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Whats with all the nuts out today?

Ok so I had the day off today and got bored so I decided to ride down to the south side to pick up a few things. I didnt even make it all the way down before the crap started. First of all I was turning left off of mccardle road onto tenth in the south side. I signaled then made the turn but the guy behind me decided he had to make the turn first then tried to force me off the road while yelling to stay off the road. Not five mins later some jerk in a SUV passed me by going into oncoming traffic of sara street while sipping her coffee. Finally a woman on bingham decided to try and pass me 20 feet before the last stop sign on bingham before the gas station. Only problem was she didnt go fast enough when she went around me on the left then had to come back to the right side of the road because there was a car coming at her. On top of it she didnt notice that she hadent passed me intill I slapped her window with my hand. I wasent sure if she seen me or not and in a matter of seconds I was staring her rear view in the face. She opened the window and yelled at me for hitting her window and I told her i was tring to let her know I was there. So she kinda said sorry for not seeing me but then yelled at me and told me I have no right to the road.


SO my question is what the HELL is with people out on the streets today?


willie
2009-10-16 20:34:06

everyone was slippin a little somethin extra in their coffee to warm up this mornin... they're just drunk, not crazy


imakwik1
2009-10-16 21:47:31

it would almost be better if they were drunk - the effects of alcohol wear off in a few hours, but being a prick usually lasts a lifetime.


salty
2009-10-16 22:33:39

friday south side suburbanite attack


erok
2009-10-16 23:05:36

Someone rear ended me at 10mph today (I was driving so I am ok). It must be the weather.


igo
2009-10-17 01:39:48

but being a prick usually lasts a lifetime.


I was hoping someone had figured out how to fix stupid....but I guess I'll have to wait longer now. *sigh*


greenbike
2009-10-17 02:58:34

I had a decent ride home. Cold and rainy, but I had the police officer controlling the 28 detour traffic stop the off-ramp for me to get on the 62nd St.bridge. On the other side the cop at the traffic light held it green for a good bit to let be make my left turn on Butler. Sweet.


eric
2009-10-17 03:41:07

All I wanted was to go out on a little cruise in the rain. I really figured the streets would be empty at 230 in the afternoon with it being as cold and wet as it was. Boy was I wrong lol.


willie
2009-10-17 04:46:13

I've had good luck with traffic cops, too. I thinnk when they can see that you are paying attention to them, then tend to cut you a break.


Mick


mick
2009-10-17 04:47:14

Ellsworth was full of jagoffs today.


alankhg
2009-10-18 03:43:19

Here's to cars trying to take lefts onto penn ave blindly, tire skids, and the driver deciding (correctly) to stop at the last second so as to skirt by their bumper.


if nothing else it gets the adrenaline pumping and you look down 3 minutes later as you didn't realize you were doing 25mph on the false flat into the strip.


dmtroyer
2009-10-22 12:20:58

I always like the people who assume since you are in the right lane and they want to make a right turn that you will gladly move your bike out of their way to accommodate them. I also love it when they honk at you and call you an asshole for not doing so. I should really be more considerate I guess.


netviln
2009-10-22 12:45:49

@netviln it is especially fun when they lay on the horn for 15 seconds until the light changes.


dmtroyer
2009-10-22 13:12:54

if they're honking, they see you...


erok
2009-10-22 16:50:01

... but it still doesn't mean they aren't going to hit you.


dwillen
2009-10-22 17:41:32

I think some drivers use a horn like a warning shot. They beep at you then if you dont move they try to hit you.


willie
2009-10-22 17:44:38

I get that "right turn impatience" even at turns where the sign clear says "No Turn on Red" and I'm in my car. Sure, I have my turn signal on, but I'm not going because the sign says I'm not supposed to but the a$$hat behind me is on his horn because I won't go.


kordite
2009-10-22 18:01:34

Then there are people who expect you to move into a parking lane as soon as it's clear for a block or so, just so you can get trapped out of the traffic stream as soon as you encounter the next parked car.


alankhg
2009-10-22 19:08:32

I often enjoy the consideration of passing vehicles that provide me a wide berth, but force oncoming vehicles to swerve or stop for fear of a head-on collision.


sloaps
2009-10-22 19:56:00

I was stopped at the intersection of Grant Street and the Boulevard of the Allies when a fire truck from the Strip District turned left from the Boulevard onto Grant in direct violation of the illuminated sign indicating "No Left Turn."


The car right behind him turned as well.


And the car after that.


And a truck after that. His window was down so I pointed at the sign:


Kordite: "The sign says No Left Turn."


Scofflaw #4: "I know that."


Kordite: "Then why did you turn?"


Scofflaw #4: "There's a detour back there."


Kordite: "But the sign HERE says No Left Turn."


Scofflaw #4: "I know that."


Kordite: "But you ignored it, anyway. The sign says No Left Turn."


Scofflaw #4: "I know that."


The guy in the truck behind him, who had also turned left and was still blocking traffic, didn't look at me but laughed.


Kordite: "And you laugh and break the law, too. What's wrong with you people?"


Then, two people drove through the light coming off of Second Avenue because they had been delayed by the five people turning left against the sign. Only after my light had been green for some time did the intersection finally clear and I was able to proceed with what would pass for safety.


If I were in a car.


So, in all, seven people broke the law because they were too self-important to go down to the next intersection to turn legally or wait for the intersection to clear or the light to cycle. This is one intersection during one cycle of the light. Multiply that during the several hours of "rush hour" across all the intersections of the city and you have no reason to wonder why people think riding a bike might be a little bit dangerous.


And this parade of idiocy was lead by a city fire truck. Good job, men. Good job.


kordite
2009-10-22 20:02:01

I was in my car near the intersection at 5th ave & S Negley last night. There was a biker trying to make a left hand turn from 5th ave on S Negley. The asshole in a car behind him laid on his horn the entire time he had to wait for the biker to turn. (about 45 seconds to a min maybe) It pissed me off so bad.


coley
2009-10-22 20:40:25

I was in my car near the intersection at 5th ave & S Negley last night. There was a biker trying to make a left hand turn from 5th ave on S Negley. The asshole in a car behind him laid on his horn the entire time he had to wait for the biker to turn. (about 45 seconds to a min maybe) It pissed me off so bad.


coley
2009-10-22 20:40:28

Then there are people who expect you to move into a parking lane as soon as it's clear for a block or so, just so you can get trapped out of the traffic stream as soon as you encounter the next parked car.


That is so true!


But I've also seen bikers that wouldn't pull into the parking lane for 100 feet to let the five cars stuck behind them pass.


Mick


mick
2009-10-22 21:17:50

So I'm riding the side streets of the southside and a bus is behind me, and it wont pass (which I didn't mind because busses are big and scary). So at the next light, I pull over a bit to let him by and he waves in appreciation. Then, not two blocks later, another bus flies past me and makes on coming traffic halt in fear of being run over. Seriously? What's wrong with people.


bikelove2010
2009-10-23 10:17:30

It seems like everyone is in a hurry all the time. Gotta hurry up to get to the red light or stop sign so they can blow it or sit there and wait. Folks need to slow down their daily rat race and look around some. Who knows they might even enjoy the view.


willie
2009-10-23 14:16:36

Folks need to slow down their daily rat race and look around some. Who knows they might even enjoy the view.


nah. then they'd be cyclists.


hiddenvariable
2009-10-23 17:04:13

I wouldn't mind them slowing down to look around some, provided they kept their eyes on the road, and on me.


But yeah, the accelerate-into-the-red-light crowd and the aggravate-every-cyclist crowd have a lot of overlap.


stuinmccandless
2009-10-23 17:56:53

Well I dont actually want them to look anywhere but the road. More of a figure of speech. Maybe they should just slow down and smell the roses then :)


willie
2009-10-23 20:09:04

just a heads up: Oakland is a mess. I think it's Homecoming, but I really don't know---bike is probably the best way to get around honestly.


greenbike
2009-10-23 21:11:05

There is definitely something in the air. I was right in traffic not 10 feet from the car in front of me in slow traffic when some lady on a phone decides that being behind a bike (even a bike going exactly as fast as the rest of traffic) was unacceptable so she guns past the double yellow and almost head-ons an incoming car and then the one that was right in front of me, i slow up to let her crazy ass in.


Theres definitely some extra Mon water in these folks diets lately.


blackcattats
2009-10-24 01:06:45

BlackCatTats - You made the right choice and you might even be thankful to her. In reality, you do NOT want a person like that behind you in traffic.


Mick


mick
2009-10-24 01:34:18

I was coming down Liberty Avenue towards downtown, and just after clearing the intersection of the Bloomfield Bridge, a guy in a big red pickup truck (and, I think, a baseball cap and goatee) roars by, and in the two seconds we're by each other, he makes all kinds of "@#^%$# get off the road!" gestures.


Moments like that make me think of point #7 on the Bike Pittsburgh membership card: "Stay calm if confronted by an angry driver. Remember, you're on your bike and having way more fun than they are."


ieverhart
2009-10-24 20:37:27

I was riding in Beaver near the high school - Thursday, the time that they get release. Some brat thought it would be funny to yell out the window and try to scare me... Not funny...had he scared me I would have wrecked...What is wrong with these kids?


rarswampcollie
2009-10-24 23:03:52

ieverhart, I get most of my grief from drivers just before and after that intersection going in either direction. I can't wait until they redesign and paint it!


rarswampcollie, I get that sort of thing now and then. Most recently a couple college age kids in a truck yelled something at me on fifth ave. They didn't have a word to say to me when I pulled up next to them at the next light. :)


rsprake
2009-10-25 03:59:48

Well im not sure exactly where I was but the other day a pretty nice SUV passed me then some little kid in the back seat stuck his hand out the window and gave me the finger. I kid you not, The little brat put his arm right out the window and flipped me off. I wish I had something cleaver to say about this but I really dont. I was completely blow away by this. Do these people tell their children to act like this or do they do it because they are just following their parents traits?


willie
2009-10-25 07:41:11

I haven't had any bad experiences with kids as passengers. Just before the aggressive pickup driver on Friday, I saw a boy in the front passenger seat of a car looking at me (in the less-than-ideal weather) and I dinged my bell, but don't know if he could hear through the glass.


That said, some kids are jerks at very young ages (I seem to recall more than a few at my middle school, for instance) and they would be jerks in any context.


ieverhart
2009-10-25 18:53:06

Some brat thought it would be funny to yell out the window and try to scare me... Not funny...had he scared me I would have wrecked...What is wrong with these kids?


i hate to admit it, but i was that brat once. growing up in the burbs does things to your mind


erok
2009-10-25 19:05:59

when I was young Nate and I were going through a phase where we were constructing little triangles of folded paper and shooting them with gumbands. I shot a dude right in the eye from the backseat at a stop light. He followed us for quite some time trying to run our car off the road while we played innocent to my mother. Only funny in retrospect but kids are just fucking bad sometimes. Love it


spakbros
2009-10-25 19:09:24

EROK glad you admit you were once a brat does that mean you are a good kid now.


rarswampcollie
2009-10-26 00:07:41

For me, the worst time to be on the road is about 3 to 4pm, when the roads are full of school buses. Far too often, I get heckled or something thrown at me from some kid on the bus, with middle school being the peak of the bell curve.


stuinmccandless
2009-10-26 11:15:26

Did anyone else have a miserable commute? What is it, less daylight, Football season or what? Buses, cars, peds, you name it... none of them wanted me to get downtown safely. Finally got to mouth off to a ped that jay walked in my path but makes me feel crappier in the end.


dmtroyer
2009-10-27 12:32:09

dmtroyer I took the bus to work today, but I've had days like that. I always find it's best to think to myself "Hey, it's a beautiful morning and I'm riding my bike to work. Nothing could be better than this." And then smile and keep on pedaling.


jeffinpgh
2009-10-27 12:36:28

Nice commute, actually. Bit chilly coming down the hill to the Shore, but no problems with any other road users.


reddan
2009-10-27 12:56:14

Mine was easy going too, there was some chaos around getting to the Liberty bike lane but it was pretty good.


rsprake
2009-10-27 13:32:28

my commute is ridiculously easy, and often only get passed by one car the whole time. i'd say it's pleasant 99% of the time


erok
2009-10-27 14:10:50

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to why someone has a crappy commute. I've tried to figure out some causation any time it happens to me, but to no avail. Also, not everybody has the same troubles on the same day so, maybe its random.


I have noticed though anytime someone has a "almost got murdered" post its followed by some thing like:


"Oh I had a wonderful ride today. At a stoplight the editor of Cycling Commuter Monthly offered me a monthly advice column, he said my skills were unparalleled. Wonder what I'll do with all that extra scratch."


Dmtroyer, my ride was alright once I got past the southside construction. Before that had some hairy moments. So I feel ya.


cbobc
2009-10-27 15:00:46

I have noticed though anytime someone has a "almost got murdered" post its followed by some thing like:

"Oh I had a wonderful ride today. At a stoplight the editor of Cycling Commuter Monthly offered me a monthly advice column, he said my skills were unparalleled. Wonder what I'll do with all that extra scratch."


That's not what I said though. I just said that no matter what happens to piss me off, I try to remember that


me + riding a bike = good thing


It's an attempt to apply the old power of positive thinking and not worry so much about the crappier aspects of a particular ride.


jeffinpgh
2009-10-27 16:19:26

me + riding a bike = good thing


We get a certain level of negativity from car drivers. But then, when I've driven a car, there was a similar level of negativity from other drivers.


It's one of the reasons I don't like driving.


It's true that opn a bike, that negativity is liable to lead to real danger in situations where a car driver faces a fender bender, but the negativity is there.


On a bike, I tend to have positive interactions with pedestrians, bike riders, occasional feral cats adn once with a hoot owl.


So I think me being on a bike is a pretty cool thing.


I also think that Jeff on bike is a good thing, too.


Mick


mick
2009-10-27 16:33:35

bike + rider = good thing


(Unless, perhaps, the rider has been mentioned in that other thread)


jeffinpgh
2009-10-27 16:48:52

I must say my commute home was a much better experience. I took the shared bike path to the Smithfield bridge to the Southside Trail, Hot Metal to Oakland and Ellsworth, Negley to home.


Is it just me or is crossing over the Smithfield St Bridge to the Southside trail to Hot Metal a much better experience than the jail trail? Not having 376 all up on you is very satisfying.


dmtroyer
2009-10-27 22:14:56

Almost mauled by three deer on the way home last night in schenley park. Does anyone else ever see the fox that lives right around the soccer field off the trail? I have seen him/her at least twenty times this year. Plus, wtf happened to all the turkeys that used to hog up the trail all the time?


spakbros
2009-10-28 00:00:15

I have to admit that one of my guilty pleasures is riding the jail trail home during rush hour, particularly on a nice summer day. I just love passing all the cars backed up on 376.


jz
2009-10-28 10:28:41

Although the exhaust fumes can be pretty rough, I agree that I get a certain sense of satisfaction riding past all the stopped cars.


I also tend to have more problems with people blocking the whole trail or sidewalk going across the smithfield bridge and on the southside trail than I do on the jail trail.


netviln
2009-10-28 12:43:21

I've seen the fox in Junction Hollow once or twice and also haven't seen the turkeys for quite a while.


kordite
2009-10-28 13:37:02

saw turkeys off the east busway near polish hill a couple weeks ago. I think they were lost.


dmtroyer
2009-10-28 13:40:26

I've compared the Jail Trail to the Pennsylvania Turnpike--not always pretty but it gets you there. At least on trips I make often, the South Side Trail is more out of my way, but a much nicer ride in terms of scenery. Many days I also enjoy the view while crossing over the Hot Metal Bridge.


Though if traffic is at a crawl on the highway it's nice to be able to ride past, fumes or no.


ieverhart
2009-10-28 14:47:04

I like the experience passing in the traffic on the jail trail as well. I would agree with ntviln that the southside trail--at least between 4th street and the Riverfront park before the South Side Works is more likeley to be fully blocked--or have someone coming the other direction you can't see until the last minute. But it _is_ much more pastoral (if you can call a former rail line through an old steel mill site pastoral).


@spakbros: Wow, I haven't seen the fox, I'll keep my eye peeled, What time do you see it?


The deer in the park are my old friends. The best encounter was riding up the sidewalk on Joncaire street after dark and I glanced to my right only to find a deer looking at me from maybe 20 inches away. I almost could have reached out to touch it. Fortunately it did not choose that moment to bolt....


jeffinpgh
2009-10-28 15:38:41

I've been attacked by those turkeys.


Saw the fox once, still find it hard to believe it is living in the city.


eric
2009-10-28 16:00:51

Well once again I was yelled at to get out of the road today. It was just about 10 mins ago coming down boggs ave to my house. I had my arm out to make a left hand turn and this fuck head decided to squeeze past my right side and almost hit the cars parked there. Not to mention that he was up me and my girlfriends ass the whole way down boggs ave. So as he went by me I called him a asshole. I didnt even yell it I just said it in a normal voice, but he passed me so closely that he heard me then he started screaming for me to get out of the road then sped of like a tough guy. Oh BTW as far as I know the speed limit on boggs is 25. I was going about 22-23 the whole time this douch was behind me. So whats the big rush? Was I really causing this guy to be late for something?


willie
2009-10-29 21:30:04

It doesnt matter how fast you go. You are on a bike and they are in a car and they are supposed to go faster than you. I routinely do 30-35 down neville to boundary rd. The speed limit is 25 and I still get passed. I do 25+ on ellsworth quite often and cars still feel they must pass me.


My favorite is still just downtown in general. It doesnt matter if you are 5ft off the bumper of the car in front of you and in the very middle of the lane.. Someone is going to try to pass you.


The only time that it really upsets me anymore is when the driver is doing something that risks my safety, like ride my ass. Otherwise, Im just happy to be on my bike.


netviln
2009-10-29 22:12:29

willie- the south hills. i really think i get treated differently in other parts of town


erok
2009-10-29 22:47:15

yea i dont mind so much that they pass me. Lately when someone passes me and revs their engine I laugh and tell them to drive faster. Its when they pass me unsafely and put me or others around me in danger that really ticks me off. I understand that they yell at me to get off the road because they are uneducated in the rules of the road or are just plain ignorant.


willie
2009-10-29 23:00:01

I wonder how much of the variance that we see is time-of-day related. I often bike through downtown during the evening rush hour, and I'm hard-pressed to think of the last time I had problems with an impatient driver there. Traffic is slow enough that even when I take the lane (which I usually do), I have no trouble keeping pace, and no one seems upset.


On the other hand, I experience the reverse in Shadyside, Bloomfield, and the Strip. It doesn't matter if I'm keeping up with traffic; the mere fact that I'm on (gasp!) a bike, and I'm (gasp) also on the road! Mein gott! Must! Run! Down! Cyclist!


I particularly hate the people who get upset through the school zone on Ellsworth between S Negley and S Aiken. The street is narrow enough there that it's impossible to do anything other than take the lane. When the lights are flashing, I keep at 15mph, just like I would on a car. People behind me in cars scream and honk.


Then again, I sometimes get that screaming and honking in that school zone when I drive a car at 15mph.


jz
2009-10-30 12:20:36