Pittsburgh City Councilor Darlene Harris (D-North Side) is running for mayor, but her campaign hasn’t produced many detailed plans on how she plans to improve the city. Instead, she’s provided a critical, almost-laser-like focus on one issue: bike lanes.
Harris recently rated Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto’s mayorship as a “D-minus,” telling WTAE on April 18 because Peduto “put all these bike lanes in.” And, for her closing statement of an April 19 mayoral debate, she said, even though bike lanes weren’t brought up during the debate, “We did not talk about bike lanes at all this evening, and I wonder why? We have nothing with bike lanes, no safety attached to it, no studies, nothing. And someone is going to get seriously hurt. … Public safety is very important to me.”
However, one local cyclist is questioning how much Harris cares about public safety after he was involved in a verbal altercation with the city councilor last year after she apparently instigated an incident at a red light.
On May 4, 2016, North Hills resident Stuart Strickland was riding his bicycle on East Street in the North Side, while wearing a camera attached to his chest. At the 2:01 mark (shown above), a horn is heard. Strickland said in an interview with CP on April 20, that the horn came from a gold Jeep directly behind him. The driver of the Jeep and Strickland shouted at each other at the next stop sign after crossing a bridge that spans I-279. As East Street widened into three lanes lanes, the Jeep sped past Strickland. Strickland, however, caught up to the Jeep at the traffic signal at Tripoli and East streets and asked the driver, who Strickland has since identified as Harris, “What’s your problem?”
“Stay in the damn bike lanes!” shouted the female voice in the video. “What the hell do you think we put them there for?” Then as the female driver sped off, she shouted something that is partially audible that sounds like ‘“idiot;” Strickland told CP later that she “definitely said ‘idiot.’”
When the confrontation first started with the horn honk on the east side of East Street, there were no bike lanes for Strickland to ride in, nor are there any alternative routes with bike lanes that come from the North Hills into Downtown or the North Side. Additionally, a speedometer on Strickland’s bike shows he was traveling 23 miles per hour when the honk occurred, which is actually well over the 15 mph speed limit that is posted on that section of East Street before the bridge.
“She comes flying up behind me and lays on her horn,” said Strickland. “This is a one-lane road, and just a guard rail right next to it. … Coming up behind a cyclist and blaring on the horn is not safe.”
Strickland said when he first got in the argument with the Jeep driver, he didn’t know who the driver was, but later he realized it was Harris. Strickland said he had seen her at public meetings since the confrontation and even spoke to the city councilor at city planning meeting for new bike lanes in the North Side in 2016. The confrontation occurred less than a mile from Harris’ home.
On April 21, CP saw a gold Jeep outside Harris’ North Side home that has the same license plate number that Strickland repeatedly mentions in the video. The gold Jeep also had a city of Pittsburgh non-restrictive parking pass in front window, which all city councilors receive.
This kind of harassment that Harris allegedly directed at Strickland is pretty typical for cyclists to experience, says Strickland, who often bikes into Pittsburgh from his home in the North Hills.
“Anytime I get a horn from someone coming up behind me, it’s always intended as a ‘get out of my way, you idiot’ message,” says Strickland. “You wouldn’t blow your horn at a [tractor], which goes the speed of a bike, so why do it to a cyclist?”
He says he has been honked at before and even been forced to exit the road a few times due to aggressive drivers. Strickland says this is frustrating since Pennsylvania law grants the same rights to cyclists on public roads as it does to drivers. The Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code states bicycles are considered “vehicles and provides that every person riding a [bicycle] upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and responsibilities applicable to a driver of a vehicle.”
“There is general ignorance among drivers,” says Strickland. “They don’t know what the rules are, and they are impatient. They want to drive 10 miles over the speed limit, and cyclists don’t always go that fast. A lot of people have not ever been trained in what the rules are. We learn how to pilot a car, but not all the rules. And they certainly don’t know the bike rules.”
Strickland says he understands many people don’t always know cyclists’ legal rights to the road, and is forgiving since drivers aren’t tested often about them. But for a person in Harris’s position, he expects more.
“She should know better,” said Strickland. “I don’t think that she knows the law as good as she should, given the position she is in.”
Mason Palissery, of Harris’ office, said Harris was unable to be reached for comment by press time since she is attending a funeral. CP will add a statement from Harris, if and when, she provides one.
Despite all of Harris’ criticism of bike lanes, her campaign has failed to provide any substantial evidence that bike lanes have negatively impacted the city or its residents. Her assertion during the April 19 debate that no bike-lane studies are available also runs counter to the existence of dozens of bike-lane studies, surveys and data compilations, many of which are specifically about Pittsburgh.
Eric Boerer, of bike advocacy group Bike Pittsburgh, has grown frustrated by bike-lane attacks from mayoral candidates like Harris. He emailed CP, writing that Harris “hasn’t been totally against bike lanes, just very critical and totally unhelpful” in their implementation in her district.
“Bike lanes are a minuscule part of the overall budget and provide residents with an affordable way to get around,” wrote Boerer in an email to CP. “It’s not clear why any mayoral candidate would be against a safe, healthy and cheap transportation solution. Playing politics with the safety of our residents is disingenuous at best, and dangerous at worst, and shows a complete lack of understanding of how a city’s streets ought to function in the 21st century.”
This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2017.
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Ryan Deto may very well be the worst writer in Pittsburgh.
I feel like I am legitimately, not may very well be, the worst writer in Pittsburgh. Thanks for reading.
Ryan Deto,
Staff Writer
Pittsburgh City Paper
Whoa….shades of Rob Ford… https://youtu.be/nySs1cEq5rs
Now that’s what I call “going high”, Ryan Deto!
(((Darlene Harris)))
If a bicyclist wants equal rights on the road then they need to pay taxes just like us motorists do.
If I were running for Mayor my message would be to close down bicycle lanes that were paid for by motorist tax dollars and give them back to the motorists!
Don Harden, I love my special exemption from taxes cause I ride a bike, I just tell the cashier that I ride a bike and I don’t have to pay, oh and the line on my income tax form that says, ‘if you ride a bike, discontinue this form, you don’t have to pay taxes!’
I paid a sales tax when I bought my bike. I also paid taxes to buy the car that I drove to the bike store when I bought my bike. I own a home in the city. I paid all my taxes. Including the ones that were used to make bike lanes. I will use those bike lanes because they aren’t going anywhere! Quit being insane.
Bike lanes are an incredibly stupid idea. They make cyclists feel safer while putting them in the most dangerous part of the road. Even the PennDot Bicycle Drivers Manual contains a lengthy article called “Street Smarts,” that tells cyclists where they are safest and least safe. From every perspective, they are least safe riding far to the right, and that’s exactly where bike lanes put them.
It’s easy to granstand on a videotaped incident, but the real danger to cyclists comes from Bike Pittsburgh pandering to the unwarranted fears of those cyclists, and to mayor Peduto for pandering to Bike Pittsburgh.
Here is the article. Note that riding far to the right increases the chances of being hit by a car door, being hit from the right, being hit from the left, being hit by an oncoming car making a left turn, and even being sideswiped by a car trying to “squeeze by.”
Here is the PennDOT bicycle manual. See page 10, “Where to Ride on the Road.”
http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/docs/p…
By the way, the deadliest bike lane of all is the downhill lane on Liberty Avenue. Part of it is a 4% drop, and part is a 6% drop. Even the most out-of-shape cyclist can maintain the 35 mph speed limit going down that hill. However, if a car door opens, that cyclist will hit it at the same speed as if he had just fallen off a three-story building.
Whatever you do, don’t ride in that bike lane, and tell Bike Pittsburgh to get rid of that lane and have “sharrows” put in the center of the traffic lane going downhill. The uphill bike lane is innocuous, however. It tells cyclists to ride exactly where they always rode when there were no bike lanes.
Sounds like the cyclist wanted to escalate something minor. If some wants to ride a bike that’s fine with me, but when the bike lane ended apparently so did his common sense.
Being honked at from behind by a moving vehicle about to pass you is NOT a “minor” incident. But thanks for making clear you have never ridden a bike on any city street, ever.
I commute on my bike most days and being honked at seems like the definition of a minor incident. If you can’t handle regular traffic noises, you shouldn’t be biking on public roads. By pulling up and confronting the driver at the light and then asking her to pull over, he definitely appears to be escalating things. Probably trying to pick a fight so that he can get a viral video.
I’ve ridden bikes as my main transportation for over 60 years. It’s less than a minor incident. It would have meant nothing to me if the driver did not do something aggressive and dangerous.
I will say that getting honked at was far more rare before there were bike lanes. The idea that drivers will understand that a cyclist doesn’t have to ride in the bike lanes is one of the dumbest rationalizations ever, and bike lane advocates make this rationalization all the time.
And, yes, Stu was definitely looking for a confrontation, but he was in the right. He was going downhill and keeping up a reasonable speed. Expecting him to pull over at that speed so a motorist could pass would have been a ridiculous idea, except for the bike lane saying that’s the right thing to do.
I’m totally against bikes on main roads unless you have a bike lisence, insurance and inspection. Yes I to paid taxes on my car like your bike. I also am required to have my car inspected, use headlights and turn signals, have insurance. But if I hit you because of your stupidity I am at fault. It’s not ok for you to weave in and out of traffic, go thru red lights, jump from street to sidewalk and back. It’s not ok for you to hold on to my car when stopped, I see more accidents about to happen because of bikes. Now if you follow the rules, I am nice to you, you break the rules don’t think I will have a kind word for your sorry ass. I have seen more bikers almost hit pedestrians in cross walks around Oakland, if those people didn’t step back they would be hit. We need more cops writing tickets to bike violators and put them in their place. I will share the road only if you have to follow the rules too. Helmets, lights, turn signals, insurance, inspections, lisences, maybe then they wouldn’t act like they are the only one on the road or have the attitude I can do whatever I want on the street, if I get hit the car is at fault.
I have met and seen some very nice bikers who are following the rules and in return they have my respect. The rest of you aggrogant SOBs walk it’s better and safer for you or take a bus.
How many of those cars clogging up the highways actually live in Pittsburgh? Yet, the majority of the complaints about bicycle lanes come from them.(commuters). I moved to the North side 30 years ago, so I could use my bicycle as a major form of transportation. I own a car and a house and I work in Pittsburgh, so I pay my share of taxes. I never understood why folks in the ‘Burgh are so resistant to change. Steel mills closed along time ago, and people still think the mills and coal mining are coming back. PROGRESSION PEOPLE!
What many of you seem to be missing is that Darlene Harris started the escalation. Her honking her horn was the equivalent of “What is your damned problem.” The cyclist reponded in kind and it further escalated. The onus of the altercation is on the initial aggressor…Darlene Harris.
Leslie Marie Fenner – If you hit a cyclist, its because of your stupidity, not the cyclists. Watch the road. Watch for others. Share the road. This isn’t rocket science. You have to register and insure a car because its worth tens of thousands of dollars. You can’t bya motor vehicle at Toys R Us. Its ignorant motorists such as yourself that are ruining it for everyone else…cyclists, motorists and pedestrians alike.
If you don’t want to obey the laws, leave. You’re not wanted here.
Don Harden – So all I have to do to avoid paying sales and income taxes is own a bike? Its that easy? Do I get the taxes back that I pay for gas in my motor vehicle as well?
I have no issue with cyclists who respect the traffic laws and ride safely. I will always slow down, and only pass them when i can safely do so with the 4′ buffer. We all need to chill and share the roads, they belong to all of us.
That said, if you are among the minority of cyclists who feel that traffic lanes, stop signs, red lights, and other laws and/or traffic control devices do not apply to you, well, i have a problem with that. If you run red lights and stop signs(because you can), and otherwise ignore the laws that motor vehicles must adhere to, then you will hear horns and cursing and have confrontations with drivers.
Darlene Harris behaved here like an impatient hothead: honking at a cyclist who was preventing her from driving at twice the speed limit, then telling him to get in the [nonexistent] bike lane. Why would we elect someone this ignorant and self-centered to be mayor?
About the idea of licensing bicycles: It makes sense to require registration, insurance, and licensing for CARS, since they can kill others. But bicycles don’t kill others, so licensing them is unnecessary. Also, bicycling is good for health, environment, and frugality, while driving a car often is not. Some people bike to work occasionally to address obesity and diabetes. As a society, we should promote cycling over driving. We shouldnt be penalizing cyclists. Registration, insurance, and licensing of bicycles would be unwise because it would discourage cycling.
Here’s an article Why Bicycle Licensing Almost Never Works, in synopsis:
Toronto tried mandatory bicycle licensing and abandoned it, concluding that it teaches kids to break the law.
Ottawa estimated it would cost $100,000 a year but bring in only $40,000/yr in revenue.
Long Beach tried bicycle licensing but they lost money on it.
Seattle found the maintenance and record-keeping to be a problem.
Medford tried it and found it unenforceable.
San Jose has bike licensing laws, but its fallen into disuse: only 9 licenses were issued one year.
San Diego has earned no revenue from bicycle licensing for the last three years.
Houston has a law, but only 100 bicycles are registered, total.
Los Angeles loses money on their bike licensing, and the law is not enforced.
Honolulu has a bike license law, and it makes money, but that may be because Oahu is an island.
http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/March-…
To be fair, most bicyclists I have encountered are self-important douchebags with no common sense. Yes, you have a right to the same road. Tell me what being right is going to mean to you when some idiot hits you and you’re laying there dying.
I drive through Amish country every day. When I come upon an Amish buggy or one riding a bike I give a quick honk on my horn. This is not to be an asshole; this is to be certain they know a truck is approaching so it doesn’t surprise them or spook the horse. It’s called ‘being safe’
This woman is a nightmare.
Between ranting about homeless camps and creating an unsafe environment for cyclists she’s proven to be nothing more than an entitled geriatric who is unsurprisingly opposed to societal progression and only strives to maintain her personal comfort.
She’s yet to provide a single viable solution in regards to improving the city of Pittsburgh.
Kevin Ryan,
To be fair, most motorists I have encountered are self-important douchebags with no common sense. Yes, you have a right to the same road. Tell me what being right is going to mean to you when some idiot hits you and you’re laying there dying.
Also, honking at Amish buggies, pedestrians, other cars, cyclists…its *always* rude. Pittsburgh has a HUGE issue with people honking their horns. Don’t be part of the problem, be part of the solution.
Paul Heckbert,
Bikes do kill pedestrians. It happens. Just not nearly at the same rate as motorists kill cyclists/pedestrians. Most pedestrian deaths attributed to cyclists are because cyclists are riding on the sidewalks.
Sidewalks are the most dangerous place for a cyclist to be. For pedestrians, motorists and cyclists alike.
Funny how BikePGH has essentially become a PAC for Peduto.
Darlene Harris has no concrete plans for anything. She’s a sign of Old Pittsburgh – the old timers who complain about anything and everything that hasn’t been here for 100 years. Complaining about bike lanes and saying you won’t be Peduto isn’t a platform.
(She also has a face that looks like a cat’s puckered asshole, but that’s neither here nor there.)
where is darlene harris in this video? i hear a voice of a woman “sounding” like her. at what time in the video can her face be seen?
She didn’t lay on the horn. Nor did the horn blare. Bike Nazi was speeding too.
Snowflake screams at her “PULL OVER!” Yeah right, she’s going to pull over to have SJW Capt’N Snowflake assault her.
It was a lil toot not laid on or blaring, precious.