I try not to be a bigot. Honest. But developments in a San Francisco news story do not endear me to bicyclists. I realize that not all bicyclists are inconsiderate assholes, and not all bicyclists run red lights. I’m sure the majority are law-abiding and it’s only the obnoxious minority that gets all the attention. However, I see bicyclists blow through stop signs, red lights, and going the wrong way on one way streets all the time, and I never see them get ticketed for it. I have had a number of close calls here in Ann Arbor with bicyclists who ride their bikes on sidewalks and seem to regard pedestrians as a hindrance and an annoyance. One time a guy actually screamed “F*CK YOU!” as he came from behind and whizzed by me on the sidewalk (apparently because my act of walking the dog got in his way).
So, I guess what I am bigoted against is not all bicyclists, but rude bicyclists. Apparently I am not alone, because if you look at the comments to the various articles about the bicyclist who allegedly ran a red light and killed an elderly pedestrian in a San Francisco crosswalk, a lot of people are fed up with bicyclists who disrespect pedestrians. The bicyclists counter that car drivers are also rude (which they are) and more dangerous to pedestrians, which they obviously are because of the inherent physics. Ask any pedestrian whether he would rather be hit by a car or a bike, and he’d take being hit by the bike, because his odds of surviving are far greater. But how on earth does that excuse this bicyclist?
Chris Bucchere, the bicyclist who could face manslaughter charges for plowing through a crowded San Francisco crosswalk and hitting a 71-year-old pedestrian, has hired the top-flight law firm of Arguedas, Cassman & Headley.
The walker, Sutchi Hui, died Monday, and from what we hear, Bucchere will need the legal help.
Police sources tell us the file forwarded to the district attorney includes the name and number of a motorist who reported seeing Bucchere and another cyclist fly through several red lights and stop signs before the deadly Castro district crash. Hui’s wife, incidentally, was walking a few steps ahead when her husband was hit.
If the witness’ statement to police about Bucchere riding recklessly checks out, it could show gross negligence – and potentially up the charges to a felony.
What really fascinated me was to read the reasoning in the mind of the bicyclist. Here’s what he said allegedly at a biker site (which later deleted it):
Around 8 a.m. I was descending Divisadero Street southbound and about to cross Market Street. The light turned yellow as I was approaching the intersection, but I was already way too committed to stop. The light turned red as I was cruising through the middle of the intersection and then, almost instantly, the southern crosswalk on Market and Castro filled up with people coming from both directions. The intersection very long and the width of Castro Street at that point is very short, so, in a nutshell, blammo.
The quote/unquote ‘scene of the crime’ was that intersection right by the landmark Castro Theatre – it leads from a really busy MUNI station to that little plaza where The Naked Guy always hangs out. It was commuter hour and it was crowded as all getup. I couldn’t see a line through the crowd and I couldn’t stop, so I laid it down and just plowed through the crowded crosswalk in the least-populated place I could find.
I don’t remember the next five minutes but when I came to, I was in a neck brace being loaded into an ambulance. I remember seeing a RIVER of blood on the asphalt, but it wasn’t mine. Apparently I hit a 71-year-old male pedestrian and he ended up in the ICU with pretty serious head injuries. I really hope he ends up OK.”
“Too committed to stop.”
What does he mean by “committed”? Can anyone imagine a car driver saying that after plowing through a pedestrian intersection? It is more important to continue on your way than to worry about pedestrians in front of you? What makes this especially egregious is that the intersection he went through includes not only Market and Castro, but also 17th street. Which means that he could have turned in three different directions and not plowed through the pedestrians in that narrow crosswalk. As to why didn’t he just turn, the most reasonable explanation would be that there were probably cars there (this was rush hour), and he might have been more afraid to plow into cars than into pedestrians. Plus, he was already “committed.” I have never seen the word committed used in such a context. I mean, any time you decide to do something, you are in that sense committed. But things can always arise. If I am committed to entering a building through a swinging metal door, and I notice a small toddler playing on the floor in front of it or an elderly woman with a bag of groceries, my “commitment” has to change, otherwise, I’ll hurt the child or knock the woman over. A commitment is not an entitlement. Perhaps he means he was going too fast to stop. But again, no driver would say that; it’s an odd way of putting it.
He also sees the incident as an argument for bicyclists wearing helmets:
Bucchere ended his note with an ode to his headgear, writing: “In closing, I want to dedicate this story to my late helmet. She died in heroic fashion today as my head slammed into the tarmac… The moral of this little story is: WYFH.” Or, in other words: Wear your fucking helmet — a sentiment other commenters doubted, responding: “I’m not sure that’s the moral of the story.”
Well, if it’s all about him and his heroic helmet, then that is the moral of the story.
Did you know that there is a well organized movement by bicyclists to get the laws changed so that they don’t have to abide by traffic signals? According to bicyclists, they find it really annoying to have to stop:
Supporters say the bill would make Arizona much more bike-friendly and encourage more riders.
“When you’re out there riding and you know you’re coming upon a four-way stop and there’s not a car in sight, it’s really annoying to stop,” said Jeremy Stapleton, 32, an urban designer who rides to work in central Phoenix. “Hopefully this would incentivize people to ride more often.”
Well, I find it really annoying when I’m driving my car and I have to stop even though there’s not a car in sight. Being on the road can be very annoying, especially when you have to obey the rules of the road.
I find these bicycle activists at least as annoying as rude bicyclists, and if the activist group Critical Mass is any indication, activism and rudeness go hand in hand.
Comments
11 responses to “too committed”
“I realize that not all bicyclists are inconsiderate assholes…”
That is your first and last mistake. They are.
“I find these bicycle activists at least as annoying as rude bicyclists, and if the activist group Critical Mass is any indication, activism and rudeness go hand in hand.”
Because they enjoy harassing people, and their ideology makes it virtuous to mistreat people using politically incorrect transportation. But it’s not fascist thuggery when liberals do it.
Critical Mass used to be openly say that their purpose was not to “increase awareness” so that bicycles would not be hit by inattentive drivers, but rather to harass all drivers because cars were evil. They are usually more circumspect nowadays, but you occasionally meet a participant who is unguarded in his opinions.
The bicyclist who causes a fatal accident makes the news because of the extreme rarity of the event. A more ordinary accident was the one in front of me last week in Brooklyn, NY, where an SUV making a left turn on a narrow street knocked a cyclist (in a bicycle lane) off his bike (clipped him with the mirror). That’s all too normal. On a percentage basis, I’d bet that there are at least as many inconsiderate assholes driving cars.
hmi misses the point: A large fraction of bicyclists behave as if the rules of the road do not apply to them.
Same Roads
Same Rules
Same Rights… ok not the same rules.
I haven’t generally ridden bikes in the last 30 years or so, but if a cyclist writes “Too committed to stop”, that tells me a couple of things.
1. He’s afraid that if he lays on the brakes, he’ll go flying over the handlebars, which is always a consideration, but that means …
2. He’s going WAY too fast for conditions.
I got a ticket riding my bike myself once, for speeding and running a stop sign. I was going 50 in a 25 zone, back when I was young and foolish. Going downhill, and didn’t want to/couldn’t have stop(ed) at the bottom of the hill.
When they pay a use tax to use the road, they will be welcome.
Until then they are pedestrians and need to stay off the road.
Use tax?
Is this the use tax NJ and CT and CA drivers paid for use of my NY streets, the ones I paid taxes for? For the NY streets I paid taxes for and on which I drive my car, but which Lazlo here thinks that then I don’t get to use when on a bike—in which case it’s not really clear why he allows pedestrians to use them at all. In short—these are also my streets. I also paid for them. Please stay out of my bike lane.
Bicyclists can be that way, it’s true, but so can pedestrians. Especially in northeast cities, they’ll amble out to cross the street just when the light is turning yellow, not hurry up after it’s turned red and the cars get the green, and flip off anyone who honks. A lot of people like that– not this 70-year-old– do deserve to get hit and killed by vehicles for their arrogance and carelessness.
“Committed to” is just an attempt not to say “yeah, I was going way too fast”, i.e. excuse-making. Hardly anyone these days wants to take responsibility for their actions. I guess they don’t think there will be any mercy for them if they do so. Or else they believe they’ll lose all their cred if they say “I’m sorry.”