Comments on Drivers and Cyclists: Working Towards Mutual Respect

Spicy brains.

I admire all those bike riders...I only wish that they would stop for stop signs. I lost a sister because she was hit by a car at age three--she darted across a street.

those zombies should have been on the phone at the same time - it would have been more realistic.

sincerely,
diggum

The worst are the cell-phone using pit-bull-owning zombie drivers.

Zombie driver? He must have got his license in Chicago: Where the dead can register to vote and where the un-dead can obtain a driver's license (with the proper bribe, of course)

Well thank god for this- Good to see something that doesn't paint both sides into pathetically one dimensional stereotypes.

Oh, wait.

I love the underlying message of bike vigilantism... what could possibly go wrong?

About the only thing they got right was that cyclists don't have brains.

Smart cyclists fear the door more than every other road hazard combined. That's why if you have dark-tinted windows you're an asshole no matter how cool you think it looks.

Oh, and that they're made of straw and burlap and have several orifices sewn shut.

That's a really bad caricature of ECB in the last panel. Everyone knows she's a brunette.

Cyclists don't have brains. Got it.

What does window tint have to do with anything, Fnarf?

Because EVERY parked car is a potential opening door, and if you can't see the driver (or the absence of driver) through the window, you don't know if he's about to open that door in your face. You can't see if there's a person there through dark windows.

Drivers, pop your door a crack to show your intention before swinging it wide.

Hipsters! Are your tattoos fading? Are you earplugs sagging like a thugs pants? And that tattoo on your neck-think that will be a plus when you try to get a better job than bike messenger? Pathetic motherfucker. This Pabst is for you.

Fnarf is correct.

Also: drivers: don't open the door if a cyclist is coming.

Guerrilla action putting copies of this comic strip under wiper blades on parked cars would be a good move. It's a funny comic, and most drivers need a reminder.

I like the cartoon because it tells it like it is. Sooner than you think, a bicyclists is going to shoot a driver, or a driver will shoot a bicyclist. In response, many public service announcements will take flight. Best of luck with that.

@11. The cyclist was a dummy, that's why it didn't have brains. You know, to trick the zombie drivers into getting out of the car so the vigilante cyclist could shoot them. Those crazy zombie drivers. When will they learn.

Bush is the most pro-Zombie president we have ever had. America needs to stand strong with Zombies now. The Stranger has gone against conventional Seattle wisdom and been pro-zombie. Bush is the best American president zombies have ever known, and many in the Seattle Jewish community appreciate what Bush has done for zombies.

@14 Great idea- nothing garners sympathy and awareness from drivers like a cartoon depicting them as zombies who should be shot.

I saw someone get reamed by a car door. Holy crap did that look like it hurt!

They were probably on their way to a birthday party.

drivers: don't open the door if a cyclist is coming.

The coded message of this comic:
Cyclists: motorists can't see you at night if you ride without lights. Then if you get doored, it's your own fucking fault.

Consider: The background is black except where illuminated by streetlights. Obviously it's nighttime. Yet neither the bike nor the rider have headlights or even reflective media. Same with the avenger chick in the last panel, unless that skull glows in the dark. Not even the most conscientious motorist in the world can see an unlit, dark clad cyclist coming up in the rear view.

drivers: don't open the door if a cyclist is coming.

The coded message of this comic:
Cyclists: motorists can't see you at night if you ride without lights. Then if you get doored, it's your own fucking fault.

Consider: The background is black except where illuminated by streetlights. Obviously it's nighttime. Yet neither the bike nor the rider have headlights or even reflective media. Same with the avenger chick in the last panel, unless that skull glows in the dark. Not even the most conscientious motorist in the world can see an unlit, dark clad cyclist coming up in the rear view.

The average bicyclist is more aware of their surroundings and actions than the average driver.

Drivers seem to acknowledge this just by stating "Yeah, but my car weighs 2000X more than your bicycle!"

Common sense dude: If you just swing your door wide right off the bat, you're still in the wrong. Crack it first. Yes, an unlit cyclist is putting himself stupidly at risk. That doesn't mean that he deserves to die, and it doesn't absolve you of your responsibility to act safely.

Dunno what the law is in Washington, but in Columbus, OH, my boyfriend was CITED for "opening his car door into traffic". Yup. He opened the door, another car hit it, and he was cited. Luckily he was not in the process of getting out of the car.

You guys certainly have a lot of weird fights going on there.

Why don't the 97.7 percent of us who don't commute by bicycle just stay at home all the time and never leave the house, so that none of us can, in any way, ever, endanger the 2.3 percent of people in Seattle who choose to commute by bike?

So can we pedestrians have our own psychopath to shoot zombie cyclists who run red lights and stop signs, or zip by at street speeds on the sidewalk?

@25

Nora, Seattle has the smallest police force in the country. The cops really have to have it in for you to get cited for chickenshit.

This seems to be an escalation from clouting motorists with U-locks.

So drivers are obligated to constantly expect invisible bicyclists when they get out of their cars, because 0.00001% of the time there may be an invisible cyclist coming up on them? It ain't gonna happen.

But your scenario reminded me of this pre-war poem:

Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away

When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t [open] the door... (slam!)

@30, ummmm. bicyclists aren't invisible. you're obligated to look at visible cyclists, just like you're supposed to look at visible pedestrians and visible other cars and visible utility poles.

I saw a MUNI bus in SF clip a guy's door off once, and send it flying a hundred yards or more. The car driver was unhurt but a little rattled, and miraculously no one was hit by the door in the street. It's not just for the cyclists' benefit that you should PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE DOING.

@30: So drivers are obligated to constantly expect invisible bicyclists when they get out of their cars

No. But drivers are obligated to do the following:

RCW 46.61.620

"No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side adjacent to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of a vehicle adjacent to moving traffic for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers."

I'm constantly encountering drivers who flip open their door while they're playing with their radio/ipod or stuff on the passenger seat.

Just take a second to be aware that vehicles (cars and bikes) are passing you and that perhaps you should peek out for a half second instead of simply opening the door without looking out at all.

This has to do with awareness, something that many drivers are lacking.

jrrrl, my whole point is that the cyclists in the cartoon are riding at night, with neither lights nor reflectors -- ergo invisible.

fnarf, I can easily see a Muni bus in the mirror. A cyclist wearing dark clothes at night without lights or reflective gear -- not so much. Sometimes I'll see a little flash of light off the spokes.

Seriously, cyclists are so often invisible at night. No lights+dark clothes+stealth maneuvers= trouble.

A friend once claimed he WAS wearing bright clothes because his sweatshirt was a dark purple. Most colors, other than white and day-glo, turn to black in the night.

And yes, I do ride.

@31, cyclists wearing black with no lights at night are in fact invisible. Responsibility goes both ways. Wear a light, a big one.

hipsters advocating murder

nice

I almost door-bagged a bicyclist a couple weeks ago, not thinking that someone would try to squeeze past a parked taxi and the sidewalk at full speed.

Stupid, stupid bicyclist!

@33 "I'm constantly encountering drivers who flip open their door while they're playing with their radio/ipod or stuff on the passenger seat."

Yes, you douchebag nannystate motherfucker, people have to open up their cars to get shit out. And they may not move as smoothly or quickly as you want them too. But Jesus Christ, people. How lame are you? Pitiful.

Riding a bike in car traffic is like agreeing to get fucked by a stranger without a condom ... because the fucker says they are STI-free. It's YOUR responsibility to protect YOU OWN health - regardless of what people SHOULD do or COULD do or are SUPPOSED TO do. That's all irrelevant. When you put your safety, your life, your health in the hands of thousands of cars - just because you think cars should behave a certain way and protect you - you're going to get fucked raw.

Will being dead on the side of the road because of a "careless" driver make you the martyr you've always wanted to be? "I DIED FOR BICYCLE SAFETY!" I can see the statue in Fremont now ... Your parents will be so proud.

@39,

Tell that to us again when your car door and arm get ripped off by another car. I regularly see drivers carelessly open their doors into all sorts of traffic. And meanwhile, since at least as long as I've been old enough to get out of a car without assistance, I've looked in the rearview and over my shoulder before opening the door.

A better comic would have been the first 3 panels alone, leaving the drivers to be zombies (they can be), and the bicyclists to be brainless (they can be*).

Dedicated bike paths or lanes would be the real solution for both sides - but since that's not happening anytime soon, everyone is just going to have to take responsibility for themselves. (that said, making a bike lane a tiny space between where cars park, pull over, load and unload, and traffic - is a recipe for death, but it's all we got for now.)

* yes, I ride a bike.

One time I saw an SUV crash full speed into a bus I was in.

The SUV was a writeoff - the bus barely got dented.

Physics in action.

@40 - In my 26 years of driving, I have never, ever seen that happen. Nothing even close. That's been 15 yrs in Seattle and 11 years in SF. Not to say that it doesn't happen, but just because it did happen doesn't move it to the front of the line of Very Important Things.

I'm most annoyed by the lack of perspective from specific people on here (such as ECB) - so much so that people are actually taking normal traffic accidents and turning them into hate crimes against The Cyclist Community(tm).

@39: Yes, you douchebag nannystate motherfucker, people have to open up their cars to get shit out. And they may not move as smoothly or quickly as you want them too.

When did I say that people weren't moving smoothly or quickly enough??

I was simply pointing out that some drivers don't look out *at all* when opening their door. People are in their bubble and have little awareness of the world outside of their vehicle.

What 40 said. I always look. It's not a matter of watching out for the cyclists. Cars are big heavy things that can't stop on a dime and will smash your door right off.

From the staringly obvious fact that cars are big and heavy and can't stop or turn on a dime, a lot of safety rules just naturally follow. Like not popping your door open without looking. Like not blasting through stop signs. Like always signaling your intentions first.