Here's a quick commuting to work story from this morning. I was traveling down 22nd street from downtown Birmingham to Southside at about 7:45 this morning, on my way to Lucy's Coffee & Tea. For those unfamiliar, 22nd street is a three lane one way street that is generally very busy during rush hours. I stopped at a red light and a giant Cadillac pulled up behind me, right behind me. After a few seconds he started honking his horn. I turned to look at him and he started making hand motions saying he wanted to make a right on red. I gave him a hand motion back showing him that I was going straight, and turned back around. He honked a few more times and then tried to go around me. At that point a Birmingham Police car pulled up and gave a "wew-wew." The officer in the passenger side leaned out the window and yelled at the guy in the Caddy "Hey, he has as much right to the road as you do, and he does NOT have to make a right on red." At that point I faced forward again, the light changed, and I went on my way. I turned a few seconds later to give the officer a "Hey thanks" but he had turned off.
As a disclaimer I need to say that I am all about sharing the street with cars and getting out of their way when possible. I don't deliberately try to slow cars down or get too high and mighty about my place on the road. I drive a car too. This particular stretch of 22nd street is what I call a "shit or get off the pot" stretch of road. You either jump in traffic and stick with it, or you are relegated to the sidewalk or another street. If I were to get off to the side of the road to let this guy make his right on red, then when traffic starts moving 40 MPH, I'm stuck on the sidewalk or the side of the road waiting for the light again. In other words it would have inconvenienced me more to get out of his way then it did him to wait 30 seconds behind me for the light. Were it the other way around, I would have gladly gotten out of his way. Not to mention it looked like it was about to rain and I wanted to get to Lucy's.
Thank You to the Birmingham Police.
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2 comments:
I've ridden down 22nd street and find it nervewracking, but it seems safer than a two-way street. Some angry man with a sad, unhappy life yelled at me to get off the road around 22nd/university. Do you think there is another street headed south that would work as well?
It seems like all the north - south routes can be a little treacherous. I take 22nd because the lights are timed and there are no cars turning left coming towards me. It'd be nice to have a bike lane, even just one, connecting 5 points/highland ave. with downtown.
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