What I really wanted you to know is that he should look into http://www.healthysanfrancisco.org this is the program that will allow him to get access to health care and have a primary care doctor at a low or in some cases no monthly fee. I work on this program and really believe that everyone without health insurance needs to check it out.

I believe drivers should slow down, and cyclists should be more aware. I believe cops ought to start ticketing showcase cyclists to get the, “hello dumbass that car can fucking kill you in an instant” message across to young and inexperienced city cyclists.

After reading this story, I am planning to make sure that I slow down when I’m driving. I would also be mortified to injure a cyclist.

so today, i’m stopped at a red at 7th or 8th & folsom. a guy is riding WEST on the north side of the street (folsom is one way going east), cruises through the red, and makes a very hard & fast left, so now heading south, in the pedestrian crosswalk as my light turns green. he bumps a woman hurrying to get across with his elbow, knocking her shit out of her hand. then the car in the right lane (next to the bike lane) gives him a HARD and unfriendly honk, because he’s fucking up everyone’s shit and didn’t stop to help the woman pick up her bag…and he flips the “god’s bicycle” bird at the car, and spits at him, and proceeds south.

so anyway, my point is, regardless of moral ground, regardless of “feel it gives them a license to be a dickhead”…why do cyclists take risks of personal physical harm so flippantly?

look at rachel’s bf…who was apparently riding carefully & well. hurt bad. this guy could have been EASILY mowed down by the guy in the right lane at the light, much less riding the wrong way down folsom, which is essentially a freeway.

i would be mortified to hurt a cyclist….but i see so many taking silly risks, much less behaving badly. doesnt make sense in a crowded city.

much love from a fellow sf cyclist.

i think this situation is really one of the most dangerous because depending on the level of noise it’s sometimes impossible for you to even tell if a vehicle is just parked or whether it’s running and about to pull in front of you.

hope your boyfriend is back on two wheels soon and that the driver will take this as a lesson to drive more safely and conscientiously in the future.

i greatly appreciate how well you were able to handle the asshole cyclist without making a generalization. you are absolutely right, some people seem to ride bicycles *because* they feel it gives them a license to be a dickhead. but there are also those of us who are just trying to make the world and our bodies a better place.

thanks for driving safely out there. if i see you on the road, i’ll give you a wave and a smile.

The danger of bicycling is grossly exaggerated.

I saw someone pass me on Market yesterday at whatever that really scary intersection is before you get to Valencia. Cars whipping around the corner, I was stopped all the way back (good lord, that light takes forever), and the kid just whizzes past me on the right into direct traffic. Cars had to stop and he whipped around one of them that almost didn’t stop in time. I was really afraid he was going to get laid out. His confidence in just speeding dead into the light makes me feel like this isn’t the first time he’s tried that little maneuver.

There are plenty of bikers that sit inside and in front of the crosswalk that annoy the hell out of me when I bike. They’ll get in front of you and often are slow to accelerate and wobble (unable to bike straight). You pass them and if you end up with bad light timing, you have deal with their slow ass again. Why do some bikers need to block crosswalks or traffic? Do I go through stop signs when there is no traffic? Absolutely. Do I wait when there is? Absolutely. The most annoying thing for me is to be waiting at a stop sign to have the only car I am waiting on to sit there really long just to turn a direction not in my way (without a signal).

Clearly things would work better if everyone was more considerate and that includes not blocking cars that have a green light.

As for this incident it sounds like it was the parking safety issues that plague the Valencia corridor. I was almost doored from the left by a car in traffic this week.

glad he came out (more or less) OK.

scary. this driver was clearly an idiot. did they even know or stop?

best for a speedy recovery.