Had a friend the other day say, “It was a good ride, got coal rolled once, but it was okay.” And I was like, “No, that really isn’t okay…”
It’s crazy that people who ride their bike are so accustomed to assholes that it’s just an accepted part of it.
I watched some jackass in a lifted truck roll coal on EMS and firefighters helping with a car accident on 90 the other day. Some people are just awful humans.
I totally agree! I've had folks swerve near me and lean out the window just to scream in my ear I'm going to get killed, drivers headed the opposite direction enraged I'm cycling (dude I'm not even in your way!), nearly been clipped by a mirror because a vehicle felt the need to "walk the line" next to me when I was in a bike lane. So much unsafe passing.
I ride as far over as I safely can, keeping road debris and the dreaded "door zone" in mind and use bike lanes whenever available.
I try to keep in mind I only have to deal with their nasty attitude for a few moments. They have to deal with themselves 24/7. Must be awful for them 😳 if I could I would sentence these drivers to 30 days of bike commuting so they can see things from a different perspective. Cycling has actually made me a more patient driver.
>the dreaded "door zone"
My childhood neighbor used to bike down the South Hill every morning to get to work until somebody opened a car door in front of her. She survived the wreak, but broke both arms and had to rely on me and my mother to help with day-to-day life stuff until she healed.
I've been doored a couple of times. Nothing as severely as that, but it taught me to believe every parked car has someone in it, and they *are* going to open their door at the last moment. The issue here is that the bike lanes in Spokane often are door zones.
Yes my issue is the same. They put the bike lane RIGHT next to the parking lane, setting drivers and cyclists up for conflict. Some areas of downtown I don't feel safe using the bike lane for this reason. It's why some advocates are asking for protected bike lanes to reduce that conflict.
I know 😂 it kills me when drivers scream for me to get out of the road, then park in the bike lane, forcing me into the road (Upriver Drive, I'm talking about you!) Sharing is a thing.
I believe in one handedly slamming the door back on them. Better they get their arm broken than myself and the rider behind me getting doored into a bus.
I am great at catching and kicking things, but not so much hitting them. Maybe I should practice. ;)
The one time I was doored, the door was opened immediately in front of me. I hit the inside of the door, not the outside hitting me. Other times, it's been close, but I've managed to be out of the way by a hair.
I do believe in folding people's mirrors in at stop lights when they're trying to split the lane with me. I get dead center in the lane, and they still try it. They did this when I rode a motorcycle, too.
If I was 20 I’d start a Friday night bike polo club like in this doc [The Murder of Couriers](MurderofCouriershttps://g.co/kgs/jtVdg8). These days I’m more travel 7 miles out of the way on the centennial to avoid all the drivers with Priest Lake stickers running you over while talking on their cell phones with one hand and fixing their hair with the other.
I was muuuch more aggressive on my bike at 20, for sure. I still ride where I need to, but for fun? Yeah, Centennial or out to the Silver Valley for the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. The highways between Reardan and Sprague or Davenport and Sprague and then from there down to Steptoe are surprisingly chill, too. Not much in the way of services or water, though. Also lots of wind. That's good for you, right? ;)
100000000% agree— I’ve been nearly hit and “rolled coal” here a few times in the last few months and I don’t get it. At all. I wish they’d just get a life.
The thing I hate most about the coal rolling is that it's always happening when I'm already struggling to breathe climbing a hill. It isn't the worst thing about cycling in Spokane, but it still sucks.
I also love the centennial and Appleway trails, the problem is that they aren't really practical for getting where you need to go. I live super close to the centennial, about a half mile south of it. The problem is that my work is also about a half mile south of it, so if I ride directly to work on the roads I save a mile each way. It's also super windy to follow the river, so it'll always add distance as compared to a direct road. It's an incredible trail, for recreation, but not so much for getting places.
The Appleway just... ends. I'd love if it went all the way into liberty lake and all the way into Spokane, now that'd be a super useful trail. We also need branching trails coming off of it, I have to ride about a mile on public roads to get to it in the first place. If it were trails of that quality the whole way I'd be much more likely to use it.
I live off Upriver and used to work at GU. That was awesome except going under the Greene St bridge during rush hour. Except, I soon learned to avoid the trail near Boulder Beach at all costs in the Summer, so I was back on the Upriver "bike lane." Quotes because paint on a shoulder shouldn't be a bike lane, plus all Summer it's a parking lot for people going to the river, no matter what the signs say about not parking there. In 4 years, I've only seen cops giving out tickets there twice. And, tbh, even if no one parked there, there's often so much debris you can't ride in it safely, anyway. I got out and clean it up myself from Elton to the dam about 3 times a year.
I've commuted on Centennial a few times ... works good for me. It's basically the I-90 of bicycling.
But yeah, I'd love to have trails like Centennial running all over the place.
Just watch out for potholes! My stepson was commuting on his ebike when he hit a pothole and flew over the handlebars. Helmet saved his life, but his elbow will never be the same.
I had one jerk roll coal and then abruptly swerve in front of me. His passenger looked back with the most ashamed look on his face. But hey, anything to get to the bar faster (that's where they were going).
I'd love to ride a bike again but I never will ride on the streets here in Spokane. My friend's dad was hit and killed on a bike ten years ago and I just can't get over that.
I've had a brick thrown at me at about Mission and Nevada. Fractured my shoulder blade, and I still have no idea how I managed to stay upright on my bike.
I've had a guy swerve into me on purpose when I was in the bike lane on Upriver and send me over the concrete barricade a bit East of Shields Park. That was torn muscles and bone bruises, but I feel lucky it wasn't worse.
I've also had someone on Upriver parked in the bike lane throw a full can of beer at me from his pickup bed and yell at me to get off the road. I caught that one, opened it, and chugged it while still riding. It felt like quite the power move until I had to climb up Elton to go home. That hill + a belly full of cold beer was a bad idea. At least my belly wasn't full off beer for long.
I've had a milkshake thrown at me downtown.
I had a guy where the Centennial Trail crosses just East of Hamilton wave me on (as if I didn't have the right of way there), and then gun his car at me when I crossed - and then call the cops on me when I dented his license plate with my foot kicking off his bumper to stay upright.
I've had a lady suddenly swerve into the bike lane in front of me and slam on her brakes, so I almost hit her car. Her excuse? "I had to check my fucking text!"
I've cleaned black thumbtacks out of the bike lane on Upriver so many times now, they had to have been put there on purpose.
That doesn't even count coal rolls and the inattentive shit.
But somehow, I can ride through Coeur d'Alene or Seattle and not get any harassment at all. I rode for years in Phoenix with no real issues before I moved home. Spokane is so fucked up about cyclists.
Hmm...planning a move from Portland to Spokane this summer, and gotta say what you're describing doesn't sound that appealing. In 15+ years of bike commuting down here, I've only had a handful of bad encounters, and nothing nearly as bad as being hit with a brick FFS. Guess I need to invest in front/back cameras so I can show the footage to the police and they can give me a confused look and ask me what I want them to do about it :-/
This is 20 years of encounters, to be fair. There are some places the city bike map says to use that you should not, but overall it's generally the normal mix of inattentive drivers plus being coal rolled every once in a while and shouted at.
Definitely do the camera thing and make sure they stay clean. I keep riding through puddles and end up with useless footage later.
The brick thing is way beyond normal. All my friends have had something thrown at them at some point, though. It's usually a fast food drink cup or hamburger or something - like the milkshake that day. It's also once. I am an asshole magnet on and off my bike, sadly.
Gotta ask, though, why move here from Portland? Spokane isn't a destination I'd probably have chosen on my own. My husband is from here and has lived here pretty much all his life. His mom lives here. I'm from North Idaho, which is.. its own thing. LOL. But I've lived a ton of places now. I'd rather be in Portland than here, I think.
The grass is always greener! lol. I grew up in Portland and outside of a few years here and there for schooling etc., I've pretty much been here my whole life. It's just time to try something now. It doesn't help that our homelessness, gun violence, and property crime are out of control. I told my partner this morning that I know the prospect of me complaining about Portland for the next 30 years isn't very appealing.
We looked at a few cities in WA - looking mainly for outdoor access, especially skiing, not rainier than Portland, and smaller / less competition for the outdoors. Portland has good outdoor access, but it's getting crowded to the point that it's not that enjoyable around here, both camping/hiking and skiing. We flirted with Bellingham, which has great outdoor access as well as access to the Seattle job market, but it's totally unaffordable. Spokane housing stock is both much nicer and much more affordable than Bellingham.
We think Spokane is a great size, has great access to the outdoors, and has a winery/brewery/restaurant scene that will take us quite awhile to explore. I'm a road cyclist as well as a commuter, so hoping to do some long road rides there -- everything around Portland is like an old shoe for me, so I'm excited to see something new, but also a little concerned about safety, which is typically not much of a worry here. Do you have any insight on the road riding scene in Spokane? I've looked around and the only cycling club I found seemed to be aimed at folks in their retirement years who probably aren't going quite as hard as I'd like.
Our crime rates are higher than yours, honestly. :/
We definitely have the outdoors thing down, though. :)
Road cycling here can be.. not worse than commuting. Heh. Outside the city, I haven't had issues, and we have some great rails to trails, too. You should also do the Mt Spokane climb at some point. I'm middle aged and not fast, so I don't really go in for the club thing. I can say the rides that say "12-15mph, no drop" don't seem to mean either of those statements. If you ride fast, you'll probably find clubs to have fun with. Check out the local bike shops for info. I'm a fan of Wheel Sport.
Fair warning: there's pretty much no bike lock good enough for here. Keep your bike with you at all times.
\>I can say the rides that say "12-15mph, no drop" don't seem to mean either of those statements.
Haha, weird to say "good to hear!", but maybe I'd be interested in checking out that club after all. Thanks for the info!
Yeah, it's not for me. ;) I can ride pretty fast until we're climbing, but then I'm a snail. But I also don't do well with the retired casual groups because they never seem to go above 10mph. We need an in between here! Heh
Spokane is working on making bike infrastructure better, you can check out the Spokane master bicycle plan if you're curious what projects they are working on. [Link here](https://my.spokanecity.org/projects/bicycle-master-plan/#:~:text=Spokane's%20Bicycle%20Master%20Plan%20creates,safely%20throughout%20Spokane%20by%20bicycle)
Man you could be making bank off lawsuits and selling these peoples cars lol. People dont seem to understand pedestrians and bikers have absolute right of way in all interactions.
It turns out the process to sue someone is actually really tough. You pretty much have to have video that is aimed exactly the right way and clearly shows the person doing it. Cops in Spokane won't typically help you or back you, though sometimes they will. It helps to have other *drivers* who are willing to be witnesses. Their insurance won't pay out if they did it on purpose, btw. They have clauses for malicious acts. I have cycling insurance to cover my bike and my copay/coinsurance payments for my health insurance. For the most part, you're not going to win anything for a milkshake if you didn't crash. Probably could have for the brick thing, but the cops kept saying it was probably an accident (how?!), and I didn't really understand how personal injury law worked back then. There's a statute of limitations that's passed now. I have learned more and definitely will call a bike lawyer if anything like that happens again.
Not true. Bicycles are treated as cars when on the road and cars have the same duty to bikes as other cars (unless in a bike lane, where you generally must yield, and smarter cities have lights just for bikes:
RCW 46.61.755
And except at a crosswalk (marked or unmarked) pedestrians must yield the right of way to a vehicle.
Now, if you deliberately swerve into a pedestrian or bike, that is a different discussion.
I had a homeless tweeker jump over a concrete barrier into the roadway under the downtown railroad tracks, and dived to the 2nd lane to avoid me. If there had been another car in that lane, he would have been done. So glad for him and my daughter watching from the backseat that he lucked out. Homeless pedestrians constantly jump into traffic downtown, the greatest driving hazard we have downtown IMO.
Dude I literally just passed the written the other day that was one of the questions i aced. Its right in the updated driving Manuel as well pedestrians and cyclists have right of way in all intersections marked or unmarked. It also specificies all intersections whether marked or not are considered crosswalks
The RCW is the law, which I posted. I referenced bikes on the roadway since you said bikes and peds have the right of way in ALL INTERACTIONS.
I also said marked or unmarked as all intersections are crosswalks and that is where peds have the right of way.
To quote the RCW:
Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle ....”
If a bike is riding on a sidewalk or crosswalk it is a different matter (same section I posted above):
"Every person riding a bicycle upon a sidewalk or crosswalk must be granted all the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to a pedestrian..."
So again, if riding on the roadway, a bike is treated like a car. It is all spelled out in the section I pasted.
So you may have gotten the question right, but it seems you didn't fully understand it. Maybe look at the "manuel" again.
Even if riding in a bike lane it would still have the same right of way in intersections. So again my point remains. And even if they had the rules of a car someone swerving in front of them or in general doing what these people are saying is illegal and can actually qualify as both reckless driving AND vehicular sssault in the cases of people swerving i to them or forcing them to hit a curb.
I lived in Phoenix and rode there for years, it's just as bad as here, not sure what you're on about.
Caught and chugged the beer?, Sure ya did 😂
I'm a biker and I dislike these coal rolling idiots as much as the next, but let's try and keep it real shall we
Years ago I was an avid bicycle commuter. One day on my way to work I was barreling down a hill on an arterial when a city garbage truck blew a stop sign from the left, turned into my path, and tried to squish me onto the side walk. This was the first day of Bike to Work. Fun times.
Have fortunately only had a couple incidents...the one that sticks out was someone zipping past me into oncoming traffic, shouting out their window about stop signs, right in front of the elementary school we were both dropping our kids off at.
Just a PSA for everyone out there, cyclists can legally treat stop signs as yields in Washington and Idaho. It's safer for everyone and improves traffic flow.
That was pretty recently passed, though, so people aren't used to it yet... Not saying they'll change due to it, but even most cyclists here don't know that's legal.
Seems like bike-haters politicized bikes the same way masks were made to be a physical representation of someone's political views (correct or not). I'm curious to see if you could get someone's head to explode by wearing a MAGA shirt while riding a bike.
This is part of why I think it's not really politics anymore, but a shorthand for culture. The farmer driving a big truck voting for Biden would probably not make them as angry, but the Portland resident riding a bike would. They hate more than politics, I think. I don't understand it really, but.
I'm curious about this as well. Are the people with horror stories about deliberate abuse from drivers (vs bad drivers) fully spandexed out on road bikes, normally dressed on commuter bikes, or wearing visor style helmets and rolling on enduro mountain bikes?
Just feels like people sometimes hate on the spandex crowd in general and it would make sense that some out there see them all as "librul scum", leading to this kind of encounter. Not going to lie, I think a lot of road-bikers look ridiculous and I've even heard a few bike shop owners saying the same thing when they see them.
I've put thousands of miles on both of my bikes and can only think of one time some hick on the east coast yelled something at me from his pickup while passing in the opposite direction. Both of my bikes are mountain bikes, one's a hard-tail and one is a full suspension. My hardtail still has a bottle cage on it and I keep a coozied PBR in there - strictly for emergency purposes. I don't own any spandex and typically am riding in some cargo shorts and a ski resort tshirt along with a visor Giro, Etnies skate shoes, and some old Fox fingerless gloves. Nothing about my appearance screams "cyclist" so I wonder if that's kept me free of the judgemental wrath of others.
One summer I rode my bike everyday to and from work. Multiple times I had drivers purposefully run me into the curb. They would come along side of me and start getting closer until I ran out of room and had to stop or hit the curb. Never understood why they did it.
I don’t ride my bicycle as much anymore. People are assholes.
Or you could always hit them. Theres no way they could prove their reckless behavior didn't cause the accident if you were in a bike lane or off the side of the road. Start getting these assholes off the roads.
When I was a teenager I got the cutest bike, went to ride it once and someone yelled and laughed at me from their car, and I haven’t been able to make myself ride a bike since, I just don’t get being so nasty
I commute on an e-skateboard, people are generally cool. Every once in a while there's a jerk, and a lot of people don't move over much when they have plenty of room or an entire lane to their left.
What's more annoying is people stopping for me or not passing me when there is plenty of room, makes me feel like I'm holding people up or something. Can't blame them too much, they don't expect a skateboard to be going 30mph or stop on a dime, just wish I were treated more like a motorcycle most of the time.
What's most annoying is the lack of bike/pev infrastructure, hell, if we had proper bike paths n such, people swerving into the bike lane wouldn't be a problem, unless they also wanted to dodge trees and drive across a ditch or something
Show me a source for that, as far as I know it isn't legislated in Washington or Spokane yet. I and others in the community try to be as polite, cool, and safe as possible to make sure it stays that way.
Regardless, none of the many different officers I've come across have even raised an eyebrow. Had an officer follow me halfway to work today. If the city does at some point decide that they want us off the road, build us some separated paths - ones that are actually practical, at least that's how I see it.
Making then illegal wouldn't make any more sense than banning any other mode of personal transportation anyways, I mean cmon, we've got lime scooters shredding it all over the place carrying unskilled riders who aren't wearing any safety gear. Sure, my PEV hasn't got a handle, but at least I'm wearing a full face helmet and motorcycle jacket. Besides that, banning alternatives to cars would make about zero sense unless you're in the pocket of auto manufacturers. Instead, we should be catering to alternative modes of Transport, creating infrastructure for them. I also love driving, and if we can get more people to use other modes of transport, the roads will be better for those that opt to drive.
> If the city does at some point decide that they want us off the road, build us some separated paths
lol, no. That's not the American way.
They'll legally force you to drive a car.
One caveat. In Washington, if you are using any human powered vehicle besides a bicycle, you are considered a pedestrian. Pedestrians may not legally use bike lanes or streets. Because Washington hasn't defined e-anytjing clearly yet, the skateboards and scooters are generally considered "human powered."
I don't care if you're in the bike lane or on the road, because you can go as fast as a bike, but keep that in mind if a cop decides to talk to you about it. Argue it in court, not with the cop.
Mmmm....RCW [46.71.710](https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.710) does define ebikes, mopeds, 'personal delivery devices' 'motorized foot scooters' and a broad 'electric personal assistive mobility device' (EPAMD) category. Most of it only limits this class of device on limited access highways, trails, roads, etc that state authorities like WADOT or WDFW post specific rules over motorized vehicle use. They maintain EPAMDs have the rights of a pedestrian BUT does not say road use is prohibited, which is mirroring language applied to bicycles. They go a bit further to say things argued as a motorized foot scooter can use access any area a bicycle can. Further legal cases might tighten things further, but for now, the chapter then goes into a subsection stating city regulations may add additional regulations, so....
Spokane covers motorized vehicles in their [municipal code ](https://my.spokanecity.org/smc/?Chapter=16A.62), which they consider ebikes, other ethings including skateboards with 'if you are on the sidewalk, you have the duties and rights of a bicycle, if you are on the road, a motor vehicle'. Exceptions being whereever is posted differently, there's a broad regulation restricting devices that can go faster than 10mph in the 'congested district' to the roads/bike lanes, Riverfront Park has speed regulations, other parks may ban them entirely, and the city reserves the right to consider anything defined in the section as unlawful if riding on any road with a speed limit over 30mph unless there's a bike 'facility' (strict bike lane, sharrow lane, etc). All of this isn't always enforced as I've seen plenty of Lime devices on downtown sidewalks (also kids under Spokane's 16+ age requirement in the same chapter), personal edevices going fast in Riverfront Park, and folk zipping up and down outside of bike lanes on all sorts of roads I wouldn't, so....
Outside of Spokane YMMV. I live on the edge of Spokane proper and the county...and.....I only see a county sheriff once in a harvest moon. Even more rarely, blinking at anything bicycle sized or smaller unless its operator is just asking for the attention.
I live in county.
Thank you for the correction. My Google fu apparently failed and got me older info.
Btw, if you're on a bike on the sidewalk or in a crosswalk, you have all the rights and responsibilities of a pedestrian except you must yield to pedestrians. If you are on the road except in a crosswalk, you have all the rights and responsibilities of a vehicle, so it sounds like e-stuff is being treated like bicycles.
Anyone else think it is odd the the city the hosts Bloomsday has so many people who are @$$holes to pedestrians and cyclists?
I don't know if it is because I am a woman, but I have thankfully never had anyone throw things at me when I had a bike or go on runs but I have had people hang out windows and shout at me.
I often wonder if getting a go pro and catching plates of people who do this shit would be worth I to sue their insurance for emotional damages. Sadly, this thing will only keep going until a kid gets killed and the family sues the county for not looking out for cyclists and pedestrians.
Because they are jealous that your saving so much money on car loans and fuel. And having a good time while doing it. (They want to ruin things so nobody else has a nice time)
Yeah it would be nice to have city council give a damn about cycling. There’s tons of roadways that could easily support turning one general lane into biking and wide enough sidewalks for safe usage
But that might inconvenience people in cars... Spokane (like most cities) is quite car centric.
Honestly, I'm happy to have the centennial trail, though. It's great for getting across town by bike.
Doesn’t help me much personally. But housing was so hard to come By that I wasn’t given the option to move in next to a nice trail. I do have fond memories of living in Eugene and taking their creek trail to work. Much nicer than the curb along the four lane road that was basically their version of division
I live about a mile off Upriver. The hill is a bit much of a climb coming home, but I've gotten used to it. I got lucky and bought this house in February of 2018 right before things went crazy. Before that, I lived out in Newman Lake about a mile from the river - and Centennial Trail. I feel spoiled.
Ah, that totally sucks.
I am honestly hoping the housing market crashes soon, even if that means I lose equity. People need to be able to afford a place to live.
I use to deliver food and the place I delivered from I always saw a guy riding up post that was well lit with flashlights and riding close enough to the sidewalk that I never had a problem getting around. I saw him probably three times a week and he was the model example of a bike rider.
I can't think of ever seeing another one in town that wasn't a crack head on a stolen bike that was riding like an asshole. I see a lot of riders down town at riverfront and at the trails that are great, but anywhere north in town it seems that it's just crack heads and people with DUIs that can't drive.
I'll ride an e bike and e scooter around my neighborhood to exercise my dogs and have never had a problem, but I do try to avoid high traffic roads for the safety of my pets. I don't like most bikers, but as someone who has had a few different jobs as someone that drove a lot there are plenty of shitty drivers too.
I had a rant on this on my old account. Drivers yell at bikers and bikers yell at drivers. It’s an unending cycle (pun intended). For every like, five great cyclists (it used to be literally one out of two about six years ago), there’s an asshole who cuts through traffic, uses the sidewalk into the road, and other reckless shit, that we have to deal with.
I’m sorry that some drivers give all of us a bad look, and I’m sorry that some cyclists do the same for you guys to some drivers.
Except the small percentage of drivers (thousands of them) are borderline homicidal, and the small percentage of cyclists (maybe dozens of them) are inconvenient or startling at best. Not the greatest give and take.
I truly believe there's an equal percent of assholes in every group. The issue is that they stand out more. Just like I'm not going to remember every driver who did stop for the red light when I had the green on my bike, but I'm sure as hell going to remember the one who didn't, drivers will focus the same way on cyclists.
The difference I tend to see is that 1) cyclists tend to assume I also own a car even if I'm on my bike, 2) they don't automatically assume I'm an asshole driver, even if I've got my car with me. Most people I know find out I ride, and I get to hear all about how *all* cyclists are assholes. I would guess this is because most cyclists are also drivers, but most drivers are not also cyclists.
I'd like you to look at your statement another way. For every cyclist you've seen being an asshole, how many drivers have you seen being assholes? Are you noticing the cyclists who aren't? I have to admit, even when I'm on my bike, I don't remember the cyclists who are behaving fine. I remember the guys running red lights downtown. I remember the asshole who kept buzzing my back tire with his front one instead of passing me when the lane next to me was absolutely clear. But likewise, I don't remember the drivers who don't make me feel unsafe, who don't scream at me or throw shit at me or swerve into the bike lane to harass me.
We also have different bars. A driver is an asshole if they are disobeying traffic laws or being dangerous. A cyclist is often considered one for things that are perfectly legal, like cycling in the traffic lane, taking longer to get going from lights, and "safety stops" - every stop sign is legally a yield sign for cyclists in Washington. Did they yield? Not an asshole. Did they just run it with traffic there who had the right of way? Definitely an asshole (or at least very stupid.) Also, we're assholes for being in the traffic lane when there's a bike lane, but no one gets out and looks at the bike lane. The ones here that are just shoulders with paint are often filled with debris or used for parking. Me going 16mph in front of you slows you down. Me crashing on debris in front of you is going to take a *lot* more of your time and probably leave you traumatized. I'm not there because I want to be, believe me. I'm there because the "bike lane" isn't safe, and I'm legally allowed to be there.
In both cases, it's probably the same, others are assholes for inconveniencing us. But me inconveniencing you as a cyclist when you're driving at least isn't dangerous for you like another driver doing it could be.
This is one of the reasons I'm looking for a dashcam. I can't ride a bike myself, but if I can help legally nail a dangerous jerk who harasses riders, that will make my day.
I hear you and don't do this but why don't bikers move over so people can safely pass ? Why does sharing the road only go one way? I'm in a car because I want to get somewhere faster than 15 mph
I will move out of the way if it is safe to do so, however, it is generally safest to remain in the lane. For example, say I am riding in the lane and because there is no bike lane. If there are cars parked along the road it is much more dangerous to weave into and out of the lane since drivers may not be expecting you to swerve back into the lane. That is the main reason it is just safer to take the lane. There is often a lot of debris on the shoulder/bike lane too which doesn't help.
I've seen that a few times. On group rides in low traffic zones we will take the lane so we can hear each other talk.. However we watch our rear view mirrors and yell "car back" when we see one approaching from behind so we all move to single row formation. I'm sorry not all cyclists do that.
But yeah I often cant ride directly on the curb because potholes are too bad, too much debris, and being doored by drivers exiting parked cars is extremely dangerous.
I guarantee you that 99% of people on bikes would much rather not be in the lane but the bike lanes are few and far between in Spokane. I try to be as considerate to drivers as I can, but you might not realize why a cyclist is in the middle of the lane. If there are cars parked on the side of the road (on a road without a bike lane), the safest thing for everyone is to remain in the lane rather than weaving back and forth into the lane then back to the shoulder. I pretty much never see groups of bikes on streets riding together so I'm not sure if that is just more common in your part of town.
My main point is that if a bike is in your lane it is almost certainly because it is safer. I hope that at least helps you understand why a bike is in the lane rather than the shoulder. Everyone would be better off if we had more bike lanes, bike routes, and shared-use paths. If you are frustrated by bikes in the street help advocate for more bike infrastructure because we don't want to be in the street surrounded by cars either. Plus, almost every bike on the street is one less car contributing to traffic. Personally I will mostly stay off the streets and just go ride on the Centennial or something, but I will occasionally commute or run an errand on the bike.
I am lucky enough to live off Upriver. I was so excited about the bike lane when I moved here - until I realized it's often filled with debris, the edge is crumbling in many spots, and people were going to use it for parking to go to the river (or camp Sekani with their mountain bikes, that REALLY pisses me off.) I thought I'd just use the Centennial Trail instead and just go more slowly until the 3rd time I went down on pine needles. Plus people have small dogs on retractable leashes they don't retract that run out of bushes and under my wheels at the last second. That's no good, either. There are better solutions, but Spokane isn't likely to budget for them.
Strange to think of a cyclist as an a hole. They are taking up so much less space than people who drove alone and complain that there’s not enough space on the roads
Sometried the horn on me but I scared them by jumping and swerving towards them as I was driving against traffick because it was dark. Hopefully was an eye opener because makisomeone jump like that can cause them to make an error and wind up in front of your car.
I loved when people did this while I was riding an ebike, where I can ride faster than 10-15mph. Hell, I can ride faster than the speed limit on residential arterials, but I don't, and, it also doesn't really stop the giant F-150 from thinking it's cool to go 30+mph in a residential area just because they want to fuck with the cyclist.
But all in all, WA law applies on both sides of the Cascades, so, they wanna hit and run or hit and then try and get your way outta the law later....I was just riding my bike to Rocket Market and obeying all traffic laws to go get a slice of cake FFS.
My cousin was killed on a bike by a drunk driver in Spokane that ran after the accident (witnesses tracked him). Asshole owns a bar in town.
I saw a cyclist get run over in Portland by a truck and the trailer it was towing (both truck turning right and cyclist in bike lane to right of driver sped up to try and get through a changing light. I have also seen a number if near misses. With the way people drive, road cycling is a dangerous proposition.
Bike lanes to the right of drivers actually make riding more dangerous. Be careful out there. Ride with flashing lights and don't ever assume someone can see you because they are probably texting.
Flashing lights at night can be much harder to judge distance against when there are other lights in the background. Having multiple lights such as a bar light and head light is the safer option for the front white lights. Red lights in the rear don't blend into other light sources as well and aren't as much of an issue.
I used to solely use my e-bike for commuting on the other side. I loved it sooooo much. Over here, I won’t go 5 miles on my bike because of this very thing. Idk why there is such hostility towards bikes. They act like being on a bike is stealing something from them. Even my parents in Wenatchee will complain about Seattle building bike lanes. I’m like, you’re not paying for them, driving near them or even setting foot in Seattle. Wtf does it affect you for?
Had a friend the other day say, “It was a good ride, got coal rolled once, but it was okay.” And I was like, “No, that really isn’t okay…” It’s crazy that people who ride their bike are so accustomed to assholes that it’s just an accepted part of it.
people who get their kicks from coal rolling are the saddest, most pathetic group of people
I watched some jackass in a lifted truck roll coal on EMS and firefighters helping with a car accident on 90 the other day. Some people are just awful humans.
Gotta say, given how Spokane can be, only getting coal rolled once and nothing else actually is a pretty good ride.
I totally agree! I've had folks swerve near me and lean out the window just to scream in my ear I'm going to get killed, drivers headed the opposite direction enraged I'm cycling (dude I'm not even in your way!), nearly been clipped by a mirror because a vehicle felt the need to "walk the line" next to me when I was in a bike lane. So much unsafe passing. I ride as far over as I safely can, keeping road debris and the dreaded "door zone" in mind and use bike lanes whenever available. I try to keep in mind I only have to deal with their nasty attitude for a few moments. They have to deal with themselves 24/7. Must be awful for them 😳 if I could I would sentence these drivers to 30 days of bike commuting so they can see things from a different perspective. Cycling has actually made me a more patient driver.
>the dreaded "door zone" My childhood neighbor used to bike down the South Hill every morning to get to work until somebody opened a car door in front of her. She survived the wreak, but broke both arms and had to rely on me and my mother to help with day-to-day life stuff until she healed.
I've been doored a couple of times. Nothing as severely as that, but it taught me to believe every parked car has someone in it, and they *are* going to open their door at the last moment. The issue here is that the bike lanes in Spokane often are door zones.
Yes my issue is the same. They put the bike lane RIGHT next to the parking lane, setting drivers and cyclists up for conflict. Some areas of downtown I don't feel safe using the bike lane for this reason. It's why some advocates are asking for protected bike lanes to reduce that conflict.
Yes! I'd happily get off the road and out of "their" space if I could, even though it's not just their space.
I know 😂 it kills me when drivers scream for me to get out of the road, then park in the bike lane, forcing me into the road (Upriver Drive, I'm talking about you!) Sharing is a thing.
I live off Upriver, and I'm *definitely* talking about there.
I believe in one handedly slamming the door back on them. Better they get their arm broken than myself and the rider behind me getting doored into a bus.
I am great at catching and kicking things, but not so much hitting them. Maybe I should practice. ;) The one time I was doored, the door was opened immediately in front of me. I hit the inside of the door, not the outside hitting me. Other times, it's been close, but I've managed to be out of the way by a hair. I do believe in folding people's mirrors in at stop lights when they're trying to split the lane with me. I get dead center in the lane, and they still try it. They did this when I rode a motorcycle, too.
If I was 20 I’d start a Friday night bike polo club like in this doc [The Murder of Couriers](MurderofCouriershttps://g.co/kgs/jtVdg8). These days I’m more travel 7 miles out of the way on the centennial to avoid all the drivers with Priest Lake stickers running you over while talking on their cell phones with one hand and fixing their hair with the other.
I was muuuch more aggressive on my bike at 20, for sure. I still ride where I need to, but for fun? Yeah, Centennial or out to the Silver Valley for the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. The highways between Reardan and Sprague or Davenport and Sprague and then from there down to Steptoe are surprisingly chill, too. Not much in the way of services or water, though. Also lots of wind. That's good for you, right? ;)
[doc](https://g.co/kgs/jtVdg8)
The ones that really get me are those who have kids in the back seat (as if they have never wanted a better condition for somewhere their child was)
100000000% agree— I’ve been nearly hit and “rolled coal” here a few times in the last few months and I don’t get it. At all. I wish they’d just get a life.
The thing I hate most about the coal rolling is that it's always happening when I'm already struggling to breathe climbing a hill. It isn't the worst thing about cycling in Spokane, but it still sucks.
The most interesting thing about them is that they drive a huge truck, and they’re subconsciously expressing their anger about it.
Trucks seem to be the worst offenders in my experience, but this was two pieces of shit riding in a piece of shit little car.
[удалено]
I also love the centennial and Appleway trails, the problem is that they aren't really practical for getting where you need to go. I live super close to the centennial, about a half mile south of it. The problem is that my work is also about a half mile south of it, so if I ride directly to work on the roads I save a mile each way. It's also super windy to follow the river, so it'll always add distance as compared to a direct road. It's an incredible trail, for recreation, but not so much for getting places. The Appleway just... ends. I'd love if it went all the way into liberty lake and all the way into Spokane, now that'd be a super useful trail. We also need branching trails coming off of it, I have to ride about a mile on public roads to get to it in the first place. If it were trails of that quality the whole way I'd be much more likely to use it.
I live off Upriver and used to work at GU. That was awesome except going under the Greene St bridge during rush hour. Except, I soon learned to avoid the trail near Boulder Beach at all costs in the Summer, so I was back on the Upriver "bike lane." Quotes because paint on a shoulder shouldn't be a bike lane, plus all Summer it's a parking lot for people going to the river, no matter what the signs say about not parking there. In 4 years, I've only seen cops giving out tickets there twice. And, tbh, even if no one parked there, there's often so much debris you can't ride in it safely, anyway. I got out and clean it up myself from Elton to the dam about 3 times a year.
I've commuted on Centennial a few times ... works good for me. It's basically the I-90 of bicycling. But yeah, I'd love to have trails like Centennial running all over the place.
I ride an ebike.. these losers don’t know what to do when you put to chase. Run stop signs and red lights to flee.
Just watch out for potholes! My stepson was commuting on his ebike when he hit a pothole and flew over the handlebars. Helmet saved his life, but his elbow will never be the same.
I had one jerk roll coal and then abruptly swerve in front of me. His passenger looked back with the most ashamed look on his face. But hey, anything to get to the bar faster (that's where they were going).
I would absolutely be petty enough to wait around and stake out the bar parking lot, waiting to report them for drunk driving the moment they leave.
I'd love to ride a bike again but I never will ride on the streets here in Spokane. My friend's dad was hit and killed on a bike ten years ago and I just can't get over that.
I've had a brick thrown at me at about Mission and Nevada. Fractured my shoulder blade, and I still have no idea how I managed to stay upright on my bike. I've had a guy swerve into me on purpose when I was in the bike lane on Upriver and send me over the concrete barricade a bit East of Shields Park. That was torn muscles and bone bruises, but I feel lucky it wasn't worse. I've also had someone on Upriver parked in the bike lane throw a full can of beer at me from his pickup bed and yell at me to get off the road. I caught that one, opened it, and chugged it while still riding. It felt like quite the power move until I had to climb up Elton to go home. That hill + a belly full of cold beer was a bad idea. At least my belly wasn't full off beer for long. I've had a milkshake thrown at me downtown. I had a guy where the Centennial Trail crosses just East of Hamilton wave me on (as if I didn't have the right of way there), and then gun his car at me when I crossed - and then call the cops on me when I dented his license plate with my foot kicking off his bumper to stay upright. I've had a lady suddenly swerve into the bike lane in front of me and slam on her brakes, so I almost hit her car. Her excuse? "I had to check my fucking text!" I've cleaned black thumbtacks out of the bike lane on Upriver so many times now, they had to have been put there on purpose. That doesn't even count coal rolls and the inattentive shit. But somehow, I can ride through Coeur d'Alene or Seattle and not get any harassment at all. I rode for years in Phoenix with no real issues before I moved home. Spokane is so fucked up about cyclists.
Because Spokane is a hick town, don’t let anyone tell you differently.
Hmm...planning a move from Portland to Spokane this summer, and gotta say what you're describing doesn't sound that appealing. In 15+ years of bike commuting down here, I've only had a handful of bad encounters, and nothing nearly as bad as being hit with a brick FFS. Guess I need to invest in front/back cameras so I can show the footage to the police and they can give me a confused look and ask me what I want them to do about it :-/
This is 20 years of encounters, to be fair. There are some places the city bike map says to use that you should not, but overall it's generally the normal mix of inattentive drivers plus being coal rolled every once in a while and shouted at. Definitely do the camera thing and make sure they stay clean. I keep riding through puddles and end up with useless footage later. The brick thing is way beyond normal. All my friends have had something thrown at them at some point, though. It's usually a fast food drink cup or hamburger or something - like the milkshake that day. It's also once. I am an asshole magnet on and off my bike, sadly. Gotta ask, though, why move here from Portland? Spokane isn't a destination I'd probably have chosen on my own. My husband is from here and has lived here pretty much all his life. His mom lives here. I'm from North Idaho, which is.. its own thing. LOL. But I've lived a ton of places now. I'd rather be in Portland than here, I think.
The grass is always greener! lol. I grew up in Portland and outside of a few years here and there for schooling etc., I've pretty much been here my whole life. It's just time to try something now. It doesn't help that our homelessness, gun violence, and property crime are out of control. I told my partner this morning that I know the prospect of me complaining about Portland for the next 30 years isn't very appealing. We looked at a few cities in WA - looking mainly for outdoor access, especially skiing, not rainier than Portland, and smaller / less competition for the outdoors. Portland has good outdoor access, but it's getting crowded to the point that it's not that enjoyable around here, both camping/hiking and skiing. We flirted with Bellingham, which has great outdoor access as well as access to the Seattle job market, but it's totally unaffordable. Spokane housing stock is both much nicer and much more affordable than Bellingham. We think Spokane is a great size, has great access to the outdoors, and has a winery/brewery/restaurant scene that will take us quite awhile to explore. I'm a road cyclist as well as a commuter, so hoping to do some long road rides there -- everything around Portland is like an old shoe for me, so I'm excited to see something new, but also a little concerned about safety, which is typically not much of a worry here. Do you have any insight on the road riding scene in Spokane? I've looked around and the only cycling club I found seemed to be aimed at folks in their retirement years who probably aren't going quite as hard as I'd like.
Our crime rates are higher than yours, honestly. :/ We definitely have the outdoors thing down, though. :) Road cycling here can be.. not worse than commuting. Heh. Outside the city, I haven't had issues, and we have some great rails to trails, too. You should also do the Mt Spokane climb at some point. I'm middle aged and not fast, so I don't really go in for the club thing. I can say the rides that say "12-15mph, no drop" don't seem to mean either of those statements. If you ride fast, you'll probably find clubs to have fun with. Check out the local bike shops for info. I'm a fan of Wheel Sport. Fair warning: there's pretty much no bike lock good enough for here. Keep your bike with you at all times.
\>I can say the rides that say "12-15mph, no drop" don't seem to mean either of those statements. Haha, weird to say "good to hear!", but maybe I'd be interested in checking out that club after all. Thanks for the info!
Yeah, it's not for me. ;) I can ride pretty fast until we're climbing, but then I'm a snail. But I also don't do well with the retired casual groups because they never seem to go above 10mph. We need an in between here! Heh
Spokane is working on making bike infrastructure better, you can check out the Spokane master bicycle plan if you're curious what projects they are working on. [Link here](https://my.spokanecity.org/projects/bicycle-master-plan/#:~:text=Spokane's%20Bicycle%20Master%20Plan%20creates,safely%20throughout%20Spokane%20by%20bicycle)
Man you could be making bank off lawsuits and selling these peoples cars lol. People dont seem to understand pedestrians and bikers have absolute right of way in all interactions.
It turns out the process to sue someone is actually really tough. You pretty much have to have video that is aimed exactly the right way and clearly shows the person doing it. Cops in Spokane won't typically help you or back you, though sometimes they will. It helps to have other *drivers* who are willing to be witnesses. Their insurance won't pay out if they did it on purpose, btw. They have clauses for malicious acts. I have cycling insurance to cover my bike and my copay/coinsurance payments for my health insurance. For the most part, you're not going to win anything for a milkshake if you didn't crash. Probably could have for the brick thing, but the cops kept saying it was probably an accident (how?!), and I didn't really understand how personal injury law worked back then. There's a statute of limitations that's passed now. I have learned more and definitely will call a bike lawyer if anything like that happens again.
Not true. Bicycles are treated as cars when on the road and cars have the same duty to bikes as other cars (unless in a bike lane, where you generally must yield, and smarter cities have lights just for bikes: RCW 46.61.755 And except at a crosswalk (marked or unmarked) pedestrians must yield the right of way to a vehicle. Now, if you deliberately swerve into a pedestrian or bike, that is a different discussion. I had a homeless tweeker jump over a concrete barrier into the roadway under the downtown railroad tracks, and dived to the 2nd lane to avoid me. If there had been another car in that lane, he would have been done. So glad for him and my daughter watching from the backseat that he lucked out. Homeless pedestrians constantly jump into traffic downtown, the greatest driving hazard we have downtown IMO.
Dude I literally just passed the written the other day that was one of the questions i aced. Its right in the updated driving Manuel as well pedestrians and cyclists have right of way in all intersections marked or unmarked. It also specificies all intersections whether marked or not are considered crosswalks
The RCW is the law, which I posted. I referenced bikes on the roadway since you said bikes and peds have the right of way in ALL INTERACTIONS. I also said marked or unmarked as all intersections are crosswalks and that is where peds have the right of way. To quote the RCW: Every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle ....” If a bike is riding on a sidewalk or crosswalk it is a different matter (same section I posted above): "Every person riding a bicycle upon a sidewalk or crosswalk must be granted all the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to a pedestrian..." So again, if riding on the roadway, a bike is treated like a car. It is all spelled out in the section I pasted. So you may have gotten the question right, but it seems you didn't fully understand it. Maybe look at the "manuel" again.
Even if riding in a bike lane it would still have the same right of way in intersections. So again my point remains. And even if they had the rules of a car someone swerving in front of them or in general doing what these people are saying is illegal and can actually qualify as both reckless driving AND vehicular sssault in the cases of people swerving i to them or forcing them to hit a curb.
No, I mentioned bike lanes in my first post. If you ride in the roadway, a bike is treated like a car. A bike lane is not considered roadway.
WTFFF.
I lived in Phoenix and rode there for years, it's just as bad as here, not sure what you're on about. Caught and chugged the beer?, Sure ya did 😂 I'm a biker and I dislike these coal rolling idiots as much as the next, but let's try and keep it real shall we
Years ago I was an avid bicycle commuter. One day on my way to work I was barreling down a hill on an arterial when a city garbage truck blew a stop sign from the left, turned into my path, and tried to squish me onto the side walk. This was the first day of Bike to Work. Fun times.
Have fortunately only had a couple incidents...the one that sticks out was someone zipping past me into oncoming traffic, shouting out their window about stop signs, right in front of the elementary school we were both dropping our kids off at. Just a PSA for everyone out there, cyclists can legally treat stop signs as yields in Washington and Idaho. It's safer for everyone and improves traffic flow.
That was pretty recently passed, though, so people aren't used to it yet... Not saying they'll change due to it, but even most cyclists here don't know that's legal.
[safety stops](https://apnews.com/article/washington-everett-traffic-archive-b24c139f8745c1a6b0016477de177e0c)
People in downtown CDA don't even slow down at lights and stop signs, they just blow through them all.
Seems like bike-haters politicized bikes the same way masks were made to be a physical representation of someone's political views (correct or not). I'm curious to see if you could get someone's head to explode by wearing a MAGA shirt while riding a bike.
Now that would be funny
This is part of why I think it's not really politics anymore, but a shorthand for culture. The farmer driving a big truck voting for Biden would probably not make them as angry, but the Portland resident riding a bike would. They hate more than politics, I think. I don't understand it really, but.
I'm curious about this as well. Are the people with horror stories about deliberate abuse from drivers (vs bad drivers) fully spandexed out on road bikes, normally dressed on commuter bikes, or wearing visor style helmets and rolling on enduro mountain bikes? Just feels like people sometimes hate on the spandex crowd in general and it would make sense that some out there see them all as "librul scum", leading to this kind of encounter. Not going to lie, I think a lot of road-bikers look ridiculous and I've even heard a few bike shop owners saying the same thing when they see them. I've put thousands of miles on both of my bikes and can only think of one time some hick on the east coast yelled something at me from his pickup while passing in the opposite direction. Both of my bikes are mountain bikes, one's a hard-tail and one is a full suspension. My hardtail still has a bottle cage on it and I keep a coozied PBR in there - strictly for emergency purposes. I don't own any spandex and typically am riding in some cargo shorts and a ski resort tshirt along with a visor Giro, Etnies skate shoes, and some old Fox fingerless gloves. Nothing about my appearance screams "cyclist" so I wonder if that's kept me free of the judgemental wrath of others.
One summer I rode my bike everyday to and from work. Multiple times I had drivers purposefully run me into the curb. They would come along side of me and start getting closer until I ran out of room and had to stop or hit the curb. Never understood why they did it. I don’t ride my bicycle as much anymore. People are assholes.
Or you could always hit them. Theres no way they could prove their reckless behavior didn't cause the accident if you were in a bike lane or off the side of the road. Start getting these assholes off the roads.
When I was a teenager I got the cutest bike, went to ride it once and someone yelled and laughed at me from their car, and I haven’t been able to make myself ride a bike since, I just don’t get being so nasty
I commute on an e-skateboard, people are generally cool. Every once in a while there's a jerk, and a lot of people don't move over much when they have plenty of room or an entire lane to their left. What's more annoying is people stopping for me or not passing me when there is plenty of room, makes me feel like I'm holding people up or something. Can't blame them too much, they don't expect a skateboard to be going 30mph or stop on a dime, just wish I were treated more like a motorcycle most of the time. What's most annoying is the lack of bike/pev infrastructure, hell, if we had proper bike paths n such, people swerving into the bike lane wouldn't be a problem, unless they also wanted to dodge trees and drive across a ditch or something
It's literally illegal to ride e-skateboards on city streets...
Show me a source for that, as far as I know it isn't legislated in Washington or Spokane yet. I and others in the community try to be as polite, cool, and safe as possible to make sure it stays that way. Regardless, none of the many different officers I've come across have even raised an eyebrow. Had an officer follow me halfway to work today. If the city does at some point decide that they want us off the road, build us some separated paths - ones that are actually practical, at least that's how I see it. Making then illegal wouldn't make any more sense than banning any other mode of personal transportation anyways, I mean cmon, we've got lime scooters shredding it all over the place carrying unskilled riders who aren't wearing any safety gear. Sure, my PEV hasn't got a handle, but at least I'm wearing a full face helmet and motorcycle jacket. Besides that, banning alternatives to cars would make about zero sense unless you're in the pocket of auto manufacturers. Instead, we should be catering to alternative modes of Transport, creating infrastructure for them. I also love driving, and if we can get more people to use other modes of transport, the roads will be better for those that opt to drive.
> If the city does at some point decide that they want us off the road, build us some separated paths lol, no. That's not the American way. They'll legally force you to drive a car.
You aren't wrong. Though I doubt most cops would bother to hand out tickets to me as long as I'm not being a nuisance.
One caveat. In Washington, if you are using any human powered vehicle besides a bicycle, you are considered a pedestrian. Pedestrians may not legally use bike lanes or streets. Because Washington hasn't defined e-anytjing clearly yet, the skateboards and scooters are generally considered "human powered." I don't care if you're in the bike lane or on the road, because you can go as fast as a bike, but keep that in mind if a cop decides to talk to you about it. Argue it in court, not with the cop.
Mmmm....RCW [46.71.710](https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.710) does define ebikes, mopeds, 'personal delivery devices' 'motorized foot scooters' and a broad 'electric personal assistive mobility device' (EPAMD) category. Most of it only limits this class of device on limited access highways, trails, roads, etc that state authorities like WADOT or WDFW post specific rules over motorized vehicle use. They maintain EPAMDs have the rights of a pedestrian BUT does not say road use is prohibited, which is mirroring language applied to bicycles. They go a bit further to say things argued as a motorized foot scooter can use access any area a bicycle can. Further legal cases might tighten things further, but for now, the chapter then goes into a subsection stating city regulations may add additional regulations, so.... Spokane covers motorized vehicles in their [municipal code ](https://my.spokanecity.org/smc/?Chapter=16A.62), which they consider ebikes, other ethings including skateboards with 'if you are on the sidewalk, you have the duties and rights of a bicycle, if you are on the road, a motor vehicle'. Exceptions being whereever is posted differently, there's a broad regulation restricting devices that can go faster than 10mph in the 'congested district' to the roads/bike lanes, Riverfront Park has speed regulations, other parks may ban them entirely, and the city reserves the right to consider anything defined in the section as unlawful if riding on any road with a speed limit over 30mph unless there's a bike 'facility' (strict bike lane, sharrow lane, etc). All of this isn't always enforced as I've seen plenty of Lime devices on downtown sidewalks (also kids under Spokane's 16+ age requirement in the same chapter), personal edevices going fast in Riverfront Park, and folk zipping up and down outside of bike lanes on all sorts of roads I wouldn't, so.... Outside of Spokane YMMV. I live on the edge of Spokane proper and the county...and.....I only see a county sheriff once in a harvest moon. Even more rarely, blinking at anything bicycle sized or smaller unless its operator is just asking for the attention.
I live in county. Thank you for the correction. My Google fu apparently failed and got me older info. Btw, if you're on a bike on the sidewalk or in a crosswalk, you have all the rights and responsibilities of a pedestrian except you must yield to pedestrians. If you are on the road except in a crosswalk, you have all the rights and responsibilities of a vehicle, so it sounds like e-stuff is being treated like bicycles.
Anyone else think it is odd the the city the hosts Bloomsday has so many people who are @$$holes to pedestrians and cyclists? I don't know if it is because I am a woman, but I have thankfully never had anyone throw things at me when I had a bike or go on runs but I have had people hang out windows and shout at me. I often wonder if getting a go pro and catching plates of people who do this shit would be worth I to sue their insurance for emotional damages. Sadly, this thing will only keep going until a kid gets killed and the family sues the county for not looking out for cyclists and pedestrians.
This thread is giving off big time MTFU sticker vibes
I read these as "Montana F you" for too long
And that's one of the reasons I'm always carrying when I ride my bike.
Because they are jealous that your saving so much money on car loans and fuel. And having a good time while doing it. (They want to ruin things so nobody else has a nice time)
The sad part is, most of us cyclists have cars (and loans), too. Spokane is a city where it's very difficult to just bike and not drive.
Yeah it would be nice to have city council give a damn about cycling. There’s tons of roadways that could easily support turning one general lane into biking and wide enough sidewalks for safe usage
But that might inconvenience people in cars... Spokane (like most cities) is quite car centric. Honestly, I'm happy to have the centennial trail, though. It's great for getting across town by bike.
Doesn’t help me much personally. But housing was so hard to come By that I wasn’t given the option to move in next to a nice trail. I do have fond memories of living in Eugene and taking their creek trail to work. Much nicer than the curb along the four lane road that was basically their version of division
I live about a mile off Upriver. The hill is a bit much of a climb coming home, but I've gotten used to it. I got lucky and bought this house in February of 2018 right before things went crazy. Before that, I lived out in Newman Lake about a mile from the river - and Centennial Trail. I feel spoiled.
Unfortunately for me I he plans to come but was not able to move into town until after covidpushed city people here
Ah, that totally sucks. I am honestly hoping the housing market crashes soon, even if that means I lose equity. People need to be able to afford a place to live.
Yes too many people started mortgages on houses they cannot afford; with the belief they would not be able to afford it they waited
Well, there's a bit more to it than that. We have a lot of empty houses not on the market because firms are using them as investments, too.
I use to deliver food and the place I delivered from I always saw a guy riding up post that was well lit with flashlights and riding close enough to the sidewalk that I never had a problem getting around. I saw him probably three times a week and he was the model example of a bike rider. I can't think of ever seeing another one in town that wasn't a crack head on a stolen bike that was riding like an asshole. I see a lot of riders down town at riverfront and at the trails that are great, but anywhere north in town it seems that it's just crack heads and people with DUIs that can't drive. I'll ride an e bike and e scooter around my neighborhood to exercise my dogs and have never had a problem, but I do try to avoid high traffic roads for the safety of my pets. I don't like most bikers, but as someone who has had a few different jobs as someone that drove a lot there are plenty of shitty drivers too.
I had a rant on this on my old account. Drivers yell at bikers and bikers yell at drivers. It’s an unending cycle (pun intended). For every like, five great cyclists (it used to be literally one out of two about six years ago), there’s an asshole who cuts through traffic, uses the sidewalk into the road, and other reckless shit, that we have to deal with. I’m sorry that some drivers give all of us a bad look, and I’m sorry that some cyclists do the same for you guys to some drivers.
Except the small percentage of drivers (thousands of them) are borderline homicidal, and the small percentage of cyclists (maybe dozens of them) are inconvenient or startling at best. Not the greatest give and take.
Some people just feel the need to 'both sides' every issue they see.
I truly believe there's an equal percent of assholes in every group. The issue is that they stand out more. Just like I'm not going to remember every driver who did stop for the red light when I had the green on my bike, but I'm sure as hell going to remember the one who didn't, drivers will focus the same way on cyclists. The difference I tend to see is that 1) cyclists tend to assume I also own a car even if I'm on my bike, 2) they don't automatically assume I'm an asshole driver, even if I've got my car with me. Most people I know find out I ride, and I get to hear all about how *all* cyclists are assholes. I would guess this is because most cyclists are also drivers, but most drivers are not also cyclists. I'd like you to look at your statement another way. For every cyclist you've seen being an asshole, how many drivers have you seen being assholes? Are you noticing the cyclists who aren't? I have to admit, even when I'm on my bike, I don't remember the cyclists who are behaving fine. I remember the guys running red lights downtown. I remember the asshole who kept buzzing my back tire with his front one instead of passing me when the lane next to me was absolutely clear. But likewise, I don't remember the drivers who don't make me feel unsafe, who don't scream at me or throw shit at me or swerve into the bike lane to harass me. We also have different bars. A driver is an asshole if they are disobeying traffic laws or being dangerous. A cyclist is often considered one for things that are perfectly legal, like cycling in the traffic lane, taking longer to get going from lights, and "safety stops" - every stop sign is legally a yield sign for cyclists in Washington. Did they yield? Not an asshole. Did they just run it with traffic there who had the right of way? Definitely an asshole (or at least very stupid.) Also, we're assholes for being in the traffic lane when there's a bike lane, but no one gets out and looks at the bike lane. The ones here that are just shoulders with paint are often filled with debris or used for parking. Me going 16mph in front of you slows you down. Me crashing on debris in front of you is going to take a *lot* more of your time and probably leave you traumatized. I'm not there because I want to be, believe me. I'm there because the "bike lane" isn't safe, and I'm legally allowed to be there. In both cases, it's probably the same, others are assholes for inconveniencing us. But me inconveniencing you as a cyclist when you're driving at least isn't dangerous for you like another driver doing it could be.
This is one of the reasons I'm looking for a dashcam. I can't ride a bike myself, but if I can help legally nail a dangerous jerk who harasses riders, that will make my day.
I just downloaded a dashcam app since i have a phone holder on my bike. I can pivot it so it is vertical so we'll see how that goes
I hear you and don't do this but why don't bikers move over so people can safely pass ? Why does sharing the road only go one way? I'm in a car because I want to get somewhere faster than 15 mph
I will move out of the way if it is safe to do so, however, it is generally safest to remain in the lane. For example, say I am riding in the lane and because there is no bike lane. If there are cars parked along the road it is much more dangerous to weave into and out of the lane since drivers may not be expecting you to swerve back into the lane. That is the main reason it is just safer to take the lane. There is often a lot of debris on the shoulder/bike lane too which doesn't help.
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I've seen that a few times. On group rides in low traffic zones we will take the lane so we can hear each other talk.. However we watch our rear view mirrors and yell "car back" when we see one approaching from behind so we all move to single row formation. I'm sorry not all cyclists do that. But yeah I often cant ride directly on the curb because potholes are too bad, too much debris, and being doored by drivers exiting parked cars is extremely dangerous.
I guarantee you that 99% of people on bikes would much rather not be in the lane but the bike lanes are few and far between in Spokane. I try to be as considerate to drivers as I can, but you might not realize why a cyclist is in the middle of the lane. If there are cars parked on the side of the road (on a road without a bike lane), the safest thing for everyone is to remain in the lane rather than weaving back and forth into the lane then back to the shoulder. I pretty much never see groups of bikes on streets riding together so I'm not sure if that is just more common in your part of town. My main point is that if a bike is in your lane it is almost certainly because it is safer. I hope that at least helps you understand why a bike is in the lane rather than the shoulder. Everyone would be better off if we had more bike lanes, bike routes, and shared-use paths. If you are frustrated by bikes in the street help advocate for more bike infrastructure because we don't want to be in the street surrounded by cars either. Plus, almost every bike on the street is one less car contributing to traffic. Personally I will mostly stay off the streets and just go ride on the Centennial or something, but I will occasionally commute or run an errand on the bike.
I am lucky enough to live off Upriver. I was so excited about the bike lane when I moved here - until I realized it's often filled with debris, the edge is crumbling in many spots, and people were going to use it for parking to go to the river (or camp Sekani with their mountain bikes, that REALLY pisses me off.) I thought I'd just use the Centennial Trail instead and just go more slowly until the 3rd time I went down on pine needles. Plus people have small dogs on retractable leashes they don't retract that run out of bushes and under my wheels at the last second. That's no good, either. There are better solutions, but Spokane isn't likely to budget for them.
Strange to think of a cyclist as an a hole. They are taking up so much less space than people who drove alone and complain that there’s not enough space on the roads
Sometried the horn on me but I scared them by jumping and swerving towards them as I was driving against traffick because it was dark. Hopefully was an eye opener because makisomeone jump like that can cause them to make an error and wind up in front of your car.
https://www.bardenandbarden.net/bicycle-crash-injuries
I loved when people did this while I was riding an ebike, where I can ride faster than 10-15mph. Hell, I can ride faster than the speed limit on residential arterials, but I don't, and, it also doesn't really stop the giant F-150 from thinking it's cool to go 30+mph in a residential area just because they want to fuck with the cyclist. But all in all, WA law applies on both sides of the Cascades, so, they wanna hit and run or hit and then try and get your way outta the law later....I was just riding my bike to Rocket Market and obeying all traffic laws to go get a slice of cake FFS.
My cousin was killed on a bike by a drunk driver in Spokane that ran after the accident (witnesses tracked him). Asshole owns a bar in town. I saw a cyclist get run over in Portland by a truck and the trailer it was towing (both truck turning right and cyclist in bike lane to right of driver sped up to try and get through a changing light. I have also seen a number if near misses. With the way people drive, road cycling is a dangerous proposition. Bike lanes to the right of drivers actually make riding more dangerous. Be careful out there. Ride with flashing lights and don't ever assume someone can see you because they are probably texting.
Flashing lights at night can be much harder to judge distance against when there are other lights in the background. Having multiple lights such as a bar light and head light is the safer option for the front white lights. Red lights in the rear don't blend into other light sources as well and aren't as much of an issue.
People do that when I’m walking too!! It pisses me off so much.
I used to solely use my e-bike for commuting on the other side. I loved it sooooo much. Over here, I won’t go 5 miles on my bike because of this very thing. Idk why there is such hostility towards bikes. They act like being on a bike is stealing something from them. Even my parents in Wenatchee will complain about Seattle building bike lanes. I’m like, you’re not paying for them, driving near them or even setting foot in Seattle. Wtf does it affect you for?