Once again being our own worst enemy….

[MCL1981]

http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/192647/158/Careless-City-Cyclists-Rule-Road-In-Rogue-Fashion

[mstone]

There’s not much that can be done about it. You know they won’t do a story on the number of cars speeding, or the number that stop in a crosswalk, because that won’t rile people up and sell ads.

[americancyclo]

I’d like to see accident statistics showing that it is as ‘dangerous’ as they claim

[btj]

From the article:

A D.C. police spokeswoman told 9News Now that they will launch an initiative in March to try and combat the problem.

Wonder what that entails?

[mrkenny83]

@btj 15186 wrote:

From the article:

Wonder what that entails?

Good question. On a (maybe) related topic – I saw a cyclist having a discussion with a bike-officer at a stop sign on W&OD yesterday afternoon (4:45ish). Was that any of you? …. I got really paranoid and came to a complete foot-to-ground stop at all stop signs.

[Dirt]

@btj 15186 wrote:

From the article:

Wonder what that entails?

I’m imagining Burmese tiger traps on the Penna Ave. Cycleway. That would be AWESOME!

[PotomacCyclist]

Maybe this is just my personal bias, but my experience has been that the bike couriers tend to ignore the traffic laws most frequently. At least I assume they are couriers because of the messenger bags with company logos and sometimes radios. I’ve seen them blow through busy intersections in the middle of the day, weaving among traffic going in multiple directions. Yesterday, I saw a courier going the wrong way on a one-way street. It should have been obvious to him.

Many years ago, when I worked near a courier company, I would get buzzed frequently while walking on the sidewalks at midday on weekdays. Many of those couriers would speed down crowded sidewalks at 20 mph (estimated) or faster. It happened to me a lot. I don’t know if they still do that. I hope not.

[americancyclo]

I thought everyone understood that couriers generally don’t care for society’s rules, and that they are not representative of the entire cycling community. They are more sensational though, which probably gets them more coverage in the media.

[RESTONTODC]

The WUSA9 Channel just chooses to show only the selective view for cyclists in DC so they can have a story to report. It’s not a general view of commuting cyclists. That is why I stop watching news and spending more time on the bikes or this forum.

There are so many distract drivers on the cell phones and police are not doing anything. Why don’t they do a story on it?

[Bunjabi]

You have to wonder which editor at @WUSA9 got buzzed on his way to work Wednesday morning….

This kind of shoddy, lazy reporting makes me mad because it gives drivers an excuse to harass and ignore bicycles on the streets. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone doesn’t “accidentally” hit a cyclist because “(s)he broke the law. I saw it on TV.”

Now why not do a story on pedestrians ignoring “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs? There’s a real scourge on society

[Dirt]

Here’s my take on it. (That’s the sign that you can pretty much ignore this post because I’ve said it in about 1598 of my 1601 posts.)

Obviously they’re focusing on cyclists for this story and ignoring drivers and pedestrians. That’s annoying, but I’m over it.

What they don’t report is that we behave consistently. When we walk, we ignore the rules. When we drive, we ignore the rules. When we drive??? You guessed it. We ignore the rules. There are certainly exceptions. Some people obey the rules in all three.

It comes down to attitude. All the changes to cycling, driving and pedestrian infrastructure are lovely, but if you don’t change how people think, you’re not going to improve anything. Enforcement is a great thing. Bring on the speed and red light cameras! Bring on cycle cops issuing tickets to cyclists. Cops walking the beat giving out J-walking tickets? HELL YEAH!

Will it ever happen? Probably not.

I’m off my soap box.

Hugs and kisses,

Pete

[Riley Casey]

It makes for an easy hit for the TV news producers. Very cost effective to send an SUV with a camera person and news face a short distance from the station and report on something that makes a better visual than the ten times larger number of people that jay walked thru the various intersections at and around Dupont Circle during the same period of time that the camera crew was on site. This has nothing to do with genuine bike safety and everything to do with filling up a half hour evening news slot between the commercials. Interview a bike messenger as being representative of the larger bicycling public? Really?

[mstone]

@btj 15186 wrote:

Wonder what that entails?

Presumably it’ll be like NYC, where they start giving cyclists more tickets than cars because, you know, cyclists kill more people.

[MCL1981]

I’ll be on my bike stopped in a line of cars on Penn. Then someone on a bike will come careening past me on the left and continue between the lines of cars, cut in front of the front car, then run the red light in a cross-traffic gap. Usually mowing down a few peds in the process. Even better is when they shoot the gap between two buses, which is just suicidal. People that recklessly ride around like that give everyone a bad name.

Of course they don’t do a story on people who are bad drivers. That’s 2/3 of the city. Not news.

[consularrider]

@Bunjabi 15205 wrote:

…
Now why not do a story on pedestrians ignoring “Walk/Don’t Walk” signs? There’s a real scourge on society

Or maybe the drivers who turn right on red without stopping first (especially with pedestrians in the crosswalks).

[Author]

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