Intentional jogger collision

I ride along a boulevard with a clearly marked (white lines and bike
icons) bike lane in both directions. This is a heavily used bike lane by
bicyclists and, unfortunately, joggers and people with SUV-proportion
strollers. I'd say 90% of the joggers jog in the opposite direction of
traffic flow. About half of these will move off the bike lane to
accommodate bicyclists, the rest just don't move.

This morning I was biking up hill and a jogger was moving against traffic
flow towards me in the middle of the path. She didn't make any signs of
moving away from me so I glanced over my left shoulder to make sure there
wasn't any oncoming traffic. This is important because moving to the left,
away from traffic, puts me in the dreaded door zone - a bad idea along
this stretch where mini-vans dump out a half dozen kids for school.

While I was still looking over my shoulder she slammed into me (her right
shoulder slammed into my right shoulder), nearly knocking me off my bike.
She screamed obscenities at me and hit me so hard it knocked me to the
right, where I saw a fist nearly miss my head.

There were no other cyclists around, but enough joggers I figured it was
wiser to keep pedaling rather than confront this nut. I briefly thought
about calling the cops but the only witnesses around were joggers and it
would be my word against hers - I'd lose a few hours of work over an
incident that would leave more frustrated.

In all the years of commuting (I ride about 5,000 miles just commuting and
tend to stick to published bike routes and lanes) I've had only one other
encounter with a hostile jogger on a bike lane - last year. Given the
number of joggers/walkers/stroller-tank drivers that just don't move off
the lane I'm wondering if this is going to be the issue du-jour for bike
lanes? It's become such a problem for this bike lane (not a multi-purpose
path but a bike lane) I'm going to move a few streets over to avoid these
folks.

Anyone else seeing this trend? Outside of converting my Burley Nomad to a
battle wagon there's not much a cyclist can do in these situations. I
perhaps could have made an argument that a jogger in the bike lane was in
the wrong place, but how could I prove she intentionally ran into me?
Though she was facing me there weren't any other bikers in the area to
substantiate my claim she struck me. And with no damage to the bike or me
there was no proof the event even happened.

More and more I find myself avoiding bike lanes and bike routes because of
people walking dogs on long leashes in the streets, jogger superiority
complex, and strollers larger than my last car ...


- joel

Me wrote, On 7/20/2010 11:00 PM:
I ride along a boulevard with a clearly marked (white lines and bike
icons) bike lane in both directions. This is a heavily used bike lane
by bicyclists and, unfortunately, joggers and people with
SUV-proportion strollers. I'd say 90% of the joggers jog in the
opposite direction of traffic flow. About half of these will move off
the bike lane to accommodate bicyclists, the rest just don't move.

This morning I was biking up hill and a jogger was moving against
traffic flow towards me in the middle of the path. She didn't make any
signs of moving away from me so I glanced over my left shoulder to
make sure there wasn't any oncoming traffic. This is important because
moving to the left, away from traffic, puts me in the dreaded door
zone - a bad idea along this stretch where mini-vans dump out a half
dozen kids for school.

While I was still looking over my shoulder she slammed into me (her
right shoulder slammed into my right shoulder), nearly knocking me off
my bike. She screamed obscenities at me and hit me so hard it knocked
me to the right, where I saw a fist nearly miss my head.

There were no other cyclists around, but enough joggers I figured it
was wiser to keep pedaling rather than confront this nut. I briefly
thought about calling the cops but the only witnesses around were
joggers and it would be my word against hers - I'd lose a few hours of
work over an incident that would leave more frustrated.

In all the years of commuting (I ride about 5,000 miles just commuting
and tend to stick to published bike routes and lanes) I've had only
one other encounter with a hostile jogger on a bike lane - last year.
Given the number of joggers/walkers/stroller-tank drivers that just
don't move off the lane I'm wondering if this is going to be the issue
du-jour for bike lanes? It's become such a problem for this bike lane
(not a multi-purpose path but a bike lane) I'm going to move a few
streets over to avoid these folks.

Anyone else seeing this trend? Outside of converting my Burley Nomad
to a battle wagon there's not much a cyclist can do in these
situations. I perhaps could have made an argument that a jogger in the
bike lane was in the wrong place, but how could I prove she
intentionally ran into me? Though she was facing me there weren't any
other bikers in the area to substantiate my claim she struck me. And
with no damage to the bike or me there was no proof the event even
happened.

More and more I find myself avoiding bike lanes and bike routes
because of people walking dogs on long leashes in the streets, jogger
superiority complex, and strollers larger than my last car ...


- joel
Joel,
You are the SUV of the bike lane. Be nice.
Paul O.

--

Paul D Oosterhout
I work for SAIC (but I don't speak for SAIC)

On Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:23:17 -0600, Paul O
wrote:


Joel,
You are the SUV of the bike lane. Be nice.
Paul O.


A bike in a bike lane is an SUV? I'd say a bike on a sidewalk is an SUV.
However, a bike in a bike lane is still just a bike.

On Jul 20, 11:00*pm, Me wrote:
I ride along a boulevard with a clearly marked (white lines and bike *
icons) bike lane in both directions. This is a heavily used bike lane by *
bicyclists and, unfortunately, joggers and people with SUV-proportion *
strollers. I'd say 90% of the joggers jog in the opposite direction of *
traffic flow. About half of these will move off the bike lane to *
accommodate bicyclists, the rest just don't move.

This morning I was biking up hill and a jogger was moving against traffic *
flow towards me in the middle of the path. She didn't make any signs of *
moving away from me so I glanced over my left shoulder to make sure there *
wasn't any oncoming traffic. This is important because moving to the left, *
away from traffic, puts me in the dreaded door zone - a bad idea along *
this stretch where mini-vans dump out a half dozen kids for school.

While I was still looking over my shoulder she slammed into me (her right *
shoulder slammed into my right shoulder), nearly knocking me off my bike. *
She screamed obscenities at me and hit me so hard it knocked me to the *
right, where I saw a fist nearly miss my head.

There were no other cyclists around, but enough joggers I figured it was *
wiser to keep pedaling rather than confront this nut. I briefly thought *
about calling the cops but the only witnesses around were joggers and it *
would be my word against hers - I'd lose a few hours of work over an *
incident that would leave more frustrated.

In all the years of commuting (I ride about 5,000 miles just commuting and *
tend to stick to published bike routes and lanes) I've had only one other *
encounter with a hostile jogger on a bike lane - last year. Given the *
number of joggers/walkers/stroller-tank drivers that just don't move off *
the lane I'm wondering if this is going to be the issue du-jour for bike *
lanes? It's become such a problem for this bike lane (not a multi-purpose *
path but a bike lane) I'm going to move a few streets over to avoid these *
folks.

Anyone else seeing this trend? Outside of converting my Burley Nomad to a *
battle wagon there's not much a cyclist can do in these situations. I *
perhaps could have made an argument that a jogger in the bike lane was in *
the wrong place, but how could I prove she intentionally ran into me? *
Though she was facing me there weren't any other bikers in the area to *
substantiate my claim she struck me. And with no damage to the bike or me *
there was no proof the event even happened.

More and more I find myself avoiding bike lanes and bike routes because of *
people walking dogs on long leashes in the streets, jogger superiority *
complex, and strollers larger than my last car ...

- joel

Joggers are retarded. They know they should be walking or riding a
bike, not destroying their knees.

In article op.vf6amcoozgs10k@hobbiton, Me wrote:

I ride along a boulevard with a clearly marked (white lines and bike
icons) bike lane in both directions. This is a heavily used bike lane by
bicyclists and, unfortunately, joggers and people with SUV-proportion
strollers. I'd say 90% of the joggers jog in the opposite direction of
traffic flow. About half of these will move off the bike lane to
accommodate bicyclists, the rest just don't move.

You sound like a bit of a dick with a sense of entitlement. Just
because a stretch of pavement is marked as a bike route doesn't mean you
get to be a jerk to everyone else. You're right up there with the
"roads are for cars, not bikes!" idiots.

This morning I was biking up hill and a jogger was moving against traffic
flow towards me in the middle of the path. She didn't make any signs of
moving away from me so I glanced over my left shoulder to make sure there
wasn't any oncoming traffic. This is important because moving to the left,
away from traffic, puts me in the dreaded door zone - a bad idea along
this stretch where mini-vans dump out a half dozen kids for school.

I'm having a hard time picturing this. You're biking *with* traffic,
yet are moving *away* from traffic to the left, yet are looking *back*
to see if, what, a vehicle behind you is unloading kids? Face front and
deal with the jogger you're fast approaching!

While I was still looking over my shoulder she slammed into me (her right
shoulder slammed into my right shoulder), nearly knocking me off my bike.
She screamed obscenities at me and hit me so hard it knocked me to the
right, where I saw a fist nearly miss my head.

Oh, look, you hit that jogger you stopped paying attention to! Moron.

There were no other cyclists around, but enough joggers I figured it was
wiser to keep pedaling rather than confront this nut. I briefly thought
about calling the cops but the only witnesses around were joggers and it
would be my word against hers - I'd lose a few hours of work over an
incident that would leave more frustrated.

Based on your word here, you were probably wise not to call the cops and
get out of there as fast as possible. You're the kind of cyclist that
gives us all a bad name.

In all the years of commuting (I ride about 5,000 miles just commuting and
tend to stick to published bike routes and lanes) I've had only one other
encounter with a hostile jogger on a bike lane - last year. Given the
number of joggers/walkers/stroller-tank drivers that just don't move off
the lane I'm wondering if this is going to be the issue du-jour for bike
lanes? It's become such a problem for this bike lane (not a multi-purpose
path but a bike lane) I'm going to move a few streets over to avoid these
folks.

Yeah, because *they're* the ones who are throwing themselves in front of
your bike. Keep telling yourself that.

--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, localhost, googlegroups.com, astraweb.com,
and probably your server, too.

On Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:09:33 -0600, Doc O'Leary
wrote:



Yeah, because *they're* the ones who are throwing themselves in front of
your bike. Keep telling yourself that.


Huh, don't remember seeing you there.

Me wrote:
On Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:09:33 -0600, Doc O'Leary
wrote:



Yeah, because *they're* the ones who are throwing themselves in
front of your bike. Keep telling yourself that.


Huh, don't remember seeing you there.

Sorry, "Me", I think ol' Doc nailed it.

Bill "quitcher whining" S.

On Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:14:52 -0600, Me wrote:

On Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:23:17 -0600, Paul O
wrote:


Joel,
You are the SUV of the bike lane. Be nice.
Paul O.


A bike in a bike lane is an SUV? I'd say a bike on a sidewalk is an SUV.
However, a bike in a bike lane is still just a bike.

I suggest the real question is whether the "bike lane" is a legally
designated area? What are the penalties for use of the "bike lane" by
any other user then a bike? What is the legal definition of a "bike".

Or is the "bike lane" simply a matter of some painted lines on the
pavement to appease some people who happen to be riding bicycles?

Cheers,

John D. Slocomb
(jdslocombatgmail)

On Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:00:02 -0600, Me wrote:

More and more I find myself avoiding bike lanes and bike routes

I avoid bike lanes because they are inherently dangerous.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net

Joy Beeson wrote:
On Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:00:02 -0600, Me wrote:

More and more I find myself avoiding bike lanes and bike routes

I avoid bike lanes because they are inherently dangerous.

Not where I live. Just have to know how to ride a bike on the road, using
whatever advantages available. (Like, I dunno... BIKE LANES.)

HTH, BS