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#411
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
On Mar 4, 11:40 am, wrote:
On Mar 4, 8:02 am, " wrote: In traffic it is impossible to leave enough distance for a drum-brake pickup to stop in the same distance as a high-performance sports car. If that large of a gap is left, it will be filled. It's not impossible, Nate. Frank, pay attention. You quoted me and responded to me, this has nothing to do with Nate. You are correct it is not impossible, but it is impractical. I'm not going to spend an extra 30 minutes per day making sure I'm the slowest vehicle on the road. You just slow down. The high-performance sports car will vanish into the distance. If another car passes and fills the gap that is left, he too will vanish into the distance. All you have to do is continue going less than the prevailing speed of traffic. And there is no need for that. Simply maintain a safe following distance. Like I said, the open and generous shoulder is one of the factors to take into consideration when deciding what a safe following distance is. The fact that I STILL did not rear-end this fool, even with them trying to make me, is really all that needs to be said about my following distance. If it had not been sufficient I'd have crashed into the fool. And if you're driving a vehicle that you know you can't stop very well, that's what you should be doing. My vehicle stops about average for all the vehicles on the road. I've never rear-ended someone, even when they try to make me. That's because I DO maintain a proper following distance. However, when someone on the highway mashes the brake pedal to the floor at highway speeds in their high-performance vehicle, it's going to muff things up. That was the point of the post. Hit someone behind, and the legal system will gladly explain that to you in detail. I'm aware of the rules. I've been rear-ended. More than once. Since I am very observant when driving, and always maintain a safe following distance, I don't anticipate ever being on the other end of the collision, however. |
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#412
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
On Mar 4, 8:54*am, wrote:
On Mar 4, 8:42 am, N8N wrote: I get a definite vibe from the cycling group that their **** don't stink - oooh, cagers break the law all the time but most cyclists are responsible alert riders. *BS! *The average cyclist doesn't have a clue, much like the average driver. Your "definite vibe" is born in your own imagination. *It's easy to find cyclists complaining about other law-flouting cyclists. *I'll do it now, if you like, by agreeing with your final sentence. *The average road user does a lot of truly stupid stuff. The difference, which seems to confuse the r.a.d. boys, is that cyclist stupidity only rarely damages anyone else's person or vehicle. *Motorist stupidity kills over 100 people per day in the US, and keeps over 200,000 auto body repairmen employed full-time, fixing the cars that aren't totaled. Don't pretend the consequences are equal. And don't fall for your logical fallacy of the two wrongs. Wrong is wrong, no matter what the vehicle. E.P. |
#413
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
On Mar 3, 6:51*pm, Tom Sherman
wrote: Brent P? wrote: In article , wrote: On Mar 2, 11:12 pm, (Brent P) wrote: In article , wrote: On Mar 1, 9:09 pm, (Brent P) wrote: In article , Tom Sherman wrote: I don't know where trucks actually go 55mph... Up hills. (Sheesh.) Not any of the hills around here. :-) *Well THAT clears things up! *The hills in Chicago don't slow trucks, therefore there are no hills anywhere that slow trucks! Holy jump battman. I never said any such thing, but you know that. I don't know why the highway departments around here wasted all the money on those "7% grade" signs! *They should have checked with racer- boy! I dunno. The times I've driven through the hills and mountains on the way to and from NC and WV I don't recall the trucks dropping to 55mph... maybe my memory is off, that could be, but I think they kept it above 55mph for the most part. They certainly do through the hills of WI. Now they do slow, but 55mph seems to be a floor speed. I suppose there are some mountain roads out there where they slow to 45mph or something but that is still the limit of their vehicles, I have rarely seen truckers restrict themselves to 55mph. In Colorado on I-70, I have passed trucks that were doing 15-20 mph uphill. (I was doing about 40-45 mph, full throttle in 3rd gear, in a Rabbit (Golf I). Brent lives in the flatlands and has no idea what mountains are like. Out here in the west, 18-wheelers often climb mt. passes at half the SL or less. Mostly, they are nice about restricting themselves to the right lane only. Sometimes, they are jerks and micropass at 25 mph in the right lane, and 27 mph in the left lane. I'm sure one of those jerks used to be GPSturd. E.P. |
#414
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
On Mar 4, 11:45 am, Ed Pirrero wrote:
On Mar 3, 6:27 pm, Stephen Harding wrote: Says a person who doesn't believe in "speed kills" statistics? (Or am I confusing you with a myriad of others?) That's right, I don't. For a very good reason - the data don't support it. Speeds are higher on the German Autobahn, yet fatalities per mile are lower. Hmmm. Are you a person who pretends there is no other difference between German driving and American driving? IOW, that American driving skill equals that of Germans? If so, your thinking is extremely simplistic. Other car fans have recently argued the opposite point, very strongly. Speeds have been going up on U.S. highways for the past three decades, yet fatality statistics are trending down I think Stephen's data was much more complete than your simple assertion. Furthermore, have you accounted for the environmental differences caused by improved medical skills and techniques in the past three decades? If nothing had changed at all but the invention of CAT scans - for just _one_ example - the fatality statistics would still be trending down. "Speed kills" is a lie. And so is the concept of kinetic energy, I suppose? http://sggoodri.home.mindspring.com/...SpeedKills.htm - Frank Krygowski |
#415
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
On Mar 3, 6:34*pm, Stephen Harding wrote:
Ed Pirrero wrote: On Mar 3, 12:53 pm, Stephen Harding wrote: First you say this... Just don't expect me to accelerate up to 90 so you won't have to back off on the throttle. ...then you say this. But I'm not going to change my driving speed, while adequately passing someone, because somebody feels a public road is his private runway. You expect everyone else to change *their* speed for you, but find it exceedingly rude for them to want you to change your speed for them. The inherent contradiction in your position *should* make your head explode. LOL. *You MFFYs are the dumbest folks on the planet. *I'M DOING THE DAMN SPEED LIMIT OR ABOVE BRENT!!* Your speed and it's relation to whatever the legal limit is not at issue. It's the attitude of "I don't need to change my behavior for anyone" contrasted to "why doesn't that other **** slow the hell down?" (As in "why doesn't the OTHER PERSON change their behavior for me?") You're being a hypocrite. I'm not asking the person to do 50! *I'm only asking for the period of time it take me to complete my pass that the car back off on his desired speed. But you shouldn't have to change yours. What makes you special, that the world should bow to YOUR desires, and noboy elses' desires are important? Explain the contradiction, if you will. I'd love to hear your rationale. E.P. |
#416
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
On Mar 3, 6:39*pm, Stephen Harding wrote:
Stephen Harding wrote: Ed Pirrero wrote: You expect everyone else to change *their* speed for you, but find it exceedingly rude for them to want you to change your speed for them. The inherent contradiction in your position *should* make your head explode. LOL. *You MFFYs are the dumbest folks on the planet. *I'M DOING THE DAMN SPEED LIMIT OR ABOVE BRENT!!* Sorry. *All you characters are beginning to merge into one driver madly flashing their headlights, doing 90 mph and thinking they don't really need to abide by speed limits or traffic stops. Straw man. Your position is weak when you need to engage in logical fallacy. E.P. |
#417
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
Tom Sherman wrote:
Stephen Harding wrote: [...] Well the problem is we're actually not all on the same page, although your call for basic conversation and interchange of thoughts is really what NGs are all about. Many decry cross-posted threads when those groups have inherent antagonisms towards one another; both regard the other as a form of mindless road danger. Cross-posting makes for better flame wars. I was thinking of that when I made the post but left it out. Soooo true though. But I have also had confirmed my beliefs that many basically good people do indeed become jerks once behind the wheel of their motor vehicle. The old saying about the "nut behind the wheel" seems confirmed. I do not believe it is the motor vehicle per say, but the isolation the steel and glass cage provides. My belief exactly. Somewhat similar to exchanges on the internet as well, where someone practically out of the blue says "You know you're a real dickhead!" Huh??? Protected by networks of wires carrying bits around makes the whimpiest of nerds a veritable Ahhnold ["I be baaack"]! Nothing to get too bent out of shape over. Hey, it's only a NG (or two). Hey, you are not supposed to mention 'bents on RBM! The bent up 'bent seemed relevant for this thread! SMH |
#418
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
Nate Nagel wrote:
Stephen Harding wrote: Stephen Harding wrote: Ed Pirrero wrote: You expect everyone else to change *their* speed for you, but find it exceedingly rude for them to want you to change your speed for them. The inherent contradiction in your position *should* make your head explode. LOL. You MFFYs are the dumbest folks on the planet. *I'M DOING THE DAMN SPEED LIMIT OR ABOVE BRENT!!* Sorry. All you characters are beginning to merge into one driver madly flashing their headlights, doing 90 mph and thinking they don't really need to abide by speed limits or traffic stops. I guess it's an instance of "Ed" rather than "Brent". Not at all. We're just sick of being stuck in the passing lane behind some old guy in a Buick doing 64 "passing" some other old guy in a Buick doing 63.9999998. The VAST majority of LLBs aren't even passing anyone, they're either just camping out in the left lane for no apparent reason, or even worse, pacing the car next to them not either in front of or far enough behind to slip through without some really squidly driving. That said, I can understand your frustration, but put yourself in the seat of the guy behind you. He's *expecting* you to do actively hold him up, because you're driving slow (relatively) in the passing lane and that's the behavior he's come to expect from other motorists. If you pass promtply and move over quickly, he'll be pleasantly surprised and might even acknowledge your courtesy with a wave as he passes. If you actively block him, you're just another of the rude and/or clueless masses that make everyday driving unpleasant. The problem on the Mass Pike, which I drive most often, is that people are indeed parked in the left lane. They *generally* are passing vehicles in the middle lane with a variable speed differential. As someone else noted, sometimes they are actually going slower than middle or right lanes, but I find that only for short periods of time. And sometimes, you simply can't get back into the middle lane. It's too crowded and you'd be cutting someone off or outright committing suicide to do so. I honestly believe it doesn't really bother most people in the left [passing] lane to be honest. They are resigned to being stuck behind a line of cars ahead of them that aren't going to pull over and it's generally the best lane to be in speed-wise from what is available. Not a great way to run a highway, but that's reality on the Pike and probably anywhere else in the US with a congested highway. Heck even the Germans are increasingly driving that way when the autobahn passes by larger cities. If it happens to the Germans, there's no hope for the rest of us!!! SMH |
#420
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Saw an intelligent bicyclist today
On Mar 4, 9:01*am, wrote:
On Mar 4, 11:45 am, Ed Pirrero wrote: On Mar 3, 6:27 pm, Stephen Harding wrote: Says a person who doesn't believe in "speed kills" statistics? (Or am I confusing you with a myriad of others?) That's right, I don't. *For a very good reason - the data don't support it. Speeds are higher on the German Autobahn, yet fatalities per mile are lower. *Hmmm. Are you a person who pretends there is no other difference between German driving and American driving? *IOW, that American driving skill equals that of Germans? *If so, your thinking is extremely simplistic. *Other car fans have recently argued the opposite point, very strongly. Your position is weak if it relies on a straw man. Speeds have been going up on U.S. highways for the past three decades, yet fatality statistics are trending down I think Stephen's data was much more complete than your simple assertion. Faltalities for VMT are down, even as speeds go up. If speed kills, where's the carnage? *Furthermore, have you accounted for the environmental differences caused by improved medical skills and techniques in the past three decades? *If nothing had changed at all but the invention of CAT scans - for just _one_ example - the fatality statistics would still be trending down. Nothing happens in a vacuum, Frank. The old saw of "speed kils" is just not true. "Speed kills" is a lie. And so is the concept of kinetic energy, I suppose? Nice straw man. Logic, much? E.P. |
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