TIME'S UP! Responds to NYC's Actions and Statement by Norman Siegel

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 20:51:39 GMT, slim wrote:



Ed Ravin wrote:

From somewhere in cyberspace, Andy Katz said:

The section of Fifth Ave where Liz Padilla was killed is two lanes
going north and south with brisk traffic most times. There's really no
safe way to pass a parked big rig unless you swing out into the center
of your lane and that's going to hold up traffic.

That's not going to hold up traffic. Bikes are traffic too. Swing out
into the center of the lane, let them honk at you - it means they see you
and they won't run you over because it might scratch their paint.

If there is no bike lane, you have every right to take a full lane.

Let them honk.

Okay, sure. I see what you mean.

Couple of caveats, however, bike lane wouldn't help because they
aren't respected. The Padilla tragedy might just as easily have taken
place a few blocks back, on the other side of Union where there is a
proper bike lane. Furthermore, having impatient motorists on one's
tail doesn't sound especially safe, particularly if there's to be zero
consequence for taking a cyclist out. It seems as though one is just
as vulnerable in a whole lane as on the side, just vulnerable to a
different sort of error.

Although many here appear to disagree with Padilla's riding strategy,
she ought to have been fine .... if only the PC Richard driver had
managed to pull his head out from his ass long enough to look before
he swung the door open.

Andy Katz
************************************************** *************
Being lied to so billionaires can wage war for profits
while indebting taxpayers for generations to come, now
that's just a tad bit bigger than not admitting you like
the big moist-moist lips of chunky trollops on your pecker.

Paghat, the Rat Girl

According to Ken [NY] :

Now I'm confused. On the left coast, exactly where is it legal
to ride a bike, if not in the far right lane? I am sure that those who
are responsible for writing traffic laws there never intended for a
car or truck to share a single traffic lane with a bicyclist. In fact,
it is illegal in most states for two vehicles to share one traffic
lane. (usually violators are two motorcyclists riding abreast.)

Lane-sharing and thus lane-splitting are legal in California.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...30/MN87097.DTL
http://tinyurl.com/3gfys

----
Lars Lehtonen

"Ken [NY]" wrote:

it is illegal in most states for two vehicles to share one traffic
lane. (usually violators are two motorcyclists riding abreast.)

In Michigan, a bicycle can share the lane with anything, providing
that conditions allow it to be done safely. A motorcycle can share
the lane with another motorcycle, but not with a car. I always assumed
that the Michigan way was the same as the Uniform Vehicle Code.

In article ,
Mitch Haley wrote:
"Ken [NY]" wrote:

it is illegal in most states for two vehicles to share one traffic
lane. (usually violators are two motorcyclists riding abreast.)

In Michigan, a bicycle can share the lane with anything, providing
that conditions allow it to be done safely. A motorcycle can share
the lane with another motorcycle, but not with a car. I always assumed
that the Michigan way was the same as the Uniform Vehicle Code.

Up here in the Great White North, Ontario's Highway Traffic Act is
similar to that (but slightly weaker); it doesn't specifically mention
lane-sharing but only says:
--------
154. (1) Where a highway has been divided into clearly marked
lanes for traffic,

(a) a vehicle shall be driven as nearly as may be
practicable entirely within a single lane and shall not be moved from
the lane until the driver has first ascertained that the movement can
be made with safety;
--------
[(b) refers to a shared passing/left-turn center lane, and (c) refers
to lanes designated for particular types of traffic, so neither are
relevant to lane-sharing]

Noteworthy here is that there's no prohibition on lane-sharing by any
vehicle or type of vehicle, except that they have to be able to do it
entirely within that lane. So for a wide enough lane a motorcycle can
share the lane with a car as well (though I don't see a good reason
why anybody would want to). Leaving this up to the judgement of the
operators of the vehicles in question seems far more sensible to me
(which is probably why more jurisdictions don't do it).


dave

--
Dave Vandervies
Ach, my fingers are either faster or slower than my brain, and I'm not
sure which it is.
--Richard Heathfield in comp.lang.c

"Dennis P. Harris" wrote:

On Wed, 15 Jun 2005 03:58:05 GMT in rec.bicycles.soc, Andy Katz
wrote:

My west coast roots are showing, there you can be cited for holding up
traffic by going under the speed limit, even in the rightmost lane.

Only by cops that don't know the law. Most states the law says
that you have to ride "as far to the right as is practicable".
Most states also do NOT have a provision about "holding up
traffic" if there is no other safe place for the cyclist to ride.

I believe California has some special "anti-gridlock" laws that
basically say "keep the $*%& out of the way of others".
I have no idea if they apply to non motorized vehicles.

"Dennis P. Harris" wrote:

at least in california, prosecutors are willing to prosecute
rogue cops that beat up victims.

I remember one I saw on TV a few years ago. A pickup load of
Mexicans ran the border near San Diego. County deputies and
a CHP helicopter were involved in the chase. I believe the
footage I saw was from a TV helicopter, not the CHP helicopter.

When the truck finally stopped, a whole bunch of people jumped
out of the back and ran off in different directions. A couple
of deputies pulled an unresisting woman out of the front passenger
seat, and proceedes to beat her with their batons, at which point
she began to resist by placing her hands over whatever part of her
body they struck last. Meanwhile, somebody (identified by the news
anchor as a CHP officer in the helicopter) said something like
"the brownshirts down there are out of control".

If there was any prosecution of law enforcement officers after
that incident, I never heard about it.