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May 16, 2008
Bike to Work Week is over! 'Get the F@%& off the road!'
Photo by Stephen Box/LAist
The Bike to Work Week celebration came to an abrupt end as Enci rode north on Western, turned left onto Hollywood Boulevard and then had a bus accelerate from behind, crossing her line and pulling to the right, forcing her to the curb as he pulled in to his last scheduled stop of the day.
He then opened the door and screamed "Get the F@%& off the road!" and then called her an idiot as his passengers looked at her and tried to exit as there was a cyclist between the bus and the curb.
The LAPD upheld their "Serve & Protect" mandate by promptly arriving and passing the incident off to the Sheriff's Department.
The LA County Sheriff's Department promptly showed up, took the baton from the LAPD and then declared that this was best handled by the Metro.
The Metro's Supervisor let the Bus Operator go, did not interview the cyclist, and did not have business cards or ID with him.
"Marvin" of the Metro was kind enough to leave Enci with a "Claim Instruction Card" that was completely non-responsive to Enci's request for a report.
Enci's husband, demonstrating a lack of conviction of the efficacy of relying on the LAPD, the LASD and the Metro for accountability, crossed the street and went to City Council Eric Garcetti's office where he was able to get Deputy district Director Mitch O'Farrell to come down and speak objectively to all involved.
Mitch made it to the scene in time to watch the LAPD officers (2 cars) drive away. Mitch spoke to the Sheriff's Deputy and the Metro Supervisor and tried his best to impress on both that it was important that peds and cyclists were safe on the streets and that there was accountability and that Enci has the opportunity to file a report and follow up on the evidence.
The Metro Supervisor spoke to Mitch, interrupting just long enough to explain to Enci that he wasn't talking to her.
Through it all, Enci's husband was on hold with Metro's Customer Relations! When the dust had settled and everyone was gone, they answered the phone. Phew!
At the end of the day, the Operator went home, the LAPD, the LASD and the Metro Supervisor all refused to take a report and the Customer Relations department closed at 4:15 pm.
Have a great weekend and remember..."Get the F@%& off the road!"
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I say we get some jedi together and shove a lightsaber up the drivers ass sideways twice!
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Man. A call to MTA and a punch in the face should be in order there!
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Y'all need better cameras! Lets write a grant.
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Time for Crimanimal Mass to do a bike ride on the El Monte or Harbor Freeway busways in protest.
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That's horrible. When is Metro going to learn that bikes and public transit should be on the same side.
Even on bike to work day, I felt the vibe of get the F@%& off the road. I made my usual left turn into my company lot with proper hand signaling of course, and a woman in a sports car flipped me off and slammed the gas as she passed on my right. At least it's better then the time a guy sped up to a point just right behind me and quickly swerved passing on my left even though I was signaling left, and he crossed into the lane of opposing traffic to do so.
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Wow. There's so much shameful about this story, I don't know where to begin. But let's try:
The bus driver should be ashamed.
The LAPD should be ashamed.
The LASD should be ashamed.
The Metro supervisor should be ashamed.
The Metro Operator should be ashamed.
Did I miss anyone?
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I must admit, I also felt a little weird on Bike to Work day. First of all the bus driver didn't remind me that it was a special day, and since I forgot as well, I paid me fee like a sucka. It was nice to get freebies at Bruin Plaza though, that whole setup was nice. Made me feel welcome.
But then again, I got that uneasy feeling after work again, almost expecting people to be assholes to me. Low and behold, while on Santa Monica, I had one dude rev his "fast car" engine at me. Next was a "honk then speed past" pulled by a grimey looking Eastern European cab driver. Every time that happens it makes me ashamed to be from the balkany countries... I did rhetorically ask him "Now was that really worth it?" as I passed him at the next red light.
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Absolute GARBAGE.
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I didn't ride my on Bike to Work day, but I did witness on the 750 Metro a bus driver tell a bicyclist he needed to pay up. It wasn't until a bunch of people on the bus said it's bike to work day did he let up.
Here's a post last year about the Metro Security trying to ticket me on Bike to Work day.
http://laist.com/2007/05/21/who_reads_memos.php
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Riding a bicycle in los angeles is very dangerous. If you compare our infrastructure to that of european countries and others, it's really night and day. When a bike lane consists of one foot between a parked car on the right and oncoming traffic on the left I am surprised that there aren't more serious accidents. The attitude of drivers makes it that much worse.
Let's get real, dedicated bike lanes and traffic signals so that we can save gas and limit the altercations between drivers and riders.
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Just yesterday I got this photo of Enci hoisting her bike up triumphantly at City Hall. What a shame a day later she must be made to suffer such foolish mortals.
As to Lokivona above, just about anything one does in L.A. is dangerous, please don't perpetuate cycling in L.A as being so bad. Perhaps I'll get killed tomorrow but so far I've pedaled almost 2,500 miles this year in Los Angeles and it ain't as scary as you're making it out to be.
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That's all kinds of fucked up. It feels like every step forward we take, we get pushed two steps back.
I was hassled on my way home from the Bike to Work even, where I met Enci and Steve.
And just tonight I witnessed another bicyclist nearly get hit by a car...
I wish there was something we could do to include at least 3 questions in the DMV's drivers written exam. I know there are a could of paragraphs in the DMV driver's manual but motorists still believe they own the road...
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I dont know what it is, when folks get behind the wheel something changes. All sense and sensibility (for some) are gone. How more people are not hurt by stupidity like this is amazing. LA bicyclists... youve been warned.
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I've started cycling on Hollywood Blvd on my morning commute, because I've found that there are less red lights and it saves time. While not as bad as the Sunset Blvd buses, Hollywood is pretty goddamn gnarly.
When is Metro going to address cyclist rights to its own drivers??????
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That blows, sorry to hear about the hassle. I sympathise - I run into no end of assholes on the Brentwood side of Sunset. However this issue is not restricted to LA.
I used to commute in London by bike and found that many of the bus drivers were just as bad when it came to giving way to cyclists. The only thing that actually changed was the number of people commuting by bike. It got to the point where there would be a pack of 10 of us most mornings making us more visible. Perhaps the more folk we persuade to get on the road, the more the city,the police and every asshole driver out there will have to yield to the, you know, California rules of the road.
Just get back on that bike next week! Its bike to work day everyday!
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Bloody hell, how does this stuff happen on BIKE TO WORK WEEK!?
I biked to work this past thursday and even though our building promoted bike to work week and had raffles and signs put up, I didn't see a noticeable increase of cyclists... sad.
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Will Campbell,
The problem is that the bicycle will always lose out to a car/bus and the bicyclist will end up severely injured or dead. Read the post below yours where it was witnessed that someone was nearly injured. It happens all the time.
My wife (who is from Germany) tried riding a bike to work for months. There were so many times where she nearly got into an accident with a car or bus driver that wasn't paying attention. There were other times where drivers were openly hostile for no reason.
She rode her bike all of her life in Germany -- it's a way of life there. The difference is that they have laws and infrastructure to protect the rider. I truly believe that safety is the one thing that is missing here and when that is resolved more people will ditch their cars.
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lokivona,
While I applaud your enthusiastic support for improving bikeways amenities in LA as a way to support safe and enjoyable cycling for all, I'm gonna go with Will on this one.
It's crazy out there for everybody, regardless of your chosen mode of transportation. 43K people will die this year from motor vehicle collisions. Most of them motorists and automobile passengers, some mass transit passengers, some pedestrians and yes, some cyclists.
All the infrastructure in the world is no replacement for us learning to simply respect each other and treat each other as equals in our journeys.
Through it all, the simplest thing we can do to make our communities safer for cyclists is to get out there and ride. Encourage each other and ride!
The more cyclists who ride, the safer it gets. The more cyclists who ride, the more enjoyable it gets. The more cyclists who ride, the more attractive it gets.
So while you're advocating for engineering improvements to our streets, don't forget to include Encouragement, Enforcement, Education and Evaluation in our fight for Equality on the road.
"See you on the Streets!"
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Haha. whiny bikers strike again.
Bicycles will get more respect on these streets when they
1) start obeying the same laws cars do, such as stopping for red lights even if it means giving up your precious momentum
2) stop blocking the flow of 40 mph traffic because you think you deserve to pedal along at 15 mph in a lane. You have the right to become a grease spot.
3)get the fuck off of major thoroughfares where you're playing tag with 2 ton vehicles. You're gonna lose. Every damn time. Pick a safer route.
I don't have anything against bicycles, just the idiots who think they have right of way in inappropriate places and whine when they get their dick knocked in the dirt. Get over yourselves.
Build bike trails. Beg people block at a time to give up their parking so you can have a lane to yourselves.
Lobby to bring back the trolleys. Busses are energy hogs and largely driven by union protected idiots who can barely pass civil service tests.
Give up the notion your gonna take over the streets in this town. Aint gonna happen.
But whatever you do, quit whining when something like this happens.
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I see the heat is getting to some. Drink lots of water and stay in the shader Mr Kong.
Folks, no keying his Hummer please.
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bbkong,
yeah, what we need is more cars on the road. I'm recovering from a bike accident (car door into my bike, emergency room, etc.), so I was taking the bus home on Friday. It was two hours from Santa Monica to Los Feliz. On my bike it's less than an hour. All your cars have clogged up this city into a log jam. It's only gonna get worse. i'm not going to address the rest of your limp kong comments.
I can understand frustration with the fixie dudes (oops, stereotype) blowing major intersection red lights. I feel like it's important us cyclists to try to ride predictably to drivers. They need to get used to sharing the road. I don't want to die on the road, but I ride cause I hate my car, fossil fuel, global warming, unnecessarily unhealthy citizenry, and traffic. And I want drivers to see us more often.
Peace out there.
Bike Lanes!!
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I don't care about bike lanes or bike paths, especially if they look like the Sunset Blvd lanes.
I want respect on the road and equal access! No bike lane or bike path has given me that.
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Sorry Enci. What you ask for, respect, is a long lost attribute of our culture. I remember being applauded by motorists waiting in gas lines during the '79 gas crisis as I cycled to work. Nowadays, if we had gas lines, they'd probably chuck rocks at you.
It is rare to see respect from motorist to motorist these days, so I count on zero respect while cycling my thousands of miles each year and am grateful when I'm actually shown a little. I'm even appalled some times by the lack of respect from cyclist to cyclist.
In my humble opinion, lack of respect in all facets of our lives is what is going to eventually bring this great country to collapse. So what you ask for cannot be delivered or granted on a routine basis. The lack of action by LAPD, LASD, and Metro in your situation just reinforces the rampant lack of respect in our community.
L.A. is a city ruled by motorized vehicles and I don't see that ever changing unless we run out of gasoline. You would think the dramatic increase in the price of gas would affect the traffic levels, but I haven't seen it.
Meanwhile, we continue the battle for respect, hoping to get some justice when due. So, if you'll excuse me now, I have some e-mails to send to LAPD, LASD, and Metro...
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I bicycle in London everyday. We have quite a number of dedicated bike lanes, but they are often blocked by cars that are allowed to park in them. We do have some segregated lanes that are blocked from the rest of the road by cement dividers.
We also share the bus lanes. I never worry about bus drivers mowing me down -- I know they're looking out for cyclists. I do worry about taxi drivers when they are allowed in the bus lane because they aren't looking out for cyclists and see them as a nusance.
There are two kinds of cyclists in London: people who wear neon Lycra and race everywhere and people who just ride their bikes to get around. Cycling has come a really long way in this city even in the last five years, but there are still problems with cyclists who don't obey lights and pose threats to pedestrians, motorists, and other cyclists alike. And there is a problem of motorists (especially those cabbies) who either don't know to look or don't think they should have to share the road. But it is possible to ride in London in relative safety. We may not look like Copenhagen yet, but if we can come this far, it give me hope for other major cities.
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BBKong, what bridge did you pop out from under? I haven't seen a troll on LAist in a while.
Let's address your retarded points:
1) Doesn't matter if a select few choose to run red lights. It's a small minority that you're choosing to judge against the whole. Even further, it's a complete red herring; Enci's story has absolutely nothing to do with red lights AND, even if she and every cyclist on the face of the planet ran every red light to ever exists, that still does not give a bus driver or a car the right to infringe on our rights and our safety. So why don't you grow up just a tad bit more and apply a more mature outlook on what the law actually is?
2) Besides the fact that California Vehicle Code 21202 supports my right to use the full lane, please tell me where I'm supposed to ride. The sidewalk? Float over buildings? Simply put, there's nowhere else to ride. God forbid you actually have to slow down. FOrgive me! You clearly deserve more road space than I do.
3) Again, where am I supposed to ride? I work on Sunset Blvd and live on Wilshire. Unless you'd like to give me a hovercraft, I have to commute on major thoroughfares. Furthermore, you're shifting the blame, responsibility, and burden of commuting to the cyclist. In no way do you subscribe any of these to cars. If a car is playing tag with us, it's our fault. How does that make any sense?
You're a moron, plain and simple. It's clear you DO have a problem with cyclists, from your bias to your ignorance. There's NO inappropriate place for a bicycle. I have the right to ride anywhere I want whenever I want. Get over it.
The more bike trails we build, the less respect we'll get because assholes like you will insist we stay off of streets and get back on bike trails. So I'm all for more promotion of cyclists' rights to be on the streets -- whenever we want.
So stop whining when our rights are violating. You sound like a retard.
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cycleden, thank you for sending emails to the LAPD, LASD and the Metro!
Here are a few metro email addresses that might be of good use:
MaloneyM@metro.net, STARKCO@metro.net, LittmanM@metro.net, Litvakj@metro.net, UbaldoJ@metro.net, GoldsmithL@metro.net, HARVEYG@metro.net, RSC_CustomerRelations@metro.net,
Please cc us and Garcetti's Deputy District Director Mitch O'Farrell so we can keep track and take complaints to the Metro Board and to the city council.
Mitch.Ofarrell@lacity.org, enci@illuminatela.com, stephen@illuminatela.com
You might also want to cc your council member. To find who your council member, go to www.lacity.org/council.htm
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Thanks for the addresses Enci. I was running into difficulty finding the ones I wanted. I can get to work now...
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Haha!
I'm not a troll, but I do have a talent for creating rabid reactions.
Sorry, you can't key my Hummer, I ride a Harley. Very much like riding a bicycle except I don't have a weak ass motor and I can get the hell out of the way a lot quicker than any bicycle AND keep up with traffic. And yes, it gets better mileage than a Prius, so bite me on that count too.
Your complaints are based on a false presumption; that drivers in this town have knowledge of the law, licenses and insurance. Guess what? Maybe a third do. The rest will knock you off the road and run if they don't want to get involved with law enforcement and most definitely do not. To think otherwise is playing with your own life.
It's still a damned dangerous town to be playing in traffic unless you're determined to thin out the gene pool by one. All the indignation in the world isn't going to change that, nor will investing useless hate for petroleum.
Reliable, thorough public transportation will do more to get people out of cars than going out and being a traffic hazard. (Manhattan, anyone?)
Try working on that instead.
Yeah, that's a lot harder than pedaling around and playing indignant and butt hurt when something bad happens, hmm? Whatever. I love watching people trying to piss up a rope.
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...and to be very clear for the window lickers, I'm not defending cars or the drivers in this town, simply stating an ugly obvious fact.
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Are you seriously that dense? You just defended your entire post about how I should get off the road, avoid major roads, and stick to bike lanes because, and I quote: "that drivers in this town have knowledge of the law, licenses and insurance. Guess what? Maybe a third do."
You're most certainly defending cars and drivers in this town. You're just too stupid to see it.
My post wasn't ignorant of the law at all. My post wasn't ignorant to the fact that the majority of people are ignorant to the law. These things don't turn me into a paranoid waste who then lets fear rule my life.
The fact is that riding in LA isn't "playing with traffic." I am commuting. I am not a slow rider. I'm not playing chicken with cars.
And, for the record, I've gotten more people to give up driving (even just a little bit) from riding a bike in the past year than I ever did riding public transportation for 7 years.
It is my right to ride on the street and I'll be damned if someone as pessimistic and rude as you would ever stop me from it.
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Hahahaha!
Yes, it's your right.
It's this person's right too:
http://laist.com/2008/05/20/alc_cyclist_tak.php
Welcome to Greasespotville, USA.
Realism is too often mistaken for pessimism IMHO.
And what's with the rude comment? Just because I disagree? Fine.
I'll see you at the next Mensa meeting. If you get there alive, Einstein.
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Cyclists have the right to travel safely and free of fear.
Cyclists have the right to the full support of our law enforcement.
Our streets are crowded and they there are risks for everybody, including pedestrians, cyclists, mass transit passengers, and yes, even motorcyclists.
In fact, motorcycling is more than thirty times more likely to result in a death than riding a bicycle.
Based on deaths per million hours of activity*:
Motorcycling (road) 8.80
Driving passenger cars 0.47
Bicycling 0.26
We're all in this together and, based on statistics, motorcyclists need our help more than anyone else on the road.
bbkong, when you're done riding your High Horse, let's work together to make our streets safer for everybody.
"Comparative Risks of Different Activities"
Failure Analysis Associates, Incorporated
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SoapBoxLA,
I couldn't possibly agree with you more on any of your points.
Further, I actually admire panasonicyouth's young fervor and idealism, but at my age I've learned to avoid battles that cannot possibly be won.
Yes, we live in a crowded city and real estate is precious on our streets, but the solution is not more bicycles.
[b]The solution is more and better public transportation.[/b]
Can I put that in bold so I don't have to repeat myself again?
That's a battle that can be won and likely won't require so many visits to the ER.
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Choices, lots of choices. That's the solution. As for me, I'm gonna ride!
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bbkong,
"but at my age I've learned to avoid battles that cannot possibly be won."
None of the above issues are battles that cannot be won and therefore are not covered in this philiosophy of yours.
So just keep riding your hog and we'll keep riding our bikes, and I won't insensitively refer to you as a "greasespot" if you are ever unfortunate enough to eat shit out on the roads someday.
The roads will change in this city, and everywhere else eventually. They will become safer for pedestrians and cyclists. It's only a matter of time. It is inevitable. We will keep fighting for our rights as they exist currently, and expand them beyond the status quo.
Cyclist commuters are just early adopters, so we have to bear the brunt of injury, ridicule and occasionally death.
But we won't give up. And yes we may occasionally gripe about it too. If you think it's funny or lame, then just keep on keepin' on biker dude, and move on down the road.