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Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 29th 04, 06:22 PM
Roger Zoul
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Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

Laura Bush murdered her boy friend wrote:
:: Was making a right a few days back and looked to my left and saw it
:: was clear so started making the turn. And theres a cyclist 20 feet
:: away coming right towards me hugging the curb on his left side of the
:: road. Didn't hit him but certainly could have. Cyclists do this a lot
:: and i understand why - for them it is safer.

It is not safer for them as you almost hit him.

But i'm sure it's
:: illegal. Also saw a cyclist run a red light to make a left hand turn
:: with a cop stopped at the intersection. Cop did nothing.


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  #3  
Old July 29th 04, 06:50 PM
Timothy J. Lee
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Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

In article ,
Laura Bush murdered her boy friend wrote:
Was making a right a few days back and looked to my left and saw it
was clear so started making the turn. And theres a cyclist 20 feet
away coming right towards me hugging the curb on his left side of the
road. Didn't hit him but certainly could have. Cyclists do this a lot
and i understand why - for them it is safer.


Riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the road is much more dangerous
(as well as being illegal in most places) than riding a bicycle with
traffic.

Also saw a cyclist run a red light to make a left hand turn
with a cop stopped at the intersection. Cop did nothing.


Generally, running red lights is risky. Although doing so at a left
turn after waiting for opposing traffic to clear is less risky than
most cases, since there is only one stream of conflicting traffic (and
parallel pedestrian traffic) to check. Sometimes bicyclists have to
do this due to signals that fail to detect bicycles (and it is often
legal to treat an inoperative signal as a stop sign). But it is still
better to tell the city to fix the sensor to detect bicycles.

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No warranty of any kind is provided with this message.
  #4  
Old July 29th 04, 08:33 PM
Luigi de Guzman
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Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

On 29 Jul 2004 10:01:46 -0700, (Laura Bush
murdered her boy friend) wrote:

Was making a right a few days back and looked to my left and saw it
was clear so started making the turn. And theres a cyclist 20 feet
away coming right towards me hugging the curb on his left side of the
road. Didn't hit him but certainly could have. Cyclists do this a lot
and i understand why - for them it is safer.


Bicycles are vehicles; vehicles drive on the right. The cyclist is
on the wrong side of the road. Cyclists ride wrong-way a lot, and I
don't understand why, as it is potentially FATAL.

[If you live in a country where vehicles drive on the LEFT, then the
reverse of the following applies]

Riding against traffic is NOT safer; all it takes is a quick
calculation of closing velocities. Let's take a dead-level
residential street, like the one here behind my house.

Speed limit is 25 mph. Assuming the motorists are following the speed
limit (ha!), motorized traffic is moving at 25 mph.

A cyclist can move 15-25 mph in the flat, depending on how hard he
decides to work. If the cyclist is riding 15 mph ON THE LEFT, then
he's really closing in on traffic at a combined speed of 15+25
mph=40mph.

Now, consider the damage a head-on collision does to your average
passenger car at that speed. Now imagine the same forces being
brought to bear against a cyclist. You have a dead cyclist.

Consider the alternative: the cyclist rides with the flow of traffic,
ON THE RIGHT, at the same speed. He is nudged by a negligent motorist
(remember that all rear-end accidents are immediately assumed to be
the fault of the following driver, barring extraordinary circumstances
that prove otherwise) moving at 25 mph. The difference in speeds is
25-15=10 mph. Cyclist goes over the bars, probably, but lives.

In some jurisdictions, cyclists are considered vehicles while in the
roadway itself, but pedestrians when on a sidewalk or sidepath; if
the cyclist in question were riding on the sidewalk (not recommended,
incidentally, because of this and other conflicts with cross-traffic
at sidestreets and driveways), then he is technically a pedestrian and
is no more wrong than someone walking on that side of the street and
attempting to cross.


But i'm sure it's
illegal. Also saw a cyclist run a red light to make a left hand turn
with a cop stopped at the intersection. Cop did nothing.


Cops don't enforce traffic law enough for anyone--cyclists or
motorists. If the red light is on a sensor, and the sensor cannot
detect the bicycle, then the cyclist [in most jurisdictions] can treat
the non-functioning stoplight as a stop sign. If that is in fact the
case, then the cop had nothing to stop the cyclist for, as he was
within his rights.

As to what defines "non-functioning," well that may be a judgement
call. I usually decide that the sensor isn't calibrated for bicycles
if I am compelled to wait two cycles of traffic. It's still a tricky
maneuver, since I have to wait for all lanes of traffic to be clear
enough to make the left turn and line up in the proper lane once I
have completed the turn. Thankfully, most of the sensors in my town
seem to detect my bicycle just fine now.

-Luigi

I can't shake the feeling that I just fed a troll.

Go play in traffic!

www.livejournal.com/users/ouij
Photos, Rants, Raves

  #5  
Old July 29th 04, 09:35 PM
Glm
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Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

"Laura Bush murdered her boy friend" wrote in message
om...
Was making a right a few days back and looked to my left and saw it
was clear so started making the turn. And theres a cyclist 20 feet
away coming right towards me hugging the curb on his left side of the
road. Didn't hit him but certainly could have. [...]


I have just started riding in the US (originally from England where we ride
on the right (sic) side of the road)!

It amazes me, in Manhattan, how many delivery boys ride bikes up the wrong
side of the road; no regard whatsoever for traffic lights or the flow of
vehicles. I managed to avoid being mangled as a pedestrian; not sure how
much success I shall have as a cyclist.

Central Park is even more fun. We have 'Sunday drivers' in England, but it
seems that the Park has spawned the two-wheel equivalent over here. On many
occasions I have been riding around, only to encounter a couple (usually
late thirties but groping each other like recalcitrant teenagers) happily
careening around the whole road and against the traffic. Combined speed of
impact would probably be around 40mph.

The one advantage is that they invariably are NOT looking where they are
going, which means we don't play hopscotch trying to avoid each other as our
paths cross. I just cycle out to the right (the track is counter-clockwise
with cars to one's right) and they pass by, oblivious in their
libido-infused ecstasy.

Still, I have in previous lives parted company with both bikes and
motorbikes and it hurts like hell, even at 15mph. Someone should encourage
these people at least to be aware that there is likely to be oncoming
traffic.

And then we have rollerbladers...


Glm


  #6  
Old July 29th 04, 10:57 PM
Bill Baka
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Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 13:30:43 -0400, Alex Rodriguez
wrote:

In article ,
says...

Was making a right a few days back and looked to my left and saw it
was clear so started making the turn. And theres a cyclist 20 feet
away coming right towards me hugging the curb on his left side of the
road. Didn't hit him but certainly could have. Cyclists do this a lot
and i understand why - for them it is safer. But i'm sure it's
illegal. Also saw a cyclist run a red light to make a left hand turn
with a cop stopped at the intersection. Cop did nothing.


WRONG! It is not safer to ride against traffic. Hopefully this cyclist
will figure out the error of his ways before he gets hurt, or causes
seomeone
else to get hurt.
--------------
Alex


This right way/wrong way is starting to sound like a religious war.
I ride one road that requires me to ride wrong way in one direction.
The road has a bike path on one side only, so I am right way going
one direction, wrong way coming back. Why do I do this? Survival.
The road is a country style road where everybody speeds because
they know that the police rarely patrol there. There have been
times where I have had to go into the dirt and would have been hit
if I had been going the right way.
I don't want to become road kill just to follow the law blindly.
When in town or a housing development I ride the right way, so if
there were no country roads I would be legal all the time.
Just an opinion.
Bill Baka



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  #7  
Old July 29th 04, 11:55 PM
Luigi de Guzman
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Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 14:57:09 -0700, Bill Baka wrote:

I don't want to become road kill just to follow the law blindly.
When in town or a housing development I ride the right way, so if
there were no country roads I would be legal all the time.
Just an opinion.
Bill Baka


Nothing we do can change your mind, obviously.

I have the same bikepath/ road problem as you; four-lane highway,
actually. The bikepath is on the right side on the way home, but the
left (wrong) side on the way out.

I take the road on the way out, every time. Why?

1) It's faster.

2) The wrong-way bikepath sets me up for unpleasant encounters with
cross-traffic. Fine if you're moving slowly, like 9 mph. Not fine if
you're tooling along at 15, 16, 17, 18 mph, or up to 32 (the hills
aren't very steep here).

I cannot overstate the cross-traffic hazard; a car wishing to turn
right on to the roadway isn't looking for a bicycle coming at him from
the wrong side on a sidepath, moving at 15-25 mph. He looks left to
check for oncoming traffic, sees none, and drives out--

Into you.

Several squealing-brake confrontations converted me from a
bikepath-dweller to a road user. I have had no such trouble at
intersections since I started following the law.

-Luigi

Go play in traffic!

www.livejournal.com/users/ouij
Photos, Rants, Raves

  #8  
Old July 30th 04, 01:16 AM
R15757
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Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

Luigi de Guzman wrote in part:

I cannot overstate the cross-traffic hazard; a car wishing to turn
right on to the roadway isn't looking for a bicycle coming at him from
the wrong side on a sidepath, moving at 15-25 mph. He looks left to
check for oncoming traffic, sees none, and drives out--

Into you.

Only if you're stupid enough to actually ride in front of
a car with a driver who is looking the other direction
and who is obviously preparing to pull out.

Robert



  #10  
Old July 30th 04, 02:21 AM
Bernard Farquart
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Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes


"Laura Bush murdered her boy friend" wrote in message
om...
Was making a right a few days back and looked to my left and saw it
was clear so started making the turn. And theres a cyclist 20 feet
away coming right towards me hugging the curb on his left side of the
road. Didn't hit him but certainly could have. Cyclists do this a lot
and i understand why - for them it is safer. But i'm sure it's
illegal. Also saw a cyclist run a red light to make a left hand turn
with a cop stopped at the intersection. Cop did nothing.


I'll be damned, I actually agree with something this idiot posted.

I actually had contact with a bicycle that came down a hill
fromn my right, against traffic and my weenie insurance company
actually paid out a claim. Put a scratch in the front bumper of my
928, and bent the frame on his bike.

Bernard


 




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