Rant: People that Block the Crosswalk

[Bo Hart]

This is probably the most commonly-broken law of drivers on the road. I don't know if it's really a law or not, but, for all intents and purposes, that doesn't matter.

When you come to an intersection, there is usually a white line BEFORE the crosswalks that you're supposed to stop at. If there isn't one, you still stop before the <franking> crosswalks. You do not directly on top of it. That is just mindless and asinine.

I was cut off once on each of my three trips to class today on my bike. One of the times, I had to stop very abruptly, forcing me to use my front break. I literally flipped over my handle bars and came crashing down on cement. It was only mildly painful and was, admittedly, partially my fault due to the fact that I am over-reliant on my front breaks due to really weak rear ones... but still. If he would have just followed the simple traffic guidelines it would have been a non-issue!

The most infuriating thing is that an overwhelming percentage of the population does this.

[cardinalkarp]

You flipped over your handlebars? How fast were you riding?

[AdmiralKird]

I cannot see around/over massive SUV and Truck engines, so I regularly pull out a few feet into the crosswalk.

[cardinalkarp]

I'll normally pull my front tires up to the line to make sure I'm on the sensor to let the light know that there's a car waiting. Typically that puts my front end over the white line a little bit.

[Popeye_Card]

I'll normally pull my front tires up to the line to make sure I'm on the sensor to let the light know that there's a car waiting. Typically that puts my front end over the white line a little bit.

Wouldn't the location of the sensor take that into account?

[Bo Hart]

You flipped over your handlebars? How fast were you riding?

10-15 MPH? But it doesn't take much when you have to use abruptly apply your front break.

[cardinalkarp]

I'll normally pull my front tires up to the line to make sure I'm on the sensor to let the light know that there's a car waiting. Typically that puts my front end over the white line a little bit.

Wouldn't the location of the sensor take that into account?

Hell if I know. Sometimes I don't pay that much attention to how far I pull up. I'm sure I've been the jerk who's blocking the cross walk a time or two.

[wart57]

dam bicyclists think they own the road...

just teasing

[paskal]

dam bicyclists think they own the road...

just teasing

This is true - key word being road.

Don't ride your bike on the sidewalk.

Anyway, I hate this too, even though I am sometimes guilty of it.

[cards2468]

I feel for ya man. I'm terrified of riding by bike on the road, but I do it a lot more often now because I have a badass bike now and because it saves gas and is a great workout, but I'm still scared when I'm on the road, especially here in St. Louis. Just the other week I was driving and saw a car in front of me cut off a guy on a bike, fortunately the biker was paying enough attention and hit his front and back brake in time to avoid getting hit. A couple years ago my dad was driving to work and out of the corner of his eye he saw something in a ditch, so he pulled over and went back to see what it was. It was an biker that had been ran off the road by a car and the impact knocked him out but the guy drove off. Had nobody seen him, he easily would have died there. It's a shame people can't handle bikers, because if it was safe I'm sure many more people would opt to ride bikes to close locations rather than drive; I know I would have biked to work during the summer if I wasn't afraid (from downtown to 170 and Olive)