“Just another successful bicycle commute in Sioux Falls”
When you are in your car, you can observe a lot of rudeness from the safety of your vehicle, but if you really want to see a high level of ass-hattery by SF drivers, get on a bicycle or moped and travel our streets. One Saturday, last summer, I rode my bike down 41st street from Barnes and Noble to Ground Round. I was almost hit 4 times and one time I had to hit my breaks so hard I almost went over my handle bars into the lap of a guy driving a Mustang convertible, and he had the nerve to flip me off. Yeah, Mr. Cool. I like to take the bike trails as much as possible, even though I have to circumvent yuppie moms with their double strollers, it is still 200 times safer then our streets.
According to an Argus Leader/KELO-TV poll that surveyed 800 likely voters in Sioux Falls, 70 percent of the city’s residents think traffic in the city is worse than it was five years ago. Twenty-seven percent feel things are about the same, and 3 percent say traffic is better. The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percent.
Who is this 3 percent?
I thought the survey the city did told us everything is A-OK in Sioux Falls?
That survey was about as accurate as a guy with a Prince Albert piercing pissing in the wind.
First of all we need to differentiate between traffic, and simply road rules. Traffic in Sioux Falls is not bad at all. People whine about sitting at an intersection for more than one green because they can’t get to Walmart fast enough… but honestly – we have it good.
I’ve been in San Diego traffic where it took me 20 minutes to move three blocks. I’ve seen traffic on the freeway that was so slow kids got out of the car and were playing frisbee because they could actually walk faster than the cars were driving. I’ve driven a route in San Diego on Saturday that took 20 minutes, and drove that same route Monday morning which took over 90 minutes.
Sioux Falls does not have a traffic problem – we have a problem with road rules and manners. The two concepts are unique.
People around here simply don’t know how to drive, and those that do know have zero courtesy for others. Everyone is so concerned with getting where they are going 20 seconds faster that they will cut you off or won’t let you merge even with a glaring signal light and an empty lane to the left of them just because it might take two seconds of their day.
I could go on a rant about the experiences I have had with rude drivers in this town, but it would probably make Leo Tolsoy jealous so I’ll leave that for another day. I will however state that if you are on 41st anywhere near the mall and someone does something so stupid you find yourself shaking your head as you notice the driver in the next lane doing a facepalm due the frustration, there is a 96% chance the car who performed the idiotic move is sporting license plates from Iowa or Minnesota.
On a side note: “I had to hit my breaks so hard”??
Breaks = something union workers are guaranteed.
Brakes = devices used to slow or stop a vehicle.
Gee, Costner, maybe you need someone to issue you a ticket for ‘grammar rage.’
The timing of the lights is also f’ked. The traffic detectors either don’t work or do not exist.
There are cases where the bike trails are actually faster than city streets. There are new electric bikes that go 20 MPH and travel up to 30 miles per charge without pedaling. If you pedal some, then 60 miles or so. Nothing motorized allowed on the bike trails and this policy could be amended.
The timing of the lights is also f’ked.
~l3wis
Not f’ed. Just set up to generate more traffic ticket revenue.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/__LtbTQOHte8/S1On3YjIUvI/AAAAAAAAANQ/BulHy8NeiuA/s1600-h/spelling+nazi.gif
Lighten up – just trying to help a guy become a better writer by making him aware of proper word choice. I did not try to suggest it somehow invalidates the message.
That hoarse your kicking dyed a LOOONG thyme ago, Costner.
The 3% who think traffic is better is the guy who flipped you off in the Mustang!
Angree gye is write. I suc at grammer. git ovr it.
Sioux Falls traffic flow is the most anti-bicycle in the northern Great Plains. They stupidly mistake a mere recreational loop for transportation.
US Dept of Transportation Secretary is fixing that – but it will take decades to catch up with the efficient bicycle transportation found in Belgium and the Netherlands. One would think that a flat-lander state would embrace local bicycle transportation. It appears the planners, engineers and politicians are too busy eating their processed food to care.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1585460/ray-lahood-announced-sea-change-for-american-transport-bikes