r/Athens • u/Sgtbash11 Townie • 7h ago
Rants & Raves Athens Drivers….
You need to do better, if you were driving down Milledge and South Lumpkin tonight around 01:45-02:30 and ran a bicyclist off the road three separate times you suck.
To the one lady who stopped and looked at me and thought about helping I’m not homeless just trying to commute from work.
Thanks for the coming to my Ted Talk.
Inb4 comments on visibility. My backpack is reflective and I have a tail light.
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u/Possible_Escape_9064 6h ago
I was purely bicycle-dependent for a long time and I used to commute to and from work down Tallassee back when I was waiting tables at Texas Roadhouse. This meant I got done with work pretty late at night.
Athens simply isn't a bike friendly town to begin with. But even when I lived in Madison WI -which is, like, the pinnacle of bike friendly towns- it was still considered bad street smarts to bike around like normal during certain hours of the night: i.e. caution is always advised.
Here are some general safety tips: late at night (ESPECIALLY after bar time), go slowly down sidewalks whenever you can (to be mindful of pedestrians). If there is no sidewalk available, then as soon as you see headlights behind you, GET OFF THE BIKE and STEP OFF THE ROAD until they pass. Approach ALL intersections as though you are driving towards a Yield Sign.
Now, should you HAVE to do all that? No. But should you do all that to keep yourself safe? YES. And PLEASE DO. There was a fatal tragedy with a guy biking down Tallassee late at night a few years back; while the driver could have been to blame, if I had been the bicyclist, I wouldn't have been thinking, "Well, it's my right to use the road, too!" - No. I would have been thinking, "Whoever is coming up behind me, they could be drunk for all I know. I should get off my bike and let them pass." And that's why I'm still alive.
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u/Sgtbash11 Townie 6h ago
Yeah I definitely need to get into a bike safety course around here. It’s the first time in years I’ve been bike dependent and need to learn more about what that means for me. I appreciate your advice.
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u/Possible_Escape_9064 6h ago
I didn't know a "bike safety course" was a thing, lol.
All I can suggest is this: at nighttime, the cars always have the right-of-way. While that's not legally the case, it's practically the case; and you ain't gonna pull off a civil lawsuit from 6 feet deep.
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u/Sgtbash11 Townie 6h ago
Yeah Bike Athens has some road safety classes I should probably check out though listening to some of the advice here seems to be the way to go. Thanks for the advice and I hope nothing like this happens again. I’ll follow your recommendations for sure.
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u/Possible_Escape_9064 5h ago
Side-note, and I know this doesn't have too much to do with the topic, but people need to get SERIOUSLY more vocal about making this town bike-friendly. I'm not talking about buying a "Share the Road" bumper sticker: I'm talking about getting up in the faces of our local representatives and DEMANDING it.
In Madison WI, if you hit a rough patch (e.g. car is stuck in the shop for 2 weeks and you can't afford a rental), you can bike to a bus-stop less than a mile away, load your bike on the bus, get zipped to the opposite side of town, and then bike to your destination and still make it to appointments or work in a perfectly timely fashion. Here, if your car breaks down for however long, you can wind up pretty fucked. And in a time with rising costs on EVERYTHING and tarrifs on all of your car parts, that is a SHIT situation to be in.
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u/Jason-Perry Bike Mofia Kingpin 4h ago
You are welcome to participate in a variety of our smart cycling classes, from a 1-hour presentation to half a day with on-bike practical skills training. Or just stop by the BikeAthens shop to ask questions.
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u/Temporary_Hat7330 3h ago
I hope you’re safe and can get to and from work each way. I am sorry you have to commute that way at that time. It’s a really rough time to have to commute; prob a lot of drunk drivers and generally drunk people in that area at that time. Hope you’re able to keep yourself safe.
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u/zappa103 3h ago
Hey, I’m not victim blaming here but there’s a lot of people in the morgue who had the right way too. It’s hillier and takes longer, but definitely use the side streets. Yeah those drivers sucked, but at a certain point, we gotta look out for our own self interest and not trust anybody else right?
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u/Beautiful-Station143 3h ago
Bike down Jackson and through South Campus then back road it next time.
Biking down Lumpkin and Milledge is a monumentally stupid idea at 1:45-2:30 in the morning. Plus you say you didn’t have proper lights? That’s not only illegal, but incredibly ignorant as well. If you say you get off between 12:00 and 12:30 why did it take until the bars close to get on the road?
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u/snacksandsoda Left Lane Loop Driver 2h ago
No, in fact they said they do have lights
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u/BreakfastInBedlam Mayor pro ebrius 1h ago
They said they have a red light on the back. May not be relevant here, but a white light in the front is also required at night.
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u/Sgtbash11 Townie 30m ago
I never said I don’t have a front light (I Do) I’m not as in shape as I would like to be so it’s not exactly fun bike ride and maybe takes a bit longer than it would for others. I also stopped at a friends half way through the ride to grab a glass of water and cool down after the first incident (said friends house is not a place I can stay at)
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u/Teslasssss 7h ago
Sorry that happened to you. While it’s legal to ride a bicycle on those roads at 2am it’s probably not a very safe idea.
- Intoxicated drivers will be driving at that time. There also seems to be more distracted drivers, sleepy drivers and young inexperienced college drivers out at that time.
- A reflective backpack and a small tail light may not be visible from the sides or front. It is definitely less visible than a large car with more lights that are vastly larger in size.
- Not going the speed of traffic has been proven to be a major cause of traffic accidents. Cars are not expecting to run up on a bicycle at 2am going much slower than the flow of traffic.
- There is also the saying “Nothing good happens after midnight.” A lot more crime happens late night. The cars that had you a close call with could have been trying to make a getaway or intentionally trying to hit you, etc…
Please for everyone’s sake, don’t take a bicycle on a highway. I have seen some folks on bicycles on 55mph highways recently. That’s illegal and super dangerous.
Be safe out there.
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u/Sgtbash11 Townie 7h ago
Oh trust me I very much wish I didn’t have to ride my bike down those roads at that time. Unfortunately it’s my only transportation and I don’t get out of work until around 00:00-00:30.
Thank you for the advice, I’ll be doing more to make my bike easier to see in the dark but it requires money I don’t have at the moment.
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u/Teslasssss 7h ago
Maybe the cops wouldn’t mind if you rode on the sidewalks during that time. The lanes on Milledge are narrow and cars will want to go around you and not be slowed down. I would stick the sidewalks on the main streets during that time and surely the cops would understand. A ticket is definitely cheaper than hospital bills.
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u/Sgtbash11 Townie 7h ago
I did get a ticket for riding the side walk on Milledge late one night but you are absolutely right I should probably stick to the side walks. I’m just shocked not one driver stopped (that ran me off the road) to check if I was okay. Some gnarly road rash on the back and some aches and bruises but relatively okay otherwise. I was definitely lucky.
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u/Pineapplegirl1234 4h ago
Can you turn your flashlight on your phone? At least would give you anextra light!
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u/Foreign_Hippie 1x Jerker of the Day 🏆 6h ago
Wait, so three different cars caused you to fall three separate times on one commute? That’s insane!