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The CPD and Chicago Department of Transportation are dispatching "bike ambassadors" tonight, Thursday and Friday to remind cyclists to follow the city's safety rules. Tonight, they'll be in Wicker Park reminding people to use headlamps when biking after dark. Thursday afternoon, they'll be in Lakeview reminding people to obey traffic laws, and Friday in Uptown, asking folks not to ride on the sidewalk. (Argh! Yes! I hate that.) No one will be getting tickets—just friendly reminders. [CDOT]
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Of course, the worst offenders ARE the bike cops.
This is a GREAT idea. I'm on the cyclists' side for the most part, and think most car drivers are idiots who can barely pay attention to their surroundings, but with the growing number of people biking around lately it can't hurt to remind cyclists of the basic rules of the road they need to follow.
Can we get some car cops in Logan Square to ticket drivers doing 50 down a side street?
Spook, would that be the cop cars going 60 the other way down the same side street? =^)
The worst offenders riding bikes on the sidewalks in Rogers Park are the Mexican illegals.
And I'm a bike rider & I can't stand them. They're middle-aged men riding for block after block on the narrow sidewalks of Clark St.
The bike cops are #2.
Checking their paperwork as they ride by?
I'd love it if they could do something about the salmon riders going the wrong way in a bike lane. How many times have you just been riding along only to have some idiot riding right towards you, unwavering, hardly noticing you're there?
Bicyclists in Chicago are awful. I can't tell you how many times I have almost been run down by bike riders in my nieghborhood as I try to cross the street -- not to mention down in the Loop!
In some ways it is worse when I am driving. Although I know I would not be hurt if some bike rider ignored a red light and flew out in front of me at the last second, causing me to hit them, I would still feel awful -- especially if they died.
Seriously, where did they get the idea that being on a bike gives you the magic power to ignore red lights and stop signs, and the right to decide, on a whim, that you will now ride on the street, now on the sidewalk, back on the street, etc.
And this is for the hipster jerk on his bike on Webster who gave me a nasty look as I made a perfectly legal left turn from Damen last month: You had a red light, you needed to stop, so fuck you and your ironic T-shirt.
There, now I feel better. Don't you?
Seconding Daleygrind's comment. I've seen multiple cops biking after dark without any sort of illumination and riding on the sidewalks in my neighborhood.
This is a GREAT idea. I'm on the drivers side for the most part, and think most bike riders are idiots who can barely pay attention to their surroundings, but with the growing number of people driving around lately it can't hurt to remind drivers of the basic rules of the road they need to follow.
...
Yep, just as I thought. Except for the bit about more people driving it sounds just sweeping and ignorant when you say it about cars.
What I've really noticed now, as I consciously follow the rules of the road, is how conditioned drivers are to just let the bikes go.
I can say in all honesty that the confusion that happens when I (biker) stop at a stop sign and the driver stops and waits for me to go through. The amount of hand-waving and "no, you go" is starting to drive me nuts.
I really do follow the rules of the road on my bike, but on many, many occasions it turns into a hassle, many times I interrupt the flow of traffic by actually following the rules.
And one other thing here...dudes, stop trying to get in front of me, it is possible...just possible that I might be faster than you. You don't have to assume that just because I'm a lady I'm slow rider. Then you zoom ahead of me waiting for the next light and I have to pass you again....then again...then again. Man up and just let me ride.
Hurumph
i saw these cops last night around 8:30 or so, they definitely did not have the headlights on their bikes turned on.
I've noticed the same thing, Margaret. It actually seems to annoy some motorists when you defy their expectations and actually yield to their right of way.
While this bike ambassador thing may sound incredibly corny, it never hurts to remind people (especially people new to biking) about basic safety, courtesy and rules of the road. Drivers are always being reminded to buckle up and to not drink & drive, after all. Speaking of raising awareness, here's a site my friend passed along to me today: www.anti-dooring.org.
Ditto on the "salmon riders" JD84. They really get my goat. Worse than that, on my street, there's always this group of longhairs on skateboards doing the same thing. Damned punk kids....get off my lawn!
Why just reminders and no tickets? Bikers hardly ever obey signals or stop signs. If you really want to get their attention, a nice hefty fine ought to do that pretty well.
The primary job of the Bike Ambassadors is to remind cyclists that we're subject to the same rules of the road as all other moving vehicles. For every cyclist obeying the rules of the road there are three times as many - at least - who still think of their bikes as toys.
HIXX: kudos on you and other cyclists who do observe the rules. It's a pain in the ass, but leading by example is the only way. I don't want to see you or any other cyclist wind up a grease stain on Lincoln.
The worst offenders riding bikes on the sidewalks in Rogers Park are the Mexican illegals.
Yes! There are two classes of reckless bicyclists -- wannabe bike messenger yuppies and Mexican illegals. I can't tell you the number of illegals on bikes I've almost completed creamed.
I'd love it if they could do something about the salmon riders going the wrong way in a bike lane.
YES!! That drives me absolutely crazy.
I really do follow the rules of the road on my bike, but on many, many occasions it turns into a hassle, many times I interrupt the flow of traffic by actually following the rules.
YES!!!! This is the key point that I think all of the anti-bike blowhards miss when they rant about bicyclists that don't stop at stop signs and what not. There's an ebb and flow to traffic, almost a rhythm. Given the nature of riding a bike, it seems obvious to most drivers what a person riding a bike is going to do and what is reasonable for a person riding a bike to do, even it that expectation goes against what the law happens to say. Again, if you disobey the law and an accident ensues, it's your fault, regardless of who "you" are. But for the most part, everyone's expectations are on the same page.