Educational article

On Jun 16, 2:42*am, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sat, 15 Jun 2013 08:01:10 -0700 (PDT), Frank Krygowski



wrote:
As is often the case, nobody here gives evidence of having read it.
(...)
http://iamtraffic.org/equality/the-m...of-bicyclists/

As proof that I read the article, I found that clicking on some of the
pictures in Firefox ver 21.0, would produce a Javascript based slide
show of 23 images. *Image 5 is black and the viewer hangs on Image 9.
The remainder are erratic, sometimes causing the viewer loading
indicator to endlessly spin. *Some of the images can be seen in:
http://iamtraffic.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Image-01.jpg
http://iamtraffic.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Image-23.jpg
by changing the number in the URL, but most are missing. *I suspect a
synchronization error between the Lucid v1.5 theme for WordPress and
the photo archive as the likely culprit.

Hmm. While I certainly looked at all the images, I didn't click any.
Reviewing it now, I didn't seem to have any problems. Only a few
linked to videos (some of which I've seen before, others will have to
wait until this evening), but I didn't notice any slide shows. Which
images gave you those problems?

Regarding discussion above the "****in' DUH" level, let me make it
clear that I don't agree with everything the authors write. In
particular, I don't have a problem with motorists passing me partly
within my lane, so long as they give me adequate passing clearance.
Dan Gutierrez calls those "straddle passes" and seems to detest those,
but many people who are well known in vehicular cycling advocacy seem
to disagree with him on that point.

Which, BTW, is an indication that (contrary to Dan's slander) we are
not automatons who slavishly obey some official VC dogma. Discussion
within this community is pretty spirited and intelligent. (For
example, I'm sure John Forester's current opinion on helmets has been
influenced by my correspondence.)

- Frank Krygowski

Dan O writes:

On Jun 17, 9:19Â*am, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Jun 17, 2:39Â*am, Dan O wrote:


On Jun 17, 9:19 am, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Jun 17, 2:39 am, Dan O wrote:


snip

(... split response continued from earlier post)


Dan, no matter how much it offends you, you do meet
the definition of an edge rider or gutter bunny. (You can decide
which term is more memorable.)


If I can't be "Imaginary Perfect Ninja", then I choose to be called
"Edge Rider"! (Yes, I like that one quite a lot.)

In
almost all cases, the overtaking motorist will *still* wait until they
can at least straddle into the next lane, in some fewer case they will
carefully pass in the same lane, and in some very few cases they will
make a statement of disregard as they pass.

However, it's extremely common for people who ride at the edge to
suffer close passes, right hooks, left crosses, pull-outs, etc. And
it's extremely common for people who have learned to move away from
the edge to note that such incidents drop dramatically, to almost
zero. I've described it, my friends have described it, people on VC
forums have described it. In fact, it's not uncommon for those people
to note that they effectively never have such problems any more.


It works. Great. Knock yourself out. Help those it can help. The
reasons it wouldn't work for me are far, far too interpersonally
relational and psychologically deep and complex to make understood.
I'm sure most people can *kind* of know what I mean. "You don't want
to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel."

Face it: You like showing and telling others what is right and proper.
You like correcting what you see as improper. You like to control others.
Nothing wrong with that, but it's going to make some people not like you
sometimes.

I can appreciate a summer evening on the porch swing with Aunt Bea,
turtle spotting down to the pond with Opie, going to dinner and a movie
with Helen and Barney and Thelma Lou... but I need more.

Livin' on the edge. A dog who's tasted blood. No turning back.

But i'm not about to
create "undue interference with the flow of traffic" as SOP because of
those very few assholes who are going to give me the business whatever
I do.

I think the disconnect here is the definition of "undue." You think
guaranteeing safe passage from motorists is "undue interference" or
"hall monitor" behavior. I think it's specifically permitted by law,
recommended in all competently written bike safety information, and
the only really logical way to ride.

Nothing wrong with that. I've said if that's what you need I'm okay with it.
I just use those terms (quoted from someone else and _principle of law_)
to point out that some reasonable people might consider it undue.

You're willing to kowtow to
motorists simply because they're motorists, and assume additional risk
to save them negligible time. I'm not.


I'm trading some *extra* deference (which I can easily afford. I *like*
riding all over the place and mixing it up and being creative and can
handle the risk and so forth). I'm trading some karmic tolerance for the
shenanigans that I'm inevitably going to engage in ;-)

As I've said, there are two places in all my many miles and many
routes where I "take the lane" such that motorists must wait until the
adjacent lane is clear: One is a very short, narrow little bridge
over a ditch; and een there my mere presence *anywhere* on the bridge
necessitates passing cars at least straddle the center line; so there
I stay out a couple of feet from the left edge so as not to invite
some real idiot trying to squeeze by in the same lane.

And does it work?


Not really. A couple of cars have whizzed by with a "straddle pass" on the
bridge rather than slow and wait the four or five seconds it would take for
me to get across. I haven't been hit, though; so there's that.

(I have noticed a number of people seem to vroom and zoom close *after* I'm
across seeming to express disapproval of my having been in the way - a
sentiment that I think would be axacerbated by my *deliberately* making
*sure* I was well in the way.)

The other place I is a very fast descent with hairpin curves -
visibility ahead is insufficient to ensure availability of the
adjacent lane for a safe pass at that speed, *and* the road is in very
bad shape, with eroding edges and patches and potholes and washboard
whoop-de-doos - such that it is necessary for me to use most of the
lane just for a reasonably rideable line down the hill. So here I
*do* make it clear to traffic approaching from behind that I'm using
the whole lane, and they universally lay back and wait. The curves
and and my speed being such that it would take a real lunatic to even
consider trying to pass there.

So does it work?


Well, I'm not sure. ISTR getting passed there once, which seemed pretty
crazy, but being a racer I have to appreciate a totally ballsy pass. I'm
not sure because I don't know if anybody *would* have tried it if I kept
more to the right. I kind of doubt it. It's certainly possible. Then
again, the garlic around my neck seems to ward off all the vampires 100%,
so...

Other than that, I try to not to impede the flow of traffic, *mostly*
by avoiding situations where it's even an issue, but also by using my
riding ability to choose a line that accomodates passing traffic, with
the often realized hope (I'd *like* to say expectation, but that would
be rather naive) of reciprocal regard.

And as I've said, I seem to have far fewer hassles from motorists than
most cyclists. Perhaps when a person makes it obvious he has
confidence and knows what he's doing, people respond to that?


Oh, yes - absolutely. It's the underpinning of a zillion romance novels;
and there's something to it.

But yes, I do inevitably find myself in the hairy midst of hostile
cagerland cluster*&^%, and then - for a little while - until I can
bust back out of there - it's... what's that movie called - "Premium
Rush"? ;-)

Yes, I saw that movie a few months ago.

I haven't seen it, but...

Crazy fantasy bicycling,

.... I was referring to unrestrained passion, and unhesitant creative
free-thinking. You know - shenanigans.

Don't be so quick with such expressions as "crazy fantasy bicycling" and
"imaginary perfect ninja". Amazing things happen all the time; but you
have to be willing to try.

not
even counting the idea of a guy on a fixie keeping up with a strong
guy on an 11-speed road bike on a long downhill. Too bad there are
guys who believe the fantasy. :-/ Fortunately, most outgrow the
really radical fantasizing by the time they're 25 or so.
Unfortunately, few seem willing to try to learn to improve their real-
world biking. Like teenagers, most bicyclists think they already know
everything.


And you know this, of course; and you are bound to "correct" it.

I know I won't change your mind, Dan. I just thought that some people
might be interested in an in-depth article on the genesis of common
attitudes.

Except the genesis of attitudes in the article was all about planners
and politics and meetings and public policy and crap like that. I can
discern the genesis of attitudes on the ground and what led to them
pretty well without some less-than-brilliant author who has some definitely
skewed attitudes of their own.

And since you seem to tend to forget context, that article
washttp://iamtraffic.org/equality/the-marginalization-of-bicyclists/


Yeah, thanks for posting. I got a kick out of:

"I distinctly remember a more experienced rider yelling, “Never pass a
right turning car on the right!� That was my first exposure to the
possibility that bicyclists need not expose themselves to unnecessary
danger... "

.... and:

'Pretty much any cycling nonsense here can be intuitively explained,
even to a confirmed 100% motorist, as “well, if cars were six feet
long, two feet wide, and you could pick it up one hand, how do you
think people around here would drive them?�'