Bicyclists going wrong way and other crimes

On 10 Aug 2004 14:58:04 GMT, David Reuteler wrote:

In rec.bicycles.misc Bill Baka wrote:
Try this.
Safe way to ride, wrong way or not.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/wrong_right.jpg

Right way to ride, but suicidal.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/right_wrong.jpg
Anybody who wishes to ride this road by the book,
please let me know where to send the flowers.

that is what you're so concerned about? so you advocate riding into
traffic
whenever the sun is in your eyes and there's no shoulder? bill, did you
hit
your head getting off the short bus .. that would describe half my rides.
you're grossly overstating your case.

I advocate riding facing traffic, not into it, when the sun is in their
eyes and no shoulder, yes. Considering the rednecks and cell phone idiots
I will trust my ability to drive into the ditch if need be.
Bill Baka


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

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 14:59:14 GMT, AustinMN wrote:

Bill Baka wrote:

Try this.
Safe way to ride, wrong way or not.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/wrong_right.jpg

Right way to ride, but suicidal.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/right_wrong.jpg
Anybody who wishes to ride this road by the book,
please let me know where to send the flowers.

Bill, I got the point a long time ago. I can also now say that I
regularly
ride on a road that looks just like this. I wouldn't dare ride it on the
left, even with the solar glare you photographed. It really is too
dangerous.

I ride it at 15-20 MPH, on the right, about 3 feet to the left of the
white
line (where the dark pavement is from passenger side car tires).

It really is safer that way.

Oh, and the road has a 55 MPH speed limit, which means traffic is going
from
55 to 70 MPH.

There's plenty of time to be seen, even with the glare. I've never had a
single close call.

Austin

You won't have a close call, you will have a final impact on this road.
This is the road where I almost got nailed by a van doing 100 MPH and
drifting over the line onto the shoulder. I saw and bailed into the dirt.
I never would have seen him if I had been LEGAL.
Sorry, reality check.
Bill Baka


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

Bill Baka wrote:

Try this.
Safe way to ride, wrong way or not.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/wrong_right.jpg

Right way to ride, but suicidal.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/right_wrong.jpg
Anybody who wishes to ride this road by the book,
please let me know where to send the flowers.

Absolutely incorrect. If you ride on the RIGHT SIDE OF THE ROAD, cars will
deal wth you like any slower-moving vehicle. They'll pass you on the left,
or reduce speed until it's safe to do so. (Hugging that edge is /not/ the
place to be, btw.)

Really wrong way to ride.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/wrong_wrong.jpg

Really right way to ride.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/right_right.jpg

Get the point?

You're a danger to yourself and others. Yup, got it.

Some conditions require just a bit of thinking outside the box.

The box is a casket, Bill. Get fitted yet?

Bill "I haven't read all the other replies yet, but it really isn't
necessary to answer each and every one (hint)" S.

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004, Bill Baka wrote:

This is the road where I almost got nailed by a van doing 100 MPH and
drifting over the line onto the shoulder. I saw and bailed into the
dirt. I never would have seen him if I had been LEGAL. Sorry, reality
check.

Naw, just another idiot who thinks his selective perceptions of his
subjective experiences translate to universality. Your claim here has no
more veracity or intelligence than "It's safer not to wear a seatbelt,
because this one time? This car I was in? It got hit? And I got thrown
clear onto this grassy field? And the car? It blew up? So, like, now I
never wear my seatbelt."

Bill Baka Wrote:

Try this.
Safe way to ride, wrong way or not.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/wrong_right.jpg

Right way to ride, but suicidal.
http://www.syix.com/bbaka/bike/right_wrong.jpg
Anybody who wishes to ride this road by the book,
please let me know where to send the flowers.

that is what you're so concerned about? so you advocate riding into
traffic
whenever the sun is in your eyes and there's no shoulder? bill, did
you
hit
your head getting off the short bus .. that would describe half my
rides.
you're grossly overstating your case.

I advocate riding facing traffic, not into it, when the sun is in
their
eyes and no shoulder, yes. Considering the rednecks and cell phone
idiots
I will trust my ability to drive into the ditch if need be.
Bill Baka
[/color]

Your examples shown in the pictures look perfectly safe for riding
"with" the flow of traffic IMO. Don't hug the edge of the road and the
cars will pass you just like passing other slower moving traffic, by
using the passing lane. The laws are clear on how a bike should
operate on the road and they are designed that way to provide the
highest level of safety for all users on the road. I don't necessarily
advocate trusting government on all matters but when it comes to traffic
safety they generally know what they are talking about. Engineers and
private groups have studied traffic safety for years and I tend to
trust them a hole lot more than what your trying to sell.

I ride on much worse roads than that without any problems but when I
see another rider coming directly at me going the wrong way I will hold
my position and force them in to the traffic (even if I have to come to
a complete stop). I refuse to allow a wrong way cyclist to jeopardize
my safety by making me pass wide in to the flow of cars.

Dan


--
BanditManDan

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 11:27:35 -0400, Daniel J. Stern
wrote:

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004, Bill Baka wrote:

This is the road where I almost got nailed by a van doing 100 MPH and
drifting over the line onto the shoulder. I saw and bailed into the
dirt. I never would have seen him if I had been LEGAL. Sorry, reality
check.

Naw, just another idiot who thinks his selective perceptions of his
subjective experiences translate to universality. Your claim here has no
more veracity or intelligence than "It's safer not to wear a seatbelt,
because this one time? This car I was in? It got hit? And I got thrown
clear onto this grassy field? And the car? It blew up? So, like, now I
never wear my seatbelt."

You want to be so righteous and not allow for circumstances, that's
fine with me, you get dead, I get flak from the group. Had that
van been coming up behind me I would have been splatted on the
windshield, right way riding or not. If you can't allow for the
possibility that there are idiots driving 4,000 pounds of steel
then maybe you can't comprehend that you will be dead before you
know it in some cases.
R.I.P.
Dead right.
BTW I always wear a seat belt, now.
In 1970 I did not and got thrown clear of the car before it
rolled again and disintegrated. Dumb luck, but I still
wound up in the hospital. Seat belt and I would have
been dead, go figure, the car landed upside down and the
roof was smooshed down the the door handle line. I don't
think my head would have smooshed down and just popped up
again like in the cartoons.
Bill Baka


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

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004, Bill Baka wrote:

This is the road where I almost got nailed by a van doing 100 MPH and
drifting over the line onto the shoulder. I saw and bailed into the
dirt. I never would have seen him if I had been LEGAL. Sorry, reality
check.

Naw, just another idiot who thinks his selective perceptions of his
subjective experiences translate to universality. Your claim here has
no more veracity or intelligence than "It's safer not to wear a
seatbelt, because this one time? This car I was in? It got hit? And I
got thrown clear onto this grassy field? And the car? It blew up? So,
like, now I never wear my seatbelt."

You want to be so righteous and not allow for circumstances,

There are no circumstances in which using the wrong side of the road is
correct, right, better, safer, or anything else other than WRONG AND
DANGEROUS, your hallucinatory little ideas notwithstanding.

On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 08:22:42 -0700, Bill Baka wrote:

You won't have a close call, you will have a final impact on this road.
This is the road where I almost got nailed by a van doing 100 MPH and
drifting over the line onto the shoulder. I saw and bailed into the dirt.
I never would have seen him if I had been LEGAL.
Sorry, reality check.

So you were riding the wrong way when it happened? Perhaps he was
just trying to throw a serious scare into a cyclist who happened to be
riding illegally?
--
Brandon Sommerville (remove ".gov" to e-mail)

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are
we," Bush said. "They never stop thinking about new ways
to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

-GWB while signing the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2005

Brandon Sommerville wrote:
On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 08:22:42 -0700, Bill Baka wrote:

You won't have a close call, you will have a final impact on this
road. This is the road where I almost got nailed by a van doing 100
MPH and drifting over the line onto the shoulder. I saw and bailed
into the dirt. I never would have seen him if I had been LEGAL.
Sorry, reality check.

So you were riding the wrong way when it happened? Perhaps he was
just trying to throw a serious scare into a cyclist who happened to be
riding illegally?

Bingo. Sure sounds like the van driver WANTED to force poor Bill off the
road, just for sport. Not saying it's right, of course, but I can't help
thinking it wouldn't have happened if he'd been on the *RIGHT* (two
meanings) side of the street.

I'm not saying there aren't EVER any cases where one might be /forced/ to
ride facing traffic (can think of two -- one road bike and one mtb -- just
on Balboa Avenue near my home), but the point is to make it as brief as
possible. Also requires VERY defensive riding.

To choose to ride wrong way on an open stretch of road like that pictured is
just stupid and dangerous (and not JUST to the rider).

Bill "giving up convincing him now" S.

"Bill Baka" wrote in message
news
Get the point?
Yes. Ride on the right side of the road. None of those pictures
indicate a reason for doing anything else.