Please don't ride your bike on busy streets after dark

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflective gear is super important, but it gets dark at 5 PM now and some of us actually use bikes for transportation. "Stop doing your daily commute/errands" is not a reasonable ask any more than telling you not to drive after dark if you don't feel confident that you can see cyclists. We should wear brighter gear and more lights, and you should drive carefully and expect to share the road.

You can blame other people all you want (and we know cyclists love to blame everyone else for everything). But you'll be the person who's dead if a driver doesn't see you.

And you are the person with the $50 ticket and lifelong guilt.

Nope. No guilt. I have $50. You’ll be dead. Pretty damn sure I win in that scenario.

How do you know you wouldn't feel any guilt? Have you killed people before?

DP

If I struck someone on a bike as a result of their own negligence- like running a stop sign or red-light or riding the wrong way on the road - NO, I wouldn’t feel any guilt at all. They’re dead because of their own stupid actions, and they dragged me into their stupidity that resulted in their death. Not only would I not feel anything other than anger at them, but I’d also sue their estate for damages to my vehicle.

Scientific data tells us that, in most circumstances, if you did strike someone biking within the city limits and ended up killing them, you were probably traveling in excess of posted municipal speed limits and would therefore be culpable for their death. A wrongful death lawsuit could then be filed against you. Although this assumes that the police unit in charge of the investigation ever got around to releasing your information to the victim's family.

If I’m passing through an intersection on a green light at the posted speed limit of say, 30 mph, like on Nebraska Ave, and some idiot on a bike runs a red light and goes out in front of me, they’re probably going to get killed. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet - which a lot of riders seem not to do, especially on bike share bikes.

The thing is - I have a dash camera. And it records my speed all the time. And the video from the dash camera will clearly show that I’m not at fault.

And after the police watch it and don’t charge me because I’m not at fault, I’ll post the video on YouTube so millions of strangers can watch some dumbass kill themself because they didn’t need to stop.

You still need to pay attention, it's a fundamental responsibility as a driver, regardless of what anyone else did. If your dash cam indicated you didn't even try to slow down or avoid the collision you'd still have some culpability regardless of whether they ran a red light.

Unfortunately, there's a good chance that the driver would not, in fact, have any legal culpability. I saw a police report once where the driver TOLD POLICE he had been on his handheld phone, dropped it, and was reaching down to grab it, when he hit the pedestrian and killed him, but the police decided it was the pedestrian's fault for failing to yield the right of way to the distracted driver.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflective gear is super important, but it gets dark at 5 PM now and some of us actually use bikes for transportation. "Stop doing your daily commute/errands" is not a reasonable ask any more than telling you not to drive after dark if you don't feel confident that you can see cyclists. We should wear brighter gear and more lights, and you should drive carefully and expect to share the road.

You can blame other people all you want (and we know cyclists love to blame everyone else for everything). But you'll be the person who's dead if a driver doesn't see you.

And you are the person with the $50 ticket and lifelong guilt.

Nope. No guilt. I have $50. You’ll be dead. Pretty damn sure I win in that scenario.

How do you know you wouldn't feel any guilt? Have you killed people before?

DP

If I struck someone on a bike as a result of their own negligence- like running a stop sign or red-light or riding the wrong way on the road - NO, I wouldn’t feel any guilt at all. They’re dead because of their own stupid actions, and they dragged me into their stupidity that resulted in their death. Not only would I not feel anything other than anger at them, but I’d also sue their estate for damages to my vehicle.

Scientific data tells us that, in most circumstances, if you did strike someone biking within the city limits and ended up killing them, you were probably traveling in excess of posted municipal speed limits and would therefore be culpable for their death. A wrongful death lawsuit could then be filed against you. Although this assumes that the police unit in charge of the investigation ever got around to releasing your information to the victim's family.

If I’m passing through an intersection on a green light at the posted speed limit of say, 30 mph, like on Nebraska Ave, and some idiot on a bike runs a red light and goes out in front of me, they’re probably going to get killed. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet - which a lot of riders seem not to do, especially on bike share bikes.

The thing is - I have a dash camera. And it records my speed all the time. And the video from the dash camera will clearly show that I’m not at fault.

And after the police watch it and don’t charge me because I’m not at fault, I’ll post the video on YouTube so millions of strangers can watch some dumbass kill themself because they didn’t need to stop.

You still need to pay attention, it's a fundamental responsibility as a driver, regardless of what anyone else did. If your dash cam indicated you didn't even try to slow down or avoid the collision you'd still have some culpability regardless of whether they ran a red light.

People from the burbs tend to be ignorant of the fact that the DC legislation that ditched the contributory negligence doctrine years ago also accords special protections to vulnerable road users.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflective gear is super important, but it gets dark at 5 PM now and some of us actually use bikes for transportation. "Stop doing your daily commute/errands" is not a reasonable ask any more than telling you not to drive after dark if you don't feel confident that you can see cyclists. We should wear brighter gear and more lights, and you should drive carefully and expect to share the road.

You can blame other people all you want (and we know cyclists love to blame everyone else for everything). But you'll be the person who's dead if a driver doesn't see you.

And you are the person with the $50 ticket and lifelong guilt.

Nope. No guilt. I have $50. You’ll be dead. Pretty damn sure I win in that scenario.

How do you know you wouldn't feel any guilt? Have you killed people before?

DP

If I struck someone on a bike as a result of their own negligence- like running a stop sign or red-light or riding the wrong way on the road - NO, I wouldn’t feel any guilt at all. They’re dead because of their own stupid actions, and they dragged me into their stupidity that resulted in their death. Not only would I not feel anything other than anger at them, but I’d also sue their estate for damages to my vehicle.

Scientific data tells us that, in most circumstances, if you did strike someone biking within the city limits and ended up killing them, you were probably traveling in excess of posted municipal speed limits and would therefore be culpable for their death. A wrongful death lawsuit could then be filed against you. Although this assumes that the police unit in charge of the investigation ever got around to releasing your information to the victim's family.

If I’m passing through an intersection on a green light at the posted speed limit of say, 30 mph, like on Nebraska Ave, and some idiot on a bike runs a red light and goes out in front of me, they’re probably going to get killed. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet - which a lot of riders seem not to do, especially on bike share bikes.

The thing is - I have a dash camera. And it records my speed all the time. And the video from the dash camera will clearly show that I’m not at fault.

And after the police watch it and don’t charge me because I’m not at fault, I’ll post the video on YouTube so millions of strangers can watch some dumbass kill themself because they didn’t need to stop.

You still need to pay attention, it's a fundamental responsibility as a driver, regardless of what anyone else did. If your dash cam indicated you didn't even try to slow down or avoid the collision you'd still have some culpability regardless of whether they ran a red light.

Per the last clear chance doctrine, the driver is probably culpable in this instance (assuming the responding officer is familiar with it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflective gear is super important, but it gets dark at 5 PM now and some of us actually use bikes for transportation. "Stop doing your daily commute/errands" is not a reasonable ask any more than telling you not to drive after dark if you don't feel confident that you can see cyclists. We should wear brighter gear and more lights, and you should drive carefully and expect to share the road.

You can blame other people all you want (and we know cyclists love to blame everyone else for everything). But you'll be the person who's dead if a driver doesn't see you.

And you are the person with the $50 ticket and lifelong guilt.

Nope. No guilt. I have $50. You’ll be dead. Pretty damn sure I win in that scenario.

How do you know you wouldn't feel any guilt? Have you killed people before?

DP

If I struck someone on a bike as a result of their own negligence- like running a stop sign or red-light or riding the wrong way on the road - NO, I wouldn’t feel any guilt at all. They’re dead because of their own stupid actions, and they dragged me into their stupidity that resulted in their death. Not only would I not feel anything other than anger at them, but I’d also sue their estate for damages to my vehicle.

Scientific data tells us that, in most circumstances, if you did strike someone biking within the city limits and ended up killing them, you were probably traveling in excess of posted municipal speed limits and would therefore be culpable for their death. A wrongful death lawsuit could then be filed against you. Although this assumes that the police unit in charge of the investigation ever got around to releasing your information to the victim's family.

If I’m passing through an intersection on a green light at the posted speed limit of say, 30 mph, like on Nebraska Ave, and some idiot on a bike runs a red light and goes out in front of me, they’re probably going to get killed. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet - which a lot of riders seem not to do, especially on bike share bikes.

The thing is - I have a dash camera. And it records my speed all the time. And the video from the dash camera will clearly show that I’m not at fault.

And after the police watch it and don’t charge me because I’m not at fault, I’ll post the video on YouTube so millions of strangers can watch some dumbass kill themself because they didn’t need to stop.

You still need to pay attention, it's a fundamental responsibility as a driver, regardless of what anyone else did. If your dash cam indicated you didn't even try to slow down or avoid the collision you'd still have some culpability regardless of whether they ran a red light.

People from the burbs tend to be ignorant of the fact that the DC legislation that ditched the contributory negligence doctrine years ago also accords special protections to vulnerable road users.

"People from the burbs" in this case also includes MPD who are largely ignorant or don't care about enforcing laws that protect pedestrians and bicyclists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflective gear is super important, but it gets dark at 5 PM now and some of us actually use bikes for transportation. "Stop doing your daily commute/errands" is not a reasonable ask any more than telling you not to drive after dark if you don't feel confident that you can see cyclists. We should wear brighter gear and more lights, and you should drive carefully and expect to share the road.

You can blame other people all you want (and we know cyclists love to blame everyone else for everything). But you'll be the person who's dead if a driver doesn't see you.

And you are the person with the $50 ticket and lifelong guilt.

Nope. No guilt. I have $50. You’ll be dead. Pretty damn sure I win in that scenario.

How do you know you wouldn't feel any guilt? Have you killed people before?

DP

If I struck someone on a bike as a result of their own negligence- like running a stop sign or red-light or riding the wrong way on the road - NO, I wouldn’t feel any guilt at all. They’re dead because of their own stupid actions, and they dragged me into their stupidity that resulted in their death. Not only would I not feel anything other than anger at them, but I’d also sue their estate for damages to my vehicle.

Scientific data tells us that, in most circumstances, if you did strike someone biking within the city limits and ended up killing them, you were probably traveling in excess of posted municipal speed limits and would therefore be culpable for their death. A wrongful death lawsuit could then be filed against you. Although this assumes that the police unit in charge of the investigation ever got around to releasing your information to the victim's family.

If I’m passing through an intersection on a green light at the posted speed limit of say, 30 mph, like on Nebraska Ave, and some idiot on a bike runs a red light and goes out in front of me, they’re probably going to get killed. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet - which a lot of riders seem not to do, especially on bike share bikes.

The thing is - I have a dash camera. And it records my speed all the time. And the video from the dash camera will clearly show that I’m not at fault.

And after the police watch it and don’t charge me because I’m not at fault, I’ll post the video on YouTube so millions of strangers can watch some dumbass kill themself because they didn’t need to stop.

You still need to pay attention, it's a fundamental responsibility as a driver, regardless of what anyone else did. If your dash cam indicated you didn't even try to slow down or avoid the collision you'd still have some culpability regardless of whether they ran a red light.

This is not in fact how the law works. Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really hard for drivers to see you, even if you have a headlight on your bike and a little reflector on your helmet. That just isn't enough. You need something much brighter like a reflective vest. I hate driving this time of year when the sun goes down so early because bicyclists just seem to pop out of nowhere. It is an accident waiting to happen.

+1

It's really hard for drivers to see anything but another car their own size with their taillights on, when most of their attention is on their phone.

Sounds like biking on the road with cars is dangerous. I guess I won't do it then.

Doing anything on the road with cars is dangerous, including driving a car.

How about I be personally responsible for my safety and you do the same.

Wouldn't shooting you preemptively be ok under the scheme? It's just protecting myself. If you really care you'll wear body armor to be responsible for your own safety.

All people are saying is please wear a protective vest for your safety and everyone’s well being. How you go from refusing to wear a vest to arguing that you can shoot people preemptively I am not sure but it really shows how extreme your views are.

A bulletproof vest is really just for your safety. I'm not sure why you'd argue against it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reflective gear is super important, but it gets dark at 5 PM now and some of us actually use bikes for transportation. "Stop doing your daily commute/errands" is not a reasonable ask any more than telling you not to drive after dark if you don't feel confident that you can see cyclists. We should wear brighter gear and more lights, and you should drive carefully and expect to share the road.

You can blame other people all you want (and we know cyclists love to blame everyone else for everything). But you'll be the person who's dead if a driver doesn't see you.

And you are the person with the $50 ticket and lifelong guilt.

Nope. No guilt. I have $50. You’ll be dead. Pretty damn sure I win in that scenario.

How do you know you wouldn't feel any guilt? Have you killed people before?

DP

If I struck someone on a bike as a result of their own negligence- like running a stop sign or red-light or riding the wrong way on the road - NO, I wouldn’t feel any guilt at all. They’re dead because of their own stupid actions, and they dragged me into their stupidity that resulted in their death. Not only would I not feel anything other than anger at them, but I’d also sue their estate for damages to my vehicle.

Scientific data tells us that, in most circumstances, if you did strike someone biking within the city limits and ended up killing them, you were probably traveling in excess of posted municipal speed limits and would therefore be culpable for their death. A wrongful death lawsuit could then be filed against you. Although this assumes that the police unit in charge of the investigation ever got around to releasing your information to the victim's family.

If I’m passing through an intersection on a green light at the posted speed limit of say, 30 mph, like on Nebraska Ave, and some idiot on a bike runs a red light and goes out in front of me, they’re probably going to get killed. Especially if they’re not wearing a helmet - which a lot of riders seem not to do, especially on bike share bikes.

The thing is - I have a dash camera. And it records my speed all the time. And the video from the dash camera will clearly show that I’m not at fault.

And after the police watch it and don’t charge me because I’m not at fault, I’ll post the video on YouTube so millions of strangers can watch some dumbass kill themself because they didn’t need to stop.

You still need to pay attention, it's a fundamental responsibility as a driver, regardless of what anyone else did. If your dash cam indicated you didn't even try to slow down or avoid the collision you'd still have some culpability regardless of whether they ran a red light.

People from the burbs tend to be ignorant of the fact that the DC legislation that ditched the contributory negligence doctrine years ago also accords special protections to vulnerable road users.

"People from the burbs" in this case also includes MPD who are largely ignorant or don't care about enforcing laws that protect pedestrians and bicyclists.

Yes. Thank you. Keep digging and you’re going to crack this conspiracy for sure. The only question is how deep does it go?

[Anonymous]

Bike, but please do not wear all black with no reflective gear or good/ prominent lighting on bike.
Same goes for people who walk in all black with no reflective gear and they just pop out of nowhere.
And it doesn’t matter where the location is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bike, but please do not wear all black with no reflective gear or good/ prominent lighting on bike.
Same goes for people who walk in all black with no reflective gear and they just pop out of nowhere.
And it doesn’t matter where the location is.

People don't "pop out of nowhere", except in the perceptions of people who are driving too fast for the conditions. The faster you drive, the more your peripheral vision narrows. And you also need to drive more slowly at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike, but please do not wear all black with no reflective gear or good/ prominent lighting on bike.
Same goes for people who walk in all black with no reflective gear and they just pop out of nowhere.
And it doesn’t matter where the location is.

People don't "pop out of nowhere", except in the perceptions of people who are driving too fast for the conditions. The faster you drive, the more your peripheral vision narrows. And you also need to drive more slowly at night.

The same also applies to cyclists, who have longer breaking distance than cars going the same speed which means that they should be even more careful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike, but please do not wear all black with no reflective gear or good/ prominent lighting on bike.
Same goes for people who walk in all black with no reflective gear and they just pop out of nowhere.
And it doesn’t matter where the location is.

People don't "pop out of nowhere", except in the perceptions of people who are driving too fast for the conditions. The faster you drive, the more your peripheral vision narrows. And you also need to drive more slowly at night.

The same also applies to cyclists, who have longer breaking distance than cars going the same speed which means that they should be even more careful.

Absolutely. Everybody (bicyclists and drivers) should limit their speeds to 12 mph or less at night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike, but please do not wear all black with no reflective gear or good/ prominent lighting on bike.
Same goes for people who walk in all black with no reflective gear and they just pop out of nowhere.
And it doesn’t matter where the location is.

People don't "pop out of nowhere", except in the perceptions of people who are driving too fast for the conditions. The faster you drive, the more your peripheral vision narrows. And you also need to drive more slowly at night.

The same also applies to cyclists, who have longer breaking distance than cars going the same speed which means that they should be even more careful.

Absolutely. Everybody (bicyclists and drivers) should limit their speeds to 12 mph or less at night.

Except that cars have a shorter braking distance than bicycles. If bicycles cannot stop in time to avoid a collision then they were going too fast. Not the tree, parked car, pedestrian, or other road users.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike, but please do not wear all black with no reflective gear or good/ prominent lighting on bike.
Same goes for people who walk in all black with no reflective gear and they just pop out of nowhere.
And it doesn’t matter where the location is.

People don't "pop out of nowhere", except in the perceptions of people who are driving too fast for the conditions. The faster you drive, the more your peripheral vision narrows. And you also need to drive more slowly at night.

The same also applies to cyclists, who have longer breaking distance than cars going the same speed which means that they should be even more careful.

Absolutely. Everybody (bicyclists and drivers) should limit their speeds to 12 mph or less at night.

Except that cars have a shorter braking distance than bicycles. If bicycles cannot stop in time to avoid a collision then they were going too fast. Not the tree, parked car, pedestrian, or other road users.

Waiting for the data about trees, parked cars, and pedestrians injured or killed by people bicycling too fast for conditions in the dark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike, but please do not wear all black with no reflective gear or good/ prominent lighting on bike.
Same goes for people who walk in all black with no reflective gear and they just pop out of nowhere.
And it doesn’t matter where the location is.

People don't "pop out of nowhere", except in the perceptions of people who are driving too fast for the conditions. The faster you drive, the more your peripheral vision narrows. And you also need to drive more slowly at night.

The same also applies to cyclists, who have longer breaking distance than cars going the same speed which means that they should be even more careful.

I’d love to see the data that supports this. Bikes have a tiny braking distance. The problem is more that the human is liable to go over the handle bars on a sharp brake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bike, but please do not wear all black with no reflective gear or good/ prominent lighting on bike.
Same goes for people who walk in all black with no reflective gear and they just pop out of nowhere.
And it doesn’t matter where the location is.

People don't "pop out of nowhere", except in the perceptions of people who are driving too fast for the conditions. The faster you drive, the more your peripheral vision narrows. And you also need to drive more slowly at night.

The same also applies to cyclists, who have longer breaking distance than cars going the same speed which means that they should be even more careful.

Absolutely. Everybody (bicyclists and drivers) should limit their speeds to 12 mph or less at night.

Except that cars have a shorter braking distance than bicycles. If bicycles cannot stop in time to avoid a collision then they were going too fast. Not the tree, parked car, pedestrian, or other road users.

Waiting for the data about trees, parked cars, and pedestrians injured or killed by people bicycling too fast for conditions in the dark.

I am not sure what data you need for you to understand basic principles like if you crash into an inanimate object because you cannot stop you are going too fast or if you hit someone or something else because you cannot stop in time, you are also going too fast. But you’re probably the same person who refuses to wear a reflective vest to increase safety. So you seem a bit thick.