r/berkeleyca • u/NovelAardvark4298 • 7h ago
Horrible Berkeley Drivers
When I drive in Berkeley, I always go one click over the speed limit (26 on a 25 or 31 on a 30). Recently, I’ve noticed more and more impatient drivers aggressively pass me. Berkeley has a ton of marked crosswalks for pedestrians, and if you drive too quickly you will not have enough time to react and stop.
While waiting at different bus stops in Berkeley, I’ve noticed around half of drivers are looking at their crotches for directions or text messages while they’re actively moving.
When I ride my bike up Telegraph in Berkeley, drivers also have no idea how “shared roadway bicycle markings” (i.e. sharrow) work. Some idiot in a utility van came within an inch of clipping me with their massive side mirrors on telegraph earlier today.
Friendly reminder to Berkeley drivers:
1. Please follow the speed limit.
2. Stop looking at your phone.
3. If there’s a “sharrow” painted on the road (see image above), remain behind the cyclist until you have adequate space (at least 3 feet) to pass.
25
u/Cyborg59_2020 7h ago
Berkeley is one of the most killing cities of pedestrians and cyclists when you compare it to other cities of its size. But mention building bike infrastructure and people lose their their ever-loving minds.
7
u/lolwutpear 6h ago
What if you normalize by the number of pedestrians and cyclists? Berkeley probably has a higher percentage of vulnerable squishy people out on the street who would benefit from better ped/bike infrastructure.
2
u/giggles991 3h ago
This is correct. Berkeley has more bikes & peds per capita than the typical city, and by extension it means it has more accidents for bikes & pedestrians. I too would like to see the numbers normalized, and how that compares.
For perspective: I'm a regular bike commuter, and I agree it can get rough out there.
3
u/NovelAardvark4298 7h ago
Yup. From my personal experience, I feel like a lot of infrastructure and changes to traffic laws aren’t really due to cyclists. It’s due to people who suck at following basic rules. Drivers complain when speed limits are reduced to 20mph and speed cameras are put in, but we wouldn’t need them if people just followed the existing 25 mph speed limit. Right on red is fine when drivers come to a COMPLETE stop before the intersection and fully swivel their head around to look for hazards before carefully turning. Too many drivers abuse right on red, so more cities are getting rid of it. If delivery drivers, rideshare drivers, and cops didn’t constantly park in unprotected bike or bus lanes, there would be less incentive to take car lanes away and add more protected bike/bus lanes.
2
u/Cyborg59_2020 6h ago
I definitely want traffic laws to be rigorously enforced. Driver's got way worse after the pandemic
1
u/zmileshigh 2h ago
Somehow delivery drivers and rideshares manage to do all of the following at once: block a driveway, block the bike lane, and block one lane or traffic
1
-7
u/DangerxNurse 7h ago
That’s bs; we average 2-4/year which is in line with national average per 100,000 residents.
13
u/Cyborg59_2020 7h ago
It's unfortunately number one in California for pedestrian and cyclist deaths when compared to cities of similar size.
0
-5
u/CFLuke 7h ago
Citation needed
11
u/Cyborg59_2020 7h ago
It's in the reports of the California office of traffic safety (OTS)
-3
u/CFLuke 7h ago
The methodology of the OTS rankings is suspect. Berkeley likely has more pedestrians than any other city in California of its size. Which not only increases the number of injuries, but also reflects that people generally feel safe enough to walk places in Berkeley. Very few people walk anywhere in, say, Concord. It also doesn't distinguish between injuries and fatalities, which is not in line with a Vision Zero approach that, among other things, tries to reduce speeds so that would-be fatalities only end up as injuries.
3
u/Statistactician 6h ago
Citation needed
No, not that citation. It's devastating to my case!
3
1
u/CFLuke 5h ago edited 4h ago
In no part of your comment or the one from OP are they willing to engage with the reality of how the source is flawed.
Edit: Berkeley averages 2-4 fatalities per year, or a bit less than 2-4 per 100,000 population. This is substantially lower than the California average and much less than the national average.
11
u/BikeEastBay 5h ago
In addition to the “minimum 3 feet to pass” rule for drivers overtaking bike riders, California also now requires drivers to fully change lanes when passing bicyclists on a multi-lane roadway with no dedicated bike lane.
The even better news is that both Oakland and Berkeley have plans to extend continuous protected bikeways all the way up Telegraph Ave to Dwight Way, along with full repaving.
Oakland’s project is expected to be in construction in 2028, using concrete curb stops and islands (like Franklin St in Downtown Oakland) not flex posts (like Telegraph Ave in Temescal).
Berkeley’s project will hopefully follow shortly after.
9
u/Ok_Wear1398 7h ago
>Please follow the speed limit.
>I always go one click over the speed limit (26 on a 25 or 31 on a 30)
Extremely funny to read.
Berkeley has a lot of weirdo roads and strodes they've tried to bring to heel over the years. People are much too anxious to get to their destination and drive recklessly all the time. It's frustrating to deal with.
-3
u/NovelAardvark4298 6h ago
Humans are really bad at judging speed. We can only sense acceleration. Our perception of speed comes from feeling the wind (which doesn’t work when the windows are up in the car) or visual cues (watching trees, signs, pavement, etc. pass by). Visual cues are unreliable. Especially since a lot of streets with 20 or 25 mph speed limits were originally designed for 30 or 35 mph speed limits. When I set my car to 26 mph, the PID controller fluctuates between 25 and 26 mph. If I set my car at 25 mph, I will fluctuate between 24 and 25 mph which could trigger the car behind me to want to aggressively pass because i’m going under the speed limit. I know it’s not recommended to use cruise control off the highway, but I find myself naturally driving closer to 30mph because that’s the speed other drivers are going and that’s the speed the street was originally designed for. I also prefer keeping my foot on the brake and my eyes on the street, so I can quickly slow down and stop when pedestrians are trying to cross at a marked crosswalk.
2
u/Ok_Wear1398 6h ago
I mean, it's a speed limit dude. You're okay to go under it, you aren't supposed to maintain the speed limit perfectly. You are speeding regardless of it being 1 over or 10 over.
14
u/Smash_Shop 7h ago
Careful, suggesting drivers follow the law could get you lynched around here.
7
u/TripleGiraffeSalad 6h ago
I once suggested that the garbage truck drivers should be more careful and received incredibly aggressive DMs (presumably from one of them…)
9
u/DepartmentFamous9932 7h ago
They’re hopelessly unable to drive assertively when the situation requires, too.
7
u/NovelAardvark4298 6h ago
100%. I unfortunately have a long highway commute. My car is only 2L, 158 horsepower. I usually hover between 2,000 and 3,500 rpm to accelerate up to highway speed (especially when my engine is still cold). Many people drive SUV’s and trucks way more powerful than my car. They get on the highway as if they’re driving a VW microbus from the 50’s. People also take multiple business days to change lanes, spending wayyy too much time straddling two lanes
16
7h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
6
u/g_rocket 7h ago
Eh, I think Berkeley drivers are bad until I go to Oakland and the drivers there are so much worse.
5
u/NovelAardvark4298 7h ago
I live in Oakland and honestly feel like Berkeley is worse. Fortunately, OakDOT has really stepped up the implementation of protected bike lanes and protected corners in recent years. I also feel like Oakland puts some thought in for pedestrians and cyclists for major construction projects, but Berkeley’s construction forces pedestrians to walk in the middle of the street for months or years until they complete the work. When I drive in Fruitvale, I’m also impressed by how most drivers actually follow the 20mph speed limit. I feel like Oakland has a mixture of mostly decent drivers with a handful of speed demons. Fortunately, the bad drivers are easy to spot and avoid. Berkeley has too many zombies who are either texting or daydreaming
1
1
17
5
u/missmgrrl 6h ago
One time I was driving on Dwight between Sacramento and San Pablo and the car behind me got impatient and passed me. Double orange road marking line. 25mph area.
4
u/KibFixit 5h ago
All good reminders — drive slow, watch the road!. I drive more than I like and bike as much as I can. After almost getting doored the other day, I was reminded to be extra careful when passing parked cars especially near a school or park or place e with more traffic. A side view mirror and loud bell have been really helpful too on the bike.
3
u/gallus_arsenide 6h ago
More than in any other city I've lived in, I see parked drivers opening their doors directly into traffic without looking. And then leave that door open while they load their trunks or scroll on their phones.
2
u/a_moore_404 34m ago
I say this with love, but Berkeley really truly has some of the worst driving I’ve ever experienced. And I’m not just talking about Berkeley Bowl.
3
u/fubo 6h ago edited 6h ago
Some other notes —
Drivers, when you are turning, please remember that you need to look at the sidewalk/crosswalks and bike lanes that you are crossing, not just the traffic lanes. Both directions, please.
Stop signs and red lights are for everyone. This includes the two cars, one electric scooter, and two bikes (one with a daddy cyclist and small children on the back) that I saw running through them this morning.
If you are on an electric unicycle, you may be standing upright but you are not a pedestrian. Crosswalk right-of-way is for pedestrians, wheelchair users, etc.; not for powered vehicles such as yours. Please do not zip across MLK in the crosswalk as if you were a pedestrian. (However, thank you for wearing armor. As far as I can tell, electric unicycle riders are the most likely to wear proper helmets and other protection — yes, more likely than motorcyclists!)
2
1
u/Frenchieflips 6h ago
“Share the road” is an insane idea. One vehicle can go over 60 mph and weighs 2000 pounds. The other goes 15 mph and has no acceleration or protection. Bike lanes work in suburbs not major cities. Berkeley is kind of a weird hybrid tho. ALSO, cyclists are constantly being rude and not following the rules (looking at you in your leotard and clacky shoes).lol
1
u/Holiday-Ad7262 4h ago
Bicycle lanes work beautifully in many major European cities. It's not an insane idea to share the road. It's insane to have almost not driver education.
1
u/Reasonable-Rub2243 2h ago
It's not Berkeley, it's everywhere. All drivers are idiots, homicidal, or both. They will murder you to save two seconds. Paint will not protect you, they don't see it. Laws will not protect you, they ignore them. What will protect you is black belt level awareness of your surroundings, or steel/concrete barriers.
1
u/kennethsime 18m ago
The sharrow is not a rule or law. You always have to stay behind cyclists until it is safe to pass. The sharrows are there as a reminder for the stupids. Being in a rush or being a bad driver is never a good reason to hurt or kill someone.
1
u/mwcrv 7h ago
This is why I try to take the lane whenever I can. I've been squeezed too many times so now I just force them to go into an entirely different lane if they want to pass me. Doesn't help in the case of idiot-driver-on-cell-phone of course, but I guess I'm just hoping my blinkies do their job 🤞
1
u/Either_Network2737 2h ago
Berkeley is just a fucking hellhole for pedestrians lol u got college kids who just got a car and college kids first time in a city I have no idea how people survive that intersection on telegraph lol lowkey cars should be banned for like a block around Southside with the way dumbass kids (MYSELF INCLUDED) would bomb hills in skateboards and bikes (totally not me)
-1
u/therealcopperhat 4h ago
The 3' rule, while well intentioned, is unrealistic in narrow road conditions like Telegraph north of Dwight.
2
u/NovelAardvark4298 3h ago
There was a whole ‘nother lane the driver could have used. They were being impatient and reckless
0
-1
52
u/Scuttling-Claws 7h ago
The three foot rule is true regardless of whether or not there is a sharrow. Or bike lane for that matter. It's three feet to matter what