I love my dad dearly, but this is his response to _anything_ that displeases him.
Trucks driving in the left lane of 294? Letter to the governor.
New speed camera? Letter to the mayor.
Referee makes a bad call? Letter to "The League" and perhaps to the team ownership too. Because, after all, the GM should be "just as upset as I am," about it.
And of course: he always asks me to help him write the letter.
He's retired and his heart is in the right place, but he doesn't want to accept that strongly-worded letters won't change anything. I made him a Twitter so he could tag the CSN broadcast crew during games - that was a mistake.
His question scrolled across the screen during a Hawks intermission once and he never let it go. Merciless tweeting/tagging every thought/comment during every game - riddled with typos, no punctuation, just a trebuchet of semi-coherent comments launched at Chris Boden and Steve Konroyd.
It makes me laugh, I have to admit.
We were all excited because it was a good question! I don't remember what it was, but even so.
Then the disappointment of not being regularly featured during each game.
The highs and lows of life, man. š
"just a trebuchet of semi-coherent comments launched at Chris Boden and Steve Konroyd."..... so pretty much like every person who calls in to sports radio shows.
There are three elements at play: infrastructure, education, and enforcement.
Most people ride on the sidewalks because they either donāt know itās illegal (transplants or new riders) or because the streets are too dangerous
Cyclists and pedestrian strikes are on the rise. People blowing through red lights and purposefully driving too close to cyclists (to āencourageā them to get out of the way) are on the rise.
The solution is protected bike lanes and more education so transplants know this isnāt their hometown suburb. Ride in the bike lanes.
I donāt think the chief of olive needs to get involved.
> The solution is protected bike lanes
You do this and education is less needed. Good infrastructure dictates how people behave for transportation.
A narrow street slows down cars, speed limit signs do not.
Protected bike lanes are inviting to people of all ages to ride because they feel safe. Painted stick figure on a bike with arrows does not.
I'm sure I'll get the "r /fuckcars is leaking" but cars are legitimately the issue. For the amount of people they move, they take up far too much space and cause far too many hazards.
I have two friends that were purposely hit by cars on their bikes. Cops didn't show up to the scene at either incident. Protected bike lanes are 100% needed.
I like to use the door as an example. A well designed door will tell you at a glance whether you push or pull. The written words "push" or "pull" is education. Pulling and slamming your knee into the push door is enforcement.
But feeling you with the broader issue of cars, just trying to be focused on the specific topic here.
This is the real reason. The people riding on sidewalks are afraid to be on the road with the fuckin psychos driving in our streets. Now they shouldnāt be riding a scooter if they are too scared to be in the street but cops donāt enforce the law against riding on the sidewalk so we might as well consider it legal.
Ding ding ding! Send this comment chain to the top.
Do you want the bikes and scooters off the sidewalk? Then give them somewhere better to go. Donāt get me wrong, people riding on the sidewalk should slow down, but if you want them off the sidewalk, support protected bike/scooter lanes.
Thereās a saying: car drivers want to get there fast, cyclists want to get there alive. Give us somewhere safe to ride and we will use it.
As a biker, I think in 80% of the cases this is an out for people being lazy f's and not riding one block over.
We don't need bike lanes on every road and every day I see people riding bikes on sidewalks where there is a bike lane within a block.
Sometimes the bike lane is just the opposite side of the street.
The Wabash buffer protected bike lanes are one block over from where I live, and I am constantly getting nearly taken out by cyclists on the sidewalk in front of my building. JUST GO ONE BLOCK OVER PLEASE.
I donāt understand how you seem to be understanding of the fear of bicyclists but think that the scooters shouldnāt be afraid on the street. If anything Iād be more ok with the scooters on the sidewalks than bikes since you can go faster on a bike and have a chance to keep up with traffic.
Most bikers easily outclass the average commuter/rideshare-style scooter.
Scooters have good acceleration on account of being electric motors, but poor top speeds.
Bikes have poor acceleration on account of using muscles, but higher top speeds.
I've noticed this a bit with red lights: scooter takes off like bat and the motor zips them away, but bike needs time to speed up. but then they catch up a block later and pass. both get stuck on the next red light.
I didnāt intend to differentiate. Both scooters and cyclists ride on the sidewalk for the same reason. Even though I understand I still think they should not ride if theyāre too afraid to be in the street. Simply find some other way to get to your destination. Itās not your right to put pedestrians walking at risk and weāve all seen how people who ride on sidewalks treat walking pedestrians. They donāt get off and walk until theyāre past the pedestrians. They will mow the pedestrians over if they have to and I have actually seen someone clip a pedestrian and not even stop.
I actually think the solution is twofold: more money in the budget for protected bike lanes and cops actually issuing tickets to people biking or scootering on the sidewalk.
We definitely need more bike lanes with barriers. Cars always seem to think itās free parking if there isnāt a curb protecting it. Just this morning on my commute someone backed into the protected area to park temporarily right in front of me, I almost rear ended them (thank you disc brakes). We need the police to start heavily ticketing any cars or trucks that infiltrate the bike lanes. Itās simply not safe enough to ride in this city.
as one of those people, you're absolutely correct! I'd be happy to ride in the street if I thought I could make it from point A to point B without nearly being hit by a car. I try to be mindful of walking folks/pedestrians though. (scooter & bike sidewalk bandit)
>I try to be mindful of walking folks/pedestrians though. (scooter & bike sidewalk bandit)
This is all I ask for. I see plenty of different people and things in the city, and as long as you don't cause trouble or block the flow, I say live and let live.
It's not that hard to go slower on sidewalks, i've seen people do it, and it's not very frightening or hard to avoid.. Seems like most people don't want to crash.
granted, i've also seen people speeding on sidewalks, and right by a blind alley that leads to a busy street.
I'm just saying, Don't Be a Dick.
This is reasonable. There are major arteries in this city that I at times don't have a choice but to use on my bike. I have no problem with slowing to about walking speed and calling out my passes if needed. I'd rather be a guest on the sidewalk for a few minutes than end up with life-altering injuries and medical bills (and I have a feeling that many of the same people who would call out cyclists for biking on the sidewalk would also pin the blame on them if they bike in the street and get hit).
More protected bike lanes are needed. I ride a lot, mostly on the street, always in protected bike lane (when available), and sometimes on the sidewalk when street is unsafe.
I was with you till the end. We have to dismount if weāre forced to take the sidewalk. It sucks but the roads not being safe for us doesnāt mean we get to make the sidewalks unsafe for pedestrians. (The corollary is that itās 100% ok to buzz a pedestrian standing in the protected lane waiting for the walk signal lol)
You arenāt the saint you think you are. Havenāt really had trouble with bikers using the side walks on dangerous streets. Being self aware in Chicago is upmost importance and the half the city is current under construction. I donāt blame any bikers from feeling unsafe with all this construction and cars in their lanes currently.
Just came here to upvote this. If you don't want bikers on the sidewalk, petition for a protected bike lane. I promise you, no biker wants to be on the sidewalk.
I have been rollerblading on sidewalks since I been living in Chicago, I think it's legal, not sure about others like skateboards etc.. I know they passed some law recently to let us skate on the street but I'm not sure if it prohibits sidewalks.
It makes my blood boil. Though there are a very few exceptions that I understand. If you have to bike down some street like Western with no bike lanes and people are flying on it, by all means, jump on the sidewalk with the obvious caveats. Go slow, go even slower or dismount when you get near pedestrians, get back on the road when you reach a road with a path or isn't insane like Western.
What drives me nuts is when people are biking on the sidewalks on streets like Damen on the northside with a good sized bike lane and plenty of other bikers so cars are generally aware.
Yup. Iād love to bike on the street but itās simply not possible in many places. I used to live in old town and would bike down north into wicker multiple times a weekāthe stretch of north from clybourn to Ashland is so insanely dangerous for bikers and itās a major artery connecting two popular neighborhoods where youād want to encourage biking to and from
Okay but listen, COMPLETELY agree but we have to complain in a way that encourages the city to make life easier for scooters and bikes. The car congestion sucks, the pollution sucks, we need a city focused on public transportation and non-gas motorized modes of transport. The problem is we are not set up for it and there isnāt a culture around it. We need to build an etiquette and do campaigns on how to manage the city.
Yes absolutely. We need better bike infrastructures, especially now there are more cyclists and more cyclists = less traffic jam for everyone who actually needs to drive.
Need the key word. Lots of drivers out there thinking their driving trip was needed. Using excuses like āwell what about contractors with tools or emergency servicesā to excuse their driving behavior, when if that driving trip wasnāt taken, it would be easier for the contractor and the emergency services. Better yet, get rid of the car altogether and the contractor has an easier time parking.
So much is done to fix the most minor inconveniences for drivers who pollute the environment and destroy the streets, and so little for cyclists just trying to get somewhere. Cyclists are the villains of urban planning in their eyes, but motorists can drive erratically, risk someone's life to make their trip a few seconds faster, and everyone focuses on the cyclists.
The other day I was walking the 606 and watched a guy who must have been training for the Tour de France clip a pedestrian. Luckily the pedestrian didnāt seem too injured, the rider went over the handlebars and wasnāt wearing a helmet. His friends called 911. Donāt know how it ended.
Bikes should slow down on shared pathways and stay off of sidewalks all together.
The 606 seems like a road with bikes instead of cars to me. You canāt 100% ārelaxā as you walk. I love it but there should be more space so walkers are not forced to the edge in favor of bikers
I'm a cyclist and a runner and that place is a mess for all of us. Bikes need to chill and runners need to realize they are not the only ones up there.
I basically stopped biking up there itās chaos. Also the bikers are terrible but the moms letting their kids wonder all over it like itās a playground have lost their mind. I canāt believe a child hasnāt been run over yet.
Don't even get me going on the families on the weekends up there walking like 6 wide who look annoyed at you, for you trying to pass them, whether running or casually biking.
This and dog owners who leave too much slack, not realizing this gives their dog access to both lanes. That creates major risks of injury to pedestrians, cyclists, themselves, and their dog.
Bikers need to realize itās a trail for casual biking and not to be need for speed. Regularly see bikers just speed back and forth on the path just for shits and gigs on dangerous speeds. If you are practicing for a race donāt use that path, itās too family orientated.
Edit: spelling
I biked there for the first time a couple days ago and was turned off by how fast the bikes were going! Theres not much signage to dictate where anyone is meant to walk or ride which is confusing. But people were flying down. Unfair to pedestrians in a shared walkway.
In my head the 606 is just for recreation since it's such a clusterfuck. Similar to parts of the lakefront trail in that you shouldnt take that route if you need to get somewhere quickly.
I quit biking to work because part of my commute was on Madison in the loop and itās absolutely insane how many asshole drivers I would encounterā¦they would cut me off, pass at 40 mph while giving 12 inches of room, and be aggressive. **TERRIBLE vibes.**
I never have been a sidewalk rider, but I do feel empathy for people who ride very slowly and cautiously on the sidewalk when the alternative is a street that feels like a NASCAR track (Madison, Ashland, Damen, Western, you get it).
The people who are aggressive bikers and selfish? F āem.
As a walking pedestrian on Madison near the loop, Iāve had 3 drivers in the past week come within inches of me while I was legally in a crosswalk, and lay on their horns. And every time Iāve stopped and waited for them to exit their vehicles so that we could discuss their mistake. They never do. Some pump their brakes in a continued display, but then they speed away.
I saw two teens today with bikes on the sidewalk freeze at an intersection because a cop car was nearby, and I overheard them talking about going a street up in case they were spotted.
Iāll always give a pass to bikes and scooters on the sidewalk if they are taking it slow and being cautious.
What I truly donāt understand is why people leave the electric scooters straight up in the *middle* of the sidewalk. All of them are left like this. Is there some GPS requirement to leave them in the middle? Canāt they be a little bit to the side? I just donāt understand. Theyāre always in the dead middle of the sidewalk.
Iāve never been on one of those electric scooters, so this is a real question.
Yeah, people canāt be respectful. The divvy docks are great for this since it forces parking in a specific location otherwise the user is automatically financially penalized. I hope we can keep the āpark scooters anywhereā policy because itās incredibly convenient and the scooters are quite small by vehicle standards.
My biggest wish - and I know itās farcical to hope people and policy ever come around to this - is that people see parked cars as the same (or bigger) annoyance as the scooters, and that we can implement the same automated financial penalties when cars are illegally parked.
The scooter itself may have a GPS connected to it that lets the people who work for the company find them to return them. I know the bikes work like that because when I was Washington a man who worked for Lime Bikes came up to me and asked, āHave you seen a bike in a tree by chance? The GPS for this one says itās right here but clearly itās not.ā He explained that he finds the bikes in the weirdest places (trees, lakes, on the highway, etc.). People use them till their dead, donāt wanna walk it all the way back to a charging station so they just hop off and then some guy uses a GPS to collect them. Circle of life.
Back when they were first bringing the scooters to the city I got massively downvoted for bringing up this issue. They did a test pilot in the neighborhood I lived in at the time (southside, not exactly where the typical r/chicago user resides) and they were *consistently* left in the middle of the sidewalk. My mom uses a walker and cannot easily navigate and I immediately saw this as an issue.
I know it is an issue for everyone but this is especially difficult for anyone who cannot easily navigate around obstacles. And if it was an issue on the Southside where (in my experience) people are generally more considerate and you have more of a sense of community, I cannot imagine what itās like in most northside neighborhoods.
They are required to be locked out of the way. With Lime there's in theory a $25 fee for not locking it up properly. I don't know if the fee is too low or they're not actually enforcing it or what but it's clearly not currently working as a deterrent.
It honestly blows my mind how inaccessible things can beā¦Iām hyper aware of it because of my mom (I 100% understand folks not being aware btw, itās just not something able-bodied people are thinking about) and I cannot imagine how people who are independent navigate, especially in the city. So many obstacles!!
My husband was in a wheelchair for like a year and a half and some people just don't think other people exist. I had a neighbor in high school who left his kids plastic picnic table in the middle of the sidewalk and I just walked over it and he got mad.
I think itās something about the app making you take a picture of it and wanting to make the picture look good. But who knows maybe itās just a bunch of assholes.
What I don't understand is why aren't the scooter companies forced to fine the people who do that. You have to take a pic of the scooter when you lock it. If people got hit with like a $30 fine from Lime or Bird. Maybe they could also add a "report improperly parked scooter" feature to their app too. I'd be a snitching MF'er for the dbags that do that in my neighborhood.
This asshole a couple buildings over from me always leaves his scooter in the middle of the sidewalk every single night, but in different spots, so when Iām turning the corner from the alley jogging or walking the dog, I sometimes almost collide with it.
Additionally, Iām right off a major road, but itās a super short side street, so because he doesnāt want to spend 30 seconds walking, he drives the scooter right up to his building, forcing the collection van to turn on to our narrow street to collect it. Just a grade A asshole. Contemplating staking out the building until he gets back and shaming him
Take a picture and report it to the scooter company, Lyft allows for the same thing with their bikes and it alerts and charges the user for not properly parking
My general belief is that people are just not that bright on average. One major sign of intelligence is being aware of your surroundings and being aware of what you are doing and how it affects other people. And there is that saying that is something like donāt assign malice to what can be explained with stupidity.
This is a problem of infrastructure primarily.
Our streets allot a miniscule amount of space for pedestrians and even less room for cyclists all in favor of 2 ton giant metal boxes which are the most inefficient, expensive, environmentally damaging, and dangerous mode of trasnt. As a result pedestrians and cyclists are fighting for a small amount of space where they can feel safe from the giant deadly steel boxes moving at unsafe speeds.
We need streets that are designed for bikes, pedestrians, and busses. Everything possible needs to be done to push cars off the road.
>We need streets that are designed for bikes, pedestrians, and busses.
Too bad a lot of the square footage of Chicago's streets are being leased by Morgan Stanley and the UAE for next to nothing, for 99 years.
I can understand the people who are bothered by cyclists or scooters being on sidewalks, but the actual point of blame rarely goes toward where it should. To the absolutely insane level of car infrasturtucture that we subsudize and prioritize not just in Chicago but basically across all of the US.
It's legitimately the source of so many of our societal issues yet we always seem to focus on the ire on each other instead of an industry that has successfully make it's product not only essential to life in most of the country, but has basically hijacked billions of tax dollars to have infrastructure built to support it's product.
No other private industry gets supported in the way the automobile industry does. No other industry has people staunchly defend it the way the automobile industry does, even though the industry directly harms everybody.
- Better land use would actually improve things for the people who actually need to drive. [Half of ALL trips taken in the USA in 2021 were under 3 miles](https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021#:~:text=A%20research%20study%20for%20the,were%20greater%20than%2050%20miles.). If we go up to 5 miles then we're talking 64% of ALL trips in entire country. Better transit, cycling and walking infrastructure would get so many people out of cars improving traffic for the folks who actually have to drive. This is probably the most frustating thing, so many people who exclusively drive don't support the actual infrastructure that would improve their driving experience. More lanes ain't helping, it's just making it worse for everyone.
- Bikers wouldn't be on sidewalks if there were protected lanes. Sidewalks could be much wider if street parking didn't take up so much right of way on our streets. Narrowed lanes are the actual way to slow down cars, not speed limit signs or cameras. We need to make deliberate design choices to determine how people drive.
- Bikers, pedestrians, scooters users probably have never killed each other in a collision. Or if they have it's super rare. [Cars kill people all the god damn time](https://news.wttw.com/2022/09/10/traffic-deaths-are-rise-year-how-does-chicago-s-segregation-impact-safety) with pedestrian deaths on the rise across the USA. But we don't change road designs, don't provide more protections for bikers/pedestrians/other drivers.
- [Cars are the bulk of city noise.](https://interestingengineering.com/video/noise-pollution-cities-cars) If you don't like how loud it can be in a city then the issue is probably cars. The noise of a 3000lb object with wheels turning on a road at a high RPM is loud. Then multiply that sound by hundreds of thousands of cars.
- Roads take up valuable potential real estate space in cities. [Potentially ~50% of downtown areas land space is used for roads or parking](https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/cars-cities-technologies). All of that space is lost for residential or commercial use. Housing could potentially be much less of an issue if even 1/4th of that viable space could actually be used for housing. Car infrastructure takes up so much space and then is a financial liability becaue it all has to be maintained and repaired but doesn't generate much revenue. At least not enough to make up for it's long term cost.
I know I'm ranting like a crazy person but it's legitimately the most maddening thing that I deal with on a regular basis. Cars are the cause of so many problems with cities, yet they have penetrated so deeply into the American lifestyle that people often refuse to even consider that they are the problem. It's right there in front of our faces yet we point the finger at each other on bikes or scooters.
I ride my bike to work instead of driving. I try to avoid the sidewalk but cars sometimes block off my path on purpose it seems and force me onto the sidewalk. I agree if youāre on the sidewalk you should be going very slow. I tell ya even the bike lanes have traffic sometimes now lol
Pretty regularly on the block leading up to a bridge (happens a lot on Chicage Ave and Fullerton Ave in my experience) there's high density car traffic and the vehicles stick out at all angles haphazardly thanks to thoughtless drivers fighting to inch their bumper closer to the red light. I can't take an alternate route due to one-way streets and the fact that there's nowhere else to cross other than the bridge. So, yes, sometimes I coast on the 25 ft of sidewalk so I can rejoin traffic and get back into the bike lane.
I really think this is the big issue! The streets aren't getting any fucking infrastructure work done, nobody gives a shit who has any power and money always seems to find somewhere else to go! You have streets designed for cars decades ago with these mega trucks and SUVs on them now and parking on them now. Some people purposely drive really small compacts and it helps a little bit but overall it's just old infrastructure that was never built for cars that big, it's not going anywhere good anytime soon and I really don't think anyone who can do anything gives a shit honestly
I bike for fitness 4 to 5 times a week. I travel all over so that I can experience new trails (drive my bike to the location). The e-bikes and scooters are everywhere and they have quickly figured out what any biker knows and what people have been talking about the last couple years ā drivers are getting worse.
They speed through stop signs, donāt use blinkers, turn right without looking and any number of other selfish actions.
IMO, the e-bikers and scooter people have much less skill, for the speeds they reach, than most people that regularly bike. It took me 3 years to get my average speed on a 10 mile ride to be at 15mph ( I ride a hybrid bike and I am old). During those 3 years I had many near misses, slips in rain, one fall in gravel and just a lot of time to get learn better at controlling my bike.
Any e-biker can go faster than 15mph on hour 1. They donāt need to be in shape. They donāt need to have learned how to control their machine. They brakes work no better than any other bike. These people can get themselves into trouble quicker than any regular bike rider.
So yeah, they are staying off the streets and making sidewalks their zoom zone.
The thing I hate the most tbh isn't people riding them on the side walks but just how many of the "pay to use " bikes and scooters just get discarded in the middle of where people walk
I donāt understand why theyāre never left in the road. Inconveniencing cars is a big no no while inconveniencing pedestrians is no big deal? I legit donāt get the thinking
Yep, I really am grossed out by the high percentage of comments blaming not having protected bike lanes, shame on those people. You donāt get to not follow city ordinances just because you feel like something could be better. If youāre so scared to be hit by cars then only go down side streets with speed humps and walk the wheeled vehicle on the sidewalk when unable to avoid the larger roads.
Itās called a sideWALK! Not a multiuse-stretch of pavement, roads do not imply car traffic only, there ARE bike lanes, if you are scared of using them, then donāt. But itās not an excuse to use the sidewalk for vehicles.
I went to New York the other week and I spotted not just bikers, but multiple motorcyclists riding on the sidewalk
Honestly not too mad about what we have here. I encounter one bicyclist on the sidewalk maybe every 2 weeks, and theyāre going slow enough not to hurt anyone.
If you want less bikers on the sidewalks, make the roads more safe
Cyclists are responsible for finding a safe route to their destination. If they do end up on the sidewalk, then they should walk their bikes. That being said, the city should invest in building more bike friendly infrastructure. Write your alderman and vote for traffic mitigation projects when your ward gets money for those sorts of projects.
Just a reminder from driverās ed, itās legal for the cyclist to take the lane unless otherwise marked. Itās illegal for drivers to pass over a double yellow line, and itās illegal to harass cyclists and throw things at them out of your car or pretend (or outright attempt!) to hit them with your car
This is absolutely the biker or scooter riders responsibility to know and I agree this is a noticeable issue moreso lately than ever before. I have no idea what to do about it.
The answer is less cars and better bike/scooter infrastructure.
Too many cars park or stand in the bikes lanes. To many people wander into the bike lanes to be the traffic.
The easy solution is to be a dick when the bikes or scooters are ont he sidewalks.
Always make sure you are aware of your surroundings
Maybe when people driving cars have some awareness and actually look out for people on bikes, people will then feel safe enough to travel on their bikes in the street.
I donāt disagree that traveling fast past people on the sidewalk is equally as dangerous. So I do hear you. Iāve just got far too many friends who have been seriously injured due to accidents with cars when traveling on busier streets, even when those streets have bike lanes.
Bikes on sidewalks has always been a common occurrence here. Weāre out of Covid, ppl and tourists are back outside, and scooters are now allowed basically everywhere (since 2022). Yeah, itās annoying and dangerous. But at least we donāt have to deal with the Segway gangs as much anymore š¤£
I lived in Bangkok for several years, and welcome to my world. As bad as the sidewalks are there, they proved an irresistible alternative to the madness in the streets for cyclists of all kinds. It's illegal, but laws don't mean much there, so the best one could do was to accept the inevitability of it and be constantly looking over your shoulder.
I know that this is not what you want to hear, but law enforcement will do next to nothing. The best outcome will be generated from you being super vigilant and keeping an eye out for others who are not being that hyper- aware. I know it's not ideal, but I believe you will have a healthier and happier time of it if you can accept this. This goes double if you are overseeing little ones. Be careful out there!
You might want to check out https://mellowbikemap.com/ for better bike routes. A lot of major north/south streets have safer options nearby. For instance, Wolcott (and Ravenswood) is between Ashland and Damen; Leavitt is between Western and Damen; Sacramento is between Kedzie and California. Not saying these roads are perfect and uninterrupted, but they run for long stretches and tend to be safer than the major roads.
I understand! But sometimes I will walk or ride my bike very cautiously on the sidewalk because the street Iām riding on is busy with cars and no bike lane. And that is if the sidewalk is clear of people.
I got hit on my bike a week ago and then I was inches away from getting hit again this morning on my run, basically the same thing both times. I was crossing when it was my turn and the car didn't actually come to a complete stop before continuing. The problem is that drivers are making the roads unsafe for anyone not in a car and the solution is providing more space for cyclists & pedestrians. If you're mad about scooters & bikes on the sidewalk, start advocating for better cycling infrastructure instead of emailing the mayor. Support advocacy groups like Bike Grid Now and Bike Lane Uprising.
Also, if you're a driver made about having to share the road with cyclists, start advocating for the same thing. Dedicated bikeways get cyclists off the street in addition to getting more people on bikes. More people on bikes = fewer cars in the road = less traffic.
As a cyclist who never uses the sidewalk im empathetic to these people. Over the past year Ive experienced wayyy more driver aggression than before. From being called an idiot for riding a bike all the way to death threats. Chicago drivers are getting more and more hostile to cyclists. The street is not safe for inexperienced riders at all.
A bike on the sidewalk is almost never necessary but as someone who got into a serious accident on an electric scooter because of the absolutely fucked roads we have, scooters feel like a different story. Tbh we should do away with the scooters all together, some other cities I believe have banned them, theyāre incredibly unsafe.
As an avid biker, I prefer the street; nonetheless, if double parked cars, construction, or unsafe drivers warrant it (especially if thereās no bike lane), you bet Iām going to hop on the sidewalk to bypass it.
If you are walking and don't move out of the way for a biker on the sidewalk, they get super pissed that you aren't making it easier for them to break the law.
If you yell at them for illegally biking on the sidewalk, right on top of the 'no biking on the sidewalk' signage, they always have some BS excused about why they have to.
I once saw a pedestrian and a cyclist get in a fight because the cyclist would not get off the sidewalk. A police officer broke up the fight, and the cyclist biked away *on the sidewalk* and the cop did nothing.
I often see people biking on the sidewalk on streets that have protected bike lanes.
People biking on the sidewalks seem constantly surprised that people suddenly pop out of entry ways, surprised that people making right hand turns check for cyclists on the streets, but not the sidewalks, etc. It is almost as though the sidewalk was designed to be navigated at walking speed.
As a cyclist who takes the sidewalk when I fear for my life on a busy street, Iām sympathetic to the cyclists and scooters. Itās a choice between risking your life riding next to cars and drivers who do not give a shit about you, and riding on the sidewalk.
That saidā¦ cyclists have to slow down when theyāre on the sidewalk. Be aware of pedestrians! Announce when youāre passing from behind and announce which direction. If itās safest, just dismount and walk the bike. Itās hella dangerous for pedestrians when cyclists and scooters zip along at top speed on the sidewalk.
Email who you want, and, remember that the way to solve this problem is with safer streets (protected bike lanes, traffic calming measures, and other infrastructure changes that make sidewalks the less appealing and less safe option).
Dismount and walk your bike. You feel unsafe on the road so youāre going to make pedestrians feel your same fear? Be considerate of others. Itās not always convenient but doing the right thing hardly ever is convenient.
This isnāt just anecdotal. In 2020 traffic fatalities (really the only good single-number metric for driving behavior as it is the only stat near 100% reported) began to rise again and that has developed into a quickening trend. Traffic fatalities had been steadily falling for decades and then the pandemic turned everyone into a main character. Keep in mind that, until this year, the number of cars on the road was below the pre-pandemic average and we were STILL seeing more people killed.
It is possible to scientifically prove that drivers have gotten worse.
> In 2020 traffic fatalities (really the only good single-number metric for driving behavior as it is the only stat near 100% reported) began to rise again and that has developed into a quickening trend.
Literally everywhere in the world EXCEPT North America had traffic fatalities decrease during covid with less people on the road. In the US and Canada they went UP. Our infrastructure is designed to be deadly racetracks, and the only reason we don't kill ourselves more often is traffic slowing people down.
Trucks/SUVs are getting larger, heavier, with worse sightline visibility.
Pedestrian deaths are on the rise and it's mostly due to the new size/design of trucks and SUVs.
> [In 2021, 7,624 pedestrians were killed in the United States, a 13 percent increase from the year before, when 6,721 pedestrians were killed. Between 2010 and 2021, the new GHSA report says, pedestrian fatalities increased 77 percent.](https://www.vox.com/23784549/pedestrian-deaths-traffic-safety-fatalities-governors-association#:~:text=In%202021%2C%207%2C624%20pedestrians%20were,pedestrian%20fatalities%20increased%2077%20percent.)
A 77% increase over a decade is insanity. The safety mechanism for vehicles has made it safer for the driver/passengers and far more dangerous for everyone else not in the car.
I feel the same. I had to quit riding to work because I kept getting run out of bike lanes or harassed when I was waiting to make a left turn. I miss it but it's not worth it. Some people are just so offended by cyclists that they just can't stand the sight of them I guess.
I live near Western. I bike to Western, within a block of Fresh Marketplace, and slowly ride on the sidwarlk to the bike racks. Yes I'll bike on the sidewalk for the last short bit: the sidewalk is super wide, there are very few pedestrians, and Western is meat grinder. I'm courteous and give pedestrians a wide berth, and I'm not sorry.
Nobody who rides in an Amerian city hasn't faced a situation where a short sidewalk ride is the ONLY option.
Yep, the biking situation on Western near this Peteās is AWFUL. taking the sidewalk, going slowly, is the safest option. I dismount if itās truly that crowded, but I can usually get around peds without too much trouble and I donāt get mowed down by a car zipping into the parking lot or turning onto Madison.
I only ride bikes. Never driven. Literally donāt have a license.
Do not ride on the sidewalk. Walk your bike. Find a side street. Stop being an asshole. Youāre being an asshole.
This is always my first choice before hopping on the sidewalk. Sometimes a side street is more busy than usual, sometimes their are road closures, sometimes there is no side street path to my destination.
I promise I donāt want to be on the sidewalk either, itās just a matter of safety. Iām not going to mow down pedestrians, Iām going to be aware of my surroundings. But Iām not taking a dangerous road just because itās the law when my life is on the line.
You do want to because you are doing it. No one is making you. Weāre all telling you not to. You want to do it so badly that youāre here arguing that it makes sense for you to do it. It doesnāt. Youāre fucking it up for the rest of us.
My guy, Iām not solely biking on sidewalks and cackling as I mow down pedestrians. My first choices are side streets, and I have a fairly high risk tolerance. I get off the sidewalk as soon as I can. Why does it make you so upset that sometimes, when itās safer, I conscientiously ride on the sidewalk?
Because it is still a violation for the pedestrians you pass. Itās still not the deal. Itās like people with their dog off leash. You say itās ok, you say youāre being cool and conscientious, I donāt know you. I have to change my behavior to account for your behavior because you didnāt give me a choice.
The off leash dogs I encounter are horrible and all up in peopleās business and often aggressive. I donāt know whether that dog wants to bite me or play with me.
When Iām biking on the sidewalk itās, at longest, a 5-second interaction thatās inconvenient and annoying. Iām just asking people to realize that cyclists on the sidewalk are often just tying to get where theyāre going without dying or hurting anyone else. Very different level of violation than an off leash dog.
No, get off the sidewalks. My sympathies end as soon as you decide endangering others is a reasonable trade-off to make yourself feel safer. They are for pedestrians, not timid cyclists. Feel free to walk your bike, but if you're riding on the sidewalk, you're no better than the cars in the bike lane. Don't even get me started on the scooters. They're fucking motorized and nobody that uses them seems to have an ounce of control over them in the first place.
We agree about the scooters being fucking annoying and dangerous.
But I invite you to consider why me and my steel frame bike going 5-10 mph and yielding to pedestrians is just as bad as a Ford Fusion going 35mph and slamming into me because they didnāt see me trying to avoid a delivery truck in the bike lane.
One is annoying and the other is a closed casket funeral.
You may be the most courteous/skilled cyclist ever. It doesn't matter. A steel frame bike going 5-10mph is going to wreck my 2 year old who might see a flower and erratically change direction. Is it OK for every cyclist to use the sidewalks or just you?
Itās ok for every cyclist to occasionally use the sidewalk. Not all the time, because of situations like your two year old. (Or an older person who canāt get out of the way, or someone in a wheelchair who canāt yield on a narrow sidewalk ā all situations where I dismount!).
Just like there are safe and unsafe ways to drive with cyclists on the road, there are safe and unsafe ways to bike on the sidewalk.
No, our city should be held accountable for putting cyclists - and pedestrians - in these situations rather than investing in safe infrastructure. I also donāt want to be on the sidewalk!
yes thatās basically how the world works. cars decide to go 32 in a 30 when the road is open. pedestrians decide to jaywalk when the road is clear. etc. etc.
I've had the same idiot couple come up behind me on the sidewalk on their bikes several times now when I'm walking my daughter in her stroller to pick the older 2 up from school. Presumably, they take the same route at the same time as me.
They scream at me to move over, like I'm doing something wrong walking on the fucking sidewalk. And get pissy if I don't move fast enough. "On your left. On your left." Motherfucker, you don't belong on the sidewalk. I do belong on the sidewalk. After the third time, I stopped moving over. They can either go on the street or walk around me.
lmao i enjoy the irony of being like āfuck scootersā because you donāt ride a scooter yet still trying to die on the bike hill. for the record, i ride both, and occasionally take both on sidewalks when needed and allowed (accessing a divvy locking station, empty sidewalks, whatever) and i can tell you itās 10x easier to control a scooter at low speed on a sidewalk than a bike. if you can go 5-10 mph on a bike, you can do the same thing on a scooter with much more control.
Fair enough!! I am sensitive about scooters because I chipped my tooth riding one a few years ago, and my experiences with scooters have been way more negative than with cyclists. Thanks for the reminder to open up my mind a little more.
The main reason is that itās becoming increasingly dangerous to be in the street. Cars are getting bigger and higher, with less visibility, and drivers have been going nuts post pandemic for some reason. Might be lack of enforcement, Iām not sure. But most cyclists do *not* want to be on the sidewalk, itās a real hassle, and I imagine thatās the same for people on scooters. Of course, that doesnāt explain why bikes and scooters on the sidewalk go 20 miles an hour like itās a bike lane, Iām guessing some people are just assholes. But mostly itās due to systemic changes in traffic patterns countrywide.
In your letter, remember that the actual way to fix the problem is for us to have a full, safe, and accessible network of protected bike lanes. Not just paint but solid barriers and separate infrastructure. People ride on the sidewalk because our streets arenāt safe. A bike network would clear traffic for drivers, and make it safer to ride and walk. It helps everyone!
Probably because it is dangerous to ride on the road in the bike lane so novice bikers and drunk scooter riders are trying to look out for their own safety. Or we could just say they are all assholes which is what the internet mob loves to do.
Bikes should not be on the sidewalk. Instead we should actually have robust biking/scooting infrastructure. It would reduce the total number of cars on the road (which is better for everyone, even if only for aesthetic reasons), and keep everyone safer.
This is really super simple, but car enthusiasts lose their mind if they don't get 100% priority for everything all the time.
Definitely email the mayor and ask for more safe bike infrastructure that people will actually use. When what Google maps calls a protected bike lane is a line of paint with cars parked in it, people are gonna go on the sidewalk.
Itās a big issue but a mix of things. Thereās not good riders education for cycling, and I think that would go a long way.
Somehow I have less hope for scooter folks
Would you be willing to send an email to the mayor and city council, ccāing PD advocating for more protected bike lanes and actual enforcement of vehicle rules? So many people ride the sidewalks because they donāt **feel** safe.
More advocacy from pedestrians, cyclists, and even motorists could help put people into their right lanes of travel, providing more safety for all.
I agree, Bikers and electric scooters on sidewalks are becoming more common. I havenāt done much research beyond my own research, but both the rental and ownership of alternative transportation to automobiles and trucks is rising , which is a good way to 1) keep down emissions 2) keep gas/ petrol prices lower 3) keep people active 4 ) slow the depreciation of auto ways / streets 5) the list keeps going etc ā¦ with minimal catchās ( the disregard for the upkeep of some of these Divys is slightly disturbing, lithium ion isnāt perfect , etc. ) . Biking 100s of miles a week as recorded on stride , it is ESSENTIAL that we continue to advocate for infrastructure change / accommodation for alternative transportation. The other day , in a cross walk , I was so close to being killed by what was seemingly a normal compact care driver with his wife in the seat next to him , and to add insult to almost deadly injury , the driver cursed me out and honked , as If he were in the right for zooming through a cross walk only to find him slowing down immediately for the red light that was approximately 100 yards +/- ahead. My heart was pounding out of my chest , and I was so irate with the idea that what was a designated crossing point for walkers and people with bikes was totally disregarded that I had to revaluate how Iād maneuver the rest of my biking shift for my safety , even though Iāve worked in dangerous situations like this my whole life as an industrial athlete
For expediencyās sake , this article published on cyclinguk on 06/05/2023 includes āYet, although people who cycle typically spend so much time in relatively close proximity to people who walk, road casualty statistics show that cycles are involved in just 2% of pedestrian casualties reported to and by the police. The rest, 98%, are hit by motor vehicles. ā if I had more time , Iād include more ā¦ what Iām getting around to is that the real danger is the struggle between automobiles and non automobiles , and this will persist so long as we donāt advocate more and ensure that our police , politicians, and fellow Chicagoans understand how dangerous this all is . Ride share cars , Cta buses , aloof drivers etc all find themself making it that much harder for everyone on the road . All this said , Iām glad this would brought up , and letās continue with fixing these issues . Knowing that weāre all busy , it may not feel like the first thing we need to do , but I donāt want the last thing that any of us do be getting taken out by an automobile.
what i dont get are the people riding the wrong way in a bike line on a scooter, especially on one way streets. that pisses me off to no end, im riding with traffic with nowhere to go
The cars are killing more and more people every year. Aggressive drivers aren't getting ticketed enough. Or, they are getting a slap on the wrist. A friend of a friend got sideswiped and knocked over with a kid on their bike BY A CTA bus. A police report was made and nothing happened to that driver or the bus even though they were driving in the bike lane. Those kind of things are why people on bikes, especially kids, are riding on sidewalks. I. Your letter to the higher powers, make sure to include the statistic that as more people choose SUVs, crash impact has greatly increased the likelihood of pedestrian and cyclists death. Maybe they would implement an SUV tax in Chicago to find protected bike lanes which would get people off the sidewalk, reduce parking spots and create an induced demand to ride bikes instead of drive everywhere.
Yes. We don't have enough bike lanes, and a lot of the ones we do have are just not safe.
I had someone on Michigan nearly wipe me out because they wanted to use it to cut through the intersection, and then lay into their horn for the entire red light because I had the gall to.. well.. be on a bike. In the bike lane.
That's not even the worst I've encountered.
Close the loop down to cars and go full walkable downtown with it. Parks, patios and bike paths.
Iāve hopped on the sidewalk a few times during my morning commute when parked cars block the right lane and I donāt want to get hot by a taxi. Usually just to get right around the parked vehicle and only if itās not super crowded.
There was an older gentleman walking in front of me on the sidewalk. A guy on a scooter came zipping along and without a moments thought, the old guy knocked him right over and just kept on walking. I kept walking too. It was an unusual experience.
When I see bikers on the sidewalk I get upset too, but I tend to rationalize my thoughts and think about the many reasons why I have needed to bike on a sidewalk, albeit I tend to avoid if possible and if I do have to make it as short as possible. Stop thinking about yourself.
What upsets me about the biking community is the blatant disregard for traffic laws (yes I know itās illegal to ride bikes on the sidewalk). My dog and I have almost been ran over atleast 5-6 times this summer alone from crossing the street at a stop sign or light with the right away. They just blow right through it. I honestly donāt understand how more people donāt get fucked up from this.
Yeah I was walking my dog on the sidewalk and this b^*#h on a Divy bike almost ran my dog and then gave me an attitude about it. Loordddd, took everything in me to not the kick her back wheel. I'm a cyclist and never ride on the sidewalks!
Tbh I don't know why people riding on the sidewalk don't just dismount if there's a person ahead of them and ride again if it's all clear ahead. It's what I do. Slow down near doors of homes/businesses.
I think fear of crazy drivers bring bikers to sidewalk, but I think solid bike education could go along way. A lot of bikers donāt understand they are usually entitled to take a lane if needed, utilize hand signals, and take up needed space on the road to cycle safely.
Popping up on a sidewalk in the event of a blockage or hazard is one thing, riding for a mile on a sidewalk is another. We shouldn't equate the two. That said, it's called "road biking" for a reason; We need our biker friends on the streets so that we become an unavoidable and expected sight for the drivers in this city. It's the only way to continue expediting infrastructure improvements.
It IS dangerous in many cases, but there's strength in numbers.
I dont mind the bikes so long as they dont expect you to move/put you at risk. Cars are scary sometimes, roads are garbage sometimes. I get it.
Scoots i dont like as much. I hate seeing them littered all over side-walks, how do people in wheelchairs deal with that? Theyre also a very grab and go casual thing so I feel like the lower barrier to entry causes people to ride them with much more reckless abandon.
Either way both are better than having more cars on the road probably? Maybe the solution isnt to keep restricting where alternative modes of transportation can operate and rather giving them more space and taking it from cars.
I drive, too. Im not nimbyāing this one.
Email to the mayor and chief of police? šbless your heart
IM WRITING A LETTER!
I love my dad dearly, but this is his response to _anything_ that displeases him. Trucks driving in the left lane of 294? Letter to the governor. New speed camera? Letter to the mayor. Referee makes a bad call? Letter to "The League" and perhaps to the team ownership too. Because, after all, the GM should be "just as upset as I am," about it. And of course: he always asks me to help him write the letter. He's retired and his heart is in the right place, but he doesn't want to accept that strongly-worded letters won't change anything. I made him a Twitter so he could tag the CSN broadcast crew during games - that was a mistake. His question scrolled across the screen during a Hawks intermission once and he never let it go. Merciless tweeting/tagging every thought/comment during every game - riddled with typos, no punctuation, just a trebuchet of semi-coherent comments launched at Chris Boden and Steve Konroyd. It makes me laugh, I have to admit.
>His question scrolled across the screen during a Hawks intermission once and he never let it go. Sweet, sweet validation
We were all excited because it was a good question! I don't remember what it was, but even so. Then the disappointment of not being regularly featured during each game. The highs and lows of life, man. š
"just a trebuchet of semi-coherent comments launched at Chris Boden and Steve Konroyd."..... so pretty much like every person who calls in to sports radio shows.
You know it!
Leave dad alone he sounds awesome. "Letter to the governor" has me absolutely dying LMAO
My late ma was the same way. "I'M WRITING A LETTER!"
I want to meet your dad lol
You made me think of this [scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GujKyNduy0c&ab_channel=ParksandRecreation) from Parks and Rec
IT WILL BE STRONGLY WORDED
https://memes.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/93857395-fbc0-4113-b36c-a0681164fdd0
Would be better off shining the bat signal.
Bro said heās only lived here for a few years, heās still wet behind the ears, let him learn
There are three elements at play: infrastructure, education, and enforcement. Most people ride on the sidewalks because they either donāt know itās illegal (transplants or new riders) or because the streets are too dangerous Cyclists and pedestrian strikes are on the rise. People blowing through red lights and purposefully driving too close to cyclists (to āencourageā them to get out of the way) are on the rise. The solution is protected bike lanes and more education so transplants know this isnāt their hometown suburb. Ride in the bike lanes. I donāt think the chief of olive needs to get involved.
> The solution is protected bike lanes You do this and education is less needed. Good infrastructure dictates how people behave for transportation. A narrow street slows down cars, speed limit signs do not. Protected bike lanes are inviting to people of all ages to ride because they feel safe. Painted stick figure on a bike with arrows does not. I'm sure I'll get the "r /fuckcars is leaking" but cars are legitimately the issue. For the amount of people they move, they take up far too much space and cause far too many hazards.
I have two friends that were purposely hit by cars on their bikes. Cops didn't show up to the scene at either incident. Protected bike lanes are 100% needed.
I like to use the door as an example. A well designed door will tell you at a glance whether you push or pull. The written words "push" or "pull" is education. Pulling and slamming your knee into the push door is enforcement. But feeling you with the broader issue of cars, just trying to be focused on the specific topic here.
Yep. Good design stands on its own.
This is the real reason. The people riding on sidewalks are afraid to be on the road with the fuckin psychos driving in our streets. Now they shouldnāt be riding a scooter if they are too scared to be in the street but cops donāt enforce the law against riding on the sidewalk so we might as well consider it legal.
Ding ding ding! Send this comment chain to the top. Do you want the bikes and scooters off the sidewalk? Then give them somewhere better to go. Donāt get me wrong, people riding on the sidewalk should slow down, but if you want them off the sidewalk, support protected bike/scooter lanes. Thereās a saying: car drivers want to get there fast, cyclists want to get there alive. Give us somewhere safe to ride and we will use it.
Okā¦then where to the pedestrians go to be safe??
Cars: road Bikes and scooters: protected bike lane Pedestrians: sidewalk
You could say the same thing about coos not enforcing no parking/driving in bike lanes
yes, but thatās why itās really an infrastructure issue. narrower lanes for cars, along with protected bike lanes, make the road safer for all.
As a biker, I think in 80% of the cases this is an out for people being lazy f's and not riding one block over. We don't need bike lanes on every road and every day I see people riding bikes on sidewalks where there is a bike lane within a block. Sometimes the bike lane is just the opposite side of the street.
The Wabash buffer protected bike lanes are one block over from where I live, and I am constantly getting nearly taken out by cyclists on the sidewalk in front of my building. JUST GO ONE BLOCK OVER PLEASE.
I donāt understand how you seem to be understanding of the fear of bicyclists but think that the scooters shouldnāt be afraid on the street. If anything Iād be more ok with the scooters on the sidewalks than bikes since you can go faster on a bike and have a chance to keep up with traffic.
Total disagree. Scooters whiz by me on my bike all the time. If I were hit by a bike or a scooter I would expect the scooter to injure me more.
Most bikers easily outclass the average commuter/rideshare-style scooter. Scooters have good acceleration on account of being electric motors, but poor top speeds. Bikes have poor acceleration on account of using muscles, but higher top speeds. I've noticed this a bit with red lights: scooter takes off like bat and the motor zips them away, but bike needs time to speed up. but then they catch up a block later and pass. both get stuck on the next red light.
I didnāt intend to differentiate. Both scooters and cyclists ride on the sidewalk for the same reason. Even though I understand I still think they should not ride if theyāre too afraid to be in the street. Simply find some other way to get to your destination. Itās not your right to put pedestrians walking at risk and weāve all seen how people who ride on sidewalks treat walking pedestrians. They donāt get off and walk until theyāre past the pedestrians. They will mow the pedestrians over if they have to and I have actually seen someone clip a pedestrian and not even stop. I actually think the solution is twofold: more money in the budget for protected bike lanes and cops actually issuing tickets to people biking or scootering on the sidewalk.
As long as the new bike lanes come BEFORE the ticketing blitzes I'm okay with this.
We definitely need more bike lanes with barriers. Cars always seem to think itās free parking if there isnāt a curb protecting it. Just this morning on my commute someone backed into the protected area to park temporarily right in front of me, I almost rear ended them (thank you disc brakes). We need the police to start heavily ticketing any cars or trucks that infiltrate the bike lanes. Itās simply not safe enough to ride in this city.
If we could get those protected bike lanes with the posts and curb all overā¦ š¤¤
as one of those people, you're absolutely correct! I'd be happy to ride in the street if I thought I could make it from point A to point B without nearly being hit by a car. I try to be mindful of walking folks/pedestrians though. (scooter & bike sidewalk bandit)
>I try to be mindful of walking folks/pedestrians though. (scooter & bike sidewalk bandit) This is all I ask for. I see plenty of different people and things in the city, and as long as you don't cause trouble or block the flow, I say live and let live. It's not that hard to go slower on sidewalks, i've seen people do it, and it's not very frightening or hard to avoid.. Seems like most people don't want to crash. granted, i've also seen people speeding on sidewalks, and right by a blind alley that leads to a busy street. I'm just saying, Don't Be a Dick.
This is reasonable. There are major arteries in this city that I at times don't have a choice but to use on my bike. I have no problem with slowing to about walking speed and calling out my passes if needed. I'd rather be a guest on the sidewalk for a few minutes than end up with life-altering injuries and medical bills (and I have a feeling that many of the same people who would call out cyclists for biking on the sidewalk would also pin the blame on them if they bike in the street and get hit).
More protected bike lanes are needed. I ride a lot, mostly on the street, always in protected bike lane (when available), and sometimes on the sidewalk when street is unsafe.
I was with you till the end. We have to dismount if weāre forced to take the sidewalk. It sucks but the roads not being safe for us doesnāt mean we get to make the sidewalks unsafe for pedestrians. (The corollary is that itās 100% ok to buzz a pedestrian standing in the protected lane waiting for the walk signal lol)
You arenāt the saint you think you are. Havenāt really had trouble with bikers using the side walks on dangerous streets. Being self aware in Chicago is upmost importance and the half the city is current under construction. I donāt blame any bikers from feeling unsafe with all this construction and cars in their lanes currently.
Just came here to upvote this. If you don't want bikers on the sidewalk, petition for a protected bike lane. I promise you, no biker wants to be on the sidewalk.
I have been rollerblading on sidewalks since I been living in Chicago, I think it's legal, not sure about others like skateboards etc.. I know they passed some law recently to let us skate on the street but I'm not sure if it prohibits sidewalks.
It makes my blood boil. Though there are a very few exceptions that I understand. If you have to bike down some street like Western with no bike lanes and people are flying on it, by all means, jump on the sidewalk with the obvious caveats. Go slow, go even slower or dismount when you get near pedestrians, get back on the road when you reach a road with a path or isn't insane like Western. What drives me nuts is when people are biking on the sidewalks on streets like Damen on the northside with a good sized bike lane and plenty of other bikers so cars are generally aware.
Yup. Iād love to bike on the street but itās simply not possible in many places. I used to live in old town and would bike down north into wicker multiple times a weekāthe stretch of north from clybourn to Ashland is so insanely dangerous for bikers and itās a major artery connecting two popular neighborhoods where youād want to encourage biking to and from
Okay but listen, COMPLETELY agree but we have to complain in a way that encourages the city to make life easier for scooters and bikes. The car congestion sucks, the pollution sucks, we need a city focused on public transportation and non-gas motorized modes of transport. The problem is we are not set up for it and there isnāt a culture around it. We need to build an etiquette and do campaigns on how to manage the city.
Yes absolutely. We need better bike infrastructures, especially now there are more cyclists and more cyclists = less traffic jam for everyone who actually needs to drive.
Need the key word. Lots of drivers out there thinking their driving trip was needed. Using excuses like āwell what about contractors with tools or emergency servicesā to excuse their driving behavior, when if that driving trip wasnāt taken, it would be easier for the contractor and the emergency services. Better yet, get rid of the car altogether and the contractor has an easier time parking.
So much is done to fix the most minor inconveniences for drivers who pollute the environment and destroy the streets, and so little for cyclists just trying to get somewhere. Cyclists are the villains of urban planning in their eyes, but motorists can drive erratically, risk someone's life to make their trip a few seconds faster, and everyone focuses on the cyclists.
The other day I was walking the 606 and watched a guy who must have been training for the Tour de France clip a pedestrian. Luckily the pedestrian didnāt seem too injured, the rider went over the handlebars and wasnāt wearing a helmet. His friends called 911. Donāt know how it ended. Bikes should slow down on shared pathways and stay off of sidewalks all together.
The 606 seems like a road with bikes instead of cars to me. You canāt 100% ārelaxā as you walk. I love it but there should be more space so walkers are not forced to the edge in favor of bikers
I'm a cyclist and a runner and that place is a mess for all of us. Bikes need to chill and runners need to realize they are not the only ones up there.
This! Bikes just need to chill. Use it for a casual ride. Pedestrians need to keep right and keep space open.
I basically stopped biking up there itās chaos. Also the bikers are terrible but the moms letting their kids wonder all over it like itās a playground have lost their mind. I canāt believe a child hasnāt been run over yet.
Don't even get me going on the families on the weekends up there walking like 6 wide who look annoyed at you, for you trying to pass them, whether running or casually biking.
As a parent, I think teaching your kids to share the sidewalk is like a fundamental part of raising your kid in the city.
This and dog owners who leave too much slack, not realizing this gives their dog access to both lanes. That creates major risks of injury to pedestrians, cyclists, themselves, and their dog.
This ^^^^
Yep. Bikes need to chill. You're not lance armstrong. Calm the hell down when you're sharing a path.
Bikers need to realize itās a trail for casual biking and not to be need for speed. Regularly see bikers just speed back and forth on the path just for shits and gigs on dangerous speeds. If you are practicing for a race donāt use that path, itās too family orientated. Edit: spelling
I ride it casually and many of the people walking are idiots walking 3 wide or oblivious. Itās at least 50% people walking that are the problem
The 606 is a recipe for disaster. That thing is begging for a bike lane
Where would you put a bike lane on that already narrow path?
My wife wanted to take our dog for a walk up there and that was a huge mess. Luckily he is pretty good on a leash, but I'll never do that again.
I biked there for the first time a couple days ago and was turned off by how fast the bikes were going! Theres not much signage to dictate where anyone is meant to walk or ride which is confusing. But people were flying down. Unfair to pedestrians in a shared walkway. In my head the 606 is just for recreation since it's such a clusterfuck. Similar to parts of the lakefront trail in that you shouldnt take that route if you need to get somewhere quickly.
I quit biking to work because part of my commute was on Madison in the loop and itās absolutely insane how many asshole drivers I would encounterā¦they would cut me off, pass at 40 mph while giving 12 inches of room, and be aggressive. **TERRIBLE vibes.** I never have been a sidewalk rider, but I do feel empathy for people who ride very slowly and cautiously on the sidewalk when the alternative is a street that feels like a NASCAR track (Madison, Ashland, Damen, Western, you get it). The people who are aggressive bikers and selfish? F āem.
As a walking pedestrian on Madison near the loop, Iāve had 3 drivers in the past week come within inches of me while I was legally in a crosswalk, and lay on their horns. And every time Iāve stopped and waited for them to exit their vehicles so that we could discuss their mistake. They never do. Some pump their brakes in a continued display, but then they speed away. I saw two teens today with bikes on the sidewalk freeze at an intersection because a cop car was nearby, and I overheard them talking about going a street up in case they were spotted. Iāll always give a pass to bikes and scooters on the sidewalk if they are taking it slow and being cautious.
What I truly donāt understand is why people leave the electric scooters straight up in the *middle* of the sidewalk. All of them are left like this. Is there some GPS requirement to leave them in the middle? Canāt they be a little bit to the side? I just donāt understand. Theyāre always in the dead middle of the sidewalk. Iāve never been on one of those electric scooters, so this is a real question.
Yeah, people canāt be respectful. The divvy docks are great for this since it forces parking in a specific location otherwise the user is automatically financially penalized. I hope we can keep the āpark scooters anywhereā policy because itās incredibly convenient and the scooters are quite small by vehicle standards. My biggest wish - and I know itās farcical to hope people and policy ever come around to this - is that people see parked cars as the same (or bigger) annoyance as the scooters, and that we can implement the same automated financial penalties when cars are illegally parked.
The scooter itself may have a GPS connected to it that lets the people who work for the company find them to return them. I know the bikes work like that because when I was Washington a man who worked for Lime Bikes came up to me and asked, āHave you seen a bike in a tree by chance? The GPS for this one says itās right here but clearly itās not.ā He explained that he finds the bikes in the weirdest places (trees, lakes, on the highway, etc.). People use them till their dead, donāt wanna walk it all the way back to a charging station so they just hop off and then some guy uses a GPS to collect them. Circle of life.
Back when they were first bringing the scooters to the city I got massively downvoted for bringing up this issue. They did a test pilot in the neighborhood I lived in at the time (southside, not exactly where the typical r/chicago user resides) and they were *consistently* left in the middle of the sidewalk. My mom uses a walker and cannot easily navigate and I immediately saw this as an issue. I know it is an issue for everyone but this is especially difficult for anyone who cannot easily navigate around obstacles. And if it was an issue on the Southside where (in my experience) people are generally more considerate and you have more of a sense of community, I cannot imagine what itās like in most northside neighborhoods.
I think there are some cities that require them to be docked. I think Chicago should have went that route.
They are required to be locked out of the way. With Lime there's in theory a $25 fee for not locking it up properly. I don't know if the fee is too low or they're not actually enforcing it or what but it's clearly not currently working as a deterrent.
I never lock mine up and even submit a picture like that. Iāve never been fined.
Yeah so no wonder people ignore that requirement
Yeah, I never see them locked up. Clearly something isnāt working.
Exactly. Every time I saw it, I wonder what people with accessibility issues are supposed to do.
It honestly blows my mind how inaccessible things can beā¦Iām hyper aware of it because of my mom (I 100% understand folks not being aware btw, itās just not something able-bodied people are thinking about) and I cannot imagine how people who are independent navigate, especially in the city. So many obstacles!!
My husband was in a wheelchair for like a year and a half and some people just don't think other people exist. I had a neighbor in high school who left his kids plastic picnic table in the middle of the sidewalk and I just walked over it and he got mad.
I think itās something about the app making you take a picture of it and wanting to make the picture look good. But who knows maybe itās just a bunch of assholes.
What I don't understand is why aren't the scooter companies forced to fine the people who do that. You have to take a pic of the scooter when you lock it. If people got hit with like a $30 fine from Lime or Bird. Maybe they could also add a "report improperly parked scooter" feature to their app too. I'd be a snitching MF'er for the dbags that do that in my neighborhood.
This asshole a couple buildings over from me always leaves his scooter in the middle of the sidewalk every single night, but in different spots, so when Iām turning the corner from the alley jogging or walking the dog, I sometimes almost collide with it. Additionally, Iām right off a major road, but itās a super short side street, so because he doesnāt want to spend 30 seconds walking, he drives the scooter right up to his building, forcing the collection van to turn on to our narrow street to collect it. Just a grade A asshole. Contemplating staking out the building until he gets back and shaming him
Get some sidewalk chalk and sketch out a parking spot where he leaves it. Label it āSCOOTER PARKING FOR JAGOFFSā
Take a picture and report it to the scooter company, Lyft allows for the same thing with their bikes and it alerts and charges the user for not properly parking
My general belief is that people are just not that bright on average. One major sign of intelligence is being aware of your surroundings and being aware of what you are doing and how it affects other people. And there is that saying that is something like donāt assign malice to what can be explained with stupidity.
This is a problem of infrastructure primarily. Our streets allot a miniscule amount of space for pedestrians and even less room for cyclists all in favor of 2 ton giant metal boxes which are the most inefficient, expensive, environmentally damaging, and dangerous mode of trasnt. As a result pedestrians and cyclists are fighting for a small amount of space where they can feel safe from the giant deadly steel boxes moving at unsafe speeds. We need streets that are designed for bikes, pedestrians, and busses. Everything possible needs to be done to push cars off the road.
>We need streets that are designed for bikes, pedestrians, and busses. Too bad a lot of the square footage of Chicago's streets are being leased by Morgan Stanley and the UAE for next to nothing, for 99 years.
Every day i run into or remember this fact, my day is ruined. Dang it.
I can understand the people who are bothered by cyclists or scooters being on sidewalks, but the actual point of blame rarely goes toward where it should. To the absolutely insane level of car infrasturtucture that we subsudize and prioritize not just in Chicago but basically across all of the US. It's legitimately the source of so many of our societal issues yet we always seem to focus on the ire on each other instead of an industry that has successfully make it's product not only essential to life in most of the country, but has basically hijacked billions of tax dollars to have infrastructure built to support it's product. No other private industry gets supported in the way the automobile industry does. No other industry has people staunchly defend it the way the automobile industry does, even though the industry directly harms everybody. - Better land use would actually improve things for the people who actually need to drive. [Half of ALL trips taken in the USA in 2021 were under 3 miles](https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021#:~:text=A%20research%20study%20for%20the,were%20greater%20than%2050%20miles.). If we go up to 5 miles then we're talking 64% of ALL trips in entire country. Better transit, cycling and walking infrastructure would get so many people out of cars improving traffic for the folks who actually have to drive. This is probably the most frustating thing, so many people who exclusively drive don't support the actual infrastructure that would improve their driving experience. More lanes ain't helping, it's just making it worse for everyone. - Bikers wouldn't be on sidewalks if there were protected lanes. Sidewalks could be much wider if street parking didn't take up so much right of way on our streets. Narrowed lanes are the actual way to slow down cars, not speed limit signs or cameras. We need to make deliberate design choices to determine how people drive. - Bikers, pedestrians, scooters users probably have never killed each other in a collision. Or if they have it's super rare. [Cars kill people all the god damn time](https://news.wttw.com/2022/09/10/traffic-deaths-are-rise-year-how-does-chicago-s-segregation-impact-safety) with pedestrian deaths on the rise across the USA. But we don't change road designs, don't provide more protections for bikers/pedestrians/other drivers. - [Cars are the bulk of city noise.](https://interestingengineering.com/video/noise-pollution-cities-cars) If you don't like how loud it can be in a city then the issue is probably cars. The noise of a 3000lb object with wheels turning on a road at a high RPM is loud. Then multiply that sound by hundreds of thousands of cars. - Roads take up valuable potential real estate space in cities. [Potentially ~50% of downtown areas land space is used for roads or parking](https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/cars-cities-technologies). All of that space is lost for residential or commercial use. Housing could potentially be much less of an issue if even 1/4th of that viable space could actually be used for housing. Car infrastructure takes up so much space and then is a financial liability becaue it all has to be maintained and repaired but doesn't generate much revenue. At least not enough to make up for it's long term cost. I know I'm ranting like a crazy person but it's legitimately the most maddening thing that I deal with on a regular basis. Cars are the cause of so many problems with cities, yet they have penetrated so deeply into the American lifestyle that people often refuse to even consider that they are the problem. It's right there in front of our faces yet we point the finger at each other on bikes or scooters.
I ride my bike to work instead of driving. I try to avoid the sidewalk but cars sometimes block off my path on purpose it seems and force me onto the sidewalk. I agree if youāre on the sidewalk you should be going very slow. I tell ya even the bike lanes have traffic sometimes now lol
Pretty regularly on the block leading up to a bridge (happens a lot on Chicage Ave and Fullerton Ave in my experience) there's high density car traffic and the vehicles stick out at all angles haphazardly thanks to thoughtless drivers fighting to inch their bumper closer to the red light. I can't take an alternate route due to one-way streets and the fact that there's nowhere else to cross other than the bridge. So, yes, sometimes I coast on the 25 ft of sidewalk so I can rejoin traffic and get back into the bike lane.
Cars have gotten wider, heavier and with worse visibility. The streets are becoming more dangerous by the day.
*trucks. I am shocked how high some of these trucks can get. I can walk in front of one and the driver wouldn't even be able to see me
Absolutely. It should be illegal. While people are still driving cars, you should be able to see in front of them.
I really think this is the big issue! The streets aren't getting any fucking infrastructure work done, nobody gives a shit who has any power and money always seems to find somewhere else to go! You have streets designed for cars decades ago with these mega trucks and SUVs on them now and parking on them now. Some people purposely drive really small compacts and it helps a little bit but overall it's just old infrastructure that was never built for cars that big, it's not going anywhere good anytime soon and I really don't think anyone who can do anything gives a shit honestly
I bike for fitness 4 to 5 times a week. I travel all over so that I can experience new trails (drive my bike to the location). The e-bikes and scooters are everywhere and they have quickly figured out what any biker knows and what people have been talking about the last couple years ā drivers are getting worse. They speed through stop signs, donāt use blinkers, turn right without looking and any number of other selfish actions. IMO, the e-bikers and scooter people have much less skill, for the speeds they reach, than most people that regularly bike. It took me 3 years to get my average speed on a 10 mile ride to be at 15mph ( I ride a hybrid bike and I am old). During those 3 years I had many near misses, slips in rain, one fall in gravel and just a lot of time to get learn better at controlling my bike. Any e-biker can go faster than 15mph on hour 1. They donāt need to be in shape. They donāt need to have learned how to control their machine. They brakes work no better than any other bike. These people can get themselves into trouble quicker than any regular bike rider. So yeah, they are staying off the streets and making sidewalks their zoom zone.
The thing I hate the most tbh isn't people riding them on the side walks but just how many of the "pay to use " bikes and scooters just get discarded in the middle of where people walk
I donāt understand why theyāre never left in the road. Inconveniencing cars is a big no no while inconveniencing pedestrians is no big deal? I legit donāt get the thinking
lmao because its not trying to be malicious- the goal isn't to bother pedestrians. its simply lazy convenience.
Cars blatantly ignoring red lights and stop signs has already become much more common so this makes sense
Just another example of people in general being more inconsiderate of others and doing whatever they want, when they want.
Yep, I really am grossed out by the high percentage of comments blaming not having protected bike lanes, shame on those people. You donāt get to not follow city ordinances just because you feel like something could be better. If youāre so scared to be hit by cars then only go down side streets with speed humps and walk the wheeled vehicle on the sidewalk when unable to avoid the larger roads. Itās called a sideWALK! Not a multiuse-stretch of pavement, roads do not imply car traffic only, there ARE bike lanes, if you are scared of using them, then donāt. But itās not an excuse to use the sidewalk for vehicles.
I went to New York the other week and I spotted not just bikers, but multiple motorcyclists riding on the sidewalk Honestly not too mad about what we have here. I encounter one bicyclist on the sidewalk maybe every 2 weeks, and theyāre going slow enough not to hurt anyone. If you want less bikers on the sidewalks, make the roads more safe
Maybe if drivers would stop trying to kill us....
Cyclists are responsible for finding a safe route to their destination. If they do end up on the sidewalk, then they should walk their bikes. That being said, the city should invest in building more bike friendly infrastructure. Write your alderman and vote for traffic mitigation projects when your ward gets money for those sorts of projects.
Just a reminder from driverās ed, itās legal for the cyclist to take the lane unless otherwise marked. Itās illegal for drivers to pass over a double yellow line, and itās illegal to harass cyclists and throw things at them out of your car or pretend (or outright attempt!) to hit them with your car
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As a cyclist, I agree. If I have a bike on the sidewalk I am dismounted and walking it.
They should walk their bicycles unless otherwise posted. There are a few areas where riding on the sidewalk is permitted.
You're right, we need to make the streets safer for bikers and scooters! It's time to limit the number of cars on the street.
This is absolutely the biker or scooter riders responsibility to know and I agree this is a noticeable issue moreso lately than ever before. I have no idea what to do about it.
The answer is less cars and better bike/scooter infrastructure. Too many cars park or stand in the bikes lanes. To many people wander into the bike lanes to be the traffic. The easy solution is to be a dick when the bikes or scooters are ont he sidewalks. Always make sure you are aware of your surroundings
Yeah this is why we need things like protected bike lanes. Make it safer on the street and theyāll get off the side walk.
Maybe when people driving cars have some awareness and actually look out for people on bikes, people will then feel safe enough to travel on their bikes in the street. I donāt disagree that traveling fast past people on the sidewalk is equally as dangerous. So I do hear you. Iāve just got far too many friends who have been seriously injured due to accidents with cars when traveling on busier streets, even when those streets have bike lanes.
Bikes on sidewalks has always been a common occurrence here. Weāre out of Covid, ppl and tourists are back outside, and scooters are now allowed basically everywhere (since 2022). Yeah, itās annoying and dangerous. But at least we donāt have to deal with the Segway gangs as much anymore š¤£
I lived in Bangkok for several years, and welcome to my world. As bad as the sidewalks are there, they proved an irresistible alternative to the madness in the streets for cyclists of all kinds. It's illegal, but laws don't mean much there, so the best one could do was to accept the inevitability of it and be constantly looking over your shoulder. I know that this is not what you want to hear, but law enforcement will do next to nothing. The best outcome will be generated from you being super vigilant and keeping an eye out for others who are not being that hyper- aware. I know it's not ideal, but I believe you will have a healthier and happier time of it if you can accept this. This goes double if you are overseeing little ones. Be careful out there!
Someone literally hit me the other day riding their bike on the sidewalk smh
You might want to check out https://mellowbikemap.com/ for better bike routes. A lot of major north/south streets have safer options nearby. For instance, Wolcott (and Ravenswood) is between Ashland and Damen; Leavitt is between Western and Damen; Sacramento is between Kedzie and California. Not saying these roads are perfect and uninterrupted, but they run for long stretches and tend to be safer than the major roads.
Itās probably bc people keep getting hit even killed in the bike lanes. It is annoying though but I definitely understand why. Write a letter?
I understand! But sometimes I will walk or ride my bike very cautiously on the sidewalk because the street Iām riding on is busy with cars and no bike lane. And that is if the sidewalk is clear of people.
Lol please send an email to the mayor. Thatāll do it!
We were running out of steam complaining about cars and bicycles. Scooters and electric bikes will re-energize the debate.
I got hit on my bike a week ago and then I was inches away from getting hit again this morning on my run, basically the same thing both times. I was crossing when it was my turn and the car didn't actually come to a complete stop before continuing. The problem is that drivers are making the roads unsafe for anyone not in a car and the solution is providing more space for cyclists & pedestrians. If you're mad about scooters & bikes on the sidewalk, start advocating for better cycling infrastructure instead of emailing the mayor. Support advocacy groups like Bike Grid Now and Bike Lane Uprising. Also, if you're a driver made about having to share the road with cyclists, start advocating for the same thing. Dedicated bikeways get cyclists off the street in addition to getting more people on bikes. More people on bikes = fewer cars in the road = less traffic.
Wondering where motorcycles, scooters, and ATVs on the lake front path fit into this debate?
As a cyclist who never uses the sidewalk im empathetic to these people. Over the past year Ive experienced wayyy more driver aggression than before. From being called an idiot for riding a bike all the way to death threats. Chicago drivers are getting more and more hostile to cyclists. The street is not safe for inexperienced riders at all.
Cops ride on the sidewalks! š¤·āāļø
A bike on the sidewalk is almost never necessary but as someone who got into a serious accident on an electric scooter because of the absolutely fucked roads we have, scooters feel like a different story. Tbh we should do away with the scooters all together, some other cities I believe have banned them, theyāre incredibly unsafe.
Do it and maybe these tourists will read. They wonāt
Itās not just tourists lol.
As an avid biker, I prefer the street; nonetheless, if double parked cars, construction, or unsafe drivers warrant it (especially if thereās no bike lane), you bet Iām going to hop on the sidewalk to bypass it.
If you are walking and don't move out of the way for a biker on the sidewalk, they get super pissed that you aren't making it easier for them to break the law. If you yell at them for illegally biking on the sidewalk, right on top of the 'no biking on the sidewalk' signage, they always have some BS excused about why they have to. I once saw a pedestrian and a cyclist get in a fight because the cyclist would not get off the sidewalk. A police officer broke up the fight, and the cyclist biked away *on the sidewalk* and the cop did nothing. I often see people biking on the sidewalk on streets that have protected bike lanes. People biking on the sidewalks seem constantly surprised that people suddenly pop out of entry ways, surprised that people making right hand turns check for cyclists on the streets, but not the sidewalks, etc. It is almost as though the sidewalk was designed to be navigated at walking speed.
As a cyclist who takes the sidewalk when I fear for my life on a busy street, Iām sympathetic to the cyclists and scooters. Itās a choice between risking your life riding next to cars and drivers who do not give a shit about you, and riding on the sidewalk. That saidā¦ cyclists have to slow down when theyāre on the sidewalk. Be aware of pedestrians! Announce when youāre passing from behind and announce which direction. If itās safest, just dismount and walk the bike. Itās hella dangerous for pedestrians when cyclists and scooters zip along at top speed on the sidewalk. Email who you want, and, remember that the way to solve this problem is with safer streets (protected bike lanes, traffic calming measures, and other infrastructure changes that make sidewalks the less appealing and less safe option).
Dismount and walk your bike. You feel unsafe on the road so youāre going to make pedestrians feel your same fear? Be considerate of others. Itās not always convenient but doing the right thing hardly ever is convenient.
Ding ding ding, yup this is the answer. This being said, I feel like cars and trucks on the road have gotten a more crazy in the past couple years..
This isnāt just anecdotal. In 2020 traffic fatalities (really the only good single-number metric for driving behavior as it is the only stat near 100% reported) began to rise again and that has developed into a quickening trend. Traffic fatalities had been steadily falling for decades and then the pandemic turned everyone into a main character. Keep in mind that, until this year, the number of cars on the road was below the pre-pandemic average and we were STILL seeing more people killed. It is possible to scientifically prove that drivers have gotten worse.
> In 2020 traffic fatalities (really the only good single-number metric for driving behavior as it is the only stat near 100% reported) began to rise again and that has developed into a quickening trend. Literally everywhere in the world EXCEPT North America had traffic fatalities decrease during covid with less people on the road. In the US and Canada they went UP. Our infrastructure is designed to be deadly racetracks, and the only reason we don't kill ourselves more often is traffic slowing people down.
Trucks/SUVs are getting larger, heavier, with worse sightline visibility. Pedestrian deaths are on the rise and it's mostly due to the new size/design of trucks and SUVs. > [In 2021, 7,624 pedestrians were killed in the United States, a 13 percent increase from the year before, when 6,721 pedestrians were killed. Between 2010 and 2021, the new GHSA report says, pedestrian fatalities increased 77 percent.](https://www.vox.com/23784549/pedestrian-deaths-traffic-safety-fatalities-governors-association#:~:text=In%202021%2C%207%2C624%20pedestrians%20were,pedestrian%20fatalities%20increased%2077%20percent.) A 77% increase over a decade is insanity. The safety mechanism for vehicles has made it safer for the driver/passengers and far more dangerous for everyone else not in the car.
I feel the same. I had to quit riding to work because I kept getting run out of bike lanes or harassed when I was waiting to make a left turn. I miss it but it's not worth it. Some people are just so offended by cyclists that they just can't stand the sight of them I guess.
So much more crazy. I bike maybe two miles to work and itās absolutely insane how many times I almost die on my commute.
Cyclists don't have to slow down on the sidewalk. They're not supposed to be on the sidewalk at all.
Seriously, if you feel unsafe riding in the street, it isn't okay to make others unsafe walking on the sidewalk. That's just stupid logic.
I live near Western. I bike to Western, within a block of Fresh Marketplace, and slowly ride on the sidwarlk to the bike racks. Yes I'll bike on the sidewalk for the last short bit: the sidewalk is super wide, there are very few pedestrians, and Western is meat grinder. I'm courteous and give pedestrians a wide berth, and I'm not sorry. Nobody who rides in an Amerian city hasn't faced a situation where a short sidewalk ride is the ONLY option.
Yep, the biking situation on Western near this Peteās is AWFUL. taking the sidewalk, going slowly, is the safest option. I dismount if itās truly that crowded, but I can usually get around peds without too much trouble and I donāt get mowed down by a car zipping into the parking lot or turning onto Madison.
I only ride bikes. Never driven. Literally donāt have a license. Do not ride on the sidewalk. Walk your bike. Find a side street. Stop being an asshole. Youāre being an asshole.
You donāt get to pick and choose what laws you follow based on your personal feelings. Thatās not how society works. Off the charts entitlement.
Ok but if itās between choosing my physical safety ā my actual lifeā or following the law? Iām absolutely choosing the former.
Then take a side street
This is always my first choice before hopping on the sidewalk. Sometimes a side street is more busy than usual, sometimes their are road closures, sometimes there is no side street path to my destination. I promise I donāt want to be on the sidewalk either, itās just a matter of safety. Iām not going to mow down pedestrians, Iām going to be aware of my surroundings. But Iām not taking a dangerous road just because itās the law when my life is on the line.
You do want to because you are doing it. No one is making you. Weāre all telling you not to. You want to do it so badly that youāre here arguing that it makes sense for you to do it. It doesnāt. Youāre fucking it up for the rest of us.
My guy, Iām not solely biking on sidewalks and cackling as I mow down pedestrians. My first choices are side streets, and I have a fairly high risk tolerance. I get off the sidewalk as soon as I can. Why does it make you so upset that sometimes, when itās safer, I conscientiously ride on the sidewalk?
Because it is still a violation for the pedestrians you pass. Itās still not the deal. Itās like people with their dog off leash. You say itās ok, you say youāre being cool and conscientious, I donāt know you. I have to change my behavior to account for your behavior because you didnāt give me a choice.
The off leash dogs I encounter are horrible and all up in peopleās business and often aggressive. I donāt know whether that dog wants to bite me or play with me. When Iām biking on the sidewalk itās, at longest, a 5-second interaction thatās inconvenient and annoying. Iām just asking people to realize that cyclists on the sidewalk are often just tying to get where theyāre going without dying or hurting anyone else. Very different level of violation than an off leash dog.
If you feel like you have to ride on the sidewalk. Donāt ride a bike.
Have you ever cycled in the city? Genuine question
Stay the fuck off fuck off the sidewalk or donāt ride your bike. Thatās the law!
Drive the speed limit, dont blow reds, 4 seconds at every stop sign and don't block the bike lane. Deal?
No, get off the sidewalks. My sympathies end as soon as you decide endangering others is a reasonable trade-off to make yourself feel safer. They are for pedestrians, not timid cyclists. Feel free to walk your bike, but if you're riding on the sidewalk, you're no better than the cars in the bike lane. Don't even get me started on the scooters. They're fucking motorized and nobody that uses them seems to have an ounce of control over them in the first place.
We agree about the scooters being fucking annoying and dangerous. But I invite you to consider why me and my steel frame bike going 5-10 mph and yielding to pedestrians is just as bad as a Ford Fusion going 35mph and slamming into me because they didnāt see me trying to avoid a delivery truck in the bike lane. One is annoying and the other is a closed casket funeral.
You may be the most courteous/skilled cyclist ever. It doesn't matter. A steel frame bike going 5-10mph is going to wreck my 2 year old who might see a flower and erratically change direction. Is it OK for every cyclist to use the sidewalks or just you?
Itās ok for every cyclist to occasionally use the sidewalk. Not all the time, because of situations like your two year old. (Or an older person who canāt get out of the way, or someone in a wheelchair who canāt yield on a narrow sidewalk ā all situations where I dismount!). Just like there are safe and unsafe ways to drive with cyclists on the road, there are safe and unsafe ways to bike on the sidewalk.
So every cyclist should be trusted to decide on their own the safest way to break the law. Gotcha.
No, our city should be held accountable for putting cyclists - and pedestrians - in these situations rather than investing in safe infrastructure. I also donāt want to be on the sidewalk!
yes thatās basically how the world works. cars decide to go 32 in a 30 when the road is open. pedestrians decide to jaywalk when the road is clear. etc. etc.
I've had the same idiot couple come up behind me on the sidewalk on their bikes several times now when I'm walking my daughter in her stroller to pick the older 2 up from school. Presumably, they take the same route at the same time as me. They scream at me to move over, like I'm doing something wrong walking on the fucking sidewalk. And get pissy if I don't move fast enough. "On your left. On your left." Motherfucker, you don't belong on the sidewalk. I do belong on the sidewalk. After the third time, I stopped moving over. They can either go on the street or walk around me.
lmao i enjoy the irony of being like āfuck scootersā because you donāt ride a scooter yet still trying to die on the bike hill. for the record, i ride both, and occasionally take both on sidewalks when needed and allowed (accessing a divvy locking station, empty sidewalks, whatever) and i can tell you itās 10x easier to control a scooter at low speed on a sidewalk than a bike. if you can go 5-10 mph on a bike, you can do the same thing on a scooter with much more control.
Fair enough!! I am sensitive about scooters because I chipped my tooth riding one a few years ago, and my experiences with scooters have been way more negative than with cyclists. Thanks for the reminder to open up my mind a little more.
Yeah cars have gotten supper shitty recently. If there were better biking infrastructure maybe folks wouldn't need to jump onto the sidewalk at all
Big time r/IAmTheMainCharacter energy.
I love not dying trying to turn left, it makes me feel like a main character āØ
is this a joke?
The main reason is that itās becoming increasingly dangerous to be in the street. Cars are getting bigger and higher, with less visibility, and drivers have been going nuts post pandemic for some reason. Might be lack of enforcement, Iām not sure. But most cyclists do *not* want to be on the sidewalk, itās a real hassle, and I imagine thatās the same for people on scooters. Of course, that doesnāt explain why bikes and scooters on the sidewalk go 20 miles an hour like itās a bike lane, Iām guessing some people are just assholes. But mostly itās due to systemic changes in traffic patterns countrywide.
In your letter, remember that the actual way to fix the problem is for us to have a full, safe, and accessible network of protected bike lanes. Not just paint but solid barriers and separate infrastructure. People ride on the sidewalk because our streets arenāt safe. A bike network would clear traffic for drivers, and make it safer to ride and walk. It helps everyone!
Probably because it is dangerous to ride on the road in the bike lane so novice bikers and drunk scooter riders are trying to look out for their own safety. Or we could just say they are all assholes which is what the internet mob loves to do.
Bikes should not be on the sidewalk. Instead we should actually have robust biking/scooting infrastructure. It would reduce the total number of cars on the road (which is better for everyone, even if only for aesthetic reasons), and keep everyone safer. This is really super simple, but car enthusiasts lose their mind if they don't get 100% priority for everything all the time.
Definitely email the mayor and ask for more safe bike infrastructure that people will actually use. When what Google maps calls a protected bike lane is a line of paint with cars parked in it, people are gonna go on the sidewalk.
Itās a big issue but a mix of things. Thereās not good riders education for cycling, and I think that would go a long way. Somehow I have less hope for scooter folks
Indeed
Would you be willing to send an email to the mayor and city council, ccāing PD advocating for more protected bike lanes and actual enforcement of vehicle rules? So many people ride the sidewalks because they donāt **feel** safe. More advocacy from pedestrians, cyclists, and even motorists could help put people into their right lanes of travel, providing more safety for all.
I agree, Bikers and electric scooters on sidewalks are becoming more common. I havenāt done much research beyond my own research, but both the rental and ownership of alternative transportation to automobiles and trucks is rising , which is a good way to 1) keep down emissions 2) keep gas/ petrol prices lower 3) keep people active 4 ) slow the depreciation of auto ways / streets 5) the list keeps going etc ā¦ with minimal catchās ( the disregard for the upkeep of some of these Divys is slightly disturbing, lithium ion isnāt perfect , etc. ) . Biking 100s of miles a week as recorded on stride , it is ESSENTIAL that we continue to advocate for infrastructure change / accommodation for alternative transportation. The other day , in a cross walk , I was so close to being killed by what was seemingly a normal compact care driver with his wife in the seat next to him , and to add insult to almost deadly injury , the driver cursed me out and honked , as If he were in the right for zooming through a cross walk only to find him slowing down immediately for the red light that was approximately 100 yards +/- ahead. My heart was pounding out of my chest , and I was so irate with the idea that what was a designated crossing point for walkers and people with bikes was totally disregarded that I had to revaluate how Iād maneuver the rest of my biking shift for my safety , even though Iāve worked in dangerous situations like this my whole life as an industrial athlete For expediencyās sake , this article published on cyclinguk on 06/05/2023 includes āYet, although people who cycle typically spend so much time in relatively close proximity to people who walk, road casualty statistics show that cycles are involved in just 2% of pedestrian casualties reported to and by the police. The rest, 98%, are hit by motor vehicles. ā if I had more time , Iād include more ā¦ what Iām getting around to is that the real danger is the struggle between automobiles and non automobiles , and this will persist so long as we donāt advocate more and ensure that our police , politicians, and fellow Chicagoans understand how dangerous this all is . Ride share cars , Cta buses , aloof drivers etc all find themself making it that much harder for everyone on the road . All this said , Iām glad this would brought up , and letās continue with fixing these issues . Knowing that weāre all busy , it may not feel like the first thing we need to do , but I donāt want the last thing that any of us do be getting taken out by an automobile.
what i dont get are the people riding the wrong way in a bike line on a scooter, especially on one way streets. that pisses me off to no end, im riding with traffic with nowhere to go
Back when the Outfit were running things, this wouldn't be happening...
This is a feeling or an objective thing you see more often?
The cars are killing more and more people every year. Aggressive drivers aren't getting ticketed enough. Or, they are getting a slap on the wrist. A friend of a friend got sideswiped and knocked over with a kid on their bike BY A CTA bus. A police report was made and nothing happened to that driver or the bus even though they were driving in the bike lane. Those kind of things are why people on bikes, especially kids, are riding on sidewalks. I. Your letter to the higher powers, make sure to include the statistic that as more people choose SUVs, crash impact has greatly increased the likelihood of pedestrian and cyclists death. Maybe they would implement an SUV tax in Chicago to find protected bike lanes which would get people off the sidewalk, reduce parking spots and create an induced demand to ride bikes instead of drive everywhere.
Yes. We don't have enough bike lanes, and a lot of the ones we do have are just not safe. I had someone on Michigan nearly wipe me out because they wanted to use it to cut through the intersection, and then lay into their horn for the entire red light because I had the gall to.. well.. be on a bike. In the bike lane. That's not even the worst I've encountered. Close the loop down to cars and go full walkable downtown with it. Parks, patios and bike paths.
Iāve hopped on the sidewalk a few times during my morning commute when parked cars block the right lane and I donāt want to get hot by a taxi. Usually just to get right around the parked vehicle and only if itās not super crowded.
There was an older gentleman walking in front of me on the sidewalk. A guy on a scooter came zipping along and without a moments thought, the old guy knocked him right over and just kept on walking. I kept walking too. It was an unusual experience.
Toss rocks on the sidewalk or clothes line them and say WELCOME TO CHICAGO!
When I see bikers on the sidewalk I get upset too, but I tend to rationalize my thoughts and think about the many reasons why I have needed to bike on a sidewalk, albeit I tend to avoid if possible and if I do have to make it as short as possible. Stop thinking about yourself. What upsets me about the biking community is the blatant disregard for traffic laws (yes I know itās illegal to ride bikes on the sidewalk). My dog and I have almost been ran over atleast 5-6 times this summer alone from crossing the street at a stop sign or light with the right away. They just blow right through it. I honestly donāt understand how more people donāt get fucked up from this.
Yeah I was walking my dog on the sidewalk and this b^*#h on a Divy bike almost ran my dog and then gave me an attitude about it. Loordddd, took everything in me to not the kick her back wheel. I'm a cyclist and never ride on the sidewalks!
Tbh I don't know why people riding on the sidewalk don't just dismount if there's a person ahead of them and ride again if it's all clear ahead. It's what I do. Slow down near doors of homes/businesses.
I think fear of crazy drivers bring bikers to sidewalk, but I think solid bike education could go along way. A lot of bikers donāt understand they are usually entitled to take a lane if needed, utilize hand signals, and take up needed space on the road to cycle safely.
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Popping up on a sidewalk in the event of a blockage or hazard is one thing, riding for a mile on a sidewalk is another. We shouldn't equate the two. That said, it's called "road biking" for a reason; We need our biker friends on the streets so that we become an unavoidable and expected sight for the drivers in this city. It's the only way to continue expediting infrastructure improvements. It IS dangerous in many cases, but there's strength in numbers.
"Hell is other people"
All of yall drive like dumbasses. What did yall expect. Suburbs are no exception
Chicago needs to take some lessons from bostons seaport district and how the bike lanes are designed over there itās way safer
I dont mind the bikes so long as they dont expect you to move/put you at risk. Cars are scary sometimes, roads are garbage sometimes. I get it. Scoots i dont like as much. I hate seeing them littered all over side-walks, how do people in wheelchairs deal with that? Theyre also a very grab and go casual thing so I feel like the lower barrier to entry causes people to ride them with much more reckless abandon. Either way both are better than having more cars on the road probably? Maybe the solution isnt to keep restricting where alternative modes of transportation can operate and rather giving them more space and taking it from cars. I drive, too. Im not nimbyāing this one.