A Cycling & bikes forum. CycleBanter.com

Go Back   Home » CycleBanter.com forum » rec.bicycles » General
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #11  
Old July 30th 04, 04:06 AM
AustinMN
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

R15757 blurted out without thinking:
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.


So, you never ride in front of a stopped car about to turn right? Because
this is exactly what every driver is doing. They are looking for relevant
traffic, which, in a right-turn, is coming from the left. The only reason
to look right is to check for pedestrians, and that only requires looking
five feet down the road.

Austin

Ads
  #12  
Old July 30th 04, 04:56 AM
Frank Krygowski
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

R15757 wrote:

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.


.... or who is UN-obviously preparing to pull out.

Seems to me the choices a

a) make your own back-assward rules, and stop for every vehicle that
might under any circumstances come at you from any direction. (Sounds
_very_ slow and inconvenient)

b) make your own back-assward rules and rely on your keenly honed,
super-human reflexes to save you from trouble (Yeah, right!)

c) ride according to the rules of the road, so people can actually give
you right of way, anticipate your moves, see you where you're expected
to be, etc.

I pick the third one. If nothing else, it's proven safer, and it's a
lot less hassle.


--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]

  #13  
Old July 30th 04, 05:30 AM
Leo Lichtman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes


"Laura Bush murdered her boy friend" wrote: This is an american board. Get
your own internet, you limey twit.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I don't see a smiley face, so I guess you must be serious. Are you? Do you
not know that this is NOT an American (note it is capitalized) newsgroup?
Do you NOT know the internet is international?


  #14  
Old July 30th 04, 05:45 AM
Pete
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes


"Laura Bush murdered her boy friend" wrote


Yes it is safer. Cause then they can see any car headed towards them.
When they're on the right side, the cars are coming from their rear.


So say you.
Crash statistics say otherwise.
Centuries of collected experience say otherwise.
My own few decades of experience say otherwise.

I know who I'll believe.

Pete


  #15  
Old July 30th 04, 05:48 AM
David Reuteler
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

In rec.bicycles.misc Leo Lichtman wrote:


"Laura Bush murdered her boy friend" wrote: This is an american board. Get
your own internet, you limey twit.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I don't see a smiley face, so I guess you must be serious. Are you? Do you
not know that this is NOT an American (note it is capitalized) newsgroup?
Do you NOT know the internet is international?


you are being baited.

leo, meet mr(s). troll. please ignore mr(s). troll.
--
david reuteler

  #17  
Old July 30th 04, 07:02 AM
R15757
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

Frank Krygowski wrote:

c) ride according to the rules of the road, so people can actually give
you right of way, anticipate your moves, see you where you're expected
to be, etc.

Agreed that (c) is best, but...

Riding according to the rules of the road means that
people will give me the right of way and see me?

What planet are you on?

curiously,
Robert

  #18  
Old July 30th 04, 07:37 AM
R15757
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

Luigi de Guzman replied:

So I'm supposed to stop. At every cross street. Every driveway.

Eh? No, you simply shouldn't ride in front of a right
turning vehicle if you are riding counterflow on a
sidewalk or sidepath. That would be idiotic. But bike
riders do it all the time. They get run down, their
stupid little accidents infect the stats, and then
people in newsgroups start repeating the mantra
"riding counterflow on the sidewalk is very dangerous!"
See how that works?

Here's an idea: instead of riding in front of the grills of
cars, the drivers of which have their necks craned in
the opposite direction, ride behind them. Eureka!

And, yes, if there is no room to ride behind, you will
just have to stop and wait rather than take your
chances in front of that bumper. Yes, this is less than
optimally convenient. It would be better to be in the
street. But what if you're trying to get somewhere
down a one-way street? To ride only in the street
means you would have to go all the way around the
block.

Riding sidewalks and sidepaths comes with its own set
of special problems--doesn't mean it can't be done
though.

No, thanks. I'll stay in the road, and ride. If they won't yield to
me, they'll yield to the Suburban behind me.

Don't count on it.

Wait a second--you got your own special Suburban that
follows you around? That's serious pimpin'.

The rules make things easier, even for stupid people.

Rules are nice. The uncritical faith in traffic law that I
see often on this newsgroup is dangerous, however.

Robert
  #19  
Old July 30th 04, 07:42 AM
R15757
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

a confused Austin wrote in part:

So, you never ride in front of a stopped car about to turn right?

Not if its driver is looking the other direction, no.

Robert
  #20  
Old July 30th 04, 09:09 AM
Bill Baka
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

On Thu, 29 Jul 2004 18:55:23 -0400, Luigi de Guzman
wrote:

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).


The road where I have to go wrong way has only 3 driveways in 3 miles,
so I know where to slow down and pay attention. I cruise at about 16mph
but slow down to about 5 when passing driveways. There are no crossroads
to worry about, being very rural. Another part of the problem is that if
I do go on the right side in the afternoon the sun is setting directly
in front of me so someone might not see me due to the glare. I like to
be seen and hence avoided.

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.


I am extrememly cautious when that is a possibility, and sometimes
just get off the bike and act like a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
It doesn't hurt my pride that I have to walk the bike a few feet
once in a while.

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.


This is California where motor vehicles are king and bicycles
are viewed as a nuisance by most of the motorists. I wish they
would put in bike paths but with the budget this year that just
isn't going to happen.

-Luigi

Go play in traffic!


I avoid traffic like the plague, but I have to endure about 30
miles each way to get to my gravel and dirt playground where
there is not only no traffic but no people, and no Cell phone signal.
I live in Northern California 40 miles north of Sacramento and
have to ride around Beale Air Force Base to get to the fun stuff.
Putting the bike in one of my cars would just be cheating.
Bill Baka

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




--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 01:56 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 CycleBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.