Hey, it's two bicyclists! Let's see if they observe the traffic laws at this red light. Will they stay put? Well, they're already in the intersection when they are supposed to be behind the first white line of the pedestrian crossing. They seem a bit antsy...Will they at least wait for the light to turn green?
Click the here to find out.
41 comments:
NYC hands down worst drivers in the country. Do everything to stay away from their stupidity and strange lack of manners\homicidal tendencies to get as close as possible to a bike rider almost touching the curb. They also see pedestrians as some video game too.
Its nice once in a blue moon when drivers might swerve out of the way and maybe beep a bit if your giving them room too.
How about this oldie...
Bad Drivers Everywhere, NYDOT, NYPD Nowhere Sept 18 2000
During a field visit to the corner of Manhattan's 7th Avenue and 36th Street from 2:35 to 3:05pm last Friday, a Tri-State Transportation Campaign observer counted 19 cars and trucks running red lights. The high number ¾ more than one every two minutes - suggests that flagrant disregard for elementary traffic rules is epidemic among motorists in NYC, and that such behavior is winked at by city transportation and police officials. The light runners were well represented among both 7th Ave. downtown and 36th St. travelers east-bound.
The count was also conservative in that it did not include vehicles that gunned into the intersection during the last millisecond of the yellow phase.
"NYC hands down worst drivers in the country. Do everything to stay away from their stupidity and strange lack of manners\homicidal tendencies to get as close as possible to a bike rider almost touching the curb. They also see pedestrians as some video game too."
Wait minnit Didn't that video show two BICYCLISTS running a red light? What does the quote above have to do with that? Pointing the finger at motorist's Huh? How many drivers get squished between two trucks they were trying to squeeze between? The only people I See egregiously violating traffic laws on a regular basis are for the most part bicyclists.
Did you know that drivers (not bicyclists) run 1.3 million red lights in NYC everyday? Just putting that out there for some perspective.
Ok, carry on with your silly crusade.
Well since there are no laws against them running red lights, who's really going to care. If bikers want to be treated with respect then the law should also apply to them. I think if they break the law running a red light and an accident happens they should then be responsible for their own actions. Or is it they thought they were in long island where you can turn right on red?
Do you obey every red light when you are a pedestrian crossing the street? It is not an enforced law for a reason.
Alright, so let's say a bicycle really BLOWS a light (not like in that vid) and T-bones a truck. Does anyone even notice besides the dumb bicyclist who forgot to look before pedaling?
BTW, it occurs to me that in most parts of the country even cars are allowed to turn right on red after a stop...
"Do you obey every red light when you are a pedestrian crossing the street? It is not an enforced law for a reason."
There are stop signs and lights for a reason, public safety. Equating a bicycle with a pedestrian is a bit off base. One is a vehicle the other is not.
If bicycling advocate want to society to revert back to pre automobile days , maybe we should. The good old days when there instances of cowboys shooting bicyclists and sheriffs arresting them for disturbing the peace.
Where was that shot? In many places it is legal to make a right turn on red, after stopping.
@ Ridgewoodian: I believe it is only legal if it is specifically posted at the light that you can turn right there. I could be wrong, but I know this is the case at 48th St and 56th Rd in west Maspeth.
In nyc there are only a few where you can turn right after you stop at a red light. this is not long island!!!! and if bikers want the respect they also should follow the rules.
You really have nothing better to do than follow around cyclists with a camera and upload it to youtube because they ran a light after stopping and looking to make sure no cars were coming?
This site has some good info and links posted most of the time, but then silly bullshit like this makes me not want to read it anymore.
I fail to see how I or any sane person should give this more than passing consideration.
I can't beleive you guys are taking this so seriously!
You sound like a bunch of hall monitors in 4th grade!
GO TELL TEACHER THE BIKE RAN THE LIGHT.
Why not get some Queens Crap Hall Monitor sashes and try to put a stop to these heinous quality of life crimes. Only with your help with this evil be stamped out.
Crappy you are great.
These bike nuts have placed their interest in bike lanes over the will of the people on term limits and are a solid Blumturd block.
They believe their bike racks are more important than schools, hospitals, anything out there.
You know why?
You are Archies and Ediths and the Blumturd, Tower People's mayor, is taking over your community's resources for them leaving your side of the tracks to rot!
What a disappointment!
Revitalize don't displace!
If they had walked their bikes to the sidewalk curb and then took off down the road, it would have been fine. Aside from directly causing unsafe traffic conditions, nothing controls how bikers launch from the sidewalk. This is not the issue that will finally bring out the mob with the pitchforks and start the revolution.
But then, for some of you this isn't about what makes sense and what doesn't. If this was really about dangerous biking behavior, you might want to think about all the other problems that exist that are MORE dangerous or MORE important. The lack of affordable decent housing, the thousands of car accidents that had nothing to do with bikes and the poor public transportation options keeping prices too high hit me where it hurts more than a stupid vendetta against bikers and the assumptions some people want make about the people who frequently bike. (Disclosure: I am not someone who bikes. Yes, I was born and raised in Queens. Yes, I'm raising a family of my own. Yes, I pay taxes. No, I don't like Bloomberg but no, I don't pray for his demise.)
An on/off switch on boundless rage is not going to get you anything you want but a little bit of relative context will go a long way.
Oh well. On to disease-ridden illegals bringing plague to the streets of Maspeth and the good Queens citizens dying by the thousands as a result, by all means.
Was this even shot in NEW YORK CITY? I think we're all assuming it was but I don't see anything that identifies the locale.
And as someone has mentioned - who the hell drives around taping bikers like that? That's just creepy.
good posting Whoohoo!
their refusal to respond adds credence to your words
keep it up!
You are Archies and Ediths and the Blumturd, Tower People's mayor, is taking over your community's resources for them leaving your side of the tracks to rot!
SAME THING IS HAPPENING ALL OVER BROOKLYN FROM FT GREEN TO WILLIAMSBURG.
WESTERN QUEENS YOU ARE NEXT! TAKE HEED! LIC IS JUST THE START!
Its official 1 in every 6 tax dollars is blown on this social spending bullshit.
That's the highest percentage since the government began compiling records in 1929.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-03-benefits_N.htm
The tower people want a lion share of federal money as well as pay themselves to spend it.
Pedestrians are far worse offenders than bicyclists. How many pedestrians remain on the curb until the light changes. Any? Do you?
Transportation is a nightmare in NYC. The drivers stink. Bicyclists write their own rules of the road. Pedestrians follow no rules.
What really bother me is that so many people, yourself included, single out bicyclists as the worst problem on the road. That bothers me because it's wrong.
You don't ride a bicycle, so blame the bicyclists. You're not in that group. Are you a "blameless" pedestrian, a "righteous" motorist? I suspect so. It's only bicyclist that are the problem. That's a fool's view.
Bicyclists mut obey the nys vtl and nyc traffic regulations. You are subject to a traffic summons................btw if you do not have a valid govt issued photo id,you go through the system.
What the hell is that grand generalization? Bike racks are closing hospitals? OK! go ask some bike commuters how they feel or vote concerning corrupt bloomberg. Archie's...hmm are those the guys in many Queens bars and restauraunts using the term fag and the N word often in their conversations?
Which states are closing hospitals besides NYC also? Do they have bike commuters taking over the world. What states have debts?
Gotta see a hall pass buddy.
These bike nuts have placed their interest in bike lanes over the will of the people on term limits and are a solid Blumturd block.
They believe their bike racks are more important than schools, hospitals, anything out there.
You know why?
You are Archies and Ediths and the Blumturd
Actually, I was not "following them around with a camera." I was doing so drive by picture taking of crap and they happened to be in front of us as my friend stopped at a light. For shits and giggles, I took a video. And I predicted exactly what would happen and what the bike enthusiasts' response would be. I wouldn't be surprised if Wiley Norvell stated that because the area is "bereft of bike lanes" that they had no choice.
Bikers breaking the law undermines their position, albeit ever-so-slightly in this case, where no danger was posed. The video does, however, make this wild-eyed anti-biking zealotry look absurd.
Yesterday two bicycles (one in Manhattan, one in Queens) raced down the sidewalk, nearly striking me. One rider was wearing a fratboyish guy in his 20s iPod and the other was a late teenager.
But I also saw insane car weaving, red-light running, speeding through a school zones, turning at high speeds without signaling...all of which occurred well within the margin of driver error.
Crappy, find better villains or a better hobby.
BTW, the video was shot in Ridgewood! Stanhope and Woodward to be exact. No right turn on red sign there, folks.
This has to be the most absurd anti-bike post I have ever seen. To provide context, I am in my late 50's and have lived in Brooklyn (southern, not brownstone) my whole life. I have and use my car and I also like to ride my bike, but no one would call me a radical biker.
What the two bikers did in that video is perfectly normal and safe and how people in the southern part of Brooklyn have biked my entire life. You come to a red light, you stop/pause and make sure everything is safe and than you proceed. Period, its safe and rational.
I understand that because some hipsters like to ride bikes, some people now have to condemn bikes and everyone else who rides bikes (and yes there are some crazy bike messengers and delivery people who ride on the sidewalk). I also understand that some of the bike lane projects don't make sense and should have been implemented with more community involvement. But overall bike lanes are a good idea that along with better mass transit will hopefully long-term less dependent on cars and benefit the entire City.
But please people on bikes are not by definition some form of evil and nor are they a surrogate for the problems you see with the City.
Bikes may be vehicles, but they are not cars and as any kid who grew-up in Brooklyn (and I would say any outer borough) knows, lights and stop signs are designed for motorized large vehicles, not for bikes or for pedestrians who will also rationally ignore them. Bikes should always yield to pedestrians and should ride with respect (Something the bikers in the video clearly did).
Bill
TA will be the first to tell you that bikes are vehicles and therefore are expected to follow all the rules of the road as vehicles. If the bikers don't like it, they should lobby to change the rules. Until then, they are required by law to follow them.
my my my Crappy seems to have touched a raw nerve here!
Well, sine these bike people still dont' (or should I say want) to get it, lets repeat this until tears come down their face - to take my taxes and instead of giving my kids a school desk, or keeping my firehouse open 24 hours, or giving me an ER that is still in my county.
That Bloomberg gives these snot nosed tower people bike lanes is bullshit and criminal.
If you got the money, how about an extra sanitation pickup for my community, or do 'those people' -- meaning me and my neighbors -- just because we come from another country -- don't know better or or are happy with getting poor services.
Bloomberg has done nothing for the regular people of this city. He wants us in the background, or pushed out.
These bike kids are the tip of the iceberg that will remake out community for his ends, not ours.
I want to see just one protest by these bikers exposing Bloomberg's war on our people.
Take your pick guys.
And if you cannot come up with an idea, just get off your bike, and out of your Tower, and ask the real people of Queens for some suggestions.
Hearing the pro-bikers pooh pooh their casual behavior reminds me of a developer self certifying their project, or a Parkside spin on the latest Queens politican hauled in for some no no.
Aw shucks, guys, its just a little million, plenty more where that came from, or its a just a tiny piece of glass in her face, etc etc.
And if you cannot come up with an idea, just get off your bike, and out of your Tower,
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Why should they? They have your waterfront, they have your taxes, they have the mayor's attention.
Who cares if your niegbhorood is rotting around you and community killing projects are destroying your life?
All the need to do dear Archie and Edith, is IGNORE you.
Come on Crapper are you now you of those people just posting things to get people to respond and complain. We already have the daily news and post to give us irreverent and wrong news to distract from the real problems. This is even worse than the story with the guy picking up his daughter from school in a dep car. Yeah this is why our city is going down the drain working people picking up their kids from school and bikers riding on the streets.
I really enjoy this site but please stop this useless waste of time. The guy who said you sound like the 4th grade hall monitor hit the nail on the head. Lets point the finger where it belongs on our useless politicians and off of each other.
please!
Lets point the finger where it belongs on our useless politicians and off of each other.
SORRY, BUT SOME OF US HAVE DEEP ROOTS IN OUR COMMUNITIES AND HAVE DEDICATED OUR LIVES TO BUYING PROPERTY, LIVING HERE, AND RAISING OUR FAMILIES HERE.
THE BEST WAY TO GO AFTER A POL IS CUT OUT HIS SUPPORT.
YOU SMARMY KIDS RIDE YOUR BIKES TOTALLY OBLIVIOUS TO THE GLARES AROUND YOU.
YOU CANNOT DO THAT ANY LONGER BECAUSE WE ARE NOW IN YOUR FACE.
THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT
THE CHOICE IS YOURS, THE MAYOR OR THE COMMUNITY.
TA will be the first to tell you that bikes are vehicles and therefore are expected to follow all the rules of the road as vehicles.
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Why is TA just involved in bikes? What are they doing to improve bus or subway service?
Why don't they say something about another million people coming here and the city's inability to handle its current population?
Why don't they say something about another million people coming here and the city's inability to handle its current population?
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Because if they don't do the mayor's bidding, the mayor would cut off their funding.
Whether the maniac is a suicidal bicyclist, a homicidal motorist or an oblivious Jaywalker, traffic regulations exist for one purpose only--to save lives.
Anyone who acts like a madman rightly draws contempt.
As I said, I am not a radical biker and do not belong to TA. So I will concede that the technical law may be that bikers are vehicles and should stop at every light and wait. Guess what, it will never happen because it isn't rational. I have been riding a bike for 50 years and have never followed that rule. I have been a pedestrian on my own for a little longer and, like virtually every other New Yorker I jaywalk and don't wait for the light to change if it is safe to cross.
There is a huge difference between motorized vehicles weighing at least over a ton and bikes and people walking. In fact, in most instances it is often safer for both pedestrians and bikes not to wait for lights if it is safe to proceed.
But as I said in my previous post, the anti-bike venom in the original blog post and in some of the comments has little or nothing to do with bikes. Somehow you have made bikes a surrogate for what is wrong with the City and what you don't like about the Mayor.
As someone who is far, far from a tower person, I can tell you it just looks silly. Fight your real fight and stay rational and on real target. If the location of a bike lane doesn't make sense from an overall community perspective, fight it. Don't make the mistake of trying to demonize everyone who occasionally rides a bike and bikes rationally as an enemy.
Did you have a bike when you were younger? Do you have a bike now? When you biked, did you act like a car? If so, you would be the only person in New York who did? I am not suggesting for a moment that bikes should ride dangerously. I am saying that bikes should ride rationally and in the video you showed, where the bikers stopped, yielded and then proceeded safely is rational bike behavior and would also be rational pedestrian behavior.
Bill
SORRY, BUT SOME OF US HAVE DEEP ROOTS IN OUR COMMUNITIES AND HAVE DEDICATED OUR LIVES TO BUYING PROPERTY, LIVING HERE, AND RAISING OUR FAMILIES HERE.
YOU CANNOT DO THAT ANY LONGER BECAUSE WE ARE NOW IN YOUR FACE.
I am a life long Queens resident and a home owner. You go ahead and keep complaining on the internet and I will go ahead staying involved with my civic association and getting things my way.
and when important things are happening like developers paying off our politicians and the middle class being taxed and pushed out of new york you will some day decide to do something then remember that a biker made a right at a red light OH NO..THE HORROR LETS GET THE BIKER
Insisting on showers so they can bike to work while real NYers who are struggling to raise families are losing their jobs is out of touch and insensitive.
To take our taxes for bike lanes while hospitals close, and say nothing about how unfair that is, is obscene.
We used to ignore bikes. Now we see red everytime we see one of those self absorbed trust fund babies wobbling around our neighborhood.
Now we want to reach out and "kiss them" every time we seem them while driving.
That will send 'em a message. All my friends feel the same way.
Payback time.
Now we want to reach out and "kiss them" every time we seem them while driving.
REACH OUT AND KISS THIS.
You can keep thinking its a choice between hospitals and bike lanes. I know that ain't the choice. The choice is between real leadership and the ones in developers pockets. And lets face the facts there isn't one pol fighting for hospital or the middle class that's what I will fight for. In the mean time I will take nice bike rides and go through red lights when it is safe and count all the cars rolling through stop signs.
Life long Queens resident.
Everyone is so uptight around here. Jay-walking has been common practice in NYC for ages. People ride bikes like maniacs. This is NYC. Get a grip.
travesty
Now we want to reach out and "kiss them" every time we seem them while driving.
That will send 'em a message. All my friends feel the same way.
Payback time.
/\ such a tool!
youre basically threatening to hit someone with your car just because he or she is riding a bike?
Did you even think about that before you typed? Do you understand how that sounds?
i ride my bike ocassionally. I dont stop at every light but I also understand that if I'm not careful, i could get hurt or hurt someone else.
i also didnt go tell the mayor to paint bike lanes all over the place. As a native new yorker, I know that they mean little to nothing to most people driving.
Why the animosity tho? Bill is right, there is some misdirected hate going on.
You somehow think that only condo dwelling yuppies and hipster transplants ride bikes.
you're going from hall monitor to homicidal maniac
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