Staff Blog
Pics from yesterday’s Ride of Silence, and word of a bad bike accident this morning
 |
| Photo | Isaiah Thompson |
Yesterday, thousands of cyclists around the country and around the world gathered for the annual Ride of Silence. Philadelphia was no exception, and as the sun started going down, more than 300 riders converged at the Art Museum, donned black armbands and began to move in a huge, silent mass through the city. The ride was sponsored in part by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, but organized by individuals.
The purpose of the ride is twofold. It is part funeral or memorial procession, honoring the memory of people who have been killed while riding bicycles; and it is partly a peaceful and silent demand for the safety of the still-living.
The ride kicked off with a reading of the names of local people who had been killed on bicycles, and some of the riders who came yesterday wore pictures of loved ones on their backs. The ride was led in front by a "ghost bike," painted white, being towed in a trailer by Neighborhood Bike Works Executive Director Andy Dyson. Below the bike was a banner reading, "No more bike deaths."
If you ride Fairmount Park often, you might have seen a tiny ghost bike, right where traffic is blocked on weekends. The bike is in memory of 6-year-old Riley Boyle, who was killed when a van crashed through the closed gate.
Can I take this moment to advocate for closing the entire West River Drive to through traffic, at least on the weekends? Great. Disagree if you like, but that's my position: Cars have enough roads, let bikers have one. A nice, big, long one that they can bring the whole family on without worrying about leaving any ghost bikes.
A particularly touching moment: as we rode silently past Trophy Bikes, one of the mechanics stood outside, ringing a small bell.
Philadelphia Police were ready for the group and did an excellent job of setting up rolling traffic blocks, allowing the whole group to glide down the parkway, down Market, and back west through the city without a hitch. Thanks, guys.
 |
It felt good to be riding in a group, unconcerned with traffic. As individuals, we ride around the city in a constant state of defense. I've been riding through cities since I was 15, and it still stresses me out, ever so slightly, every single time I roll into traffic.
Being able to ride so freely yesterday (and on such a beautiful evening) made it all the more sad to think about the bikers that didn't get to go on that peaceful ride.
And then, this morning, I got a piece of news from John Boyle (no relation to Riley, mentioned above), Advocacy Director for the Bicycle Coalition: A man and child were hit this morning, right by the Art Museum, at an intersection we'd been discussing yesterday as being one of the more dangerous in the city.
I called the police who confirmed that a 29-year-old male was with his 4-year-old son, crossing the street on his bike at the crosswalk across the bridge that leads to MLK (West River) Drive. A car had, in fact, stopped to let them cross. Another car, however, behind that one tried to pass the stopped car and hit the pair. The adult has a broken right shoulder; the 4-year-old in currently in critical condition at Children's Hospital with a fractured skull and a fractured right arm.
The city needs to fix that intersection and the whole Art Museum area, which has long been a disaster waiting to happen for cyclists and drivers alike. The bike lanes are incomprehensible, the intersections are poorly thought out, and the traffic speed is too high.
But more generally, this kind of thing needs to stop. Be careful, drivers. Please.
 |
| Photo | Isaiah Thompson |
I always wondered about that little white bike. Thanks for sharing the background story. Definitely agree about West River Drive.
Just thinking of the last incident gives me road rage. I passed that accident yesterday morning around 9:30AM, I can’t understand how anyone would pass a stopped car there as it’s one lane. Idiot rushing to work no doubt. I wish when they changed the traffic pattern there last year, they would have done something for the bike lanes.
but bruce schimmel says everyone hates bicyclists (personally, I think Bruce needs to get a life)
Brendan: I did not get it from Mr. Schimmel’s article that everyone hates biycylists. He took the high road in my opiinion. A strategy beyond me as I do hate those bicyclists doing the things mentioned in the article and subsequent comments - some of which are mine - that cause them to be hated. And from my obervations as a pedestrian who walks everywhere, and who will never own a bike as I do not trust motorists, is that less than 10% of bicyclists actually obey the law.
Just to add my own two cents: As a guy who gets around by bike every day, I think Philly drivers are pretty good on the whole. I ride respectfully and defensively, but I put my safety first and I take what’s mine when it comes to my right to the road. If I can let someone pass safely and without too much inconvenience, I will; if not, they can wait.
In other words, a few cars every day have to deal with me,and still I almost never have problems with them.
I think that’s pretty cool. Good on you, Philly.
It seems to me that what happened to that poor kid has little to do with “Philly drivers” or drivers “hating” bicyclists.
Road planning has simply been so car-focused for the last 50 years that we’ve wound up with places like that intersection, which was built for cars and cars only, without pedestrians or bikes in mind, and only later – and, as we can see,poorly – retrofitted to accommodate anybody else.
Drivers can hate bicycles all they want. I hate Coldplay and A Prairie Home Companion: so what?
The truth is that bikes are a permanent and growing part of city traffic, and nobody wants crashes.
Especially 4-year-old kid crashes.
I’m all for more bikes on the roads and road-sharing. But as both a cyclist AND a driver, I have to say I hope a major focus of this event was also bike safety on the parts of the cyclists — i.e., wearing helmets, wearing reflective gear at night, obeying traffic laws and stopping at signs/lights and going the proper way on one-way streets. I see SO MANY cyclists in Philly putting all the onus on the drivers to watch out for the cyclists’ safety and it really should be a two-way street.
No more car deaths. Can you crack out your pencil and start planning roads to prevent those, too, Thompson?
I will bet Coldplay prefer bicyclists.
[...] Silence is held in honor for fallen and injured bicycle riders and Chattanooga: Ride of Silence also Pics from yesterday’s Ride of Silence, and word of a bad bike accident this morning and also Birmingham Ride of Silence salutes cyclists injured or killed on the roadways and more [...]
[...] Get Lit: Win a copy of Shanghai Girls• And CityPaper.net is BACK. Sorry about that.• Pics from yesterday’s Ride of Silence, and word of a bad bike accident this morning• Summer Fun Easter egg hunt• Night Moves: Ben Greenman at Brickbat• You have [...]
I just watched a bike messenger ride down the sidewalk, weave around old ladies at 18th & Walnut, jumps the curb in front of a cab and the cab is within inches of running him over. You know what? It’s too bad he didn’t get hit and that is one less jerkoff bicyclist to contend with. I have zero sympathy for bikers anymore. If you do not wish to follow the rules, than walk like the rest of us and see what your fellow bicycle brethren are doing out there. Go F yourselves!
So let me get this straight, fedup: You’d like to see someone DIE because they broke a traffic law? And you have ZERO SYMPATHY for all cyclists because you’ve had a few anecdotal bad experiences?
It’s this kind of attitude that perpetuates animosity and rage.
I’ve had bad experiences with drivers on my bike, experiences when I’ve been very obviously cut off and run off the road. I don’t hate all drivers.
I’ve had multiple experiences where pedestrians have walked out from between parked cars, not looking, and actually knocked me off my bike. Yet I don’t hate all pedestrians.
Perhaps this is unbecoming, but, no, go F yourself.
Dzuh sheeng chuh ren bu hao
Thank you to Brian Howard for questioning the veracity of my “anecdotal” observation. I neglected to mention that over a month ago my 4 year-old daughter was hit by a bicyclist while she was walking with me on THE SIDEWALK of Sansom Street near Broad. Ever since then I have made it a point to observe every bicyclist I see. Care to know what I have discovered? I have never, repeat never, seen a bicyclist come to a complete stop at a red-light or a stop sign at the white line. I have seen them jump on sidewalks when it suits them, especially when traffic is backed up on the street ahead of them - that is how my daughter was hit. I have seen them use the sidewalk when going the opposite way down a one-way street; I guess they at least have the brains to know you can be ticketed. And these behaviors aren’t confined to the bike messenger types that really don’t give a crap about anything; it is basically anyone on a bike. I encourage anyone reading this to take a walk anywhere in Center City and tell us if you do not see the same behaviors. So if you have never done those things Mr. Howard then I applaud you. You are in the extreme minority, and please don’t counter with statistics or some other lame excuse. So now rather than a mother enjoying a walk with her daughter and accepting the fact that I need to watch out for cars when crossing a street, I now need to always be looking for bicyclists careening down a sidewalk or darting around a corner of a building as I approach it, or here is the best, I need to assume that having the green light when crossing an intersection in no way makes me feel good knowing full well a cyclist if given the chance will probably run the red-light and almost hit me. So to answer your question: I don’t want them to die, but if the bicyclist I observed is injured to the point where he can’t ride his bike, then aren’t we all better off? Still Fedup.
Fedup: First off, I’m sorry to hear about your daughter’s accident. That’s a shame and whoever did it should have received a moving violation at the least.
However, I was not questioning the veracity of your anecdotal experience. I was pointing out that it was indeed anecdotal, period. There’s a saying that goes something like “the plural of anecdote is not data” — which is to say that just because you’ve seen something once or 10 or 100 times does not necessarily mean it is a trend or a truth. Case in point: You mention that once your daughter had her accident, you started looking for bike violations, and of course you found them because you were looking for them. But during that time how often do you think automobiles — that weigh more than a ton — didn’t come to a full stop during that same time period? How many pedestrians jay-walked? Is it safe to say that you’re biased in your observations? Have you ever crossed in the middle of the street?
I will certainly not say that I’ve never done any of the things that you mention above — I treat stop lights as stop signs and stop signs as yield signs while always being mindful of cars and pedestrians. And before you start screaming LAW LAW LAW at me, I mention I do those things for the same reasons that cars in the city employ rolling stops and that pedestrians jay walk when they’re in the middle of the block and need to get across the street: Because it’s sort of ludicrous to suggest they do otherwise. These are all aspects of the law as it’s enforced.
And while we’re matching up anecdotes:
10 years ago or so I was cut off by a cab driver who I chased down and colorfully informed him of his need to share the road. He got out of his cab threateningly and told me to “get on the fucking sidewalk where [I] belong.”
Three years ago while on the tail end of a bike ride, I was pedaling down Christian street when a man, quite obliviously looking in the opposite direction, popped out from behind a van in the middle of the block, knocking me off my bike. I separated my shoulder.
Two years ago while riding down Sixth street between South and Bainbridge in a light rain, a guy darted out from behind a van causing me to jam on my brakes. Due to the slick rain just beginning to coat the road, my tires went out from under me and my bike slipped under the parked van, leaving my head perilously close to oncoming traffic.
Just the other month, while riding in the bike lane on Washington Ave. a car passed me then made a right turn right into me, essentially running me off the road.
I mention all these things not as some sort of badge, but to suggest that maneuvering in the city is fraught with perils. I agree the cyclists should be more mindful; I also think everyone else should be.
(And, fwiw, I think your revised stance — essentially, you don’t think someone should DIE, you only think they should be crippled — is still a bit aggro. But hey, I don’t suspect we’re going to end up agreeing on this.)
Can’t we all just get along?
Hugs and kisses,
The Torture Guy who loathes bike people
And a big shoutout to Yoo of the peanut gallery - three posts and so deep.
I hope you aren’t being rude Ray. I may just have to waterboard you.
I’m still unable to translate the second half of the comment in Chinese(?)
Mandarin, shi\a!
Yo, Mr. Yoo-hoo, stop HanziSmattering all over everyone with your pseudo-Pinyin and your sh*tty Me-andarin’.
Show a little more respect — it’s 普通話, not 馬桶話, you dope.
(I certainly hope a Flying Pigeon deals you what you deserve.)
A quandary: You just bought a bike and are ignorant or just don’t care about the motor vehicle laws in the Commonwealth of Pa. and the City of Philadelphia -those pesky laws that govern bicycles. How do you fit in with most Philadelphia bicyclists? Answer: Ignore those ridiculous laws! Ride on the sidewalks - screw the pedestrians. Ignore the white lines at red lights and stop signs - coast through them or better yet do something very cool like balance your stupid track bike and do little circles in the crosswalk, you are too hip to be expected to stop your bike as the law says you must, I mean please! Don’t worry about those in-the-way pedestrians using YOUR crosswalk, keep making your circles, they will just have to go around you. Also, go the wrong way down a one-way street or better yet hop on the sidewalk. Remember, as a Philadelphia bicyclist you need to be cool, the law is for squares anyway. My apologies to the 5% of bicyclists who do the right thing and obey the law. You folks need to work on the other 95%, the police aren’t.
You’ll have to repeat that Jen. I am not fluent in mumbojumboblahblahese.
Mr. Howard, I appreciate your honesty in your interpreting the motor vehicle law as it applies to you. Is this the mantra of bicyclists? Red-lights are really stop-signs and stop signs are really yield signs. I need to try that when I am in a car, if no-one is there why should I stop? Let’s see if the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia would agree with that stance, since they are finally implementing the Bicycle Ambassadors Program to address the behaviors rooted in this absurd mentality. You are right in that it’s also about enforcement. The police patrolling the Center City Districts have not made enforcement a priority over the years and this is why we are having these discussions. My daughter pulls the same thing with me and if I don’t enforce the ban on certain behaviors she will grow up to a bad bicyclist just like you and everyone else I see out there. Have a nice day!
[...] a crash that occurred at the entrance to MLK Drive (a.k.a. West River Drive), by the Art Museum. A father and his 4-year-old were hit, leaving the child in critical condition. According to Alex Doty, Executive Director of the BIcycle [...]
[...] As much as I try to pull off the too-cool-to-wear-a-helmet look, every time I read about a cyclist getting killed or injured, I give up my dreams of forgoing helmet hair and accept that my chin is going to be [...]