two unsafe drivers in the same block! Coming up N. Euclid Avenue, I noted two drivers had turned behind me just after I got past Stanton Avenue. For those that don't ride this road, it is narrow at this point, with cars parked on both sides. 4' would not be possible in this situation, so I was going to keep pushing pretty hard (20mph) and wait for an opening so I could pull over and let them pass. Then, one of the drivers decides, with less than 10' until a stop sign, to try and pass me. I waved him off and he backed off, waiting until it was clear to pass. Then, a very aggressive black truck, Ford, PA plates, started revving and passed me with about 5' until a stop sign. He then turned and yelled that I should be on the sidewalk. I informed him he was wrong and that he should learn to drive. Didn't even hear me, and he continued off. I'll make it known that I was taking the lane in this situation, fairly aggressively, both drivers, when passing in an unsafe spot, ventured way into the opposing traffic lane to pass. I have always like Euclid Avenue as a way to get to the Highland Park/Morningside area. It's generally very calm and flat with minimal traffic and lots of stop signs to slow drivers down. This was unusual.
jason-pgh
2015-10-06 16:36:08
Remember the fellow who's riding a NYC CitiBike across the country? He's in Oklahoma now. While standing beside the road, some guy, without provocation, jumped out of his truck and attacked him. Later arrested and jailed, but wow. [link]
stuinmccandless
2015-10-22 06:34:15
(The police have arrested the perpetrator, who tried to kill two other people as well). I'm pleased that his introduction to the police seems unaffected by his taking the CitiBike on a long ride without explicit permission.
vannever
2015-10-22 13:23:46
Well an SUV (what else is new) is the vehicle that first stuck the person and then it went from there.
gg
2015-10-27 00:46:20
Hey, I'm invincible! I can drive in a steady downpour going 80! Watch this! For the record, I was on motorcycle on the HOV lane, where I can usually toodle along at a sensible 45 to 50. On a wet day, I prefer closer to 45. I had to accelerate to 65 so as not to get rear-ended. Then watch as he flies past and is soon out of sight. Video
stuinmccandless
2015-10-28 11:28:14
^ My guess would be it's a cop. They are gifted with super-invincibility.
edmonds59
2015-10-28 13:05:58
JGC 6929, pewter colored SUV, Japanese make (Nissan?), white female driver. Loud, nasty horn shortly after turning onto Centre from Millvale, then a dangerous, high speed pass in the opposite lane. (At least she gave a wide berth, I suppose...)
epanastrophe
2015-10-29 09:24:29
I am really angry at the woman in the shiny black sedan who felt it necessary to turn left from Grant to Seventh (almost) into a crosswalk full of pedestrians crossing on the walk sign. She had the audacity to HONK at the pedestrians, who where crossing legally, but were slowing her progress. Fortunately, she stopped short of the actual crosswalk.
swalfoort
2015-10-30 07:57:44
Complaint filed with Port Authority: I was riding northbound on Allegheny Commons East at about 1:10pm (Sunday, 11/1) in the right hand lane (the outer two being occupied by parking, only the inner two lanes were open) when the outbound 16, vehicle #5208, drove past giving me about two feet passing distance at first, then getting ever closer as he apparently decided to change lanes into the one I was already riding in while in the middle of making the turn into Commons North. Fortunately, I believe, for me, someone was trying to park in front of MLK School, so the bus driver was forced to return to the left lane before he actually hit me. Somewhat later, I witnessed similar behavior from the same driver--I happened to be behind the same bus, red Gillig #5208, on California Avenue through Avalon, and watched the bus cross the centerline through each of the curves, at multiple points driving entirely in the oncoming lane.
epanastrophe
2015-11-01 16:42:26
Near (a) corner of Beechwood and Monitor. Driver cuts close in front of bike to park car. biker: "be more careful" driver: "stop if you want to talk to me ... coward!" [as I keep moving] That's "Ohio FEW 9942", youngish white man of slight build.
ahlir
2015-11-01 17:29:41
To the phone-looking driver that cut me off to turn right onto Centre Ave from the left lane at the intersection Sixth Ave and Centre, immediately after I helped one of her passengers who had asked me for directions: For real?
chrishent
2015-11-01 18:50:07
BMW EVL-2353 Old guy with thick European accent. Laid on horn behind cyclists in right lane on Penn Ave in the Strip near 18th street, yells as he's passing in the left lane and then quickly cuts in front of us after he passes. evl2353 evl2353driver When confronted five seconds later at the red light at 17th street, the driver tries to punch cyclist through window, gets out and tries to yank bike away from cyclist. evl2353bikegrab Hopefully the talking to he got from police officers will prevent him from doing that in the future. evl2353police
rustyred
2015-11-03 10:05:54
^ wtf.
ka_jun
2015-11-03 11:05:51
I stopped on my ride due to this and was actually coming here to post asking about this. The cyclist in the picture said everything was cool so I continued on. What did the police actually say to him? Regardless, good to know nothing more serious came of it.
mjacobpgh
2015-11-03 11:06:49
"What did the police actually say to him? " The police said they couldn't charge him with anything, but as I rode off I heard them saying to him: "They have a right to be there, you can't go around scaring the hell out of cyclists." The number of cyclists (and motorists) showing concern was overwhelming, thanks to everyone who stopped to see if we were OK.
rustyred
2015-11-03 11:47:29
"The police said they couldn’t charge him with anything" Yeah, there's no way the police can charge somebody with assault after they've committed it on video, in front of lots of witnesses.
jonawebb
2015-11-03 11:53:11
^Um, that's me. The old guy was a total BMW asshole with anger issues. The police were very professional and treated Red and I with sincerity, so props to them. The lead cop separated the driver and I and questioned us separately, but talked to the driver first. When I gave him my side of what happened the officer said that our stories were the same, and the guy was angry because we were riding in the middle of the lane. So he's dumb as well as reckless. It's interesting that the officer's interpretation of the four-foot law is that drivers don't have to give four feet if you are taking the lane, he seems to think it only applies when cyclists are riding as far right as practicable. I disagree, and we had a brief polite discussion of this which concluded with him saying he would go back and re-read the statute. However, he did say that drivers need to be courteous and the guy obviously wasn't. The cop was also impressed that Red had the whole encounter on video - front and back. He didn't write the driver a citation, but he kept the guy there for quite a while explain'n the bike laws to him. No report was filed. Thanks to all (cyclist & drivers) who asked if we needed help or the police.
marko82
2015-11-03 12:02:44
This is one of my GoPro captures from earlier this year. The motorcyclist was lucky to make it. After passing me in the left turning lane then RTL, his passenger went off on him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCCNpcTI9fY
publicuniverse
2015-11-03 12:18:59
Yikes, that's a bad driver-bad cyclist double whammy. edit: to be clear, the bad cyclist is the one who blows through the red light, not you.
doublestraps
2015-11-03 14:19:40
That stretch of Penn before the bike lane is a bit awkward since you have to get to the left lane which is where cars are trying to pass(usually just to get to a red light as you mentioned). I just try to signal that lane change as early as possible but, frankly, I'm surprised I haven't dealt with any road rage here yet. However, it sounds like you were in the right lane on your approach which is clearly marked with sharrows and he was just being a reckless jag.
mjacobpgh
2015-11-03 15:21:04
@mjacobpgh, I normally do as you say and get on the left lane pretty early, usually before 17th. However, per the road markings, the idea is that you take the right lane and then get on that green thingy that's at the 16th St intersection. I seldom do this because the right lane tends to back up so it's just easier (and still legal, obviously) to get on the left lane. Granted, I very rarely travel this stretch during the morning rush hour, so I don't know how it generally goes around there during that time. Oddly enough, today was one of those very rare occasions and it just so happened that I went by there as the cops were talking to Marko and Red, and were also having some words with the driver.
chrishent
2015-11-03 15:47:25
Yesterday in Homestead I am taking the road from Costco to Mckeesport. A car waiting to turn into the Lowe's parking lot from the opposite direction started honking at me because I was in her pathway and she had to wait 2 seconds as she waited to turn into the lot. When I road by I said, "F*&% You". I continued biking and made my left into the protected bike lane section in Homestead. I then noticed she is along beside me threatening, "I'm gonna shoot yo ass. Come here.. You want shot?". She pulls into the bike lane section blocking it at the entrance of the Pump House. She is yelling out her window that she is going to shoot me, and then calls me a coward. I find this funny; I am the coward, the unarmed dude on a bike being chased by a person in a car threatening to shoot me with a gun. Yeah, that is totally not cowardly. I turned around and tried to bike away, but she turned back around to drives towards me almost hitting cars along Waterfront drive. I don't know if she had a gun or if she would of shot my ass, but this is Murica and I guess even if somebody is honking at you in a threatening manner it is best to leave it go. Then coming back up across the Hot Metal St bridge I basically found out not to try to say a simple "Hi" to bike Pittsburgh members you met a few times around town. God I am sick of this provincial town.
shooflypie
2015-11-07 09:18:01
@ shoo, that sound very stressful! I have been threatened by someone that said, "I will run your ass over", but not a gun yet. I wonder if you were running video, you could press charges for threatening with a gun? One would certainly think so, but I don't know much about it. Makes me want to mess her vehicle up and take out her tires.
gg
2015-11-07 17:34:24
I've learned not to throw fingers or swear directly at people. It only enrages an already upset individual. Instead, I call out plate numbers or quote the bit of law that says I am in compliance with the law. What I have not learned yet is how to de-escalate road rage. But, again, this all boils down to motorists not knowing what traffic law is and means. Somehow we need to educate motorists en masse that, indeed, we are allowed to use the same space, and that probably means changing licensing requirements.
stuinmccandless
2015-11-08 12:14:14
A lot of these stories go something like: I was having trouble with a motorist, then they stopped and we exchanged words and things got really heated. So I think talking to them does no good. It works better to simply ignore them. I imagine that it is more frustrating to not be sure that you heard what they were yelling at you.
jonawebb
2015-11-08 16:48:41
This morning at 8:55AM I turned left from Stanton Avenue on to Butler Street. A car came up behind me and sped past, the driver honking and yelling during that process. I was pretty surprised and cried out in fear—he came quit close. He stopped quickly and I swerved around him. He began to harass me verbally. There were cars behind us so I tried to move forward hoping he would just move on (a maneuver I regret now) and he responded by riding alongside me and swerving the car closer to me. He continued to scream obscenities and "get off the road" while still honking his horn. I found myself screaming over and over to "stop" and "please stop harassing me". He continued to follow and swerve next to me until the red light at Plummer Street which he promptly ran through and continued quickly down Plummer. I realize now I should have just gotten off the road immediately. I've been blown by before and it usually just ends with the driver moving on. This guy wanted to and enjoyed threatening me. He was in his 50/60s unkempt white male with grey scraggly hair pulled back under a ball cap, and stubble. He wore square wire rimmed glasses. His car was very old, a wide American sedan that was a dusty cobalt blue with lots of rust. I was really trying to remain in control of my bike and I saw his license plate but couldn't retain the number. The first letter was E for sure then maybe a MW then definitely a hyphen. I realize how unhelpful that is and feel pretty crappy about the whole thing. Talking about it with my neighbor she mentioned hearing about a similar incident in the same stretch of Butler. It's the first time I've had any kind of problem that escalated like this and I don't think anything I've described here would be helpful enough to file a police report. Maybe if my basic description rings any bells with anyone? This guy is not a fan of cyclists so maybe it's not the first time he's engaged in this behavior?
gbarbee
2015-11-11 16:09:27
@gbarbee, was this the incident your neighbor was referring to? http://localhost/mb/topic/dangerous-drivers-thread/page/21/#post-315178 -- late July, a driver cut off, assaulted rider on Butler near the cemetery. He was charged with 'harassment by physical contact'. Similar incident, sounds like a different vehicle and driver---sadly, this is not an unfrequent occurrence on that part of Butler St. I frequently will take the first right from Butler onto 50th, then take Hatfield inbound from there.
epanastrophe
2015-11-11 16:19:49
I am definitely rethinking my route so I appreciate that suggestion.
gbarbee
2015-11-11 16:22:34
I have to bike right there every day. Will keep a look out for this guy.
mjacobpgh
2015-11-11 20:16:45
I may have to take a slight detour from the 40th St Bridge with front and rear video rolling. So, about 9 a.m.? Hmmm...
stuinmccandless
2015-11-11 20:21:13
FYI, On the good side I had a perfectly executed pass with 10' clearance by a PAT articulated bus on Irvine St in Hazelwood today. Waited until room and went past with plenty of room while I was clipping along at a good 15-20 mph pace. Some people know how to do it.
neilmd
2015-11-11 20:56:52
Dangerous driver encounter tonight around baum/center and s millvale ave around 5:20pm. Redish suv, plate GODIZRL. They swerved at a car turning in while beeping at them, swerved at me, gunned it, passed another car illegally on s millvale bridge and probably did a whole bunch of sketchy stuff after that. Not sure if aggro, drunk, or all of the above.
benzo
2015-11-12 22:50:33
@benzo, from the license plate, possibly under control of a higher power.
jonawebb
2015-11-13 08:55:08
@Jon: I doubt Godzilla really cares about how people drive.
reddan
2015-11-13 10:34:14
I called 911 to report this, but I was told an office would have to arrive and file a police report. I'm guessing this is standard procedure, but it makes it so I don't even want to report a possible drunk driver or road rager. With how understaffed Pittsburgh police are I assume almost nothing would result from this other than the report and me using up several hours of my day.
benzo
2015-11-13 11:26:00
They always talk about how understaffed they are, and yet yesterday four squad cars responded to a fender-bender on Penn Ave. Great use of resources!
willb
2015-11-13 11:30:21
Ha! I saw the aftermath of the fender bender, by 7th St. Both drivers furious at each other, with one accusing the other of being drunk. The latter was still inside his van, which was tangled up with the car he presumably hit. He forced the van out in reverse and hit the cop car that was parked behind the crash. Ah, Pittsburgh drivers...
chrishent
2015-11-13 22:25:54
I'm frustrated I didn't have time to get the plate down before rushing off to pick up the kids, but I followed a police van home on the jail trail, probably around 4:40-4:45. It wasn't going fast, in fact it may have been tracking 15mph speed limit but there isn't the space for a vehicle like that if there's anything going in the opposite direction through the narrowed section. What really gets me is that there was literally no reason for it to be using the trail. It turned left around to second at the end.
byogman
2015-11-17 11:16:07
I found my stolen bike on a car in the Eliza Furnace trail parking lot one time. Called the police and they set off down the trail in their car to look for the thief. Not sure that really made sense, but I don't think they drive down the trail in a van just for the hell of it. There presumably was a reason they were there.
jonawebb
2015-11-17 11:28:56
There were no signs of medical response. Perhaps they were trying to stake something out or flush something out. But it's an incoherent vehicle choice for a short section of boxed in trail. What if there became a chase? The van would be impeded by so much more than a bicycle, and it would take so much backing and forthing to turn around if that became necessary. A motorcycle, that I could see.
byogman
2015-11-17 15:16:08
@byogman, I encountered a police car on the trail during the evening commute yesterday. It was likewise going slowly, but like your incident there was no apparent reason for it to be there. (It was Junction Hollow, though, not the Jail Trail.)
joanne
2015-11-17 22:05:24
Shouldn't we be happy there is a visible police presence on these isolated trails from time to time?
mjacobpgh
2015-11-18 08:53:40
I'm not happy with motor vehicles on the trail. An officer on motorcycle I could somewhat understand depending on circumstance, or an EMS van. A police van I still don't get. I'm not going to post anymore on this because it was going slowly enough to not be THAT big a deal, but any normal patrolling of a bicycle trail, if that's what this was, really ought to be done by bicycle.
byogman
2015-11-18 10:20:57
"Shouldn’t we be happy there is a visible police presence on these isolated trails from time to time?" Yes, especially since a jogger was robbed at gunpoint and pistol-whipped the other day on one of the river trails. Something like that seems to happen at least once a year.
jmccrea
2015-11-18 11:22:54
Jacob, that intrigues me - I thought this was the first report of trail-crime that I've heard of. Have there been others? thanks!
vannever
2015-11-18 11:41:57
The other recent case that I recall was that moron who tried to assault a female jogger last summer on the north shore. The jogger was an officer/agent for one of the federal law enforcement agencies - FBI perhaps, but I don't recall. Suffice it to say that the assault was unsuccessful. Nothing else comes readily to mind but, again, having read the newspapers daily for the last decade or so, something like that seems to happen at least once a year. That is not to say that the trails are dangerous; all things considered they are probably some of the safest public places in the city. But bear in mind that with the homeless camps under bridges being fenced off (apparently pushing the homeless - some of whom are criminals - to the rivers) and the region's heroin epidemic (the major driver of thefts, in my expericence), there is at least the potential for the trails to become more dangerous than in years past.
jmccrea
2015-11-18 12:07:13
"Yes, especially since a jogger was robbed at gunpoint and pistol-whipped the other day on one of the river trails. Something like that seems to happen at least once a year. " Any additional information on this incident? This is the first I've heard about it and am interested in location, time, etc. as I commute on the trails every day.
ka_jun
2015-11-18 12:22:33
Just Google it.
jmccrea
2015-11-18 12:34:53
Thanks!
ka_jun
2015-11-18 14:26:41
Sorry, ShooFLy, but as far as Greenfield Avenue goes, I say - just use the sidewalk. Yes, I know you have a right to the road, but be reasonable - the uphill is rather narrow. Plus, well, drivers are inherently a-holes. The sidewalk is rarely used by pedestrians....I say just play it safe (and considerate) and use that sidewalk. You talked about recording a cop...IS that legal? Because I'm about ready to mount a camera on my bike and catch cops and civilians alike (and other bikers with whom I've almost collided because they don't grasp rights-of-way principles), and post it on youtube - WITH license plates visible.
dida
2015-11-18 17:17:40
For some weekend reading, you all might want to check out the latest entry (Nov 18) on John Michael Greer's Archdruid Report blog titled The Heresy of Technological Choice. I think it sheds a lot of light on the questions of why some drivers react the way they do toward cyclists. Comments as always are voluminous and thoughtful. Well worth the time to read to see people's experience with this phenomenon in other contexts. Be advised it will take you at least an hour to read them. That's why I said it was for weekend reading. http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/
cdavey
2015-11-20 09:08:13
On Saturday morning I was riding down the hill on Kittanning Pike in Ohara Township heading towards Sharpsburg. A silver BMW sedan (I think) made a left turn right in front of me from Harding Road on to Kittanning Pike. He didn't just roll through his stop sign, he drove through it at full speed (I guess 25 - 30 mph). I had to slam on my brakes to avoid crashing into the back of his car. My wheels locked up, but luckily I didn't wipe out. I rode up beside him on the passenger side and started yelling at him to slow down and pay attention before he kills someone. He started yelling back. Then he pulled over, got out of his car, walked back to me, got right in my face and yelled some more and threatened me with physical violence. Luckily another car pulled up behind us and stopped, so the road rage guy got back in his car and drove off. Thankfully, the woman in the second car got a picture of his plate for me. I filed a police report, but because the police didn't witness anything and the guy denied everything, I'm not going to waste my time pursuing legal action. The driver was a white male, probably in his 50s. Again, the car was a silver (or gray) BMW (or other luxury) sedan. PA plate DPX 5890.
bhattenb
2015-11-24 15:09:05
Well, I've lived another day....but for how long?!? There were TWO occasions on today's ride when my instincts have prevented me from becoming roadkill. Both were in Brighton Heights, and simply involved carelessness on the part of the drivers. I guess it wasn't my "instinct" but rather a learned, instant reaction to a the scenario around me (presence of traffic light, intersection, speed of car approaching from cross street, etc.) Besides those two incidents, there were two other moments where I was perilously close to a vehicle travelling from behind me. There ARE many more narrow streets than Brighton Road - what is it with drivers hugging the edge of the bike lane!?!? For those two events, there was no defensive action I could have taken. I was just lucky that I was not grazed by the side mirror. Getting up to Brighton Heights is a fantastic workout. But it is so dangerous - there is too great a number that just drive too fast (legally, anyway), and are too careless. All I wanna do is ride my bike! Please be careful out there, bike people.
dida
2015-11-27 17:23:03
On Facebook's "South Side Secrets" page there's a post that's got a video of a cyclist climbing 18th Street, Southside. Cyclist takes the lane. at 00:59 it gets bad. SUV pulls around cyclist then quick-stops in front of cyclist. Then they play tag for a bit. It's terrifying to watch. Here's a link direct to the video: https://www.facebook.com/jamie.balser1/videos/10153098311820806/ Can anybody make out the license plate? (edited to change link)
vannever
2015-12-04 12:58:33
^ I cant see the page (not a FB user), but I've not had a bad encounter on 18th street (not even buses) for quite some time, so I hope this is just a one-off bad encounter. Can someone please post a screen grab of the vehicle?
marko82
2015-12-04 13:46:10
The quality is poor, but it looks like a Cadillac Escalade
rustyred
2015-12-04 14:11:43
Wow, looks like KDKA is interested in the 18th Street video now. Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
rustyred
2015-12-04 16:09:31
The link Vannevar shared didn't work for me, either.
paulheckbert
2015-12-04 16:24:08
If you request to join the group, you can see it.
rustyred
2015-12-04 16:43:42
HNG 3156 silver Ford Escape. Less than 2' pass on Stockton Ave in the North Side, between Sandusky and Anderson. Driver felt compelled to get to the red light on Anderson faster than me. SMH
chrishent
2015-12-07 09:01:32
Not that I have anyone in particular to point out, but I go through the roundabout at Reynolds St & Homewood Ave (Point Breeze) daily on my commute. I have close calls probably once every week or two. It gets my goat that people either cut me off or just fail to yield while I'm trying to bike through it. This week it was an older man in a white Chevy of some sort - I don't think he even saw me and almost clipped me on the side. It was close enough that the person driving behind him pulled up to me to see if I was okay.
kissdbyfire
2015-12-11 20:46:00
Apparently WTAE's Wendy Bell applies makeup while driving at night down Penn Ave. Be careful out there people! Link to Wendy's Facebook Post
njpearce22
2015-12-16 07:37:48
Oh god, my eyes.
edmonds59
2015-12-16 09:29:47
Some people gave her what for on FB. When I saw it I thought, "Oh of course... this is supposed to be amusing but instead it's just super irresponsible and awful."
gbarbee
2015-12-16 15:17:01
GDX-7071 silver Lexus sedan. Dude gave a <1' pass while riding westbound on Boulevard of the Allies, between Wood and Market St. Parking lane was full, so I was taking the right lane, to avoid door zone. He had room to spare to go on the turning lane to pass me safely, but noooooo, he had to get to that red light on Stanwix faster than me.
chrishent
2015-12-19 16:51:40
J25754J, Black Jeep Wrangler with Brown Top. Jan. 7th at about 5:45 pm. As I made a right off of the RD Fleming Bridge into Sharpsburg, two middle age white guys roll down the window, ride about 4 inches from my bike, and start screaming obscenities including "Get the f&*# off the road a$$hole, ride your f$%*ng bike in the park, I almost killed you on the bridge." I commute from Aspinwall to downtown every day, and still haven't found a great way to get across the river. I usually ride on the sidewalk across the bridge inbound, but there is no safe way to get onto the sidewalk outbound as the left turn off of Butler requires you to go against traffic to get around the barriers. So I take the lane on Butler, make the left turn with the arrow in traffic, hug the left shoulder on the bridge, and then take the lane once traffic starts to back up on the left hand exit to Sharpsburg. Not sure what this guy's problem was, as I was well lit, didn't slow traffic at all, and was, in my opinion, obeying all laws and being respectful. I'd think the proper response to "I almost killed you" would be "sorry" not "f&*k you", but such is life.
dberlin
2016-01-08 09:28:18
License plate with J before and after is a dealer plate, fwiw...
epanastrophe
2016-01-08 09:32:54
Fri. Jan 15th, 3pm. Silver 4 wheel drive pickup Pennsylvania Plate ZDH-1973, two white middle aged men in hoodies. They looked like contractors of some type. I was taking the lane on Gold way/Melwood in Polish hill and a driver came up fast behind me and immediately laid on the horn. I held my line due to cars being parked on both sides of the street and it not being safe to pass. There was literally a two car break in parking on the left side of the street and he gunned the engine and attempted to pass me in this small space missing me by less than a foot. I screamed out his license plate# several times and the driver stopped and started yelling at me through his window. I yelled back that it wasn't safe to pass, and then he started to get out of his truck. I started yelling out his license# a few more times and then a very nice lady came out of her house with her cell phone taking pictures of the truck and asking if I needed 911 called. A few seconds later a lady on the other side of the street came outside as well. With that the big bad man in the truck drove off. I'm posting this to both thank these kind ladies of Polish Hill for taking the time to help someone in need, and to suggest that this might be a new strategy for me when in a residential area- just keep yelling out the plate#.
marko82
2016-01-15 15:38:09
I think as many people as possible should invest in even used GoPros and record rides. There are whole channels like this in Australia to document the E X T R E M E road rage there; See link below: http://youtu.be/v0hhoO5Z6pw
raven50
2016-01-15 23:29:38
At a recent Bike-Pgh event, I proposed creating some sort of how-to mechanism to help people do that. I don't know exactly what form it should take or where it should be posted -- streaming video? get everyone in one spot and someone walk around with a camera? stop in at your leisure and explain your setup? ... doesn't matter ... just that I think there's a need, there are several of us out there with some expertise, and Bike-Pgh has some wherewithal to facilitate putting it together.
stuinmccandless
2016-01-16 03:26:52
Orange cones appeared along Melwood in Polish Hill at some point in the last while. I suspect it's the residents trying to slow down cars cutting down Gold/Melwood. It's cool that they're taking pics as well. And offering to call 911. I don't see why the city didn't installed some speed tables along the stretch between the bridge and Finland.
ahlir
2016-01-17 17:28:34
Most of those cones appeared last summer, after the Bigelow/Baum construction project posted Melwood to Herron as a detour and boosted the volume of non-local, cut through traffic, often moving at high speed, leading to several residents' cars losing mirrors or suffering other damage.
epanastrophe
2016-01-17 17:36:56