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AG: Lit Crit wanted
On 1/27/2019 6:53 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 28 Jan 2019 06:16:36 +0700, John B. Slocomb wrote: On Sun, 27 Jan 2019 11:48:54 -0500, Frank Krygowski wrote: On 1/27/2019 12:36 AM, John B. Slocomb wrote: On Sat, 26 Jan 2019 20:54:54 -0500, Joy Beeson wrote: I'm particularly interested in words that I can leave out without impairing clarity. This essay is way too long. It also needs a definite exit line. Any ideas for change-of-topic marks with a chance of surviving a typesetter who regularly ends stories in the middle of a sentence, and sometimes in the middle of a word? The essay is intended as a letter to an American newspaper, so I haven't mentioned driving on the left. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are thinking about riding a bike, you need to learn the rules of the road. If you have a car-driver's license, you already know the rules: bikes follow the same rules as cars because two vehicles operating by different rules on the same facility insure conflict. Where the rules for different classes of vehicles differ, there will be signs saying "no non-motorized vehicles", "no trucks except for local delivery", "slow vehicles keep right", and so forth. Most differences between cars and bikes are statistical. For example, cars are noisy, so bike riders need to make noise on purpose much more often than a car driver needs to sound the horn. You should never overtake a pedestrian or another bike rider without letting him know that you are there. A simple "Hi!" will do, but I often choose to give more information -- when I saw a photographer leaning over the edge of the boardwalk, for example, I said "I am passing behind you." # There are a few rules that are different for bikes. A car driver can make hand signals only through the driver's-side window, so he signals a right turn by bending his left elbow at a right angle and pointing up. When I give this signal on a bike, people wave back. A bike rider signals a right turn by pointing with his right arm, a mirror image of the left-turn signal. Bike riders also have the option of signalling "I intend to go straight" -- just point straight ahead with either arm. It is a good idea, after giving this signal, to raise your arm a little so that people behind you can see it. The law gives bicycles explicit permission to operate on a usable shoulder -- most of the reasons for banning traffic on shoulders don't apply to a vehicle that the operator can pick up and walk off with. But note the word "usable". You don't have permission to ride on shoulders that are intermittent, narrow, covered with sharp or slippery debris, or otherwise not safe to ride on. Also note that when you ride on a shoulder, you are not in the roadway and therefore have sole responsibility for avoiding collisions. Whenever you approach an intersection, you should suspect every driver of intending to turn into the side road, and you should expect every driver on the side road to creep forward for a better view of the traffic lanes. Another difference between cars and bikes is lane position. Most vehicles have no option but "in the middle of your share", but bicycles can also ride in the left wheel track or the right wheel track, and on some rare occasions, your share isn't the entire lane. Lane position is a complex subject best studied under the supervision of an experienced cyclist, but I've posted an over-simplified explanation at http://www.wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/CENT2018/LANE.HTM", and you can read chapter 2 of "Street Smarts" at http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm. An even-more simplified version: when in doubt, ride in the middle of the lane. Always leave yourself room to dodge to the right. Never weave in and out of traffic. Give a wide berth to things that can knock you off your bike, such as parked cars, curbs, lengthwise grooves, and drop-offs. When riding in a bike lane, allow a good four feet between your left elbow and the motor lane. Always signal your intentions. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Comments on the Web page are also solicited. I'm seriously considering breaking the letter at the # and ending "There are a few rules that are different for bikes, but I've taken up too much space already, so I will write a another letter." This is a desperate measure, because the local nutcases write multi-part letters. The first letter would be e-mailed with the subject line, perhaps repeated in the body to increase the odds it will be used as a headline, "Time to start dusting off the bike" The second with the subject line "Three ways bikes are not like cars". I read both the above and your reference http://www.wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/CENT2018/LANE.HTM" and while I haven't ridden in the U.S. in many years and maybe conditions are different there, but here one is quite often (I might almost say "normally") riding on streets or roads where the vehicle traffic is traveling at 100 KPH or faster and the bicycle is traveling at, perhaps, 1/4 or 1/3 of that speed. In that instance "taking the lane" can be hazardous unless done carefully as veering out in front of a vehicle traveling at speed assumes that the vehicle can stop and if the assumption is incorrect then what? Nobody with any sense recommends veering out suddenly in front of a fast vehicle. The relevant books, pamphlets, classes, videos and websites all make it clear (or should make it clear) that you check behind you, signal, and negotiate if necessary when you need to move left. Signaling before you move into a lane(s) where all the traffic is traveling at speeds of 60+mph is a good move? Or perhaps more to the point, moving into a lane where all the traffic is traveling at three, or more, times the speed of the bicycle is a good idea, signal or no signal. I wondered if that's what you really meant. So it leads to the usual question: 10 foot lane. 9 foot truck. No shoulder. Traffic using the next lane, whether same-direction or oncoming. What are you going to do? I've been in that situation countless times. I've taken the lane by moving leftward in plenty of time. The trucks, cars, whatever have never run me over. In almost all cases, they've slowed and waited until they could pass in the next lane. And please don't say "Never ride that road." If that were the requirement, I could never get out of my neighborhood. -- - Frank Krygowski |
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