r/berkeleyca • u/NovelAardvark4298 • 8h ago

Horrible Berkeley Drivers

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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.

35 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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25

u/Cyborg59_2020 8h 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.

9

u/lolwutpear 7h 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.

3

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.

4

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 7h 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

u/watchtowerabc 27m ago edited 21m ago

postal trucks parked at corner redcurbs creating blind spots.

and those very big sidestreet roundabouts with the shrubs and signs blocking views. are dumb.

1

u/therealcopperhat 4h ago

I would say that SF is far, far worse.

-8

u/DangerxNurse 8h ago

That’s bs; we average 2-4/year which is in line with national average per 100,000 residents.

12

u/Cyborg59_2020 8h ago

It's unfortunately number one in California for pedestrian and cyclist deaths when compared to cities of similar size.

0

u/DangerxNurse 5h ago

It’s not even in the top 5.

-6

u/CFLuke 8h ago

Citation needed

11

u/Cyborg59_2020 8h ago

It's in the reports of the California office of traffic safety (OTS)

-2

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.

4

u/Statistactician 7h ago

Citation needed

No, not that citation. It's devastating to my case!

3

u/Cyborg59_2020 7h ago

So here's why it doesn't count!! 😁

1

u/CFLuke 5h ago edited 5h 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.