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Old February 23rd 13, 08:45 PM posted to uk.rec.cycling
Mrcheerful[_3_]
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Posts: 2,662
Default Classifying Pedestrians, Bicycles and Motor Vehicles

Bret Cahill wrote:
It's easy to separate motor vehicles from bicycles and pedestrians --
just use those spikes like in gated communities. Cyclists can slip
between the spikes or stop and step over them as can pedestrians. A
motor vehicle will get 4 damaged tires.

Separating cyclists from pedestrians is trickier. The first obvious
solution would be to install parallel bars like on cattle stops on
sidewalks/pavements. A good wheelman, however, will just hit these at
an angle like he does oblique railroad tracks. Maybe some combination
of patches of ice and grates would work but that would be expensive to
install and maintain and dangerous to pedestrians as well.

Moreover the weight of a cyclist + bicycle averages about that of a
pedestrian, both an order of magnitude less massive than a motor
vehicle. Even more compelling a motor vehicle often represents 2
orders of magnitude more kinetic energy.

As a practical matter, is there really any reason not to reclassify
cyclists as pedestrians as far as cycling on the sidewalk/pavement is
concerned?


Bret Cahill


wheeled traffic on the road, foot traffic on the footpath. The main reason
to keep wheeled traffic separate from foot traffic is the speed
differential, which is the same reason that car and bicycle traffic is
incompatible.


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