Bicyclists on LA freeways
Last Friday, around 30 bicycle riders (and a few inline skaters) took to the freeways during rush hour, racing past cars stuck in traffic. According to one of the organizers from Crimanimal Mass, the aim was "to raise questions about the transportation infrastructure. In a city ruled by cars, why is it that you can get places faster on bikes?” LAist has photos of the hijinks. Link (Thanks, Zach Behrens!)
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How is this supposed to "raise questions." Cars are faster than bicycles. When cars are given the necessary space to accelerate, they can go places... fast. Traffic is what happens when TOO MANY cars try to go the same place, at the same time, on questionably-designed roadway systems.
Also, their statement, "In a city ruled by cars, why is it that you can get places faster on bikes?"
I think that's only true during rush-hour, or serious traffic back-ups.
While I am most definitely an advocate of bike-use and HATE fossil fuels, I don't really agree with this unnecessarily cerebral, arrogant technique for "spreading the good word." Do you honestly think that drivers are going to infer anything besides "look at that dick on the bike. I hope traffic clears up so I can hit him with my car."
Anyway, not a great campaign strategy for bike use.
And why do all the photos show the cars passing all the bikes? Traffic didn't even look that bad.
Annoying people is never a good way to spread the word about your cause. Just look at PETA.
And guess what? A motorcycle has the best attributes of both a bicycle and a car.
Lane-splitting is legal in CA, so I'm not sure what the bicycle people are trying to prove since most cagers in LA are probably used to seeing a cycle go by regularly.
I think the point they were trying to make is probably that rush hour in LA now lasts about 6 hours a day and most people, most of the time, do not have the necessary space to accelerate.
I don't think this event was unnecessarily cerebral (in fact it was very simple and straightforward: "I'm moving while you sit") and I certainly don't think it was arrogant. Dangerous, possibly.
What I would have thought as a driver was, "Look at the guy on the bike. He's moving and I'm not."
That's the reaction I've often had on local roads that are backed up while some guy on a bike appears in the rearview mirror then eventually disappears far, far ahead of me.
"Annoying people is never a good way to spread the word about your cause."
Has anyone ever read about the Boston Tea Party?
"That's different, they were patriots."
Motorcycles are too dangerous. I would love one. But I also like my spine the way it is.
"Terrorists", citizen. Are you forgetting 9/11 already?
Has anyone ever read about the Boston Tea Party?
That point is as valid as the one made by these bikers.
Jetpack > car > bicycle.
This is a lovely parade, but when will activists realize that language like "raise questions about the transportation infrastructure" is a huge turnoff to everyone else?
If they really wanted people to "raise questions," then all they have to say is "look how fast we're going! Wheeeeee!" and ditch the high-falutin' artist's statement.
I actually just bought a bike for this very reason. I can get around downtown much faster on a bike than in my car. Bonus, if I use the bus+ bike I can cross the bridges here faster than in a car as well.
It reminds of the situation of bikes flying through crosswalks through red lights. I know if I hit them it wouldn't be my fault, legally, so I shouldn't care. But I also know if killed even a jerk on a bike with my car I'd feel terrible for a very long time. And THAT's why it bugs me.
"A motorcycle has the best attributes of both a bicycle and a car."
Yes, but also the worst of both (relative danger of two-wheel bicycle, carbon emissions of cars).
What's wrong with these people? Get into a car, jerks!
In virtually any city in the United States, bicycles are, indeed, faster than automobiles. This is a fact, especially in more compact cities like Boston or Chicago.
In European cities where gasoline is too expensive for the average citizen to ride a car to and from work every day, the roads are built to accommodate bikes. This is why they have big segregated bike lanes, as opposed too the rare slivers of main road found in our country.
Regardless of how much an angry, frustrated "intellectual" will try and de-validate the idea that bikes are the best means of city travel, they ARE!
David Carrol,
nuclear fusion jet packs are the way of the future.
For me, the point to be made by these people is you shouldn't need an excuse. I think it's awesome to cycle on the free-way during rush hour, when cars are too slow to really do any damage. You don't need to dress it up in faux-politcal clothes.
Bionicrat,
I can't speak for all cyclists, but my attitude has always been worry about yourself; I'm aware of what would happen if a car hits me, and if it ever happens, it won't be my fault. The only accidents I've ever had were caused by trying to roll a cigarette while cycling on deflated tyres [I actually rolled it fine; it was the lighting it that proved fatal and there were no cars, I just fell over--breaking the bottle of wine in my rucksack] and once when I was cycling /in the bike lane/ with traffic blocked up on my right on a bike that had front brakes only. Some /idiot/ pulled right out in front of me, into the lane, to make a right turn. I slammed the brakes and flipped over the handlebars onto his hood. He started laughing. I could have killed him with my bare hands.
Yeah, but I thought the only reason "Nobody Walks in L.A." (or bikes) is that L.A. is so spread out, that it takes forever to get from one point to the other even without traffic?
I drive when I need to, use public transit and bike when I can, weather permitting.
I think offering a variety of options in urban planning is the best way to go.
As for "making a point", I generally have an adverse reaction to people shouting the truth. There's a breed of really aggressive bikers who treat drivers as they enemy while endangering themselves and others by riding like idiots. Just this morning I saw three of these guys run a six way intersection and come within inches of causing several accidents.
Gas is 4 dollars a gallon, hybrid technology is still really expensive and most urban enviornments can't support the number of cars that fill them. The argument is in the facts, not the displays.
In the city or on highways during rush hour, I find it IS faster to get where I'm going on a bike, or at least AS fast. Cars are the least efficient on inner city streets where stop signs and traffic lights make it necessary to stop every 100 yards or so. I can usually beat a car across town, but I'm pretty fast. Something like 18 mph average.
I ride a bike in LA all the time and can report that it is indeed faster during rush hour. My commute takes me 9 miles across town and I follow all traffic laws, by the way. When I need to go further I take my bike on the subway (believe it or not, LA has one). Plus a long commute means not having to go to the gym and reduces the likelihood that I'll need a triple bypass someday.
Accident statistics for bicycles are unreliable, but some of the stats I've seen show that riding a motorcycle is 30 times more dangerous than riding a bicycle, largely because speeds are greater.
And while this freeway ride may call to mind the the stereotype of the angry bike/PETA activist, some of the comments above certainly show motorists to be an angry, unhappy and homicidal bunch.
That's nothing. In NY, you can outwalk traffic, especially buses.
Steam Uniwheel > bicycle > motorcycle || car
If they really want to prove something, these riders should conduct a study where they 'race' commuters from the start to finish locations on multiple days. After several races, they can then put together a data set that we can all see. The method they're using currently wont change a single mind--it'll just enforce those who already have this mindset.
Hi Lovely Boing-Boingers. Lets Discuss!
It's not solely a SPEED statement. We're everyday commuters forced to ride bicycles by climbing gas prices and the long commute with the other hundreds of thousands of 2 ton vehicles which mostly are being driven by 1 person.
And yes the traffic IS moving fast. It happened to be one of the lowest traffic days for that time in history, thought to be due to gas prices. And we were STILL getting places faster.
Enjoy the show! The Freeway Ride II is being uploaded TODAY!!!
The bicyclists who took to the Freeway are no less patriotic than those who broke British harbor laws and dumped tea into Boston Harbor.
The distance from downtown Los Angeles to the beach at Santa Monica is the same as the distance between Lower Manhattan's Battery Park to the Bronx.
There is no reason that there isn't a better transportation system in place in Los Angeles. Fifty years ago greedy oil and car corporations colluded to keep mass transit and alternative transportation out of Los Angeles. Now that we have gridlock and $4.00 a gallon gas, the "patriots" are prepared to fight back...on a bicycle.
Assholes.
"I can get places in the city faster on a bicycle"
Sure, because you don't stop at stop signs or for red lights.
I live in a small (2 mill. inhabitants, but growing fast) city. Here, WALKING is faster than driving.
The problem really is that "Ride a bike!" is not a total solution to congestion. Reliable public transit, decreased reliance on distant food sources (all those trucks on the road) and workable solutions for those with health issues precluding them from riding are all key to making urban and suburban spaces more friendly. Add in variables like weather (and yes, there are people who bike in the snow here in the midwest, but I think that's a minority) and terrain and it's a really complex issue.
It's worth tackling, if anything it's the great urban challenge of this century, but shouting at "cagers" and drivers going all Bruce banner on cyclists is just noise.
It's about 15 miles from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica. During rush hour that drive takes about an hour.
15 mph on a bike is easy.
As an LA pedestrian, I can agree that auto and SUV drivers can really suck. I've been hit in more crosswalks than I care to recount -- well, three times in the last seven years. If I wasn't extra vigilant, I'd be dead. Fortunately for me, I've been able to get almost completely out of the way. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that a huge percentage of SUV drivers are hopelessly clueless, and shouldn't be piloting tons of steel.
That being said, some cyclists are also an incredible hazard. There seems to be a breed of arrogant cyclists who think they deserve to have *your* right of way. I've been assaulted by a cyclist because I was in the crosswalk, and he didn't want to stop for the light.
I certainly don't mean to impugn all cyclists. But the ones with the attitude are a real problem.
In traditional LA style, I want to ask: Can't we all just get along?
The guys on BBC's Top Gear had a race like this across London. One by car, one on bicycle, one on public transport and one on the Thames.
YT has it in three entertaining bits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvlCwvrzsRg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsKgzv_Cm-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROXzn5sEyuE
The biggest problem is that LA was designed for cars and so really, nothing outside of the end of all car-food is going to reconfigure the sprawling wasteland that 'needs' commuting.
I'm biased, I ride everywhere, I don't even own a car anymore and I match if not beat all my coworkers to work. Sure I only live 3 miles away, but you know what, I chose that with biking in mind. I also choose my route to be the one with the densest car traffic to let them watch me pass them again and again in the stop-n-start traffic.
Crimanimals: Mad Props.
I find Critical Mass annoying, dumb and ineffective for adding to traffic and raising the antagonism between cyclists and cars. This is a helluva lot smarter, by comparison.
I'd rephrase that question to read,
..motorcycles and scooters, too.
I have a dream! In my dream, the legitimate, utilitarian bicyclists responsibly use the carpool lanes & bike lanes. Traffic jams decrease. Personal health and outdoor activity increases. City smog decreases.
I have a dream! In my dream, the infantile, hostile criminalmass gangs regularly get whacked & sprawled helpless on the road by handy dandy baseball bats extended from every new SUV sold this year.
Factory rebate, too. I have a dream. *sigh.
My one comment is: how the heck does that guy in the upper left image get off his bike?
how effing stupid. what is this supposed to prove? that you can ride your bike on the freeway like an idiot and risk death?
there was a bike event in chicago a couple months ago. some idiot kept on riding his bike into a major intersection (where 3 streets intersect) against a solidly red light. what happened? he got hit by a car who had a green light.
and now you have these fools riding around on an expressway in los angeles? i'm scared to drive on LA highways IN A CAR.
what are these idiots' ultimate aim? to get everyone onto bikes? to show that LA has traffic congestion problems? most of these people are just working stiffs trying to get to work.
maybe these idiots' efforts would have been better spent, or at least more productive, lobbying villaraigosa to expand public transportation systems, which LA is sorely lacking.
god, what a stupid waste of time. i hope people threw heavy objects at these bikers or ran some of them off the road. yes, i hope drivers inflicted injury on them. if someone got hit, it would be virtually assured that it was their fault. on top of that, you have a traumatized driver that was simply trying to get to work, and instead, hits some effing moron trying to make a pointless point by biking on a dangerous expressway. yeah, real smart.
If they wanted to communicate a point, they should probably pick an activity that didn't antagonize the people who already know that traffic sucks.
A dumb, crazy stunt. I'm just glad to hear that nobody got killed doing this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNZSe8Q8-Iw
All of you who wish death and injury to anybody should be ashamed of yourselves! It's unbelievable that here in America that is the only solution that some of you can think of. Threaten people with violence. Shame on you!!!!!!
America has changed the world with it's protests, civil rights fights and by standing up to our basic rights as people. We would not be a Democratic Country today if it wasn't for those who acted against the norm!
You should be thankful for all cyclists, pedestrians, and mass transit users on the road because they are one less car in front of you. Because they won't take your parking spot at the grocery store. Because they are the ones who will shape the future and make our communities a better place to live.
Stop wishing ill on them because they do something that is dangerous to themselves! They are not hurting anybody. They are not carrying guns and weapons. They are not terrorizing anybody. They are using our roads that is their right to use. They are not the ones who kill 40,000 people each year.
Shame on you who have violent thoughts! You should not be on the road!
I love you, actout!
I wince every time a bicycling article gets posted, because you can always count on a lonely, deranged 10% of the population wishing death on the carefree and loose-limbed.
I can't remember many pre-Internet debates ending with the pat conclusion that people need to be shot or decapitated with baseball bats. I wonder a lot, Is this a new thing?
One correction -- it's at least 43,000 motor-related deaths per year. Around 11,000 of them are caused by rollovers, those sudden twitches of the wheel that topsyturvily test the inhabitants' faith in the good gospel of the market that they ride safe, supreme and on high.
actout touches on a interesting point.
Over 40,000 people die in auto related injuries a year. To put that number in perspective, the US death toll the four years of WWII was 418,000. From 2001-2004 the US lost nearly 450,000 people in auto-related accidents.
On the other side of the equation, 750 bicyclists are killed every year by automobiles in the US. Statistically it is safer to ride a bicycle than drive a car.
If we ever want to stop the wanton killing and maiming of Americans...we should figure out how to stop the automobile from being a weapon of terror and destruction.
"i hope people threw heavy objects at these bikers or ran some of them off the road. yes, i hope drivers inflicted injury on them. if someone got hit, it would be virtually assured that it was their fault."
Well, this is basically the feeling I get from certain drivers when I try to quietly make my way to work every morning... Drivers are the ones traumatized, eh? Deep breath....
I actually have had heavy objects thrown at me for daring to share the road with cars (never mind that I have gotten fines for riding on the sidewalk).
Often times when drivers try to run me off the road or are otherwise assholes to me, I can catch up to them at the next intersection so I can flick them off.
But I wish I had some nice hard to remove stickers I could slap onto their back windows that say "asshole on board"
I honestly don't understand why people insist on driving everywhere.
Even in parts of Manhattan with narrow cobblestone roads that were clearly never intended for the automobile, I find stiffs searching for spots and plodding along at an average of 2.5 mph in bumper to bumper traffic.
How pathetic is that?
And seeing every inch of curb covered with parked cars, I have to wonder, are we *really* better off, infrastructure wise, than we were 100 years ago?
Would it really be so bad if our streets were almost devoid of cars, and every city just had really excellent light rail service?
I wouldn't mind.
Anti-bicycle people are cultural luddites.
We will see what happens when gas is ten dollars a gallon and our communities are overpopulated, IF the earth survives that long for it to happen.
I believe that the culture that surrounds cycling is so far ahead of its time that the average person can't handle yet.
Big ups HOMEGROWN EVOLUTION, SKD, crimanimalz, ACTOUT, MARTYSUMMER
I'm kind of pissed that more people are being forced out of there motorized vehicles and on to bicycles (and other human powered transport) because now we have to deal with you assholes. Thanks for screwing up the environment and my "subculture."
To locomotivebreath1901, Sushi, Gainclone, etc. "SEE YOU ON THE STREETS!"
Tomorrow (TODAY!) is bike to work day (or bike instead of going to day if your hot). Try it out, its F.U.N.
This is great, I didn't read all of the comments but someone could mention that bikes are almost always faster than subway or buses when you include walking to the stop, waiting and transfers. In fact when I ride along a high frequency bus route in Boston, such as the "silver line" on Washington Street, I invariably pass 2 if not 3 silver line buses (and never see them again!) Bikes can also sometimes also be faster because there is no need to find a parking space or stop and buy gas, or to observe traffic laws for the most part. Some commutes on highways are pretty much always congested, so a bike would probably always be faster in those cases, and the ride much more enjoyable!
I appreciate what they're doing, however one night, after working an incredibly long day on a tv show (16 hours), I was on my way home to Hollywood and these guys came cruising down the corner, unescorted by any LAPD whatsoever, riding down the wrong side of the street, taking up the whole street, a few almost rode straight into me and then several started to scream at me, "why was I in such a hurry?"I lived and worked in Hollywood for 12 years and I was trying to get safely home from work down a side street at 5 mph, late at night. "We have the right of way" No you don't. Bicyclists need to follow the same laws as motorists while riding on the street, this includes not riding into oncoming traffic. Several guys on bikes started to scream at me. Yes, thats right, road rage. In other words, their point not only endangered my safety but their own member's safety and the screaming and yelling didnt help their cause.
I think we can agree that while asshole drivers are a far more common sight, asshole cyclists do exist.
But it's easy to ignore and forget how many cyclists quietly stay to the right and obey the lights.
We remember unexpected things, including bad examples, and we talk about them. No one ever says "I drove home today and passed ten unexceptional cyclists scattered throughout my commute." But when you do something unexpected (legal or not) you get attention. Sure it's a dangerous way to get attention but they're not risking anyone's life but their own.
The fact that we're all talking about this and it's been on the local news and no one got hurt tells me it worked.
This stunt didn't turn any cyclists into drivers but I would be surprised if all this buzz didn't bring a few drivers to the fun side (even if it isn't you).
If you live in LA, come for a ride. The second friday of the month midnight ridazz is the classic awesome ride
http://midnightridazz.com
http://calendar.bikeboom.com
Why do this on the freeway, instead of city streets where bicyclists are actually legally allowed to ride, and where the comparative time is thus a lot more meaningful?
I feel silly to have to keep responding to these "bad cyclist encounters", but here I go again.
@ katylenny
Picture being in the minority on a daily basis on your commute to work, you on a sleek lightweight vehicle surrounded by honking metal giants. Or maybe a quiet night where you're swiftly making your way across town and an SUV decides to speed up and swerve within inches of you on purpose, occupants yelling at you about not belonging on the road. This is beyond immitation or road rage, in a civilized society, it should count as attempted murder.
I hope you can understand why some cyclists choose to act wild like the ones on the group ride you encountered. The few times we have power in numbers, it's almost expected to see some of us blowing off steam, whether it's misdirected or not.
@Alexis
Check out the links at the bottom of my other post -- these sorts of rides happen nearly every day of the week on surface streets across Los Angeles. But they don't make the local news or instigate hundreds of discussions (online and off) about the bicycle's place as transportation.
"Do you honestly think that drivers are going to infer anything besides "look at that dick on the bike. I hope traffic clears up so I can hit him with my car.""
Well, I'm not an asshole criminal, so yes.