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too many "NATURAL BORN KILLERS" out there
In article ,
ComandanteBanana writes: On Jul 25, 12:00*am, (Tom Keats) wrote: In article , * * * * Opus writes: On Jul 23, 1:28 am, (Tom Keats) wrote: In article , * * * * ComandanteBanana writes: Not that you can do much about it other than building BIKE FACILITIES (bike lanes and bike paths), or letting cyclists TAKE THE LANE, but at least you know the bone of contention is COMPETITION. Skilled riders don't compete with drivers, they cooperate with the reasonable, rational & sociable majority of them, while letting the impatient ones get ahead, and getting ahead of (or otherwise avoiding) the indecisive, screwy ones who don't know where they want to go. snip Until I was assaulted with a motor vehicle because I was riding my bicycle on the street I would have agreed with you, but there are drivers (thankfully a very small percentage) that think any bike on the road is wasted space, that anything (including drivers in other cars) that slows them down or even makes them change lanes is "impeding traffic" (they are the only "traffic" that counts). I'm inclined to /let/ the impatient ones get ahead of me. That's right where I want 'em -- where I can see what they're up to. *That's not to say I let them run me off the pavement, neither is it to say I'm going to make them wait behind me until I find a nice, big, roomy turnoff. If the impatient driver wants to go faster, that speeds up his overtaking, so the rider doesn't need as much space in which to reasonably safely heave-to, let the driver get past, and then the rider can resume his original line. It seems to me a lot of road/street users fixate on space while disregarding the time, or rather: ~timing~ element. There's a certain dynamic I've noticed, between drivers and riders: a) riding consistently close to the nearest curb invites * *brush passes b) making a political, "I'm a road user too" statement by * *consistently adhering to a line and thereby detending * *upcoming drivers until they get a chance to wholly change * *lanes to pass, just ****es 'em off something fierce c) there are usually many "little," fleeting opportunities * *where the rider can move a little to the right and * *slow down a taste, and the impatient upcoming driver can * *move a little to the left -- maybe straddle a dividing line * *a little, but no big deal. *Driver gets past, rider doesn't * *get the Evil Eye, and everybody's on their merry ways. I've actually gotten a lot of nice "thank you" honks, waves, peace signs and Dancing With The Devil salutes by so doing. Using those fleeting little opportunities takes a little discernment of space, speed and time; in other words it's a skill, but it's not rocket surgery. *I often intuit those drivers are astounded that a bike rider was for once actually considerate toward them. Anyways, it seems to me that so many people want to battle for space, because if they have space, they don't have to make the effort of dealing with timing. *It's a lazy out on the parts of both drivers and riders. Both the Take The Lane and bike lane approaches are all about space. *Nothing at all about time or timing. Let's say that that number is .01%, or 1 in 10,000. That may be high or it may be low, but until they start giving psych exams to drivers we just have to guess as to how high the number of sociopaths and psychotics with licenses is. I ride in a densely auto populated urban area, the D/ FW Metroplex, and I estimate that there are times when I get passed as much as 2,000 times an hour. That seems like a fairly steep number. *Being passed by a car every second works out to 3600 car-passes/hour, disregarding traffic light stops. *That would be like a 60 MPH stretch of freeway. Being passed 2000 times/hour is roughly between 2/3rds and 3/4ths of that, or an ambient traffic flow of between 40 and 50 MPH. *That hardly sounds like a densely auto populated urban area, unless it's inflicted with cross-town freeways, or doesn't have traffic lights. *Dallas/Ft. Worth, eh? *Do you get to ride on the cross-town freeways? That's another SWAG, as I'm too busy trying not to be killed by the people on the bottom end of the bell curve in driving skills to count everyone else. So using those assumptions you would expect to face a psycho- or sociopath about once in 5 hours of cycling in heavy traffic. There are also drunk drivers, and drivers who've dropped a cigarette under the bench seat, and have to reach down and fish around to find it, while taking their eyes off the road. *And women wearing shoes with high heels that get snagged in the gas pedal so they accidentally shoot their cars into store fronts or bus stops populated by elderly people with canes and walkers. The good part is that cycling in heavy traffic actually prevents the nutjobs from hitting you, the bad part is every once in a while they catch you on a deserted road, like what happened to me in 2001. As I alluded to in the previous paragraph, the most common threats are drivers who can't drive, in spite of having a license. The most common threat in city traffic is me-firstism. No matter what vehicle. *The second most common threat is a long stretch of dry weather followed by rain or snow. Jason from Friday the XIII, Hannibal Lecter and famous wealthy blonde chixs who don't really do anything to deserve their celebrity are way down the list. Those are nice and dainty words, but in a society born and bred in violence, there are way too many "NATURAL BORN KILLERS" out there. Yeah, life is pretty scary in a society born and bred in violence, and populated by natural born killers. Maybe I should give up my bike and stay out of drivers' ways, just like you want. The good thing is you are likely to make it to the Six O'Clock News (feed the ratings), so you will make it to the screen. Whatever. -- Nothing is safe from me. I'm really at: tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca |
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