On Dec 18, 12:12*pm, Bernhard Agthe wrote:
Hi,

Dan O wrote:
Well, I think it might be kind of an over-reaction, if you will, and
probably a bastion of some ad-hoc anarchists, but the way things are
out there it could require some dramatic action to even get people
thinking about sharing the road.

Well, I don't really know about the U.S. but living in an overcrowded
country in Middle Europe, I see basically the same thing all the time:
When I go by bike, I get "mobbed" by car drivers in the worst possible
way: they overtake on my left when I signal to turn left, they use their
horns at me in the middle of an empty street, I've even had a few
drivers pulling into my way while overtaking me and a bus driver trying
to push me out of the road... When I talk to people some say "no bikes
on the street but only on the sidewalk" or similar and when I tell them
I simply cannot use the bike path on the sidewalk because of any one
reason, they tell me I have to do this, anyway...

Government responds with a change in traffic laws - they remove any
trace of minimum requirements for bike lanes from the law. The result is
ever more cars on the road, ever more roads built and car drivers
getting actually more aggressive all the time. But not only cars, also
the number of bike riders and public transport users increased over the
last few years noticeably. What do the authorities do? They talk about
"environmental protection" and build more roads. The public transport
has been improved marginally, but is having serious trouble with
overcrowding and too much use... Actually, try to buy a train ticket for
yourself and your bike - that is almost plain impossible by now.

In my opinion, traffic rules have been good as they are right now back
in the 1950's to th 1970's - but with today's overcrowding and with
*many* people driving cars that don't even speak the local language,
they are too complicated and unusable - even the traffic police and
judges don't know all the rules. For cars I suggest the following:

inside towns 20km/h max speed (~12mph)
outside towns 40km/h max speed (~25mph)
on speed-ways 60km/h max speed (~40mph)
with the cars limited to 70km/h by technical means
Sure, a strict enforcement...

First of all, distances are not too great here, second this would
eliminate many rules and tons of signs and third safety would increase
greatly by the reduced top speeds. And - people would have an incentive
to go by bike: it's faster ;-)

As for anything else, I do not think that even a change in legislation
that would make it mandatory for bicyclists to use the roads would have
any effect whatsoever (riding the sidewalk is forbidden here in absence
of special traffic signs, still everyone does it). Nobody really knows
the laws or cares for them - so I think the laws should be changed that
they are simple and easy-to-understand...

So lets have a few days of holidays and hope for a accident-free 2009 ;-)

Ciao...

In general, I agree with you, Bernard. But there are occasions when it
is not only smart for cyclists to ride on the pavement, if available,
but sensible cyclists will *choose* to do so. A good example is riding
uphill on narrow or busy roads. It does no good to hold up and
frustrate a whole road of motorists with your slower speed than theirs
uphill. On the downhill side, sure, use the road because the speed
differential between the car and the bike won't be that great.

Andre Jute
Rights never come without equally valid duties