Jaybikers
The other day I was waiting at a red light while a flood cyclists passed by me in every direction. It was a particularly long red, and car traffic was lower than normal. And I’m glad there has been such and increase in biking. However I witnessed several close calls because no one was operating by the same set of rules:
It seemed their main concern was to get from A to B in the shortest, quickest way possible. But it got me thinking about the mindset. There is vehicular cycling, and then there is a more pedestrian approach…
However if you’re just out to get places as fast as possible and not willing to rest on a red, you may just be on a collision course. Stop at a red light sometime and watch what almost happens.
I almost* always wait for the red light to change, even when it is obvious that it would be safe to advance, after stopping and looking.
*almost, but not always, because if a car/motorcycle/antique Vespa pulls up next to me and puts me in the path of its exhaust, or if their look-at-me music is blaring and moronic, or if a cyclist waits too but their perfume is just too much for my delicate sensibilities, I will place myself above the law.
Once I just couldn’t abide what someone was wearing.
So , I have some terms other cyclists might be familiar with. The “salmon” , swimming the wrong way. And the “ninja” all dressed in black, at night, no lights or reflectors. I think darwin takes care of the ninja salmons. I use the multi mode to cross some streets in the ‘burbs. Jump off the bike at the crosswalk, walk across, very effective.
“I think darwin takes care of the ninja salmons.”
One would think, but the thing is, people tend to underestimate how incredibly safe cycling is. A salmon’s risk of being hit is probably along the lines of 6x the normal risk, while wearing black probably multiplies that risk by another factor of 6. That’s 36x more likely to be killed than the average cyclist. But even if we assume he’s car-free and cycles everywhere, that still only puts him at a lifetime risk of dying on his bike of about 1 in 4.
So 3 out of every 4 ninja salmon cyclists would die of unrelated causes.
Anyone interested in a historical note about “jay walk”?
Back before the Age of the Automobile, the rule of the road was that all users had equal right to use the roads, and everybody was responsible for everybody else’s safety. The faster and larger vehicle operators were required to take care not to run anybody over.
Beginning in the 1910s and 20s, the auto and oil industries spent their millions marketing the idea that roads were the exclusive domain of the automobile. They stooped to name calling the slow pokes who got in the way of progress and economic growth. The word that emerged: jaywalker.
An example of this aggressive, anti-human campaign is Shell Oil’s Share the Road club from the late 1930s.
I can’t recommend “jaybiking” these days because doing so startles those oh-so-precious motorists and even might result in a crash and possible injury, but I’d like to at least think about avoiding the name calling.
Does anyone do this: Instead of running a red light, (assuming no traffic within 30-45 secs from the intersection) do a right-hand turn, then do a u-turn on the crossing street, then another right, so effectively crossing the intersection without technically running the red light (assuming u-turn is not prohibited on the cross street).
Often. Though technically you’re supposed to stop before that first right-on-red.
And apparently, in Massachusetts U-turns are legal unless they are explicitly prohibited or it would be obviously stupid because of other traffic (this, I got from talking to a local police officer, so believe it at your own risk).
…I’ll admit that I’m one of those cyclists who makes her own rules. Like red lights, I treat more like four-way stops. I stop, and if all is quiet and no cars or pedestrians are crossing, I will proceed. Although I’ll admit when passing through _certain neighborhoods_ I don’t like to stand still for two long.