fox5vegas.comPosted Jan 28, 2019, 11:34 PM UTC
I stopped cycling altogether because how dangerous it is in this city.
I stick to bike paths and sidewalks. I stay away from streets even if there is a bike lane.
No kidding..thats why I stopped riding bike.....
Well that and the uphill nonsense took all the joy out of it.
I wish bicycling was a viable transport option but the drivers here are god-awful--drunk, distracted, road raging, impatient, etc. Unless you are commuting from the town of Blue Diamond to Red Rock, I wouldn't recommend riding on Vegas roads.
This is exactly why I never ride my bike in Vegas anymore. Last time I rode my bike, I almost got ran over by a crazy guy who got mad at me for "getting in his way." I was on the bike lane minding my own business.
I recently bought a bike and it's insane how annoying it is to ride around, for me it's pedestrians. Drunk people have bike blindness and even facing you with you saying excuse me won't notice you until you tap them on the shoulder.
Edit: Typo in the title but I'm sure you know I meant America. I dislike that autocorrect does not work when typing titles on the mobile app.
Cycling is currently the fastest growing method of transportation in the world and United States for many reasons but largely for economic reasons. As more people get into the saddle due to economic and other circumstances these deaths are expected to rise. Cycling infrastructure saves lives and unfortunately it is near impossible to commute to many parts of the city using cycling infrastructure.
A common misconception is that people are out on the streets for leisure riding, and while a significant portion are more are just trying to get from point A to point B in time, energy and cost efficient method. I personally don't ride right now after nearly losing my life last year when I was hit by a left turning car.
I recommend joining the Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition at http://www.snvbc.org/ it's free and people can do more as a group than as individuals.
The most common post I see on these stories is "Why don't you ride on the sidewalk?". There are many reasons for this. The most simple is that besides in parts of Paradise, riding on the sidewalk is a ticketable offence. While this law isn't commonly enforced for safe riders it's not worth the chance of an officer who wishes to enforce the law. The next largest reason is that riding on the sidewalk does not infact increase safety. Riding on the sidewalk increases the chance for you to get hit by a right or left turning car or cars leaving parking lots. There are many other factors including how many obstacles are present on sidewalks, pedestrians causing accidents, the law requiring that a cyclist dismount and push their bike through crosswalks and the law requiring that a cyclist ride at walking speed when using the sidewalk.
Just to add an anecdote to the sidewalk issue:
I wore a reflective safety vest while riding and a skullcap helmet that I didn't bother to buckle (I was 17, we're all dumb in our own ways at that age). I walked the bike across intersections and large driveways, though the little barely single car wide ones I often just stayed on it cause it took longer to dismount and walk than it did to look for cars in the turn lane.
I finally got a job at Target and rode my bike back and forth from Rainbow and Spring Valley up to Rainbow and Spring Mt. I got swiped my second day making the trip up while riding in the street as you're supposed to. That lady didn't bother stopping, just honked and flipped me off.
Ok then, sidewalk it is!
Took a few weeks, but I got knocked as I was crossing in front of that Starbucks on the east side just north of Flamingo. Another angry lady, finger and all, but with the bonus of her holding her phone and Starbucks cup in one claw-hand. You could see the coffee dripping off her phone, I figured that was worth the skinned knee. Patched my bike up on break and didn't worry about it.
A few days after that, I got hit again in front of that Starbucks. And guess who it was? Same rude ass lady as the first Starbucks hit. I have no idea what kind of karmic joke I'd fallen into, but it was the same lady in the same damned car. She would exit the drivethru and stick her car halfway into the right lane to make her turn, guess she couldn't see above the little 3' scrubby hedge there. This time she actually got out of her car to scream at me, which prompted my 17yo brilliant mind to mule kick the ever loving shit out of her bumper and bolt off.
I started riding the bus the next day. Being a bike in Vegas is dangerous as shit.
Different parts of town feel so different to ride in too. I was staying up in the northwest edge of town for a while and riding a bike there was like heaven compared to where I am now, on the east side. Might as well be attempting suicide.
I switched to the bus too.
I lived on the east side for a while, off Flamingo and Boulder. You couldn't pay me to ride a bike over there. It's amazing how regionalised the shit drivers really are in Vegas.
I don't blame you! Anywhere on or right off Boulder is taking your life in your hands.
Yeah, it's so unfortunate that the infrastructure for bicyclist and busses is so piss poor in this city. Before my accident I bike commuted first from Maryland and Flamingo to near The D. 20 miles each way to use as many bike Lanes and safe streets as possible. Taking the bus would take me an hour and a half and get me as far as Silverado Ranch, then I had to walk half an hour. On a bike it took me an hour and ten minutes. Then I moved to Sahara and Decatur and need to commute to UNLV which has very few options in terms of safe bike Lanes. All three cyclist deaths this year happened in places I would literally ride every week. It takes 20 minutes for me to take a car (Uber I can't drive for medical reasons), 23 minutes for me to bike or 1.5 hours by bus.
I've been hit three times myself. The first I was riding in a bike lane and car tried to pass me and cut across the bike lane just in front of me and braked. I just ended up scratched up and she got a nasty dent and scratches. Then a truck ran a stop sign on a 25mph street I thought I was safe on and I locked up my brakes trying to stop and hit the side injuring my wrist. The third time I was going through a green light on August 20th on Rainbow and a car turned left without slowing down and hit me breaking 4 bones, collapsing my lung and causing a concussion and seizure even with a helmet. I haven't been back on a bike since.
Cycling was my greatest pleasure in life and a nessesity for efficient commuting in reasonable times and it was ripped away from me. So it's a bit personal for me that we save as many lives as possible. People like to pretend were building infrastructure for less than 1% of people but that's simply not true. It might be less than 1% today (which is still a significant number of people) but the amount of people riding bikes will continue to grow annually and we can't wait until 3% are on the road and 20 are dying a year to say "ohh this is a problem".
Edit: it's also proven across the world that more cycling infrastructure there is the more people will ride.
Riding a bike in Vegas takes being on the defensive every second. I grew up riding here and still ride around. Never once been hit. I make sure when I'm crossing streets to verify it's clear/make eye contact with the driver before going. It's definitely stressful, I stick mostly to bike paths when available and less hectic roads. All in all, be aware, be safe, accept that it's on us to avoid the crash even though we have the right of way many times. Cheers, be safe.
Oh, I moved away a bit ago now. I still lurk here for the nostalgia though, and I've still got a lot of friends out that way. But you be safe! It only takes one car.
Cheers.
Damn right, who is trying to kill me today
it's worse on motorcycles cause cars will just switch lanes without actually looking. And i made it a point to never fucking ever be in a blind spot.
whats up with all the lane splitting on the highway? i've never seen so much stupidity.
I thought I would also share how this happened in a bike lane on Flamingo. The exact same thing almost happened to me on the opposite side of the street and I captured it on video. A car attempts to get ahead of me so it can turn right half a second faster despite the fact I'm going as fast as traffic. People see bicycles and can't stand the thought they may have to be behind them for a few seconds and it gets us killed. For this rider the car either didn't see them or didn't back off.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcDqVkWnSvG/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=crn33mwz1oeu
I speed up, give them a head shake and the finger straight up. These assholes usually sport California plates and are driving SUVs. Now I ride with a camera so I can reap the rewards from ignorant drivers
EDIT: People don’t realize their driving habits are very easy to spot and anticipating the movements become second nature to focused drivers/riders. Taxi cabs display this the most. But usually the car will jump over to the next lane and ride same speed as biker then throw their signal on AS they are attempting to switch lanes. Another common scenario is the driver will make the lane change but then brake for no stupid reason.
I don't know how many times I've punched someone's window because I'm trying to knock when they start to suddenly merge into the bike lane. I honestly have the most trouble with Taxis. They will always pass super close and generally just be dangerous around cyclists.
Is that a bike lane in your video? When you get to the light (on your bike), do you have to turn right or can you continue going straight?
It's a bike/bus and right turn lane. You can keep going straight if you're a bike or bus. If you're in a car you can only use it to turn right.
Ah, gotcha! I'm always checking my mirrors so I can be aware of what's around me. One more - do all bus lanes double as bike lanes?
And how do you feel about cyclists driving opposite of traffic? I feel like it's better to see people coming than just get trucked from behind.
Thanks!
In Vegas almost all the bus lanes are also bike Lanes. Like those on Flamingo, Sahara, etc. The exceptions I can think of are around the Bonneville Transit Center Downtown.
Riding against traffic is one of the most dangerous things you can do. Mainly because motorists aren't looking for things coming from that direction. First article from a Google search apparently you're around 3.6 times more likely to get into an accident riding against traffic. https://www.quora.com/Is-it-safer-to-ride-your-bike-with-traffic-or-against-it