Dynamo/LED power conditioning

On 5/12/2018 9:17 AM, David Scheidt wrote:
John B. wrote:
:On Fri, 11 May 2018 23:35:50 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

:On 5/11/2018 4:10 PM, David Scheidt wrote:
: Frank Krygowski wrote:
: :On 5/10/2018 11:19 PM, David Scheidt wrote:
: : Frank Krygowski wrote:
: : :On 5/10/2018 6:15 PM, John B. wrote:
: : :
: : : I suspect that you, like I, are what might be called a sensible rider.
: : : RE, door zones, just slow down a bit so you have time to dodge the
: : : door if necessary.
: :
: : :Um... no, that's not sensible.
: :
: : :Consider what happens if you're riding just 15 kph and a driver pops his
: : :door open as you pass his rear bumper. There's no way to stop in time.
: :
: : :If you're lucky, you'll hit his door squarely and crumple beneath it. If
: : :you're unlucky, you'll snag the door edge with your right handlebar, the
: : :bike will steer to the right, your body will be thrown down to the left,
: : :and the motor vehicle you were worried about will run over you.
: :
: : :Unlike mountain lion attacks, dooring really is a danger. Most states
: : :don't record it as a car-bike collision, because they record those only
: : :if the car was moving. But Chicago did keep track, and found that
: : :something like 20% of car-bike crashes were doorings.
: :
: : And we have a $1000 fine for causing an accident by dooring -- and the
: : cops write the tickets.
: :
: : on't ride in the door zone. Just don't.
: :
: : Yeah, you live in smallsville. If I don't ride in the door zone, it
: : takes me three times as long to get to work.
:
: :Why are those the only choices? Details, please. What happens if you
: :move a few feet left?
:
: My commute invovles riding past a mile (literally, one mile) of cars
: that are stopped at stop signs or lights. Riding between them and
: parked cars gets me to the light or sign in one cycle. Moving to the
: left puts me in stopped traffic.
:
:OK. That's an unusual situation, one that I think is quite rare. We
:don't have that situation. And in most of my metro area, if that did pop
:up on a certain street, there would be a selection of alternative routes
:that would let me avoid it.
:
:If that's what you're dealing with, I'd suggest riding _really_ slow,
:and perhaps making noise as you ride. As I hinted to John, at anything
:like a normal cycling speed, you cannot possibly stop in time if a car
:door pops open as you pass the rear bumper.

:Somebody wrote, above, "And we have a $1000 fine for causing an
:accident by dooring -- and the cops write the tickets."

:What is this intended to mean? You can't trust the cops?

It means the cops write tickets for people who door cyclists. Until a
few years ago, it was hard to get them to even show up to a dooring.

It also means that doorings are far from imaginary, even if they are
illegal.

In fact, if cops stopped ignoring doorings and started ticketing, it was
probably because A) doorings were recognized as a serious problem, and
B) some advocacy group mounted a successful campaign to treat the
problem as serious. Cops don't usually start enforcement campaigns on
their own.

All that makes it even less wise for a cyclist to ride in a way that
makes him vulnerable to doorings.

--
- Frank Krygowski