Riding a Bike at Night: Use Some Common Sense

I know I'm going to get some more hate mail. My previous post about bikes on escalators got me a heck of a lot of comments, so if you are interesting in debating this particular issue, please do leave a comment.

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Since the time change and the sun is setting around 5PM, my commute from SF State to my home in the Outer Richmond district is dark, and especially kinda creepy along the roads in Golden Gate Park due to the lack of lighting and raccoons jumping in front of your car. I'm not a fan of driving in the evening, but it's what you have to do if you want to get home (or start work extra early and leave earlier).

Almost on a daily basis during the evening commute, I notice bicyclists riding in Golden Gate Park without a headlight and/or a taillight. Even worse is finding a bicyclist with no lights, no reflectors, and no reflective clothing. With the lack of normal street lighting in Golden Gate Park, it's difficult to find a bike rider when they are not using the most basic equipment to make themselves obvious and stand out for their own safety.

Yes, there is a state law: Vehicle Code Section 21201 states the following requirements for riding at night:

1. A white lamp on the front end of the bike that illuminates the road ahead and can be seen by an approaching vehicle/person from 300 feet, OR a white lamp seen at the same distance but attached on the front of the bicycle operator (e.g. front of a helmet).
2. A red reflector on the rear that can be reflected from lawful vehicle headlights 500 feet away.
3. Yellow or white pedal reflectors seen 200 feet.
4. White or yellow reflectors on the both the front and rear tire spokes, or reflectors on both tires.

It isn't rocket science people, it's common sense.

Why we have laws when common sense should prevail is up for debate, but let's get to the facts, people who do bicycle at night should take additional precautions versus riding during the day. The law makes it clear, but people should be doing more in the name of being safe. Here's some additional suggestions:

• Put a rear tail light, especially one that rapidly flashes a LED lamp.
• Wear reflective clothing. You might look like the construction worker in the Village People, but at least people can see you better. If you don't want to wear "Caltrans Orange," why not wear a white jacket? Just please, don't wear dark clothing.
• Wear a helmet, day and night. If you get hit or fall over, would you like your skull to hit the pavement or have a cushion to lessen the blow? I saw a bicyclist cross over the cable car tracks and slipped and fell to the pavement. Not a pretty scene.
  

At minimum, having at least a front and rear tail lamp helps a lot in locating you when you operate a bicycle at night. I think a lot of drivers would agree, the more obvious you can be, the better it is for everyone. I fear hitting a bicyclist with my car, but if you stick out like a thorn on the streets, I can start planning earlier to steer clear and let you have the lane.

While I'm at it, pedestrians should at least wear some reflective clothing. Why people jog at night through Golden Gate Park is a mystery, but please just DON'T WEAR BLACK!

Bicyclists Suck in Golden Gate Park (Okay, Not Everyone Sucks)

On Tuesday during evening rush, I was going home from work in my car and it requires me to drive into Golden Gate Park to go from the Outer Sunset district to the Outer Richmond.

What irritated me during this commute is a huge wad of bicyclists who decided to blow right through two stop signs. No, it's not Critical Mass, that's not until this Friday in downtown. It was around 30 bicyclists that was like a huge swarm of pissed off bees down Martin Luther King drive, and I can see them in my rear mirror coming fast. These were bicyclists that looked like they were training to be in a bicyclist racing event because of their racing bikes and their tight fit clothing.

Here's where they were going:

View Larger Map

I was stopped at point "C" just behind a SUV waiting for its turn to make a right turn onto Chain of Lakes. I noticed the swarm come from behind me, blew through the stop sign at Middle Drive (point "B") and on approach to make a right turn onto northbound Chain of Lakes.

I noticed in my mirror that they almost caused an accident when a car with the right of way (no stop sign) had to slam their brakes, and the SUV in front of me at the intersection had to also slam their brakes because the bikes passes on the right of us between the curb and the car.

That was just creepy to see a wad of bikes just violate state traffic laws and nearly cause multiple accidents. State law clearly says that ALL bicyclists on the road must obey all traffic signs and signals; did they? HELL NO. I'm no vigilante to put a stick in their spokes, and I decided the only decent thing to do when there's safety concerns is to call the police. I don't know what happened after that, but I hope those bikers gets a ticket and enjoys their day in traffic court.

This has happened before...
About six months ago, I had the same incident happen at map point "B" where I was the car going west and had the right away, and about a dozen fast moving bicyclists decided to cut me off by blowing through the stop sign on Middle Drive.

ANGRY!
I know there's a lot of you that are angry at bicyclists, and much of the complaints happens in downtown. But let's remember that not all bicyclists breaks the law, just a handful who thinks they are superman or totally invincible to cops writing tickets. All it takes is one crash to end someone's life and haunt the car driver forever.

But nobody really targets the bad cyclists in Golden Gate Park. It is because it's easier to get away with it due to the winding roads and you don't exactly know what street they went on so you can call the cops and report it? Would you know where South Fork Drive is? Likely not for many drivers.

For the rest of you, have you experienced a bad incident with a bicyclist breaking the law? Leave a comment.

It is Inexcusable to Take a Bike on an Escalator

I don't care about how much hate mail I'm going to get for this one today, I'm going to make it very clear...

There is no excuse or "good reason" why you should take a bicycle on any escalator, including ones at BART stations. While I'm at it, I'm going to also include baby strollers too.

You can blab all you want saying that BART is not bike friendly or the BART police and station agents are acting like assholes. Every time I ride a BART escalator and notice a bicyclist holding their bike in front of me, I either have to wait until that moron clears or I keep my distance in case the jackass screws up and it flies down the stairwell. It's just like not wearing a bike helmet and using front and rear lights, you are setting yourself up for a vacation at the morgue or the trauma center at SF General.

It's already common sense wheelchair users should never use an escalator for any particular reason. At BART stations, there's always an elevator or some ADA accessible way to get from the parking garage, the entry gates, and train platform.

So if common sense logic works correctly, if you have any type of big wheels, you should not be using the escalators in the first place. Would you be on roller skates or a Segway and ride an escalator?

Sure, it makes it look easy to get up and down that big set of stairs by simply holding your bike on a moving escalator, but let's see what bad scenarios might happen:

1. As a courtesy, transit station escalators have a basic rule, standees on the right side, and those wanting to pass stay on the left. Bicycles block the entire width of the escalator and makes passing impossible or dangerous.
2. If the bicycle gets wedged in between the width of the escalator (front tire gets wedged on one side while the back tire is on the other), that blocks the entire path of the moving escalator and there could be a large collision of passengers until, hopefully, a passenger on the bottom of the escalator can hit the emergency stop button in time.
3. Normally, elderly people would ride the escalator if they can safely enter and exit, but using it means they don't have to exert as much energy than using the stairs. If the elderly person is standing behind the bike passenger, if the bike rider loses control of the bicycle and falls down the escalator stairs, well, the elderly person is likely going to be seriously hurt. But it doesn't have to be an elderly person, it could be any person of any age.
   

In my opinion, there is no "safe" reason why a bike or any large object should be riding an escalator. Those who do it set themselves up for a civil lawsuit and may be subject to a citation; or if someone gets killed or injured, possible criminal charges (e.g. negligence). People must be responsible for the safe operation of their bicycles, baby strollers, wheelchairs, everything else in between. If I drove a car irresponsibly and hit a person, I'd be blogging in prison.

What are the best ways to get from one level to the other with a bike or other wheeled object? Use an elevator or stairs.

Update 12/28: Some typos pointed out by others; they have been corrected. Kudos to them.

So BART Starts a Hall of Shame Photo Gallery

Word from SFist and the SF Weekly is that our beloved BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) agency has started a Facebook page and features a passenger "hall of shame" gallery.

Unfortunately, BART doesn't like bad publicity. In an attempt to post some of my "hall of shame" photos on the Facebook page, it is not possible for people who register as a "fan" to upload photos, thereby it is up to BART's discretion of what goes up and not.

I have a couple of great BART hall of shame photos, showing a Daly City Station Agent hogging TWO parking spaces on MULTIPLE occasions. See the two photos here. But I guess that since BART controls what photos goes up on their own "hall of shame," I guess BART and their little happy union won't like it if my agent "abuse of powers - hall of shame" photos gets posted there.

Unfortunately, BART is not the first to start their own "hall of shame" gallery regarding their transit agency, "BARTrage" started theirs much longer ago then the transit agency.

I even started my own hall of shame dedicated to "aggressive drivers," "idiot parking," and "parking hogs" where I snapped photos from my journeys around San Francisco (including this one I love a lot). I even started my own worldwide group called "Parking Space Hogs" with over 190 pictures from around the world.

At this point, I really have to question BART's own intention of making their own sanctioned "hall of shame gallery." Sure, in one way, it's legal ("Johns" who get arrested for soliciting for prostitution gets plastered on a billboard), but from a moral standpoint and as a quasi-government agency, I think it's also inappropriate. Leave it up to the amateurs like BARTrage, SFist, SF Weekly, and myself to nail those morons.