If a bicyclist runs a stop sign, or doesn’t use a light at night, he gets a ticket (I know, because I got one for the latter). It’s a town famous for its bicycle commuters, has tons of bike lanes, and the cops enforce the traffic laws. I’ve lived here 26 years, and have seen innumerable cars ticketed for traffic violations, but not a single bike.Įnforcement is, in fact, the policy in Davis, California, where I lived for three years. They don’t, and they should be ticketed when they do. In Chicago, bicycles are required to obey traffic laws. And woe betide you if, when stopping, you’re too close to the curb, for a bicyclist behind you, ignoring the sign, is likely to hit you.

I can’t count the number of times that I’ve seen a bike run straight through a stop sign, making oncoming cars brake quickly. This has happened repeatedly over the years, and it’s dangerous for everyone. Yesterday I was almost run down again by an adult riding her bike on the sidewalk, again at high speed-and again an act that’s illegal. She was also carrying a large cake in a plastic container in one hand, so only one of her hands was on the handlebars.īut here in Chicago, as in most places, bicyclists simply ignore stop signs, stop lights, and zip through intersections. One, going through a stop sign, almost ran me down at high speed when I was crossing the street-legally, in the crosswalk.

In the past two weeks I’ve nearly been hit twice by bicyclists in Hyde Park (the area in Chicago around the university). That’s to prepare you for this curmudgeonly post.

I hate bicycle riders in traffic