Georgia - not a safe ride

I ride in Metro Atlanta and I've had a couple of incidents. Even though we have the "share the road" signs everywhere, the people still are not sure of what to do.
One woman who was busy talking on her cellphone made a short left turn, just as I was coming up to the stop sign. I was able to miss her and my shout of "@$*&%" made her spill her espresso.
I grew up in the mid-west (Chicago area) and spent 20 in the Army, driving in many different states and countries. But these Atlanta drivers are the worst I've seen.
They get into the left lane and refuse to yield to faster traffic until they have to make their right turn.
And turning signals are only used after they've already gotten into the turning lane.
One of our LBS owners was riding on a road a few weeks ago and he was hit with a bottle (his bike is OK, oh yeah-so is he). He was quick enough to get the license number and report it to the police. Little was done.
My advise is to carry a Sharpie pen and practice memorizing license numbers. Report the infraction to the police and make them take a report.

The people working on the Surface Transportation Policy Project would probably agree with you about Atlanta - it's rated the 6th most dangerous Metro in the country for pedestrians - with a "Pedestrian Danger Index" of 144.4, and 1.83 deaths per 100,000 people each year.

But don't go to Florida. The four worst metros for peds are Orlando (243.6), Tampa (215.3), West Palm Beach (209.9), and Miami (166.3)...

Memphis comes in at #5.

(from the atlantic monthly, March 2005)

This is interesting... I am not quite educated on what cyclists have and don't have for rights... is there someone out there willing to educate?

Chance3290 said:

Even though we have the "share the road" signs everywhere, the people still are not sure of what to do.
.

By the way, Chance, Tyler was about 100 feet from one of those share the road signs when he was hit for the second time.

jabike said:

If you are looking for a safe place to cycle, don't bring your bike to Georgia. Tyler Wren has been training in Southeast Georgia. For those that don't know him, he rides professionally for Team Colvita. After his second car/bike accident since December on these Georgia roads he said, "I have ridden in many places all over the country, and I feel more at risk on these roads than anywhere else." And, to top it off, the woman that hit him had the audacity to tell him that he had no right to be on the road in the first place.

jabike, please don't confuse metro ATL with all of Georgia. I just rode last week with some friends from ATL to Charleston and can assure you there are safe roads where you can ride for hours without seeing a soul.

Unfortunately, with the expansion of the metro ATL area, I have to go along way from town b4 getting some peace and solitude. Many of those drivers that Chance3290 mentioned are probably transplants from the upper NE who treat cars, peds and bikes with the disdain.

homeycheese said:

jabike, please don't confuse metro ATL with all of Georgia. I just rode last week with some friends from ATL to Charleston and can assure you there are safe roads where you can ride for hours without seeing a soul.

I ride all over the north Georgia area and sometimes I feel safer in downtown Atl than I do in the suburbs. Often when I find a nice quiet road down around Senoia my opinion starts to change about Georgia drivers. Then out of nowhere one of the local rednecks decides to take over the road again by whizzing past without giving an inch and throwing his Hardee's cup at me. You can almost always expect some comments being hollered at you on the rural Georgia roads. I can put up with that, but often the confrontations become physical as well. I prefer the roads where I don't see a soul, but I should be able to take out my Georgia bike map and feel just as comfortable on the roads designated as biker friendly roads by the state of Georgia.

jabike said:

I prefer the roads where I don't see a soul, but I should be able to take out my Georgia bike map and feel just as comfortable on the roads designated as biker friendly roads by the state of Georgia.

I live up in Alpharetta and just started riding in the fall. Most of my rides are done on the Alpharetta greenway(dodging little kids and groups of soccer moms), going to the Silver comet trail, heading over to Stone Mtn, or heading up 400 to N.GA. I'm not comfortable enough to venture out onto the suburban roads yet. But what is the Georgia bike map. And what info does it provide?

ubdawg said:

I live up in Alpharetta and just started riding in the fall. Most of my rides are done on the Alpharetta greenway(dodging little kids and groups of soccer moms), going to the Silver comet trail, heading over to Stone Mtn, or heading up 400 to N.GA. I'm not comfortable enough to venture out onto the suburban roads yet. But what is the Georgia bike map. And what info does it provide?

I too spend a lot of time on the Silver Comet or at times from Atl to Stone Mountain. The Georgia bike map is a free map available from the state of Georgia that shows all of the roads designated as bike routes. For instance, one route goes basically from Chattanooga to Columbus. Another one goes from Atlanta to Savannah. Altogether there are at least a dozen of these cross state routes. They crisscross all of the state. Unfortunately, many of these routes are actually fairly high in traffic. I have made my own bike routes in some areas that are very low in traffic, but this only comes from a lot of trial and error studying county maps and then riding.

jabike said:

I ride all over the north Georgia area and sometimes I feel safer in downtown Atl than I do in the suburbs. Often when I find a nice quiet road down around Senoia my opinion starts to change about Georgia drivers. Then out of nowhere one of the local rednecks decides to take over the road again by whizzing past without giving an inch and throwing his Hardee's cup at me. You can almost always expect some comments being hollered at you on the rural Georgia roads. I can put up with that, but often the confrontations become physical as well. I prefer the roads where I don't see a soul, but I should be able to take out my Georgia bike map and feel just as comfortable on the roads designated as biker friendly roads by the state of Georgia.

jabike, In noticing your mention of Senoia, have you ridden that stretch towards Columbus? I'm trying to plot an ATL to Panama City route along that corridor?

ubdawg said:

I live up in Alpharetta and just started riding in the fall. Most of my rides are done on the Alpharetta greenway(dodging little kids and groups of soccer moms), going to the Silver comet trail, heading over to Stone Mtn, or heading up 400 to N.GA. I'm not comfortable enough to venture out onto the suburban roads yet. But what is the Georgia bike map. And what info does it provide?

Here is where you can find the GA DOT map: http://www.dot.state.ga.us/DOT/plan-prog/planning/projects/bicycle/maps/index.shtml

I'll have to agree that Atlanta is not a great area to be on the road these days. And as far as thinking Stone Mountain is a safe place to ride--be careful--I know of three or four people who were hit by cars out there last spring alone, all within two to three weeks time. I think the largest part of the problem is 1)ignorance on the part of drivers AS WELL AS law enforcement (a Stone Mountain police officer told me that I was not legally allowed to pass slower moving traffic using either of the lanes moving in my direction--regardless of what GA State Code said, and I had that in my hand), and 2)lack of enforcement of those laws. If the police would actually do something to punish drivers for their behavior, we'd all be a bit safer.

homeycheese said:

jabike, In noticing your mention of Senoia, have you ridden that stretch towards Columbus? I'm trying to plot an ATL to Panama City route along that corridor?

Hi homey, I have sort of been looking at a similar route myself. I can get from anywhere in the Atlanta area to Senoia via little used roads. I also plotted a route to Columbus that appears to be low usage roads (based on the DeLorme Atlas). I am thinking about checking this out by car in the near future. I would guess that the DOT map from Columbus to Panama city should be fairly low traveled roads. I have cycled some of the roads from close to the Fl border to the Saint Marks Trail just outside of Panama City. There are many roads out in the middle of nowhere in the panhandle.

homeycheese said:

Many of those drivers that Chance3290 mentioned are probably transplants from the upper NE who treat cars, peds and bikes with the disdain.

Oh Puleeeese! Let's stereotype the drivers down there and say that "they must be from the NE." Let me tell you that there are plenty of drivers in the NE (and all over the country, including GA) who shouldn't even be issued a license, while there are plenty of others who have respect for cyclists on the road. I've been to GA and have seen the drivers down there...not much different from any other place in the country. So don't rip on NE drivers. Live up here for a while before you make those statements.

Orange Fish said:

Oh Puleeeese! Let's stereotype the drivers down there and say that "they must be from the NE." Let me tell you that there are plenty of drivers in the NE (and all over the country, including GA) who shouldn't even be issued a license, while there are plenty of others who have respect for cyclists on the road. I've been to GA and have seen the drivers down there...not much different from any other place in the country. So don't rip on NE drivers. Live up here for a while before you make those statements.

Yup, gotta agree with Fish, while the drivers in Georgia really suck, you can't say they come from one area or another. Drivers in Metro Atlanta come from all over the country, and the world. It also doesn't help that driver's ed is not a requirement in Georgia and, to renew, you need only wait in a very long line, find the big E on the chart and pay for a license.
I'll ask you to simply watch drivers for awhile (not while you're driving, please)
you'll see people eating, drinking, applying makeup, shaving, READING, talking while looking at the passenger, AND talking on the GOD DAMN cellphones. (not blasphemy...I want GOD to damn those things.)
I still feel relatively safe of the streets here...as long as I pick the time and place to ride. I try to go at low traffic times and use only the streets that have little mv traffic.

I moved down from New York recently and have to second the views of most people on this board - Georgia drivers (much like the state of Georgia itself) absolutely suck. And to say that the bad drivers are from the northeast is ludicrous. I have ridden all over NYC, New Jersey and New York state and the drivers there are, for the most part, used to and respectful of cyclists. If, as some people say, New Jersey is the armpit of America, then the south is its [censored] with Atlanta at the epicenter.

merring_j said:

I moved down from New York recently and have to second the views of most people on this board - Georgia drivers (much like the state of Georgia itself) absolutely suck. And to say that the bad drivers are from the northeast is ludicrous. I have ridden all over NYC, New Jersey and New York state and the drivers there are, for the most part, used to and respectful of cyclists. If, as some people say, New Jersey is the armpit of America, then the south is its [censored] with Atlanta at the epicenter.

Yet...you moved here.

I may talk bad about the drivers down here, but I won't say Georgia sucks. I don't think I'd admit that I moved into the epicenter of an [censored]. I don't much like hanging around inside [censored], butt, to each their own.

Chance3290 said:

Yet...you moved here.

I may talk bad about the drivers down here, but I won't say Georgia sucks. I don't think I'd admit that I moved into the epicenter of an [censored]. I don't much like hanging around inside [censored], butt, to each their own.

Nice use of your 'butt.' I moved down here for family reasons and will be leaving as soon as it is practicable to do so.

merring_j said:

Nice use of your 'butt.' I moved down here for family reasons and will be leaving as soon as it is practicable to do so.

"practicable" ?
See, you've already been in Georgia too long.
RUN WHILE YOU CAN!! IT MAY NOT BE TOO LATE!! GO..FLY LIKE THE WIND!! SAVE YOURSELF!😉

I hope the family reasons work out. Take care.

Chance3290 said:

"practicable" ?
See, you've already been in Georgia too long.
RUN WHILE YOU CAN!! IT MAY NOT BE TOO LATE!! GO..FLY LIKE THE WIND!! SAVE YOURSELF!😉

I hope the family reasons work out. Take care.

Main Entry: prac·ti·ca·ble [img]webster.comaudio.gifOpen ↗[/img]
Pronunciation: 'prak-ti-k&-b&l
Function: adjective
1 : capable of being put into practice or of being done or accomplished : FEASIBLE
2 : capable of being used : USABLE
synonym see POSSIBLE
- prac·ti·ca·bil·i·ty [img]webster.comaudio.gifOpen ↗[/img] /"prak-ti-k&-'bi-l&-tE/ noun
- prac·ti·ca·ble·ness [img]webster.comaudio.gifOpen ↗[/img] /'prak-ti-k&-b&l-n&s/ noun
- prac·ti·ca·bly [img]webster.comaudio.gifOpen ↗[/img] /-blE/ adverb

I take it 'cultural philistine' is too highfalutin as well.