Bicyclists behaving?

I've made my opinion of bicycles known on here. Reminder:They're toys meant for children and parks. However, I must admit, since my last rant on here, over a month ago, I've had no negative encounters with cyclists. For the most part my morning commute has been peaceful. I've noticed a lot of riders paying better attention to the rules of the road and I don't think I've seen a pavement rider for a while now. Keep up the good work.

I am an avid cyclist. I use my bike to go just about everywhere in Philadelphia. I obey virtually all traffic laws. I stop at stop signs when other vehicles or pedestrians are approaching to wait my turn, obey traffic lights, ride the correct way on one way streets, etc. One thing is for sure for me and thousands of other Philadelphians: bicycles aren't toys, but a very efficient and important mode of transportation. As our bike infrastructure improves and gas prices soar past $4 and then $5 per gallon, so will the number of cyclists that were previously hesitant to start riding.

Happy cycling. :)

Percentage of cyclists riding the wrong way on one way streets in East Kensington...75%.

It is my long held and consistent opinion that they are indeed toys. I don't care if gas goes to $10 a gallon, i'd just as quickly ride a big wheel to work as I would a bike. For people content on riding bikes, more power to you. As long as the rules of the road are obeyed I see no reason why we can't live in peace and harmony, just like John Lennon wanted.

I still must vehemently object to your opinion of bicycles being toys. It is very close-minded. I do, however, agree with you, King, that everyone on a bike should follow the rules of the road, and those who do not should be targeted for ticketing enforcement.

Collins, your objection is duly noted. It does not, however, have any impact on my opinion. Perhaps it is close minded but I don't think it is.

Cars are meant for the obese and lethargic. Happy?

I am happy. Although my happiness has nothing to do with your ridiculous comment. Everone knows cars are the backbone of the American suburb/city living situations. Bicycles are the backbone of the American playground/park system.

LOL! Cars over the last 60 years have destroyed this country more than anything else. From urban decay and suburban sprawl to environmental hazards and how we relate to one another socially. Sorry but it goes far deeper than a matter of opinion....Its factual. Love to hear anything to repudiate that.

I completely agree southbound.

I always get annoyed when I'm stopped at a light in the bike lane and another biker comes blowing past me from behind. kind of unnerving... I don't want to see someone get jacked by a car right in front of me. But I'm an overly cautious/paranoid and slow cyclist, no one wants to ride with me. :/

kingdingaling, you've made your opinion known, so there's really no reason for you to linger in this thread anymore. As far as the suburbs... http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/communities-learn-the-good-life-can-be-a-killer/

Lets not forget all those so called world saving bikers that ride to the local bars every night after work. then proceed to drink for 2-3 hours and ride home in the dark...no lights..no reflective vests. Why?? perhaps vbecause they have no drivers license in first place thanks to the DUi's they received. Or, they can't afford one because the payments are spent at Atlantis, memphis taproom and others 4-5 days a week. Oh, and thanks to all you good bikers that ride with reflective vests and/or lights at night while wearing your dark skintight biker outfits. really appreciate your making it easy to see you.

Bikes are the blight of dandelions everywhere.

obvious troll is obvious

Great response! Thanks for contributing.

Does everyone who doesn't ride a bike think everyone who rides a bike wears spandex?

eh, I guess it's similar as how I view those people, obese slobs wolfing hamburgers behind the steering wheel.

edit: oh by the way, i do own a nice car and I do all maintenance on it myself. Got it in 04 and only put 37k on it. So right, I'm broke and because of that, I "have to" ride a bike.

I like spandex. I ride my bike to work and the men whistle at me.

can't there be a happy medium? i ride my bike to work in center city when the weather is nice (we take public transit when it's crappy out), but my car takes me places that are too far for my bike. it doesn't have to be such a black-and-white situation.

I live the happy medium Meredith (I have a 2008 V6 Camry, and it is for sale btw!), but I love my bikes a million times more than my car.

I like owning a car for the hauling and long distance freedom it gives me. I love my bicycles for their simplicity of transport, open air and all that jazz. That and the health thing.

It's also whopper wednesday, cheap whoppers at the drive thru, car folks!

There's really no place on this forum for your common sense and practicality - especially when it comes to THIS topic! :)

If it weren't for Target, Ikea and Home Depot (as well as friends outside the city), I'd love to get rid of my car and rely on the El and my bike.

Philly carshare to pick up large bulk items from those stores. Cargo bike or cargo trailer for normal loads (such as a weeks worth of groceries. I'll take a pic of my cargo rig and post it at some point today or tomorrow.

I need to log my car usage for a few months and see if car share is worth it.

It's a pretty fine line I've discovered. If you use it TOO much for long sessions, such as to go a friend's house for a few hours it can get expensive. I've found it best for those quick 30 minute to hour long sessions to quickly pick something up. Just my opinion though, and I'm kind of cheap! :p

No offense to any bicyclists but I have never seen one stop for a stop sign or red light or obey any traffics laws whatsoever.

Some time I'll post the hour-long video I have of cars blowing through a stop sign intersection in Kensington. Some don't even slow down. That said, I'm a firm believer in "Idaho stops" for cyclists—a stop is a yield, and a red light is a stop. I also always give cars the right-of-way for mutual-arrival stops, even though I usually get waved on. I think this system works for all involved.

These are the guidelines I typically follow. If there is another vehicle approaching the intersection, I always stop. Otherwise I coast through if there are no vehicles or pedestrians.

Funny, I can say the same thing about drivers and most traffic laws. Somehow stopping at red lights is a license to be unwarrantedly smug about the law

Right, and all drivers follow 55mph on i95.

I hope this doesn't come off as snarky because I don't intend it to, but what about the environmental benefits of riding a bike? If more people considered biking over driving, it would go a long way to mitigating pollution.

I'll admit I do some rolling stops or going through a light after stopping and checking the cross traffic. There are a lot of times I do this to get ahead of the cars behind me that can't pass me and would be stuck behind me on narrow streets.

Well, in my defense at least I wear a helmet.

Obesity too. But more importantly, it would slow people down from their fast paced, drive-thru lifestyle. It's unamerican I suppose.

This is one of my favorite parts of biking. I like to take in my surroundings and enjoy the day. Everyone is always in such a hurry.

Yup, everyones obese because of cars. Stupid cars, getting people places in a reasonable time. Enabling people the ability to live in Montco, work in Delco, visit their family in Fishtown and head over to Jersey to grab some PBR from Roger Wilco all in the same day. If only people would do that on their bike, oh how thin we'd all be!

Do we really want to enable/econourage people to live in montco and work in delco, or if you will: live in fishtown and work in edison, nj?

This is a daily routine?

Can't be, because the 5$ to get back over the bridge would make that case of PBR more expensive than buying it in PA.

No, the next step is to drive up to Trenton and take a free bridge over and connect back into rt 1.

Iirc, i heard a story on NPR some time ago that there are actually environmental detriments to riding a bike v. driving the same distance - if you consider all the energy that's required to grow, ship, chill, store etc the food that we eat to fuel ourselves.

Mile for mile, taking all the energy required from soup to nuts, driving a car is less polluting than rising a bike.

I suspect this post will make me no friends.

It will make you no friends because it's not true, at all, and I am surprised you fell for it

No, but it wouldn't have been an unreasonable assumption after walking along Kelly Drive yesterday.

I'm talking streets, like johnny fastguys here that need to get to nj to buy beer. Hardpressed to see spandex then.

Why the hell would I want to do that at all?

I'm curious to hear more about this. Other than hearing this story, I've not looked into it any further. We can go back and forth all day with our "Uh huh!" & "Nyuh uh!", neither without any evidence other than anecdotal, and be no closer to the truth of the matter.

If I had heard it on FoxNews, I'd have discounted it, but I consider NPR significantly more trustworthy. I'd like to see a study on the issue, if one exists.

Wow. I don't think i've ever seen someone try so hard to be funny and miss so badly. I mean, I guess I would've found humor in this in the 90's, but probably not.

but honestly, all you need to do is think about it for a second.

it takes maybe 40 calories to ride a mile on a bike. thats 10g of carbohydrates or less than 5g of fat. a fuel efficient car might get 40mpg (after warming up, on the highway, which is a terrible assumption when comparing trips that bikes might replace cars for), a gallon of gas is about 6lbs, which means that we are talking 70g of gas to get you a mile. Do we really think that our gas is coming from any closer than our food, on average? of course not, so shipping costs are going to be about the same. Do we really think our gasoline is any less processed than our food? (seems unlikely, considering how big refineries are and how far away gas is from crude). meanwhile the growing of food absorbs CO2 from the environment whereas the making and using of gasoline doesn't.

It is important to think critically about things instead of just parroting what you heard on the radio.

but heres some more numbers: http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/advocacy/bike_co2.htm

Again, had I heard it somewhere other than NPR, I'd have discounted it. I don't have a dog in this fight of car versus bikes. Hell, I walk, bike, or take transit most places myself.

Irrespective of energy consumed, I just want drivers and bikers alike to stop driving like jerks.

@Jill - it's way more fun to make things up without any substantiation. It gets the blood boiling. See, e.g., the entire Republican Party platform.

My dog in this fight is the critical thinking skills of this country.

A car is an order of magnitude heavier than bicycle (and therefore takes more energy to move), the distance that crude oil has to be transported to get to fishtown can be every bit as long as some produce we get from south america or wherever, crude oil needs to be heavily processed to make it usable in cars, and plants absorb CO2 when they are growing. These are the things that should be completely obvious to anyone considering the subject. It doesn't matter whether you heard the claim on NPR, reading in the new york times, or if obama had mentioned it in his state of the union address: You should have been skeptical from the moment you heard it.

It's not apparently obvious when you trace it back. Consider the energy used to make the fertilizer; move the harvesting equipment; harvest the crops; store them; wash them; sort them; package them; transport them; and the total calories required to move a person a mile.

For those of us not as well versed in the total energy requirements of growing and transporting crops as you claim to be, hearing the story from a relatively well-respected news source (not, for example, the US Chamber of Commerce or ExxonMobil), it's not apparently obvious.

Critical thinking, to me, means considering these factors. I didn't know the answer outright, so I used the cognitive shortcuts that we're all guilty of using and considered that an NPR story, which are relatively well-vetted, might have a kernel of truth.

There are energy costs associated with the production of gasoline as well. Can you think of any one step where you think the production of gasoline will be significantly cheaper than producing crops? Identifying an oil field is much more expensive than identifying arable land. The equipment to gain access to an oil field is even bigger than that used to farm, and so are the machines used to pump the oil. transporting and storing them will be more or less a wash, which leaves us with the wash and sort process. Do you really think that its possible that the washing/sorting process is so energy inefficient that it cancels out the huge inherent efficiency lead of cycling?

Come on, man.