— By Jack Morse (@jmorse_) |
Grab the popcorn—this is going to be good. A group calling itself The Wigg Party has announced plans for a “wiggle stop-in” to take place during rush hour on Wednesday, July 29th. What does that mean, you ask? From the event page (emphasis added):
We think it’s ludicrous that SFPD Park Station is diverting precious resources towards trying to make sure every cyclist comes to a full and complete stop at every stop sign.
Not only should those resources be directed toward curbing behavior that is actually dangerous (like people driving 2,000 lb cars rolling every single stop sign or speeding on every single street), but the law requiring cyclists stop at stop signs is simply lazy, misguided, and not at all reflective of behavior required to operate a bicycle safely (we of course endorse the Idaho Stop law which allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and requires them to stop when others have the right of way).
In fact, if cyclists came to a full and complete stop at every stop sign, it would have disastrous effects to traffic patterns and precious “Level of Service.” And that’s what we intend to show.
On Wednesday July 29th from 5:30-6:30 pm, please join us for our first Wiggle Stop-In event. We want to gather 50-100 cyclists to ride around the Wiggle/Lower Haight and stop at every stop sign in single file order. We want to make the point that, in fact, requiring cyclists to come to full stops at every stop sign is a really terrible idea for everyone on the road. […]
Let’s show Capt. John Sanford of Park Station that his choice to crack down on cyclists who aren’t following the letter of the law not only doesn’t make anyone safer but actually would create terrible conditions on our roads.
The “stop-in” is in protest of a recently announced plan from SFPD Park Station Captain John Sanford to increase ticketing of cyclists and pedestrians in areas like the Panhandle and The Wiggle.
[Photo: San Francisco Bicycle Coalition]
Comments (39)
A few weeks ago I was almost nailed while walking through a crosswalk, with the walk signal, by a bike going through a red light at full speed.
Fuck them. They asked for this by acting like total imbeciles.
I hear the hospitals are full of people like you suffering from being nearly-missed. Those that are dying and getting seriously injured on our streets? Fuck ‘em.
Also, running red lights is VERY different than treating a stop sign as a yield - which is what they advocate.
I agree ticket the hell out of every cyclist that ignores a red light, or does not slow and yield to traffic at a stop sign. Also, ticket every car that does not signal. And every pedestrian that forces a car to yield when no where near a cross walk. These all all dangerous behaviors.
You’d likely have survived being struck by a bike. Others have died at the same intersection, “nailed” by cars. That’s the critique, dig? The police should prioritize to prevent against the most dangerous and deadliest behavior.
False equivalency - why should I have to worry about being dead or injured because both cyclists and drivers can’t figure out how to obey traffic laws.
Yes, indeed. Fuck an entire collection of people because of the actions of one.
Yes, indeed- that is the ONLY cyclist to have ever done that. I see it…four or five times a week? Fuck ‘em. Just as unsafe as cars but with even more entitlement.
Oh, I wouldn’t have been killed so it’s no big deal!! Ok!
There is room for debate over how police should be spending their resources, whether bikes should have to stop at stop signs (don’t think there is room for debate over red lights), but there is zero room for debate over the fact that bicycles are just as unsafe as cars. Your average car weighs about 20x more than a bicycle with a person on it and a cross sectional area (area that can hit someone) about 5x greater. Don’t believe me? Go ask people on the street if they’d rather get hit by a car going 25mph or a person on a bike going 25mph and see what responses you get.
What is the point of having separated bike lanes, 25MPH zones, and one way streets if cyclists are not even required to wear helmets or follow the rules of the road? The absurdity of the SF Bicycle Coalition is that they encourage and endorse cyclists to break the law after collecting millions of dollars through their contracts with the city. Why is The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition using government money to teach cyclists to break the law? Its time to remove their lobbying organization from the City payroll and to revoke their tax exempt status!
If you can’t tell the difference between a RED LIGHT and a STOP SIGN, then the problem lies with you.
Duh…she ran a red light, genius. Not her fault though! I shouldn’t have been walking through the crosswalk with a walk signal!
Life would be good if we could only get these crazy cyclist behind the driver seats of 2 ton SUV’s.
I would believe The Wigg Party’s bullshit propaganda if I didn’t negotiate The Wiggle four times a day and hadn’t bee doing so for more than twenty-five years.
They should station a cadre of staunch party members with their phones set to video and record the safety of the cyclists they claim to represent. Plant them at: Pierce & Waller, Steiner & Waller, Steiner & Duboce, Page & Pierce, then make that video public.
We don’t need to record video to evaluate the safety of the wiggle. There are injury statistics that already indicate the safety for us. For example, you have been negotiating the wiggle four times a day for more than 25 years and yet you are still alive - making you part of the .0001% to not have been killed by a cyclist in that time frame.
So: since bicycles aren’t as deadly as cars, the bicyclists should get a pass on traffic laws. That seems to be the argument. Also seems idiotic. By the same idiotic argument, we should start to expect every pedestrian to walk against red lights, and just give them the right. While pedestrians and bicyclists do HAVE the “right of way”, it’s understood that if they choose to exercise that right, they can become dead right.
We should increase the time for pedestrians to cross the street.
Something like during lunch time, 7-9 am and 4 to 6 pm,
25 seconds for cars in the North South direction
50 seconds for the pedestrians in any direction.
25 seconds for cars in the East West direction
50 seconds for pedestrians in any direction.
Repeat.
I live by Waller and Steiner. It’s not a problem. You must be totally inept at the simple task of walking, if the bikes are a threat to you.
Out of the 100s of bikes that pass by a day, a miniscule fraction are bad. Bear in mind that if a bicyclist hits you, he’s in a lot of trouble too! The asphalt isn’t more forgiving if you’re a bicyclist. However: 3000-lb monsters in steel cages are a totally different beast, and they are the ones who should be monitored.
I ride the AIDS/Lifecycle every year. We have around 3000 cyclists leaving camp relatively around the same time. Often leaving from towns/cities with a 4-way stops at every intersection.
We’re required to fully stop and put at least one foot down before proceeding on our bikes. We’re required to do this during our training rides too. This does NOT cause “disastrous effects to the traffic pattern”.
Again, we had 3000 very orderly cyclists obeying the rules of the road. And it always goes smoothly.
This “demonstration” on the wiggle is such BS.
Thank you.
This sounds like bullshit. Please post a video of this bike ballet.
I’m sure that’s what prevented this from happening- http://www.kionrightnow.com/news/local-news/aidslifecycle-riders-hit-on-highway-1-in-moss-landing/26287068
Aside from the fact that there are roughly zero stop signs between Carmel and San Luis Obispo…
I have seen the AIDS ride in action. I find it very amusing that they ride for 10 miles with a go pro camera attatched to a selfie stick they are holding in one hand, then they get to a stop sign and put a foot down.
I have done the ride many times and if a rider is riding 10 miles with a selfie stick and a GoPro… they will be removed from the ride. They are pretty serious about safety and riding with a selfie stick is definitely a no no.
I call bullshit on this. Say you got 3000 riders. DMV/Police recommends cars should stop at least 3 seconds to have time to look and make sure the intersection is clear. This does not account for the time if there is other right of ways to observe. At 3000 riders, 3 seconds each that’s 9000 seconds.
9000 /60 = 150 minutes
150 /60 = 2.5 hours. It will take a peloton of 3000 riders 2.5 hours to clear each stop sign. I don’t think so bro… This is minimum wait time as well. If a car comes along .. you have to wait longer for it to stop, and travel to the other side of the intersection.
It’s not total bullshit, but Ry isn’t telling the entire story, either. I’m also an ALC rider and the reason why it moves quickly (and nowhere near 2.5 hours) is that we’re stopping 3-4 cyclists abreast at these stop signs to facilitate us getting out of camps and onto the route (read: out of the cities we stop in) quickly. ALC also gives riders two hours to get out of camp most days of the ride, so there’s a lot of natural traffic control as people leave at different times.
This multi-abreast stopping pattern is a bit of a legal grey area, too—law doesn’t really say anything about it.
Coming to a full stop defeats the purpose of riding a bike… it’ll take me much longer to get around now. Lame.
Cars weigh much more than 2,000 lbs
I wonder if SFPD will be giving out tickets to their own bike cops who employ the Idaho stop.
“Critical Manners” is reborn. I wondered how that worked out, but it died before I had gotten around to going.
I just came back from a couple of weeks in Germany where bikes, pedestrians and cars all have separate signals and are all good at obeying them. Talking with my German colleagues, there hasn’t been a fatality involving cars and bikes or pedestrians in their memory. You come back to SF after being in a place where bikes obey traffic rules and you start to understand how incredibly dangerous the habits that SF bikers think are their “right” truly are. This sort of crack down is sorely overdue and protests like this just go to reinforce the bad reputation of entitled cyclists and make our streets even less safe as cyclists double down on ignoring traffic laws and safety. We’ve had a pedestrian killed by a cyclist here. That’s crazy. And it’s way overdue.
One pedestrian killed by a cyclist and it was highlighted heavily in the media limelight. That was also a few years ago. Since then there have been numerous fatalities involving cards running over and killing pedestrians. I assume you are speaking of the Chris Bucchere case, where I think anyone will agree he was reckless. in 2014, 17 people we’re ran over and killed by cars. None of them were due to bicycles running into/over them. Comparatively bikes are a lot safer on the road than cars.
What we really need is to separate the rules for bikes and cars. Create more ‘bike only/friendly’ corridors. More accessibility and simply stop treating them like cars because they aren’t. The german culture around bikes is also a lot different. They don’t have the auto mentality we have here in America. They understand bikes there, and learn to ride an bike and probably everyone there has used it for transportation at one time. That’s not the case here even in SF.
For completeness of bicycle costs and safety vs car commuting, please adjust the figures for the additional years of life that people live by getting exercise, and the billions saved in health care costs.
RE: post #1- All of you cyclists defending someone who ran a red light are hilarious. If a car ran a red light and almost hit you would you jump to their defense. “Oh, well, no biggie, I probably wouldn’t have been killed, so it’s ok!”
I mean Jesus Christ- how can you defend someone who is running red light when you face that danger from cars every day? Is it really so hard to say “yeah, she fucked up, that sucks?”
Yes, lets have the police go after the dangerous unicorns bicyclists , rather than on the cause of most deaths and fatalities. Kris is a troll,
I’m proposing pedestrians start punching cyclists who run stop signs and red lights.
http://metronews.ca/news/toronto/1439299/pedestrian-punches-cyclist-in-t…
How about the punishment be, if cyclists run a red light, they have to go one full month without getting another shitty ugly tattoo?
That was awesome.
Yes, I have a different opinion than you so I’m a troll. Just use the word “troll” and you win the argument! Another dumbfuck.
So what happened??