Jules said:

Glad you're ok Jim. New York pedestrians are a breed apart.

I reject the premise that public perception equates to safety. Yesterday somebody excoriated me (a commuter cyclist no less) about how "I'm the kind of person who gives cyclists a bad name, blah blah)

Good bad or ugly cyclists aren't getting killed because of public perception. At the risk of siding with Boardman on the helmet issue - YES it's foolish to generate needless bad PR and the same can be said of failing to wear a helmet - but neither are the man problem for cyclists OR pedestrians.

How many times has anyone of us heard someone say, "wow,that driver gives all drivers a bad name."?

Jim, I am amazed at your restraint. You did the right thing to get on her case about her behavior — looking at your phone AND jaywalking is egregious! She could have put you in hospital. When I see people doing this (while intersecting my path) I have the impulse to bat the phone out of their hand or douse them with the drink bottle. 

That said, with the odd exception I think getting annoyed at peds for not being aware is like getting annoyed at the Mets for FAIL or angry at the rain. I enjoy the freedom we have in NYC to jaywalk (responsibly). Bell + blinky light helps.

I find that a Xanax before riding through the city reduces the stress levels tremendously.

Glad you are OK Jim.

Battering.

RAM.

This guy threatened me with his car today on Jay street; gunning the engine and chasing up behind me... because apparently murder is funny.

A least you have his license plate.

And his vin:

don't worry.  If you're dead, it would just be an accident.  Because "crash" is too loaded a word.  

http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/07/23/crashes_not_accidents_campaign_is_it_misleading_to_call_a_car_crash_an_accident.html

mugwump said:

don't worry.  If you're dead, it would just be an accident.  Because "crash" is too loaded a word.  

http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/07/23/crashes_not_accidents_campaign_is_it_misleading_to_call_a_car_crash_an_accident.html

"Collision" is the technical term.

Jules said:

mugwump said:

don't worry.  If you're dead, it would just be an accident.  Because "crash" is too loaded a word.  

http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/07/23/crashes_not_accidents_campaign_is_it_misleading_to_call_a_car_crash_an_accident.html

"Collision" is the technical term.

Accidents happen when drivers are playing around with their two-ton toys.  

After a life of motorsports here are two things I'm certain of

-there's no such thing as a coincidence
-it takes two people to have an accident

If there is one thing I am certain will come out of this, it will be a crackdown on cyclists in Riverside park.

http://gothamist.com/2015/08/24/toddler_cyclist_hit_run_riverside_p.php

Ugh.

That's not surprising, there are signs that remind cyclists to slow down in that section of Riverside Park but many don't give a damn.

Well that's a living nightmare

This came across my electronic transom

From: "Daniel Flanzig" <Dflanzig@flanziglaw.com>
Date: February 11, 2016 at 1:01:15 PM EST
To: <communications@5bbc.org>
Subject: New York's 3 foot rule campaign

As you may know, NYBC is working to pass a “3 foot” law in NY. 

Would you consider posting in your weekly newsletter with an easy link to ask your State legislators to support? 

Thanks. 

Link is below. 

Best, 

Daniel 

http://nybc.net/take-action/?vvsrc=%2fcampaigns%2f44494%2frespond%3fplatform%3dhootsuite

 

Daniel Flanzig, Esq.

Flanzig and Flanzig LLP

On my way back up Flatbush yesterday, the dollar vans were dueling.  I saw one van in particular driving really aggressively to get ahead, swerving, moving lanes without signaling, speeding,etc.

I pulled up to a light, and the van was on my right.  Nothing to say, I just lean down to check my quick release.  

the driver rolls down his window, leans out, and in a friendly voice, says, "you know, you should be really careful.  This road is really dangerous."

I wanted to say, "no thanks to you," or "it would be a lot safer if you drove within the law," or any number of more colorful retorts.  

what would you have said?

Riding in this town it's incredibly rare to have a river share a friendly word, even if it's clueless. It's too tempting to heap

"the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar... burst his hot heart's shell"

upon the unsuspecting driver/bystander.

This challenge seems to be the foremost one faces living here. It's a never ending battle.

I'd have gone with "Thanks man - it means a lot to know you're looking out for me. It's scary as shit out here."

Jules said:

I'd have gone with "Thanks man - it means a lot to know you're looking out for me. It's scary as shit out here."

I think I went with, "Thanks.  I'm doing my best."

whenever I speak at a driver, I try to keep it short and sweet. and i try to come off slightly terrified.  my goal is for them to perhaps come close to appreciating how near i was to death/serious physical injury.  i feel people are more receptive to weak cyclist explaining how vulnerable s/he is than to the angry cyclist insulting the driver's decisions.  

i think most people who drive cars and not bikes bikes aren't malicious or reckless, they just have no idea what its like to ride a bike and how vulnerable a cyclist is to a car that moves 4 feet to the right while going only 30 mph.  in a car that feels like nothing...but on a bike, suddenly getting rammed at 30 mph by a car is going to put you out of commission for a while.

so i try to emphasize how a specific action they took caused me a specific, articulable risk, and suggest easy steps they could take to avoid it.  i also try to stay calm and approach it like a conversation because if i just start hollering at them they are going to (continue?) thinking cyclists are crazy people.  

generally if a driver has done something egregious, i'll roll up to their window at the next light, knock on it (which always throws them off and probably bumps their heartbeat up about 20 bpm because in their minds i ceased to exist when once they passed me), and say something along the lines of "excuse me, but please use your turn signal next time.  you cut into the bike lane and almost ran me over.  i drive in the city too and i know sometimes i forget to look.  but if you tap me with your car, my head can go crunch under your wheels without you even noticing."

or maybe that's what i think i'll do...i definitely yelled at someone and gave them the finger the other night (not in kit!)

i used to ride around with a gopro on all the time and i did record some close calls and a frame-killing crash that resulted from me swerving to avoid a car that blew a stop sign.  some of these things that are so palpably dangerous to us while we're on the bike just don't look that threatening to non-cyclists because they've never crashed a bike at 30 mph.  people who drive cars just don't appreciate the damage differential between their car and a person riding a bicycle.  hitting another car in your car at 30 mph is going to result in no serious injury as long as you're in a modern car.  just doesn't seem that dangerous to the average driver...so i try to explain that

My best one (to date) was a guy who chopped me on 5th Avenue in Brooklyn; he tried to run the next red to avoid me but I caught up to him at the light (his window was down) and did a sort of half-smile bro grin like we'd both just ducked a fly ball and said, "whoa that was a close one, wasn't it?"

I think it put us both on the same side of having nearly avoided something bad - he took it well but TBH I loath the fact that we have to do this elaborate nicey-dance...

You guys are better people than I am and with actions and patience I strive to match.

I usually impress upon a driver — 99.999% male drivers — that their car weighs four thousand pounds and you could have killed me you ****** ***** **** **** bastard.

So this happened yesterday in Piermont.

Officer claimed I went thru a red light, which light I still don't know, if I did, I never even noticed the light. 

The officer, Detective Holihan, in a white unmarked car, seemed like quite a big wig. He was actually very nice, and seemed more interested in testing whether I was an ass, than lecturing or even giving me trouble. We had a pretty respectful exchange.

Still, well, got a summons for not having a bell.

Unless someone here advices otherwise, my intuition is to plea guilty by mail and pay whatever fine --- as I in fact, had no bell.

Else, I can appear in Court in Piermont on August 3rd.

Be mindful out there. Ride respectfully.

What's the fine?

Don't know, you submit the plea, and then they let me know -- or at least that is what I think I understood.

fine = $0-150, surcharge is another $88 

bicycle infractions 1236B; should be around $90 no surcharge.

That's outrageous.