New York cyclists

[mumbo jumbo]

I spent last week in my firm's NY office. Did no cycling myself but observed cyclists from "sidewalks" and taxis with increasing fear and alarm for their safety. They are mainly certifiable as far as I can tell. On one night time taxi journey on busy roads I made a point of counting:
- 30 cyclists spotted
- 5 with working lights
- none with any kind of hiviz that I could see
- 3 going against the traffic
- several watching ipod screens instead of the road
- we were alongside one of these for about 30 seconds - he was updating his Facebook page
My hosts knew I was an urban commuting cyclist and asked me what I thought. I couldn't defend what I was seeing. British cyclists are far from perfect but I don't think they are anywhere near as collectively Darwinian as the NYers. Just wondering if others have had similar thoughts about cyclists in NY or elsewhere?

 

[Noodley]

They must be doing something right tho if they are still alive.

 

[thom]

I was there for a couple of weeks recently and did have a bike for a couple of days. Cycled various routes including all the way down Broadway from 218'th st to Battery Park. In the city it did seem quite like every man for himself but the way you have to jockey with cars and pedestrians I can kind of understand it. Didn't spot people on phones though.

There does seem to be fundamental racial based inequality in NY. Someone pointed out the latin american guys of all ages on crappy oversize mountain bikes with plastic bags hanging from the handle bars, quietly going the wrong way down one way streets and running lights (remember you can legally turn right on a red). I kind of hadn't noticed them so much but when mentioned you start seeing them everywhere. They are delivering fast food...

 

[Night Train]

Well I posted this in the Tea? thread last week.

Dead Man Riding day today.

I have been out in the car, in the glorious sunshine, driving home through Trafford.

Dead Man Riding #1
Driving towards a cross roads with lights on green, Dead Man Riding wants to jump lights from my right to left and so hops onto pavement to ride across crossing. Doesn't bother checking that the crossing is clear even though traffic is approaching on both sides.
I stop in time with a blast of the horn. He shouts 'Rust clot man!' (or what ever it was) and shakes his fingers at me.

Dead Man Riding #2
Stopped at the next set of red lights at a T junction I see a Dead Man Riding towards the red lights on the wrong side of the road. He realises he wants to turn left at the lights and so looks over his left shoulder and darts across the road to hop on the pavement completely failing to see the left turn traffic approaching ahead of him from the major road. Doesn't even flinch as the car tyres screech. He continues on his way on the pavement.

Dead Man Riding #3
Approaching the red traffic light at the entry to a busy one way system. The lights on the one way system turn red and a bus stops there with lots of traffic around it. Light turn to green for me and three lanes of traffic ahead of me enter the one way system. Dead Man Riding on the one way system overtakes the stationary bus and into the path of the three lanes of joining traffic. He gesticulates and shouts at the drivers for screeching to a stop before wobbling his way towards the next exit jumping the red light there as well.

Trafford has an interesting cycling population I think.