Home town Hazards

[jasunderland]

Wolcottville, IN
POP 993
Dirt Roads
Fresh chip and seal roads (they throw down tar and then loose stone and let the cars pack it down)
Horse Poop. ( it is actually really slippery!)
Amish buggies.... they go 8 mph with no brake lights or turn signals.
Deer. lots and lots of deer.

you know, the usual.

[jonkull]

Life in Burbank...

We have the standard stuff...potholes, ruts and ridges where there's a lot of truck traffic, slippery fluids at intersections.

People on cell phones (or texting) weaving like they're drunk and hitting the brakes for no reason.

People that don't stop at stop signs. This is a very common occurrence here unfortunately. People are just too busy to lose that 10 seconds it takes to stop.

People that make a right on red without stopping or looking...or who look directly at me and pull out in front of me anyway.

People that go through great effort to pass me and then hit the brakes.

People that jerk their cars toward the center line at red lights when they see me coming. This happens every once in a while.

Drag racing teenagers. Unfortunately this is actually a problem in my area. Especially on the quiet, low traffic, long, wide, straight side streets in the neighborhood I live in. There's nothing I enjoy more than to have two cars full of teenagers blow past me on both sides at very high speed. This has happened twice (scared the hell out of me) though the racing goes on most nights.

This is more of an annoyance than a hazard but...people that stop for red lights a quarter mile away from the light and slowly roll up to it at 5mph. I mean WTF? Just pull up to the damn light and stop. I'd go around you but the person in the lane next to you is texting and I can't get past him either.

This is more of an annoyance as well but...people in lifted pick-ups. I can't see around you and why are you always driving 20 mph below the speed limit? Besides lady you live in the 'burbs and don't appear to be hauling cargo do you really need the 6 feet of extra ground clearance to pick the kids up from school? Surprisingly, we have a lot of these around here.

[Turkus]

Originally Posted by jonkull

Life in Burbank...

This is more of an annoyance as well but...people in lifted pick-ups. I can't see around you and why are you always driving 20 mph below the speed limit? Besides lady you live in the 'burbs and don't appear to be hauling cargo do you really need the 6 feet of extra ground clearance to pick the kids up from school? Surprisingly, we have a lot of these around here.

Sounds like you need one of them dum-buggy whip antennas and a hi-viz flag for your bike John. Even if they still don't see you, you can always poke their eyes out with it at stop lights......

[jonkull]

More like a periscope to see around them.

[Ally House]

Eugene, OR.
In addition to the people who run red lights routinely, there are the potholes, bad at this time of year as we head out of winter. Pine needles on the ground/leaves on the ground in the fall. Deer. Possum. Racoons. Never ending bridge constrution on the freeway with all kinds of edge hazards. Spray from the semis on the highway. Texters/cellphoners/divided attention drivers.

[RONALD HARRIS]

We got turkeys (the bird, thankgiving type) yes and deer, light runners, ladies on the phone, ladies turning from the right, and into your lane at 10 mph.
Lucky about no potholes, or not too many. Loomis has some really bad roads, but it is a small township, and they cannot afford to fix the roads.

[PongoUSA]

Originally Posted by SpaceManSpiff

Hi there Pashnites!

I'll get this started.

Town: Santa Barbara, CA
Population: 89,000. Older California town, residential neighborhoods.
...
What do you have?

One more hazard in Santa Barbara : My son, on his Buell Blast, got pulled over by College Police. The cop got out of the car to check his license and so. Suddenly the cop car, nobody in it, started moving, hit my son's bike, and knocked it over !

Only good thing : The cop was so embarrassed, my son got no ticket :-) Damage to the bike was minimal, ca. $ 800.

[packnrat]

deer,

skunks,

dogs,

cats,

raccoons,

other night critters.

people,

drivers of cages,

big trucks loaded with gravel,

big trucks not loaded with gravel,

commuters,

dirt/gravel on the rd,

day time critters.

cops, (one behind every speed sign or donut shop).
sorry had to get a bad dig in.

.

[Turkus]

Originally Posted by Turkus

All of Los Angeles County is a hazard....
that's why I get up very early on Saturdays and LEAVE !!

After 11 months in Seattle, we can ad this place to the list.

WAAAY too much caffeine and an ingrained sense of entitlement makes every driver a hazard, and those are just the bicyclists !!
The cagers (beware the Saabs and Subarus ) and the scooter pilots are just as bad.
The highway road surfaces are mostly concrete and get really interesting when it's approaching the freezing mark and it's been wet....

[cywelchjr]

Originally Posted by Turkus

After 11 months in Seattle, we can ad this place to the list.

WAAAY too much caffeine and an ingrained sense of entitlement makes every driver a hazard, and those are just the bicyclists !!
The cagers (beware the Saabs and Subarus ) and the scooter pilots are just as bad.
The highway road surfaces are mostly concrete and get really interesting when it's approaching the freezing mark and it's been wet....

Ah, the pnwet, where I learned to LOVE a fairing on a motorcycle

Sacramento, where the primary hazard is idiots in cages on cell phones. That's the ones that don't seem to be eating a 3 course meal going down the road while putting on their makup or shaving.