Good news for Cyclists(commuters) [modified]
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
his greatest danger is not getting hit by a car, but rather that some yahoo with a shotgun will go Easy Rider on him.
No, the biggest danger comes from people who think that the road belongs exclusively to cars. :suss:
L u n a t i c F r i n g e
That would be the aforementioned yahoo. Mind you I'm not condoning that sort of thing, I'm just saying that people aren't always rational.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
That would be the aforementioned yahoo. Mind you I'm not condoning that sort of thing, I'm just saying that people aren't always rational.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesYeah... and FSM knows I've seen plenty of cyclists who were seemingly oblivious to their impact on the traffic flow around them. I commuted for decades on a bike, in cities from the Merrimack Valley in Mass to Silicon Valley in Ca, so I've seen plenty of questionable stuff on both sides. ;)
L u n a t i c F r i n g e
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Yeah... and FSM knows I've seen plenty of cyclists who were seemingly oblivious to their impact on the traffic flow around them. I commuted for decades on a bike, in cities from the Merrimack Valley in Mass to Silicon Valley in Ca, so I've seen plenty of questionable stuff on both sides. ;)
L u n a t i c F r i n g e
You live around people long enough, you see all sorts of questionable stuff. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
You live around people long enough, you see all sorts of questionable stuff. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
I've seen enough, thank you; I want to be a hermit. Me, the wife and the critters. :-D
L u n a t i c F r i n g e
LunaticFringe wrote:
Me, the wife and the critters.
:omg: You married Ellie May? I think you just became a folk hero. :-D
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
LunaticFringe wrote:
Me, the wife and the critters.
:omg: You married Ellie May? I think you just became a folk hero. :-D
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
Google Maps now has Bike routes. It gave some interesting route from my home to work (about 15 miles) which is a little shorter (0.9 miles) than my regular route.
modified on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 5:03 PM
Very nice. Now if Google Maps just didn't crash IE7(*), it would be dandy. (*) I'm behind a bastard firewall here at work; I suspect there's a problem there.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Yeah, that's the argument I hear all the time. Believe it or not, some laws are actually stupid. This is one of them.
LunaticFringe wrote:
If a car has difficulty getting around a bicycle, it is incumbent on the motorist to wait until he can safely pass.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, when a cyclist is holding up a 50 mph road doing 20 during rush hour traffic, his greatest danger is not getting hit by a car, but rather that some yahoo with a shotgun will go Easy Rider on him. Sharing the road is a very, very bad idea, and is much like a mouse sharing a cave with an underfed lion. Perhaps it's just and fair that they should both have shelter from the rain, but there's just no way that it's going to end well.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesChristopher Duncan wrote:
Sharing the road is a very, very bad idea, and is much like a mouse sharing a cave with an underfed lion. Perhaps it's just and fair that they should both have shelter from the rain, but there's just no way that it's going to end well.
And the lion shall lie down with the lamb
chop. :rolleyes:3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
Sharing the road is a very, very bad idea, and is much like a mouse sharing a cave with an underfed lion. Perhaps it's just and fair that they should both have shelter from the rain, but there's just no way that it's going to end well.
And the lion shall lie down with the lamb
chop. :rolleyes:3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18
:laugh:
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
Google Maps now has Bike routes. It gave some interesting route from my home to work (about 15 miles) which is a little shorter (0.9 miles) than my regular route.
modified on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 5:03 PM
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Yeah, that's the argument I hear all the time. Believe it or not, some laws are actually stupid. This is one of them.
LunaticFringe wrote:
If a car has difficulty getting around a bicycle, it is incumbent on the motorist to wait until he can safely pass.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, when a cyclist is holding up a 50 mph road doing 20 during rush hour traffic, his greatest danger is not getting hit by a car, but rather that some yahoo with a shotgun will go Easy Rider on him. Sharing the road is a very, very bad idea, and is much like a mouse sharing a cave with an underfed lion. Perhaps it's just and fair that they should both have shelter from the rain, but there's just no way that it's going to end well.
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting ServicesThe law is not stupid, in my opinion, but the arrogance of some cyclists is. Here in Florida, like pretty much anywhere else, "Share the Road" is the law. In fact when I asked about the legality of riding on the sidewalk here in Hillsborough County (near Tampa), the county informed me that it is not illegal here but they would rather I ride on the road as it was safer. (I believe it is illegal within the Tampa city limits, though). Cyclists often keep riding through intersections without looking and motorists usually don't stop at the sidewalk but at the road, so sidewalks inherently set cyclists up for collisions. By the way, in Florida, if a sidewalk is provided it is illegal for a pedestrian to walk on the roadway. Anyway, back to the road... note that the "Share the Road" law goes both ways. Not only does the motorist have the duty to share the road with the cyclist, but the cyclist likewise has the duty to share the road with the motorist. If there is a short stretch of road and no bicycle lane, then the cyclist has the right to ride on the road and the motorist just has to wait if it's not safe to pass. However, if the cyclist is impeding the flow of traffic then the cyclist is supposed to pull over and allow the traffic to flow before getting back on the bike. Some cyclists think "share the road" means they own the road. They don't. If it's a 1/4 mile or so, fine. The motorist can think of it like going through a school zone. It'll take a few extra seconds to get through, so no big deal. But if it's rush hour and the cyclist has 20 cars lined up behind him, pull over. Let them pass. That's not only the courteous thing to do, it is, at least here in Florida, legally required. I ride my bicycle about 18 miles nearly every day. At present there are no bike lanes on any of the roads I take, though the state is adding one on one of them. I don't wear spandex, but I do have a mirror on the bike and use it. I haven't had any problems so far aside from motorists who think they're being nice. Please, if you are going to honk your horn at a cyclist to let the cyclist know you are there, do it when you are behind the cyclist a few hundred feet. Do not honk your horn as you are passing the cyclist. It scares the bejeebers out of me. As I momentarily lose control and my heart misses a beat, honking as you pass makes things worse, not better.
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Christopher Duncan wrote:
Either way, it's a dangerous situation caused by misuse of the pavement. Roads are for cars. Trails are for bicycles.
You might find that your local law enforcement see it a little differently. If a car has difficulty getting around a bicycle, it is incumbent on the motorist to wait until he can safely pass. It's called sharing the road, and it's the law. Impatience is no excuse for violating the law and causing injury to yourself, another motorist, or a cyclist, nor does it make it the fault of the cyclist. ;P
L u n a t i c F r i n g e
LunaticFringe wrote:
You might find that your local law enforcement see it a little differently. If a car has difficulty getting around a bicycle, it is incumbent on the motorist to wait until he can safely pass. It's called sharing the road, and it's the law. Impatience is no excuse for violating the law and causing injury to yourself, another motorist, or a cyclist, nor does it make it the fault of the cyclist.
AMEN. :thumbsup:
Mike Devenney
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The law is not stupid, in my opinion, but the arrogance of some cyclists is. Here in Florida, like pretty much anywhere else, "Share the Road" is the law. In fact when I asked about the legality of riding on the sidewalk here in Hillsborough County (near Tampa), the county informed me that it is not illegal here but they would rather I ride on the road as it was safer. (I believe it is illegal within the Tampa city limits, though). Cyclists often keep riding through intersections without looking and motorists usually don't stop at the sidewalk but at the road, so sidewalks inherently set cyclists up for collisions. By the way, in Florida, if a sidewalk is provided it is illegal for a pedestrian to walk on the roadway. Anyway, back to the road... note that the "Share the Road" law goes both ways. Not only does the motorist have the duty to share the road with the cyclist, but the cyclist likewise has the duty to share the road with the motorist. If there is a short stretch of road and no bicycle lane, then the cyclist has the right to ride on the road and the motorist just has to wait if it's not safe to pass. However, if the cyclist is impeding the flow of traffic then the cyclist is supposed to pull over and allow the traffic to flow before getting back on the bike. Some cyclists think "share the road" means they own the road. They don't. If it's a 1/4 mile or so, fine. The motorist can think of it like going through a school zone. It'll take a few extra seconds to get through, so no big deal. But if it's rush hour and the cyclist has 20 cars lined up behind him, pull over. Let them pass. That's not only the courteous thing to do, it is, at least here in Florida, legally required. I ride my bicycle about 18 miles nearly every day. At present there are no bike lanes on any of the roads I take, though the state is adding one on one of them. I don't wear spandex, but I do have a mirror on the bike and use it. I haven't had any problems so far aside from motorists who think they're being nice. Please, if you are going to honk your horn at a cyclist to let the cyclist know you are there, do it when you are behind the cyclist a few hundred feet. Do not honk your horn as you are passing the cyclist. It scares the bejeebers out of me. As I momentarily lose control and my heart misses a beat, honking as you pass makes things worse, not better.
I don't wear spandex, either. Trust me, the world is a better place for it. :)
Christopher Duncan
www.PracticalUSA.com
Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes
Copywriting Services -
Christopher Duncan wrote:
stupid and dangerous
That offense would have kicked you out of this site. Just remember that a biker owns this site. :)
Christopher Duncan wrote:
I've seen spandex wearing cyclists
I think, most spandex wearing bikers, are professional or semi-professional and follow the bike safety rules well. I always had issues with the people who ride on the wrong side wearing black clothes after the sun has set. I always drive once on the route I follow before riding on the bike to make sure it is safe.
I don't know about other cities, but some of the professional bike couriers in Vancouver BC are the most notorious in breaking the street laws. These guys drive (fast) as if they own the roads, and really don't give much attention to oncoming traffic, pedestrians, traffic lights, etc.