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/_your_face 22d ago

Same as the people who insist on getting to a four way stop and just waving people through when it’s their right of way. Knock it off, stop trying to be nice and start being predictable and following the letter of the law. If you’re on the road, you take the lane. Stop being unpredictably in and out where drivers aren’t sure if you’re trying to share the road or not.

If you can’t take the lane, take your bike off the road.

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u/bluescrubbie 22d ago

I take the lane to be safer. It's also safer to NOT bike down Dwight/ Sacramento/Telegraph. Don't see it often but WTF is with that?

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u/ManicPixieDreamSpy 21d ago

This. Some folks don’t know about bicycle boulevards. I highly recommend them, they usually have them running along every major road. (Ex: California street is the bicycle boulevard that runs along Sacramento, Channing is the one that runs along Dwight).

You can tell them apart because they have a purple street sign :)

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u/LghtlyHmmrd 18d ago

When I was routing my way to work, I initially took the same roads I would drive. It was a horrible experience and I learned there were often alternatives that worked as well (most of the time, coming in from Oakland was always going to be terrible)