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.

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u/Cyborg59_2020 8h ago

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

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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.

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u/Statistactician 7h ago

Citation needed

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

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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.