So What Happened to the Crazy Bike Share Cyclists on the Expressway?

State police say they are "probably" okay.

Screenshot via YouTube

Screenshot via YouTube

Two bike share users in Philadelphia did an incredibly stupid thing this past weekend: They rode on I-676.

An eye-popping video posted to YouTube shows the cyclists pedaling westbound on the far-right side of the highway. According to the timestamp on the dashcam that captured the wild scene, this took place late Saturday night.

A person inside the car can be heard saying, “Oh my god, you’ve got to be kidding me. Why did you not turn around?” Also, the bikers weren’t wearing helmets.

Are the cyclists safe? No one seems to know for sure.

Trooper Adam Reed of the Pennsylvania State Police said the authorities did not receive any reports of a crash at the apparent time of the incident. As long as the dashcam’s clock is accurate, he said that means they are “very probably safe.”

“We didn’t respond to any crashes anywhere near that area near that time,” he said.

Denise Goren, director of policy and planning at the Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities, provided us with similar information.

She said the city does not know the identity of the two bikers. However, she said there were no incidents reported to Indego “that would remotely be related to that unusual circumstance, so we can assume — and our safety record has been pretty darn good — that they’re fine.”

The driver who recorded the debacle said he believes that the bikers got off the expressway at Broad Street.

We’re thinking that this is maybe a good time for city and state officials to check up on Philadelphia’s highway onramp signs to ensure that they clearly state that an expressway is on the horizon, and that they are visible at night.

When we asked Goren if the authorities are doing this, she told us, “We are looking at every place we have signage.”

However, she added, “Safety is a major concern, and I think we’re using every medium possible to get that message across.” She said riders are reminded to follow the rules of the road through signage on the bikes themselves and at every bike station, as well as on the Indego website and Twitter.

Our guess, though, is that the cyclists didn’t get on the expressway on purpose. So Indego could have reminded those two riders a million times to be safe, and they still probably would have found themselves on I-676 on a Saturday night. Please, Philly, use this opportunity to review your onramp signage, including the sneaky onramp off Eakins Oval that just reads “24th Street” (below).
It's very unlikely that this is where the Indego cyclists got on 676 (they were traveling westbound), but we know at least one experienced cyclist who almost wound up on the expressway here.

It’s very unlikely that this is where the Indego cyclists got on 676 (they were traveling westbound), but we know at least one experienced cyclist who almost wound up on the expressway here. Images via Google Maps

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