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Sandbox - Trash Talk, Tall Tales & Flotsam... It's a mess in here!

2843 comments · 30803 views
Bruce van-Schalkwyk
Dec 29, 2019 at 02:46 PM
Local law 2019/154 went into effect 12/20/2019.
https://legistar.council.nyc.gov/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3872945&GUID=DDBE2BA8-D100-4661-B9D1-00B9E367B25C

Bicycles can now cross intersections following the pedestrian walk signals.  This started as a pilot program during the summer at select LPI intersections, and is now local law at all LPI intersections.
A Leading Pedestrian Indicator is a walk signal that allows peds to cross while all lights are still red, giving people extra time to get into the roadway before the lights turn green for turning cars.
This means you can legally cross on a red light, if the XWalk signal is white, when you're on a bike.
This doesn't mean you won't get a ticket, only that you will have it thrown out in court.
It's pretty much the law catching up to what we already do, but it's the law now, with few announcements in the news.
RobertMullen
Jan 25, 2020 at 01:36 PM
Bit of a long read, but I had a very strange conversation with an Alpine Police Officer last night:

In October, I was out for a ride up to Nyak on my own and while heading north on 9w, saw a cyclist across the street on the ground. There was no one else near him, his bike was nearby, and he clearly crashed. I scooted over to see what was going on and he was in a bad state- seemed really concussed, was bleeding a bit. He couldn’t really give me an answer for what happened and how he was doing which was scary. Another group of cyclists stopped moments later, I filled them in and called an ambulance. I explained what I wrote above to the operator and a police officer arrived to our group. The guy was able to talk to the officer at this point and I moved on north. 

MONTHS LATER I get this phone call from an Alpine Police Officer saying he had some questions about the incident. He said the guy felt like he must have struck by a car but can’t recall any of the details. He said maybe the person that called the ambulance had more information. The officer then says something along the lines of “Now I’m not trying to accuse you of anything, because you sound like a Good Samaritan on the 911 call and it doesn’t sound like you ran this cyclist over with your car and then called the police...” 

At this point, I am very confused and say “What? I was on a bicycle.” The officer pauses for a second and says that the injured cyclist thought the caller must have been the driver that hit him. I explained that all of the people at the scene were cyclists and none of us saw the actual crash. I probably should have left it at that, but I mentioned that I have an uploaded GPX file of my ride from that day. The officer asked me to email it to him. Unfortunately, I have a bunch of my usual dumb notes and titles: 


It’s wild to me that for the first half of this conversation, the officer thought I ran over another human with a car! Maybe Strava will add a legal alibi feature to its new Summit Subscription. 
JohnOlsson
Jan 25, 2020 at 01:56 PM
Well good thing you had the data to back up your story. That's wild...thanks for sharing. Can't assume the officer on scene took a half decent report. 
Jules
Jan 25, 2020 at 02:05 PM
Wow. Great to hear you stopped and did the right thing. Definitely feel for the guy who got hit. 
RobertMullen
Jan 25, 2020 at 06:14 PM
Jules said:
Wow. Great to hear you stopped and did the right thing. Definitely feel for the guy who got hit. 
For sure, he was in a real bad way. It was hard hard to see and hopefully he’s back at it. 
mugwump
Jan 27, 2020 at 03:00 AM
RobertMullen said:
Jules said:
Wow. Great to hear you stopped and did the right thing. Definitely feel for the guy who got hit. 
For sure, he was in a real bad way. It was hard hard to see and hopefully he’s back at it. 
Did you get a name?  I'm sure we can find him if you have it.
RobertMullen
Jan 27, 2020 at 04:53 PM
mugwump said:
RobertMullen said:
Jules said:
Wow. Great to hear you stopped and did the right thing. Definitely feel for the guy who got hit. 
For sure, he was in a real bad way. It was hard hard to see and hopefully he’s back at it. 
Did you get a name?  I'm sure we can find him if you have it.
I didn't catch his name unfortunately. He was pretty out of it, so medical attention was the priority at the time. 
mugwump
Jan 27, 2020 at 06:44 PM
RobertMullen said:
I didn't catch his name unfortunately. He was pretty out of it, so medical attention was the priority at the time. 
This isn't a criticism of you, but a wonder of what to do in this situation.

Should, when one of us comes upon a person alone and out of it, make a point of getting their name and contact info, even going so far as to reach into the pockets and find a phone or ID or something?  Would it be helpful for the EMTs?  Would it be a way of being helpful to the person--in terms of being able to track down friends or family and alert them?

My sister one day came across a solo cyclist bleeding from his head and really out of it.  She also called for an ambulance, and one came.  But she also didn't get the name of the person.  She had been somewhat haunted by the sight of the guy, and fears he died.  
Jules
Jan 27, 2020 at 07:34 PM
My first responder hat is dusty with age but here are my 2 cents.

Your priorities should be in order (1,2,3) everything after that is courtesy
  1. Scene Safety: make sure the mechanism of injury is understood and no longer a threat (think rocks that are still falling, dogs that are still biting, cars that are still oncoming). This category includes making sure it's safe for you to get involved.
  2. call 911
  3. protect the patient's ABC (airway, breathing and circulation)
  4. Try and determine the level of consciousness (do they know what happened, what day it is, their phone number). Keep checking in on this as it can come & go
  5. If conscious determine any other medical conditions and/or medication
  6. If the weather demands try and keep the patient warm & dry. Not hot, just out of the rain and with some extra layers if it's cold
  7. Anyone they want you to call? Were they with anyone? If they have their phone this is a good time to text from their phone to yours. 
  8. Time to reassess the environment and safety. Are they out of the way of traffic? Is the bike there?
  9. Reassess mechanism of injury. Are their bike parts from more than 1 bike? two sets of sunglasses or four bottles and one bike might mean another rider is in a ditch somewhere
  10. If you choose to stick around for EMS, etc. You can be helpful by figuring out places the bike can be taken/left - this is a logistical headache that often gets overlooked. I've seen success asking the nearest bike shop to send someone to get it, sometimes the cops/EMS will take it with the victim
That's the list of things to do. There is a longer common sense thread on stuff NOT to do.
  1. Don't move them any more than absolutely necessary
  2. Don't feed them or encourage them to drink
  3. Don't try to diagnose them
  4. Don't reassemble their bike so they can ride home all fucked up. If it makes sense you can use a mangled bike as an excuse for them to wait for help

Scott Kuhlke
Jan 27, 2020 at 07:35 PM
@RobertMullen Regarding Strava being used in court cases; I have a lawyer friend who is using Strava records for a case involving a cyclist / car crash and seeking to match past behavior on a certain route with the actual crash.  He's a cyclist himself and has subpoenaed records from Strava. 
Jules
Jan 27, 2020 at 07:38 PM
I think Velonews.com has a cycling lawyer who talked about this specifically. If I remember the answer was yeah, strava records go to court sometimes.
RobertMullen
Jan 27, 2020 at 10:26 PM
mugwump said:
RobertMullen said:
I didn't catch his name unfortunately. He was pretty out of it, so medical attention was the priority at the time. 
This isn't a criticism of you, but a wonder of what to do in this situation.

Should, when one of us comes upon a person alone and out of it, make a point of getting their name and contact info, even going so far as to reach into the pockets and find a phone or ID or something?  Would it be helpful for the EMTs?  Would it be a way of being helpful to the person--in terms of being able to track down friends or family and alert them?

My sister one day came across a solo cyclist bleeding from his head and really out of it.  She also called for an ambulance, and one came.  But she also didn't get the name of the person.  She had been somewhat haunted by the sight of the guy, and fears he died.  
None taken! As per @Jule@Jules 's note about consciousness, unfortunately he didn't seem like he was in a state provide much information and frankly, I didn't even think to ask. 

 Scott Kuhlke said:
@RobertMullen Regarding Strava being used in court cases; I have a lawyer friend who is using Strava records for a case involving a cyclist / car crash and seeking to match past behavior on a certain route with the actual crash.  He's a cyclist himself and has subpoenaed records from Strava. 
And yeah! Its pretty nifty in that sense. I also read an article about soldiers accidentally leaking confidential coordinates by posting their training on strava... 

David Yang
Feb 01, 2020 at 01:29 AM
Huh.

https://ryanandrewlangdon.wordpress.com/2020/01/28/today-i-learned-that-not-everyone-has-an-internal-monologue-and-it-has-ruined-my-day/
Jules
Feb 01, 2020 at 02:46 PM
David Yang said:
Huh.

https://ryanandrewlangdon.wordpress.com/2020/01/28/today-i-learned-that-not-everyone-has-an-internal-monologue-and-it-has-ruined-my-day/
This is madness.
mugwump
Mar 06, 2020 at 06:41 PM
It seems that the NYPD is targeting cyclists running red lights on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.

I got two tickets today and checked in with J&S Cycles, which is 112 and ACP.  The woman working there said that the police are in unmarked cars, staying between 110 and 130.


Jules
Mar 06, 2020 at 08:53 PM
TWO?!? That seems a bit over the top.
Bruce van-Schalkwyk
Mar 06, 2020 at 09:44 PM
That sucks.  I've seen them doing some targeted ticketing in bike lanes this week, which is odd because they usually don't set up until the end of the month for their quotas.
Each month, I see them on 1st ave at 19th Street and also 20 or 21st street, at the same time, with groups of cyclists getting tickets at each place.
I can't find the specific number, but 20-24 deaths so far this year from cars and trucks. 
Updates to infrastructure could make all of this unnecessary: narrow the lanes, have no traffic lights where peds and cars intersect, no more free street parking in one of the most expensive real estate places in the world, increase ticket fines, widen sidewalks, protected bike lanes, specific hours for commercial delivery, cameras over every light, daylighting, on and on.
mugwump
Mar 06, 2020 at 10:28 PM
Jules said:
TWO?!? That seems a bit over the top.
Indeed.  

Seems almost counter-productive.  I'm much more willing to go to court over this than a "failure to yield" ticket.  

As I still have yet to go to court from the last time I was ticketed, and that was over three years ago, I wonder how long this one will take to adjudicate.
Phil Maronilla
Mar 10, 2020 at 09:54 PM
In case anyone here is running the NYC Half this Sunday, it's been cancelled.  

@RobertPeras
RobertPeras
Mar 11, 2020 at 09:41 PM
@Phil Maronilla I didn’t get it, but thanks.
jim_nelson
Mar 12, 2020 at 04:37 PM
OBRA (Oregon Bicycle Racing Association which is their own version of USAC) has suspended all racing for four weeks.

mugwump
Mar 15, 2020 at 08:09 PM
I had planned this week as a rest week, but I knew there'd still be quite a bit of commuting miles.
Last Sunday was off completely.  The first day completely off the bike and away from exercise since 12/31.  Monday, I returned to commuting.  But I had more commuting than expected.
It looks like 80 miles were of the commuting variety.  And I still managed another 141 miles.  


Gotta get better at rest weeks.
David Yang
Mar 23, 2020 at 01:03 PM
Pro bike racers aren't the only ones going virtual:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/22/21184192/sim-racing-coronavirus-f1-nascar-iracing-veloce-esports-max-verstappen-lando-norris
DanSztanga
Mar 27, 2020 at 11:22 PM
https://www.strava.com/activities/3225506198/segments/80837175187

@JasonFugett , I'm coming for you. :p


I was expecting less people to be out. I should have maybe chosen a less crowded route. Tried my best to keep 10 to 15 feet away from everybody, but that was harder to do further toward the Verazano.
David Yang
Mar 28, 2020 at 04:39 PM
We went to Costco/food shopping this week in about 3wks. The shopping experience was actually better than the standard because they limited the number if people going in, and everyone was cognizant of personal space. We only waited to get in...maybe 5-10 minutes. Worth it.

What wasn't worth it, was sanitizing everything before bringing it into the house and then sanitizing the floors, doorknobs, counters etc.

But hey we've got enough food for the next month!
Jules
Apr 01, 2020 at 03:45 PM
Well if anybody needs a laugh - my 8 year old put masking tape over every screen in the house. Ipads, laptops, tv... the glue residue is... impressive.


Dan Reiners
Apr 01, 2020 at 04:08 PM
new meaning of blue screen of death?
Jules
Apr 01, 2020 at 04:13 PM
Dan Reiners said:
new meaning of blue screen of death?
More like the sticky screen of parental


David Yang
Apr 01, 2020 at 04:32 PM
You need good ventilation, but auto windshield product called invisible glass works miracles. Haven't tested on plastic screens, but it worked great on sticker residue on our TV.
mugwump
Apr 01, 2020 at 05:10 PM
David Yang said:
You need good ventilation, but auto windshield product called invisible glass works miracles. Haven't tested on plastic screens, but it worked great on sticker residue on our TV.
I think mineral oil or vaseline are the cheap ways to do it.