A Shift in My LA Driving Mentality

Maybe it's the coming baby.

Maybe it's the fatigue of driving anywhere for work with a range spanning from Bakersfield up North to Mission Viejo in the South and Santa Monica in the West to the border of California/Arizona.

Maybe it's about not wanting anymore tickets.

Maybe it's having been involved in way too many fenders that involve a car rear-ending me the past 2 years or so.

Maybe a little bit of everything.

I have gradually changed the way I drive, mostly from a gap-closing undercover speed racer...

to a

gap-surrendering overly cautious non-speed racer.

In the 13 years I've been driving LA streets and highways, I've logged around 130,000 miles, endured countless traffic jams on the 405, 101, 5, 110, 210, 1, 710, 605, 10, 110, 60, 91, 22, 118, 14,  mostly in a Corolla.  

Driving in LA really gets fatiguing, a sentiment shared with me by a fellow high school classmate I'd run into recently.  He himself having grown up in LA was also disgusted by the traffic --- to the point where he wanted to move away.

Driving as a habit in traffic is starting to get really, really old.  Some days I'm just ready to mentally check out and opt for a Google self-driving Smart car, which I actually would be scared of because of the potential for hacking and a lot of things that could go wrong with computerized systems, but that's another story.

I feel less like the teenager who on his way to a family party was egging on my dad to chase down someone who cut him off in Azusa and more like my mom who on every trip with my dad keeps her eye on the speedometer and tells him to slow down but also participates in the road rage expressions with him.

I feel more like the teenager terrified of the road and all that could happen rather than the teenager switching in and out of double yellowed lined carpool lanes in attempt to weave through traffic.

I think it's mostly my descent/ascent into design thinking, where I give people/other drivers a 'margin for error', that is room to make a mistake, such as a quick move into my lane.

Example:  if there's traffic in other lanes and there's a large gap between me and the car in front of me, I won't rush to close that gap, I'll proceed cautiously sure enough give to those who appear to be in a rush enough space to get in front.

Example 2:  Given that a lot of fenders have happened to me with the rear-end of my Corolla taking the punishment (and apparently not showing), I try to brake much in advance to ensure that the driver behind me will brake in advance as well, as opposed to braking only when the see me brake.

* * *

Having made this shift into allowing for a 'margin of error', all I see are drivers with the football running back mentality (which to be fair is not actually everyone on the road, but is everyone that I usually get mad at on the road).  See a gap?  Shoot at it.  They make an error?  It's their fault!  One idea brought by reading the book Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt.

I think those people with the 'running back mentality' including my very own CRV or Corrolla driving dear old dad, see the roads as something to get through quickly and efficiently.  They expect nothing more and nothing less.  They expect to 'get through', and god help us if someone gets in their way unexpectedly. 

'Time' is a big determining factor for how people drive, but I guess the eternal struggle/question in LA is deciding how were going to use 'space' and other drivers to help control this.

Cars as Weapons and Worrying About Bike Safety

Maybe it's my age, or maybe it's because I've been getting rear-ended more than I like, but I am increasingly hating driving.

It was only yesterday about say 15 or 16 years ago that I could not wait to get behind the wheel.  Now, it's just draining.

Yesterday, I ran into an old high school classmate in Marina Del Rey who also expressed his hatred for driving LA's freeways.  Though he was wearing a plain LA shirt, he expressed his own desire to move to Colorado or elsewhere.

Traffic can get that bad, and THAT draining.

Yesterday, there were two separate car incidents in two different parts of LA County that strike close to places that I travel through fairly often on bike:  1)  a car crash in Wilmington three blocks from Banning High School on Pacific Coast Highway, and 2) a Suge Knight hit and run in Compton on Central and Rosecrans Avenue at the South LA-ubiquitous burger chain Tam's Burgers.

These incidents underscore a basic fact:  the car can be a very dangerous weapon.  Each of these incidents killed people.

In the first incident, the driver of the car lost control of a car and ended up driving on the wrong side of the road.  They smashed into a rideshare van, which unharmed the van, but instead killed two people driving that car.  According to one of my friends who knew them, that car was souped up and the driver couldn't quite handle it.

In the second 'incident', after arguing on set for the biopic "Straight Outta Compton", Suge Knight followed some guys to the burger joint, ran them over and backed up.  One of the men suffered injuries and the other died.  Suge has been charged with murder.

This is why I'm always looking over my shoulder when I bike --- I just never know when someone is going to lose control of their car, or if someone in their rage is going to use his car to do something harmful.

* * *

Getting Worried about Bike Safety Here

Though Suge Knight's use of the car was probably intentionally directed at pedestrians, I was wondering about bike safety in the neighborhood in general.

Incidentally, I was headed towards Rosecrans and Central on 1/28 and managed to get some video.
 
I titled the video:  would you let your kids bike this? Or something to that effect.

Why would I title it that?

In less than a month, I'm going to be a dad.  Yep.  Crazy, crazy, crazy ish. 

However, I'm probably not the first ever to come up with an idea or with the sentiment to inspire more bike safety for the sake of their kids.  Apologies to whoever is on the front line and doing the dang deeds.

In the same way that I wondered how I could ensure bicycle safety for my little sister, and my mother, I've been wondering how I'm going to carry the baby while biking.

While Central Avenue in Compton has a bike lane, and I as a lone bicyclist feel somewhat safe, I really wouldn't like the idea of biking with a trailer.

But maybe that's just me being chicken.

* * *

Measuring Bike Safety:  Indicator "Species" Counts

I think part of the reason I would not feel safe is because there's really no protection for my baby and me if something were to happen.  I simply would not want to take any chances.

That in mind, I keep thinking about how our spaces cater to the most vulnerable people.  Most often I don't think they do.  "Vulnerable people" being the elderly, the handicapped, the very young, and women of all ages.

Another confession:  part of my job includes counting pedestrians and bicycles at intersections for engineering companies.  The way we count bikes is pretty basic;  we just count them the way we would count cars with our specific handheld machines. 

While I know that the bike advocacy organizations have been on top of counting every demographic on a bicycle during their own volunteer-run counts, in my field, the work with traffic engineering firms, we often we don't take note of whether they are on the sidewalk, and/or gender.

Why would noting gender be important?

Women simply don't want to be anywhere where they'll be catcalled, harassed, or simply taken advantage of.  It's something as an able-bodied man that I have the privilege of not knowing.

Just as has been posted that the presence of women in a public space indicates a place's safety, I think that line of thinking can be extended to bike infrastructure.  In a closed structure where biking is somewhat more protected, like a bike path, you will see a lot more women.  On any given street, however, if you see anyone, you'll likely see guys.  I think it's important to note just because it can help explain why some use a space, and why some don't.

On occasion, a client will ask us to make a differentiation of pedestrians and bicyclists, and a person counting will note whether they are adults or children, but that's the extent of our classification counts when it comes to bicyclists.

I think some helpful things to start counting:  women on bikes, women pedestrians, bikes with child trailers, bikes on sidewalks vs. bikes on streets, people on wheelchairs (motorized and manual), people on skateboards

In short, I'd hope that engineers in particular start calling for new ways to measure bike safety, and call my company on it so I can keep having a job. 

Responding to Slate's 'Why You Hate Cyclists': Drivers Not Irrational, Simply Don't Expect Bicyclists

It's not because all because drivers are 'irrational.'

What would be "irrational", and by "irrational", I mean 'devoid of sound judgment', would be if drivers did look at these stats of bicycle accidents, deaths day-after-day, and then still continue to drive recklessly.

But fact is, most drivers probably don't see those stats, let alone seek out and mine and monitor the latest bicycle incidents.  In all likelihood, drivers don't care what bicyclists do, just as long as they're out of the way.

The problem is not that too many drivers are 'irrational' or whatever label bicyclists want to plaster upon them, it is simply this:  most drivers, least here in LA simply do not expect bicyclists to be on the streets.  This means that drivers usually do not 'anticipate' bicyclists. 

There's a reason LA is branded as having a 'car culture';  most people expect cars to take them any and everywhere with efficiency.  For example, my folks expect their Honda CRV to take them from the abode in the San Fernando Valley to my mom's job in South LA everyday, back and forth.  My godsis, a new hardcore bicyclist takes her Prius from her house in Highland Park in LA to her job down here in Long Beach.  Even if they don't really like cars, they depend on it as a basic necessity as they travel far from home to job.  The car gets each of them where they need to be, but each of them are more sympathetic to bicyclists.

But not everyone bikes, or knows me or any bicyclist period, and won't approach bicyclists with the same bit of caution and/or sympathy.


Implicit in the expectation of efficient travel is an expectation amongst many that automobiles are the only vehicles with the right of way on the streets, leaving little room for any other modes of transportation.  The resulting tensions between bicyclists and drivers are problems of environmental design and culture, not one of bad decision-making either by bicyclists and/or drivers

Speaking from my lens as a former driver-only still surrounded by tons of people who drive everywhere, most drivers view bicyclists on the street (as opposed to the sidewalks) as nothing more than anomalies.  We are nothing more than "obstacles" for which fast-moving drivers feel the need to speed around.  A lot of the time drivers tell me they aren't sure what to do when a bicyclist is on the street sharing with them.

Drivers do not expect, do not anticipate, and so are not 'prepared' to 'deal' with bicyclists, especially on streets with no large and/or clear street markings.  Now from my own experience as a bicyclist, a lot of drivers will switch to another lane, speed up, and immediately switch back, or speed by me, barely skinning me.  Sometimes, they will add a honk or a yell.  Many times I've been tempted to carry heavy objects in my bag to launch back at many a reckless driver.

Much as I'm tempted to counter a driver's 'emotional' overreaction with my own 'emotional' overreaction, it's a tension continually fueled by roads designed to facilitate automobile traffic only.  It's a tension that will continue to manifest if there aren't changes to the designs of roads.  It's a tension that will continue unless there are large, clear reminders in the form of signage and street markings to drivers that they need...to expect...bicyclists.

When I think of drivers expecting bicyclists to be on the road as a potential big difference-maker, I think to events where streets are closed off to an automobile traffic.  I think of street fairs, Marathons, and triathlons.  People, drivers, bicyclist, expect the streets to close and respect them, allowing for pedestrian and/or bicycle traffic to actually populate what is usually the domain of cars.  Unless really old and/or de-ranged, drivers don't "irrationally" barge through cones or "Road Closed" signs.  Now, that would be irrational.

I think most drivers don't get mad when they know what to expect on the roads;  people can work their way with or around whatever is expected.  That's what I've learned from observing how drivers avoid those street fairs, Marathons, and Triathlons.  I think if you were to do a survey it's largely the unexpected occurrences, against which people don't know how to react, that pisses people off. 

When they know to expect something, it seems like people don't get as entitled, therefore not as mad or as hateful. 

Drivers need to be made to expect bicyclists to be on the road. 

That can be done in a number of ways.  In the short-term it seems it'll be through big group rides, and more people being on the streets.  Maybe we need to create more reasons for people to be on the streets, more ciclavias, runs, street fairs, etc.  Long-term, it needs to be through big signs and street markings, though arguably guerrilla versions of those infrastructural changes can be created.

Biking in LA: An Act of Trusting Strangers

I haven't been as dedicated a bicyclist as I had been the past two years, perhaps because of me now viewing my time as limited and spending most of it in Wilmington.

These days I'm around a lot of people who do not bike to commute, who at best view bicycling as a recreational activity.  My current girlfriend is one of them.

She owns the heaviest, but most stylish cruiser bike ever made.  Its like a 50-pound green bike with sunflowers on it.  It's really only made for beach cruising and nothing more.  We once took it on the back of my Corolla along with my road bike to a (Councilman) Tom Labonge bike ride where she rode a hellish 12 miles struggling to keep pace with a pack that seemed to all have road bikes.  She absolutely refuses the free, lighter mountain bike that my godsister is willing to donate to her.

She is quite terrified of the idea of biking on anywhere but the sidewalk.

Last Labor Day, we decided to bike from her place in East Wilmington to her parents' abode in West Wilmington.  It wasn't the first time, but it was the first time she'd biked in a long while.  She would do this even before she'd met me, but it would be on the sidewalk.

We rode a little bit on the road, I followed her from her back, making sure that if anyone was going to get hit, it would be me. It's a pretty calm ride, if not utterly boring for an LA biking veteran.  Good thing I had my iPhone bumping Paulina Rubio.  Despite taking only residential streets and having the luxury of this self-proclaimed "LA biking veteran" literally watching her back, there were still a few streets on which she clung to and rode the razor thin, crack-laiden sidewalk.

I was thinking of her experience as I rode from East Wilmington to Long Beach today.  Biking this route means biking industry-serving bridges that act as quasi-freeways on Pacific Coast Highway, big rigs, and drivers pressuring me to bike faster or get the hell out of their way.  Along the way along Poly, I passed 2 girls riding the wrong way on the street.

I had three thoughts, which sound a lot more organized as I write them out for you:

1)  I've seen quite a few bicyclists riding the wrong way in Long Beach on busy streets.  My girlfriend told me that "maybe" people rode the wrong way so they could "see the traffic" as opposed to being blind to it from behind.  I thought maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if one day bike lanes were big enough as a street lane and accommodated both directions in one lane on both sides of the street.  I'm not a traffic planner, and I doubt its feasibility given the dependency on automobiles, but it seems like this would do something to make the designs of street more bicycle-friendly.

2)  As all this was swirling in my head, and I kept thinking about the video of that motorist from Brazil running over a bunch of critical mass riders, and how cyclists could continue to be killed without much uproar, I had this thought:  biking and riding with traffic on the street in LA is one activity where you put an immense amount of trust and faith in strangers operating these high speed machines.  "Immense amount" meaning you're trusting a lot of people traveling, trying to get somewhere at their convenience and at an accelerated pace that we've become accustomed to, not to mess with you, your body, your bicycle, or your ability to bicycle.  If you're riding with traffic, you can't see what people with their 2-ton vehicles behind you are doing, which immediately puts your limbs, and life at risk.  It represents too much uncertainty in the crazy social worlds of uncertainty we already have.

I feel like I put too much trust in motorists.  Many times, it seems like doing so doesn't really pay off.

3)  If riding the bike with traffic represents uncertainty, and putting trust and faith in strangers, using the car to commute a short distance is due also in part to not trusting strangers behind the wheel.  When I was doing research for what I thought would be my thesis project, I came across a few LA Times and Press-Telegram articles about how public space in Long Beach was scary for women and children during the 90s:  kids would get jumped at bus stops.  For their safety, one woman would drive around her car 3 blocks to church to avoid walking the sidewalks.

Having and using a car represents a safe, secure, time-conscious way of moving around.  If biking could ever be made safe, secure, and time-conscious, then it would decrease dependence on the car.