As someone who has spent plenty of time in the Berzerk I gotta agree with Cena mark. Cyclists in Berkeley are some of the most obnoxious, asinine and self-righteous people you'll ever run into. They look down on you for owning a car and will intentionally ride in front of your car simply to obstruct. It's really quite amazing that more drivers do not intentionally run into them out of sheer frustration.

I think that characterization is wrong. I would say that a whole lot of people ride their bicycles regularly in the bay area - some own cars, some don't. Some like chocolate, some like root beer. Some think it's cool to go swimming on a hot day.

I wouldn't disagree with the statement that some bicyclists look down on people who own cars, but I don't think that is the dominant sentiment.

I scream at cyclists constantly. One day I will simply start shooting them. I am a pedestrian and I have to drive. Therefore I have no reason to care about critical massholes, they make my life less pleasant across the board.

As a Berkeley resident, yep.

Sometimes it makes sense for a bicyclist not to stop: the amount of time required to get the bike moving across the intersection could be an even more intolerable obstruction of traffic.

This isn't a blanket defense of all bicycle fuckery, though. Ever since I was a wee Bort, the rule I've followed when bicycling was: cars are bigger than you, so while you technically have the right to share the road with them, stay out of their way as much as possible. Use low-traffic roads as much as possible, and where you have to travel high-traffic roads, ride on the sidewalks (assuming of course nobody is actually walking on the sidewalks, which is almost always the case in suburbia).

Where I live there is a well-kept all-purpose trail that runs a yard or two to the side of the parkway, and damn if there aren't more bicyclists who insist on using the road instead of the trail. "Well that's because there are slow-moving people on the trail all the time, not watching what they're doing and getting in the way." Good, so you understand the hazard you present on the road.

I'm pretty sure North America is the only place where anyone has opinions like these on cyclists.

i bike in amsterdam and we're total dicks and we own the road HAHAHAHAA @ U GUYS

I hate to side with Cena mark, I fucking hate smug cyclists that drive like complete dipshits then get mad when the get hit.

From what I understand, the law may have changed, but certain parts of CA used to treat bikes like cars legally. As in, if you run a stop sign, you're the one liable for the whole thing.

Perhaps not in Berkeley, but other parts of CA, if the guy had stopped and dealt with the police, he might not have gotten in any trouble. This however is felony hit and run.

Also, we Northern CA folk may have a shitty opinion about bike people, but visit sometime and you will understand. It isn't so much that they ride in front of cars as much as it is that they are just complete assholes as people.

1. It is perfectly safe for a cyclist to treat a stop sign as a yield sign under certain circumstances. If they can see the other entrances to the intersection it is completely possible to roll through a stop sign on a bicycle in a safe and responsible way. Besides, fuck unclipping and clipping back in if I don't really have to.

2. Riding on the road is a million times safer then riding on the sidewalk in almost every situation. Telling people to ride on sidewalks is fucking insane, and in a lot of cases will cause the cyclist to be found at fault if a car hits him/her exiting a driveway or turning.
Even multi-use paths with lots of pedestrian traffic can be more dangerous than the road for a cyclist. People jump out in front of you all the time.

I have been a motorist for much longer than I have been a cyclist. If we are really honest about it, cyclists cause very little inconvenience in our lives. So maybe you get stuck behind a cyclist on a two-lane road and you get home two minutes later. So what. They aren't riding in front of you because the get off on inconveniencing drivers, they are taking that lane because if they move over and give drivers (what looks like) enough room to pass they run the risk of being KILLED.

I'm a cyclist myself, but I completely agree about the stop signs. Hell, I've seen cyclists ride right through red lights in busy intersections.

If you're going to ride your bike on the roadway, at least have the common sense to realize that the signs and traffic lights apply to EVERYTHING that uses the road, not just the motor vehicles.

Yeah Bort, my city has this vast metropark system where almost every road has a two-lane cycling/hiking trail beside it. But every cyclist that isn't a child or with a child would rather be on the road. It's especially dangerous there because the roads tend to curve very sharply, so you could be driving along only to suddenly find yourself barreling down on a biker who's in your way. If you try to pass them, you have no idea if there's going to be another car in the opposite lane.

All things considered, the cyclists in this video weren't even blocking the car that hit them, not even obstructing that part of the road. It looks to me like they're riding in a designated parking/cycling lane. So everyone who is defending the driver in this situation is a piece of shit.

Cyclists don't usually bother me when I am in a car, the only time I get pissed at them is when they force me to pass their slow ass multiple times because they split traffic at lights.

I walk most of the time though and speaking as a pedestrian I HATE cyclists...

http://youtu.be/Bq5fvbnR710

"Riding on the road is a million times safer then riding on the sidewalk in almost every situation."

The exception being, of course, the unlikely circumstance that there are actually cars on the road. Bear in mind I was talking about suburbia, where adults are likely to be driving everywhere instead of walking anywhere, and children are likely to be playing videogames instead of rollerskating to the phosphate shop. This holds on busy streets probably even more in than residential areas: in residential areas you just might encounter some child with his hoop and stick, but busy streets are places where people are, um, driving a lot to get where they're going.

I wouldn't advise bicycling where there is heavy foot traffic, or to expand the rule to a general principle: bicycle where you're not going to smack into things.

And yes, I understand why bicyclists would hate those all-purpose paths: for the same reason that drivers get pissed off at bicyclists.

Definitely American sentiments.

The reason it's really dangerous to ride on sidewalks in suburbia isn't so much the pedestrians, but the cars again. You run the risk of hitting cars pulling out of driveways or alleys, and, if you're riding at high speed, you have to watch out for cars making turns. They're expecting slow moving pedestrians on the sidewalks and probably aren't checking their mirrors and their blindspot for that cyclist who's going to T-Bone them when they make the turn.

That said, in suburbia I ride the sidewalks all the time rather than get on busy roads. I just ride very slowly and carefully.

Well sure, you don't go at breakneck speeds on sidewalks; uneven pavement alone should force you to slow it down. Be safe, watch for hazards. And don't put your elbows on the table, young man!

As someone who lived on the berkeley/emeryville/oakland border trifecta, I have a philosophy about cycling (in those kinds of cities) - Stay on the fucking sidewalk and yield to pedestrians, and if there is a baby anywhere around you for fucks sake start walking the bike out of politeness.

But dont even try to get me on the fucking street with the cars OR the other cyclists. Id rather get a thousand fucking tickets than try to wrestle with 2000 pound vehicles. It's suicidal enough to drive a motorcycle.

I didnt bother to read that mister yuck made a comment I could have just said "ditto" to. Whups.

I currently live on a mountain where there are tons of cyclists. I have seen trucks trying to pass cyclists who are not giving enough space to pass, forcing them to accelerate across a double yellow on a curve.

I have seen cyclists nearly get themselves and people around them killed so many times up here I have lost count.

I have much less animosity against cyclists in the city who are just trying to get somewhere. They are lessening traffic and helping with the air pollution and all that... Even if they borrow the sidewalk when it conveniences them and run stop lights and get pissed off that I exist on their road, at LEAST they are going somewhere.

All the cyclists up here are recreational cyclists in aerodynamic power gear who likely have shitloads of money. They don't HAVE to be fucking up everyone's life, but they do because it's very important that they get all trim for their power jobs and their biking contests. I do not care if they die.

Here is an anecdote not more than 15 minutes old. Was just out bicycling, using the all-purpose trail, when a group of seven cyclists came from the other direction. They were part of some organization or other, I suppose, because they had matching red shirts and shorts. Four of the seven were in their lane; the other three were in my lane, coming right at me. They zippered together properly so there wasn't a collision, but Jesus, if organized groups of cyclists encourage that sort of dumbfuckery, why would they be any better when they're riding alone?

Those of us who just like using a bicycle for running errands and improving our health, and who do their damnedest to not complicate traffic or smack into other people, can only sympathize with pissed-off drivers. It's very simple to coexist with cars, pedestrians, and horses (we have those too); just don't be a dumbshit. Even I can manage that.

I would kill you without hesitation Cena_mark.

Arguments of the sort "the bike goes slow, I want to go faster in my car and the bike wouldn't let me" are pretty weak.

The world is filled with lots of people transporting themselves around in lots of ways. That means you'll have to yield every once in a while. Get used to it.

Automobiles have had a monopoly on the roadways for a while. It's been a good run, but times are changing. We're having growing pains now.

That's Tunnel rd in Berkeley The last "city" street before you get to the Berkeley hills. There is always a cyclist or two hence the large bike lane.

It's illegal to ride your bike on the sidewalk in Berkeley.

They rode past my grandma's house.

I used to have a best friend, and while we were still buddies (this was near the end) he took out a loan from one of our other friends from the same era. Totally burnt him, never paid him back, and ignored him. Then, he went on a trip from northern california to southern california to get married to the sister of one of our friends because she was in the army and he wanted to get in on the illegal sham marriage money action. He got burnt by her. And while he was driving back, not an hour after leaving to get on the highway, he gets pulled over for texting at night with his ludicrously bright cellphone screen, as he's making a right hand turn to leave a gas station.

He also didnt have a license. Did I mention that? Or insurance, obviously. Anyways, I get a call from him in the middle of the night (because thats the best time to make cross-state trips, globviously) telling me all this, and it was my supreme satisfaction to tell him I couldnt do a damn thing to help him. His car got towed and he owes a ton of money now and has a shit roofing/waterproofing job.

I guess what i'm trying to say is FUCK THAT GUY, he was literally one of the worst texters (while driving or doing ANYTHING for that matter) ive ever known. Id drive to his place and he'd sit there on his phone ignoring the real people in the fucking room. God, what an asshole.