One question for you as a local who knows that area: Do you think that is a safe area to cycle in, or would you recommend avoiding it?
I ask because this reminds me of this LA Times article which I shared with KC earlier:
For those not familiar with Los Angeles, Figueroa St is a very busy street going through Downtown Los Angeles. The area where the author was describing also includes several on-off ramps to the freeway. I do not know why any cyclist in his right mind would ever consider cycling on that area, no matter how many cycling lanes are installed. Some places are flat-out too dangerous.
I think you have a valid point, but it reminds me of the conversation about rape prevention.
Certain people can only be satisfied if prevention is 100% geared towards potential aggressors. Whenever protocols are suggested for potential victims to guide their actions based on risk assessment — e.g. not getting drunk & going home with a stranger or walking on the street at night by oneself — the faux outrage explodes.
I wonder if cyclists have any similar one-sidedness here.
I refuse to believe a cyclist is ever responsible for getting hit by a car, short of riding at 2am or on a very busy road.
Cyclists can be dicks, riding 3 abreast when it’s the only lane or blowing red lights and stop signs. But the penalty for being a dick shouldn’t be death.
You must have a very different experience that me. On the CHB I told of a few instances where cyclists blatantly ignored the rules of the road and would have been responsible.
As one later example, I was driving once and was ready to make a left turn. There was no traffic coming in the other direction, so I pulled into the intersection and was about to turn left when suddenly out of nowhere a cyclist riding in the same direction as me but on the opposite side of the road against traffic went through the intersection. Had I started my turn one or two second earlier that cyclist would have collided with my car. That cyclist was riding against traffic, which is blatantly against the law.
If a cyclist is hit when traveling against the flow of traffic, they are much more likely to be found at fault for a potential accident, as they were in violation of the vehicle code.
If a cyclist breaks traffic laws then their safety is up for grabs. I’m saying there’s no excuse to hit a cyclist if they’re obeying laws. Some people think it’s okay to hit a cyclist if they’re not hugging the edge of the lane.
And I’ve also had to do evasive maneuvers to avoid a cyclist that was being stupid, but I’ve had to do that for other drivers too. But the penalty for the dumb cyclist tends to be more severe.
A couple of things…cyclists CAN be at fault. If they blow a stop sign or red light without looking - it’s on them. I don’t know if the rider in the article ran as stop sign or light or not. I am not familiar with the area, but looking at google maps using the addresses in the article, the car was eastbound with no traffic light and the cyclist was southbound. This one is hard to tell.
And I will confess to being a dick sometimes. there is a reason some of us will “take the lane” and ride 3 abreast. Many drivers don’t seem to realize that the law says they have to pass a cyclist with 3 feet of clearance. If there is an area where people will try to “squeeze in”, such as a narrow road near the crest of a hill or an area with traffic islands - we move over to keep them from trying to pass us too closely. Once it opens up, we will “share the road” again and move to the right. We don’t blow thru red lights…ever. Stop signs? We slow down…a lot. If it’s clear, we’ll go thru.