like the doppler effect stuff, you know?

on the way home today, i was stopped at a red light at telegraph/40th. i thought i had stopped in the middle front of the lane, but as the lane was wide, it turned out i was stopped slightly to the right.

so then a car pulled up to my left.

nothing happens.

then on the green and we both started moving, and of course the car accelerates faster,

and a white guy in the passenger side shouts at me, “i like your booz!”

me: ???!????

dude, you gotta understand i can’t hear what you’re saying when you’re moving away from me. if you want to say something to me, say it when we’re going the same speed right alongside each other. if you say something and you’re driving away, don’t expect me to catch what you’re saying. 

if you want to say something to anyone on the road and you’re not stopped, limit your message to one or two words. two syllables max is the best.

this has happened quite a few times, and the next five minutes afterwards, all i do is wonder what the person could have said.

did he said boobs? but he couldn’t have really seen them from his point of view. and i’m wearing a sports bra and they are kinda squished because of the way i wear my messenger bag. or did he say shoes? my brown and pink etnies are old. or did he say booze? but that doesn’t make any sense. what about my bag? he likes my messenger bag with reflective binding?

no idea.

in NYC and beyond:

New York is set to launch its bike-share program, Citi Bike, on Memorial Day. New Yorkers have met the impending influx of bikes with both excitement and dread. The mixed reactions are unsurprising: Antagonism has long simmered between pedestrians and cyclists in New York. As bicycle commuting has increased, so have eruptions of hostility between the two factions: These days, no intersection is immune to shouted insults and raised middle fingers. Then there are the daily incursions onto enemy turf: Loiterers defiantly lolling in bike lanes; bike-mounted scoundrels barreling down sidewalks. With 5,500 new bicycles about to hit the streets of New York, the situation is liable to escalate to all-out warfare…

Five Rules for People Walking

1. Don’t stand in the bike lane when you’re waiting to cross the street. This is huge. New Yorkers hate standing on the sidewalk; it sometimes feels like everyone is playing a version of hot lava in which the street is the only refuge. But as you position yourself to get a head start before the light changes, take care not to plant yourself in the middle of a bike lane (or, if there’s no bike lane, on the edge of the lane where cyclists often ride). This goes double if you wear music-blaring headphones that make it impossible for cyclists to alert you to their approach.

2. Look before you open your cab door, and get out of the way quickly after exiting your cab. Would you open a cab door into a traffic lane without checking first to see if a car was coming? Then don’t open a cab door into a bike lane without checking first to see if a bike is coming. Would you take your sweet time lingering in the middle of a heavily trafficked street after exiting a cab? Then get out of the way as soon as possible after stepping into a bike lane.

3. Don’t walk or run in the bike lane. If you absolutely must walk or run in the bike lane because, oh, a flash mob has broken into dance and taken over the entire sidewalk, be sure to walk against traffic so you can get out of the way when a cyclist approaches.

4. Jaywalk with caution. Jaywalking is a long, proud New York tradition, one that we would never dream of asking anyone to give up. On the whole, New York pedestrians are very good at looking into traffic, gauging how fast those distant cars are going, and timing their illicit walking to avoid getting hit by a car. Now you need to do the same to avoid getting hit by bicycles. Every time you think of crossing even though the orange hand is illuminated—or when you think of crossing outside the bounds of a crosswalk—make a point of looking for approaching cyclists. If your visibility is limited, don’t cross.

5. Don’t get offended or angry when cyclists ring their bells at you or yell at you. Most cyclists aren’t being smug sadists; they’re just trying to keep you safe by preventing a collision. (And if you follow the above rules, cyclists probably won’t ring their bells at you very often.)

Five Rules for People Cycling

1. Make yourself visible when riding at night. Pedestrians know to look for car headlights, but far too many bike riders forgo being clearly visible after sundown. For pedestrians’ safety, and yours, please don’t camouflage yourself. At the very least, you should wear brightly colored or reflective clothing. An even better idea: Equip your bike with a light. It’s the law, after all. (Thankfully, Citi Bikes come equipped with reflectors and self-powered lights.)

2. Don’t ride against traffic. There are lots of one-way streets in New York, and pedestrians are used to looking toward the oncoming traffic to figure out whether it’s safe to cross. If you’re riding against traffic, they won’t be able to see you, which makes a collision much more likely. (It’s also incredibly annoying to other cyclists.)

3. Don’t ride on the sidewalk. Just don’t. There are already hordes of slow-moving tourists and distracted walkers bumping into one another while playing with their phones. No need to add to the chaos by forcing people to dodge bikes as well.

4. Run red lights with caution. Just as New York pedestrians love to jaywalk, so do some New York cyclists hurry through red lights when there aren’t any cars coming. That’s fine—so long as you do so carefully. If you’re going to “jayride,” slow down and check for people in the crosswalk first, so as not to hit any pedestrians who may not anticipate you coming while cars are stopped at a light. This is especially important if you’re riding on the dotted line in between cars in the car lane—pedestrians hate being the subject of sneak attacks from in between cars. And while you’re waiting to slip past the red light, don’t just park your bike right in the middle of the crosswalk—pedestrians should not have to walk all the way around you when they have the right of way.

5. Don’t bring your bike on the subway during rush hour. Bikes are the biggest waste of train space during a packed commute—and unlike strollers, there’s no good reason for them to be on a subway. There are few things more frustrating than being forced to rub up against a stranger just because a bike is taking up room meant for five additional bodies—except for finding oneself unable to exit the train because a bike is blocking the doors.

slate, 22.05.13.

A spectacularly ill-advised tweet from a young driver, describing knocking a cyclist off his bike, has led to a police investigation and widespread social media outrage.

A Norwich woman, whose name is ‘Emma Way’ on Twitter, tweeted: “Definitely knocked a cyclist off his bike earlier – I have right of way he doesn’t even pay road tax #bloodycyclists”.

But the driver received a nasty shock after receiving a tweet from Norwich Police, advising her to hand herself in.

Her message was retweeted hundreds of times, with many pointing out that, in fact, road tax does not exist.

and get to the last sentence of the article: huffpo, 21.05.13.

other captures by posting on social media: yahoo, 22.05.13.

first time i forgot to pack my rear bike light.

thought of taking the BART home but at the time i was unlocking my bike, the train would have just arrived or be leaving and i wouldn’t have made it down to the platform in time.

feeling kinda vulnerable and unseen at cycling home at 10pm. but at least front light and reflective binding on my messenger bag, and a couple reflective strips on the back of my pants.. better than totally nothing..

still felt like one of the many people cycling on telegraph ave. who don’t have bike lights, who i pass by all the time and feel scared for them. esp. those who are wearing black and have black backpacks.

but yay i made it home no prob… also helped that there was very little traffic tonight.

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at least in verbal/sound/honking interactions

(but overall, there are probably more friendly drivers, who are silent and unnoticeable in their deftly maneuvers to pass cyclists with enough space—avoiding any confrontation and conflict.)

a few blocks away from home, I’m in the bike lane on franklin st. in downtown oakland, when a black SUV merges into the bike lane way too early—when it is still solid lined (keep out!)—before it trails off into white dashes. Also, no turn signals used. so I immediately think, Ughh one of those drivers again. I go around on the SUV’s left side since I’m going straight, but then the SUV didn’t turn right and went straight across the intersection as well! Wth so I shout BIKE LANE! while the black SUV is still driving in the bike lane. The driver, a black (queer? stereotypes yeah, but she had short hair, wore tomboy-ish t-shirt) lady said something back but I only caught “move over” dunno if she was telling me to or saying she was going to. we both had to switch lanes anyway.

A block away where franklin turns into Broadway, I’m in the middle lane that goes straight, and I hear from my right, the same black lady in the black SUV in the right-turn only lane, say “sorry about that!” and I reply, “yeah it’s ok, just wanted to let you know!”

Well, it’s NOT ok to drive in the bike lane—that’s just my automatic reply..

so nice and refreshing to have a positive driver-cyclist interaction! even if it first goes off of an illegal action

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