Bicycling on the HOV lane (Sept. 5, 2007)

Safety always trumps legality. I learned that lesson a long time ago. Said another way, having to choose between doing what is right/proper/appropriate but which might get you hurt or killed, and a clearly safe alternative with little downside other than breaking the rules, screw the rules.

I had to make a trip Downtown earlier, and chose to go by bicycle. Well, not exactly chose: the car was not available, and I was not ready to leave when the one bus went by. Biking to West View was easy enough, and there are enough 11Ds and 500s that can get me the rest of the way, but none had bike racks, so I decided to bike the rest of the way, too.

Perry Highway and Perrysville Avenue are fairly narrow two-lane streets with a whole heckuvalotta traffic, so when I got to the HOV Lane, closed in both directions in the middle of the day, I said to myself, "Self, that road is closed. There are big red bars right across it with flashing lights and cones, so it's pretty clear there are no cars going down there this time of day. Nope, not one car."

Didn't say a damn thing about bicycles, though. *ducks behind gates*

It's fast. It's smooth. It's wide. It's got shoulders. It's devoid of bicyclist-killing things like speeding cars, at least between 9 and 3 (it was about 11:30 at the time).

I was off the road and onto the 9th St Bridge in less than 10 minutes. Woohoo!

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* * * Original comments from 2007 * * *

Pittsburgh Storm

Alright BUS!!!!

You got some of that REBEL SPIRIT in you!