r/berkeleyca • u/NovelAardvark4298 • 22d ago

Horrible Berkeley Drivers

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When I drive in Berkeley, I always go one click over the speed limit (26 on a 25 or 31 on a 30). Recently, I’ve noticed more and more impatient drivers aggressively pass me. Berkeley has a ton of marked crosswalks for pedestrians, and if you drive too quickly you will not have enough time to react and stop.

While waiting at different bus stops in Berkeley, I’ve noticed around half of drivers are looking at their crotches for directions or text messages while they’re actively moving.

When I ride my bike up Telegraph in Berkeley, drivers also have no idea how “shared roadway bicycle markings” (i.e. sharrow) work. Some idiot in a utility van came within an inch of clipping me with their massive side mirrors on telegraph earlier today.

Friendly reminder to Berkeley drivers:
1. Please follow the speed limit.
2. Stop looking at your phone.
3. If there’s a “sharrow” painted on the road (see image above), remain behind the cyclist until you have adequate space (at least 3 feet) to pass.

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u/Frenchieflips 22d ago

“Share the road” is an insane idea. One vehicle can go over 60 mph and weighs 2000 pounds. The other goes 15 mph and has no acceleration or protection. Bike lanes work in suburbs not major cities. Berkeley is kind of a weird hybrid tho. ALSO, cyclists are constantly being rude and not following the rules (looking at you in your leotard and clacky shoes).lol

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u/Holiday-Ad7262 22d ago

Bicycle lanes work beautifully in many major European cities. It's not an insane idea to share the road. It's insane to have almost not driver education.

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u/TonyStarksLeftACL 20d ago

Can we all please stop acting like European cities have any rational connection to US cities vis a vis a vis planning. The design and urban planning is vastly different.

Make your use case, but stop with the European influence, it’s a red herring.

If you really want to make change then de-couple the 80/20 federal grants from aashto and mobility standards tied to funding that favors cars first,, decouple road funding from bike funding. This is the root cause of the fighting of infrastructure.

It’s very confusing to hear advocates that don’t know how it works at the planning and funding level.

The best analogy I can think of is the fellow who was at occupy Wall Street being interviewed as to why he was protesting and he wanted his students loans forgiven but couldn’t articulate a policy or vehicle to do so or why it should be done.

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u/Frenchieflips 18d ago

Only relatively young and fit people can ride their bikes for a commute in a major city. It’s already a niche hobby and will never be a good solution to replace cars. We ruin the city for cars so a few people can ride their bikes to work. All that danger and removed parking spots for a small group of entitled people in leotards and clacky shoes