I am so glad I no longer am a claims manager. I’d hate to see the claims that arise when one of these guys get killed.

Civil Disobedience is one thing. Assumption of Risk is another. Neither will help if we have a dead body on the freeway.

Ah…43K people will die this year alone as the result of a car crash. Last year, in the City of Los Angeles, 200 children were hit by cars on their way to and from school. It’s not even news but it’s certainly true, our streets are dangerous, they are congested and there is conflict.

That being said, the Freeway Ride is safer by comparison. It’s simply more newsworthy!

Ride On!

Is the woman in slide 28 smoking a cigarette while biking….. At least they weren’t talking on their cell phones while trying to bike the freeway…

SnJPhoto hahaha – I think it’s a whistle!

If you think it’s legal to ride bicycles on Interstate highways, then I think it’s legal to drive with my SUV doors open.

YOU’RE NOT HELPING YOUR CAUSE!

If you think it’s legal to ride bicycles on Interstate highways, then I think it’s legal to drive with my SUV doors open.

A) The fact that you chose to write “SUV” rather than “car” betrays probable lack of insight as to the viability of alternative transportation.

B) Given that you’ll be doing about 5mph at the times and places that these rides take place, I don’t think you’ll posing nearly as much of a danger as you’re hoping. Nothing shouts “impotence” like an angry guy shouting empty threats at you from his SUV as you roll past his ass while it’s stuck in traffic.

Actually it’s 100% legal to ride bikes on interstate highways, check CVC section 21200-21212 – the exemption is that it’s only illegal in areas where signs are posted prohibiting it, which is most of the city of LA. I’m fairly certainly no one on these rides is under the impression what they are doing is legal. That said, which cause isn’t being helped? Because I’ve actually talked to people who have done this and none of them seem to have the same reason for doing it. Some are doing it for the thrill, in which case I think they were probably successful. Some were doing it to show that on something designed to let people in cars get somewhere faster than they could otherwise, it was still faster to ride a bike, in which case I think they were probably successful. But successful or not, they sure are photogenic!

Call me when you crazy kids raid LAX and ride the runways.

I support the idea that seeing some “crazy ass” bicyclist riding on the freeway is going to bring attention to bicycling and raise awareness for safely sharing the “proper” roads with bicyclists.

I’m bromik666 and I approve of this ride!

I think it is great. In the 10 years I lived in LA, I had the “I wish I had my bike right now” fantasy dozens of times. LA is actually a pretty nice city to ride in, and adding bike lanes to the freeways would be incredible. Imagine how much faster you could go from SM to Pasadena at 5pm on a bike.

I am a cyclcist, an avid cyclist for almost twenty years. The only thing these idiots due is annoy drivers who then will bus me or hurl insults at me someday when I am out on my road bike for a ride.

Thanks a lot a-holes.

tornadoes28 -

As an avid cyclist for more than 43 years (RIP, little Sting-Ray), I must respectfully disagree.

The freeway rides – risky or not – have already succeeded in getting us all talking about the real problem: our addiction to cars and all the ills that accompany them.

Even if some SUV driver successfully doors a cyclist and doesn’t make national news when the next SUV driver successfully flattens said cyclist, the riders already will have raised the profile of bicycling as a viable (and sometimes superior) transportation alternative in L.A.

Visit Beijing, Manila or Delhi and you’ll see cities where bicycles far outnumber cars – and move in harmony through traffic jams – and you’ll get a glimpse of L.A.’s future.

And hey, if your paranoid viewpoint dictates that you cringe and flinch more because the “a-holes” have somehow incited an entire city to vehicular homicide – well, maybe at least you’ll be more careful than the rest of us, who take the dangers and joys of riding in Los Angeles pretty much in equal stride.

Stay safe, and keep riding.

Unless you prefer paying $5 to drive your car 15 miles through freeway jams. It’s a free country, last I heard.

No, the freeway rides have not done that. High gas prices have done that.

Car use in Beijing and Dehli are growing rapidly and replacing bicycles. China is one of the few places where the sales of large vehicles are actually on the rise, partly due the fact that the Chinese government subsidizes gas prices keeping them artificially low and therefore reducing the insentive of their citizens to conserve.

It’s market forces which have finally done what years of activism could not do, get people to drive less and by more fuel efficient cars.

I don’t enjoy spending $5 on gas and driving 15 miles on the freeway. That’s why I take the Orange Line and the subway to downtown from the Valley.

Just my opinion. Thank you.

I’m pretty sure $5 gas prices aren’t the reason NPR is talking about “those crazy cyclists in LA are riding on the freeway again” but rather, because those crazy cyclists in LA are riding on the freeway again.

This looks fun and all, but why don’t these people invest their time in actually trying to change infrastructure (add more bike paths, expand Metro, etc.) instead of pissing of motorists by creating potentially dangerous road conditions. I honestly doubt that the average person sitting in traffic is thinking anything other than that they are crazy. Maybe if it was a scooter (ie. legal) the thought would actually dawn onsaid motorists that it’s not a bad idea to ditch the car.

Btw, I don’t have a car, hate driving, and am all for people riding bikes, but frankly this seems counter-productive and self indulgent.

I don’t think any of those things are mutually exclusive. That is, riding a bike on the freeway probably doesn’t stop anyone from investing their time to try and change infrastructure and I’m guessing a lot of those people do both.

[...] Hello friends! We know a more than a few of you reading this will go out of their way to ride a bike anywhere and everywhere they can. Even places that seem crazy! Attempting to survive while perched atop a frame of hollow metal with some wheels stuck on and conquer mountains, forests, deserts and even the freeway! [...]