Selfish Cyclists in San Francisco & Chicago

Why are some cyclists in SF & CH so absolutely selfish

Walking along the Golden Gate Bridge in SF, and the bridge to the pier in CH, we were abused, both verbally and physically by cyclists riding along the walkway, as if they owned it and had right of way.

"Get out of the way", and worse shouted on numerous occasions.

Along with delberate pushing.

And no, we weren't being deliberately obstructive.

Do we, as pedestrians not have right of way in the USA, we certainly do in the UK.

I'm sure I read that cyclists have to give way, in both cities.

They probably knew you were from the UK! LOL.

I am not aware of the selfish behaviour of some cyclists in Ca but some people just feel superior than others and seem to think that they are more important. For some reason this happens seems to happen with quite a few cyclists (me NOT being one of them).

It often happens along towpaths over here were cyclists share the path with pedestrians, and with cyclists able to go faster than the walkers that may get in "their" way they get impatient and pi$$ed off. None of it needs to happen and if we all respected each other then there would be few problems.

Some motorists suffer from it too - being super impatient to other cars, motorbikes, cyclists, horses etc. These people have issues with fairness IMHO.

I have a friend who moved from UK to SF with the intention of cycling to work every day. He told me that drivers were very unfriendly towards cyclists and that he was nearly run over on several occasions through no fault of his own. (no, he wasn't cycling on the wrong side of the road). He eventually gave up cycling to work and took the bus. My theory is that you have to be abusive and aggressive to survive as a cyclist in SF.

What strikes me as strange is that I've driven in SF and there are definitely less @$$&*!£$ on the road than in the UK, yet they seem to hate cyclists.

monkeyboy said:

My theory is that you have to be abusive and aggressive to survive as a cyclist in SF.

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Perhaps, but not towards those that don't deserve it.

monkeyboy said:

What strikes me as strange is that I've driven in SF and there are definitely less @$$&*!£$ on the road than in the UK, yet they seem to hate cyclists.

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Yep I fully agree that there are soooo many bad drivers over here - its just shocking.:duh2: I presume that there are also many cyclists in SF like in the UK.

Cheers

abvidledUK,

It sounds like you had a really bad time on this side of the pond (I read your Vegas thread too). I'm sorry to hear that. Some cyclists are very aggressive in San Franisco IMHO. Hooligans on 2 wheels. You should be in San Francisco when they do "Critical Mass" on the last Friday of the month. Lots of cyclists biking to work that day. It's pretty cool but sometimes they get militant and try to shut down the city to protest whatever is passe that day.

Cheers

The clickety shoe gang strikes again!

I can't stand those guys!
(Meaning the ones who behave in a boorish manner, no offense to any of the conscientious cyclists here)

abvidledUK said:

Walking along the Golden Gate Bridge in SF, and the bridge to the pier in CH, we were abused, both verbally and physically by cyclists riding along the walkway, as if they owned it and had right of way.

"Get out of the way", and worse shouted on numerous occasions..

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I'll bet they are just 'giving back' what motorists give them all the time - not that they should. If they want to be treated better, they should treat others as they want to be treated.

I ride quite a bit here, and drive plenty too. Big City driving and riding is much tougher. I've driven in France and riden in France and England (outside of big cities). In Europe I've been treated much much better when I'm on a bike than here generally.

I think a lot of city riders here feel they have to become very agressive in order to not get pushed around, and it carries over to their attitude towards pedestrians. Too bad.

Sorry you weren't treated better here by the natives.

Were you on the bay side of the bridge, or the ocean side? There is a type of agreement that peds use one side and bicyclists use the other side. The main reason is that the parking lots are both on the east side. Very few peds on the west side, not that the view isn't nice. The bicyclists expect to be able to ride by without bothering with peds.

People in SF can be jerks. Not just cyclers but all kinds of people act like they own the place.

Getting worse worldwide, even in Japan. I got elbowed really hard a couple months ago by a punk looking youth, which really woke me up to how bad it was getting and I started paying more attention when they come speeding up.

It becomes obvious that even non-aggressive riders are becoming expectant that the pedestrians have the obligation to avoid being hit by moving ever so slightly.

I had two hits in just the last couple weeks where I did nothing to hit the cyclist, but simply refused to move and braced myself instead. The first rider ended up swaying quite hard and the second one, who was riding quickly through a tunnel with signs on both ends telling them dismount, ended up crashing and burning.

It was kind of a bummer as I somewhat expect that neither of them had the ill intent of the first rider who deliberately elbowed me, but it's completely wrong that they'll come barreling down a sidewalk with the assumption that people walking do so at their own peril if they fail to yield.

Being one who likes to walk, drive and ride, I believe strongly in the golden rule and the world would be a wonderful place if that was the only rule.

Bicyclists are required to obey the same traffic laws as vehicles. Bike are allowed to ride on sidewalks as a safety measure. But that does not remove the pedestrian right of way. On a sidewalk the pedestrian has the right of way unless marked otherwise. A bicyclist must yield. They can complain but the simple matter is that if a bicyclist hits a pedestrian with their bike they can be charged as any car driver would be charged. If the cyclist leaves the scene it is considered a hit and run.

Pedestrian are also required to obey any traffic signals. They cannot step into a crosswalk that is controlled by lights when they do not have a green light or a walk signal.

Bicylists are also not supposed to cross intersections against the traffic signal and if they are caught they can get cited.

Bicylists have to share the road with cars, not with pedestrians.

Next time a bicyclist wants you to move from a sidewalk so they can get past just ignore them. If they hit you with their bike call the police.

raythompson said:

Next time a bicyclist wants you to move from a sidewalk so they can get past just ignore them. If they hit you with their bike call the police.

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The first time my arm hurt like hell and he was long gone. The other two times I actually felt a bit bad for them. The girl apologized so much I could never have called a cop and the guy crashed so hard and looked so embarrassed that again I couldn't have. Hopefully those are two riders who will be more cautious. :duh2:

kelmo said:

You should be in San Francisco when they do "Critical Mass" on the last Friday of the month.

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They are the WORST. I've seen tons of fights, cyclists damaging cars, total disruption of traffic, basically mob mentality to act like "Massholes" as we call them. Way to attract people to your cause :shakehead

As a cyclist I have my fair share of complaints about pedestrians. (I'll keep those to myself.)

But I can't say I've ever yelled at any, except when they were all walking arm in arm across both lanes of a clearly marked bike path (the peds path was on the other side).

carrot said:

As a cyclist I have my fair share of complaints about pedestrians. (I'll keep those to myself.)

But I can't say I've ever yelled at any, except when they were all walking arm in arm across both lanes of a clearly marked bike path (the peds path was on the other side).

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As a cyclist myself I too could have, but the worst incidents I have experienced have been people driving cars or bicycles.

Had a cyclist cut in front of me in Colorado while I was doing about 40 and if I hadn't slammed on the brakes he would have been smeared. He never even looked back after hearing the screeching tires.

Too many riders like the ones mentioned in this thread are responsible for growing dislike of cyclists. What the cure could be is up for anyone to guess, but constantly coming up with an endless list of grievances, real or imagined is largely to blame for a world in which each person insulted decides to take their perceived insult out on others.

Heh, talk about cyclists. It's common occurance here to see cyclists waving in and out of traffic, running red lights, and barely avoiding getting creamed by cars. Heck just two days ago I almost creamed one try to squeeze between my car and construction barrier, there was a foot and half of space at most and rapidly narrowing.

At least they are not allowed on sidewalks, although some do anyway.

I think the UK and the US have got to be the world's worst places to cycle (at least in the developed world). I really don't know why this is but everyone gets angry at the cyclists and in turn the cyclists get angry at everyone else. It's a completely different story in continental Europe though. I spent one summer cycling through Belgium and Holland and was most impressed with the vast network of cycle lanes. Never a horn sounded in anger or pedestrian shouting abuse. I also cycled in Germany and despite the fact that they don't have as many cycle lanes, they were equally well natured. I've heard that in France, pedestrians will actually shout words of encouragement at cyclists. Allez! Allez!

In my mind, a stick through the front wheel would bring some satisfaction, on the footpath.

abvidledUK said:

In my mind, a stick through the front wheel would bring some satisfaction, on the footpath.

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that has been done before, though not of my intention. I was the one on the wheels:green:

cyclists can be bossy, but in some places its the cyclists that have to watch out for pedestrians, especially ones with canes and consider the sidewalk to be "private property" :shakehead

I think one problem is that the faster (than pedestrians) cyclists are anonymous, with little chance of being admonished.

And with helmets on, harder to recognise if needs be.

They are looking at possibly registering cyclists in the UK, with a registration plate being displayed.