When I rent a bike to meet my friends at Greenpoint or Williamsburg from hotel stays at Manhattan, I don’t feel threatened that much at NYC except for the moron who parks his car on the designated bike lane. One thing is certainly clear, biking in NYC is easier and safer than biking in Los Angeles. It’s only by my experience in riding a bike in these two cities.

I’ve had near misses and drivers throw starbucks frappucino bottles at me in the “bike-friendly region of Los Angeles known as Torrance, California”. I’ve had drivers zip past me by inches in their BMWs and Audis at 35+mph when i’m biking waiting for a red light in the pavement whether it be Carson Street or Wilshire Blvd.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Los Angeles decides to ban cycling just so that the drivers and bus-riders would get by their day to day lives of work, eat and sleep. At Los Angeles, Cyclists have no rights in the road nor the sidewalk. No local governments are helping us and taxpayers here revolt if they have to pay for segregated bike lanes or insurance hikes for protecting cyclists as they do in Europe. I hate Los Angeles.

I also drive an SUV, but why drive my 4 Runner for a short ride when biking cuts the commute in los angeles by half through rush hour traffic? I’d wish there are more bikers in Los Angeles who realize there’s more to this craptropolis than riding a car. It’s a car culture here, and being a native Californian from San Diego, Cyclists at Los Angeles are the new Mexicans – Blamed for everything, Useful for something, and Always Underappreciated on anything.

When I lived in the NYC suburbs (East Rutherford), we might have joked about how L.A. was some sort of pedestrian/cyclist hell, but once you’re out here you see its worse than you might imagine.

For example, I just moved out here a couple of weeks ago and I know two executives that wanted to ride to work who were both told by their bosses that they can’t….its “too dangerous.”

Reading these stories makes me think the bosses might be right.

I don’t think reckless driving of a bus, and the the implications thereof can be pushed aside as a “fluffy charge”.
Also, its quite unreasonable to assert that the cyclist “got what he deserved”. Especially considering that you probably don’t live in LA and have next to zero understanding of the cycling dynamics and relationships with government in that city. You and I understand the NYC perspective, but I can assure you that our perspective (as NYers) how we are percieved by those around us while we ride, is MUCH different than the scene/dynamics in LA.
Although from what Brayj says, it sounds like beauracrats hate their jobs in both cities.

Reporting these types of events to the Los Angeles MTA get you laughed at by their telephone operators.

The guy who did this is a bicycle advocate, and has done more in the past couple of years for cyclists in this county (Los Angeles County), than you’ll probably do for any group of cyclists in your life.

When the proper channels are exhausted, and following your delicate rules of etiquitte gets you run into the curb, hit by car doors, and physically injured – etiquitte is not working!

In this case, and according to the laws of California, this dude has the right to detain someone who has tried to use fatal force against his person and is attempting to flee before police arrive.

What have you done to make sure that bus drivers and car drivers are made to obey the law and not endager your life?

I’ve been run into the curb by asshole drivers of double-length M15s, so I know the experience is enraging and, to say the least, not fun. But delaying an entire bus of passengers who were NOT driving — not to mention tying up a 911 line — to try and press a fluffy charge garners no sympathy.

Handcuffed and humiliated, he got what he deserved. His behavior encourages no one to ride more, or anyone to start to ride. More would have been accomplished by recording the bus number and writing a letter of complaint, letting everyone get on with their day.

Lynne Goldsmith

Metro Bike Program Manager

213.922.3068

goldsmithl@metro.net

and

Metro Customer Relations

(213) 922-6235 and (800) 464-2111

customerrelations@metro.net

Riding a bicycle in LA without a gun??

Thats just stupid!