Thank heavens for super-accurate cyclocomputers!

On Nov 15, 6:05*am, RicodJour wrote:
On Nov 15, 12:58*am, wrote:



Without modern cyclocomputers, how could bicyclists know whether they
were obeying the proposed 8 mph law?

There should be an electronic disabling mechanism installed in the
hub, so if someone rides faster than 8 mph through a crosswalk the hub
locks up. *I would imagine that that would be pretty effective.
Whether you were launched, or saw someone else get launched, you'd be
damned sure to slower than the esc(r)ape velocity.

What I didn't catch from that article was when a rider had to ride
slower than 8 mph through a crosswalk. *I'm not familiar with
Boulder's setup - are all crosswalks yield-to-the pedestrian? *Cars
must stop for a pedestrian that's trying to cross the street?


As far as I'm concerned, all traffic should always yield to any
pedestrians anywhere. Cars should stop and wait; bikes may carefully
proceed - well clear of presenting a hazard (or stop if they can't
manage this). Pedestrians should be cautious around traffic and it
would be considerate and reasonable of them to try not to unduly
impede traffic.

Requiring bikes to slow when *using* crosswalks makes perfect sense (I
still blast them, myself - but do so cognizant of the risks and taking
responsibility for whatever happens as a result ;-), but requiring
bike to slow arbitrarily when *crossing* crosswalks would be silly
punitive anti-bike alarmist ignorance.

Surely crosswalks are always absolutely yield to pedestrians. In my
state, I think crosswalks are even implicit at crossings whether
they're marked or not - maybe even whether there are sidewalks or not.

On Tue, 15 Nov 2011 10:34:17 -0700, carlfogel wrote:

On Tue, 15 Nov 2011 06:05:02 -0800 (PST), RicodJour
wrote:

On Nov 15, 12:58Â*am, wrote:

Without modern cyclocomputers, how could bicyclists know whether they
were obeying the proposed 8 mph law?

There should be an electronic disabling mechanism installed in the hub,
so if someone rides faster than 8 mph through a crosswalk the hub locks
up. I would imagine that that would be pretty effective. Whether you
were launched, or saw someone else get launched, you'd be damned sure to
slower than the esc(r)ape velocity.

What I didn't catch from that article was when a rider had to ride
slower than 8 mph through a crosswalk. I'm not familiar with Boulder's
setup - are all crosswalks yield-to-the pedestrian? Cars must stop for
a pedestrian that's trying to cross the street?

R

Dear R,

Another article:

"Kurt Weiler, a Boulder police commander who helped draft the rules
going before the council, said officers soon could be clocking the speed
of pedestrians and cyclists in the city's crosswalks. He said it would
be up to the municipal court to determine fine amounts or penalties for
those who exceed the 8 mph limit or fail to activate flashing lights."
http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-c...ws/ci_19311115

As for the nature of the Boulder crosswalks and the law, here's part of
2006 comment:

"A couple of years ago, the city of Boulder, Colorado decided to install
new crosswalks for pedestrians to accommodate the large number of
student-pedestrians who walk from local neighborhoods to the University
of Colorado campus. These were no ordinary crosswalks, however, because
the city of Boulder decided not to place these new crosswalks at
intersections where one would expect pedestrians to cross streets. They
also decided against erecting pedestrian bridges or digging pedestrian
tunnels over or under the streets. Instead, in a fit of bureaucratic
idiocy worthy of Bismarck, the city of Boulder decided to construct
crosswalks across the middle of the busy streets surrounding campus."

"HereÂ’s how BoulderÂ’s new crosswalks work. Pedestrians who want to
cross
one of the busy streets surrounding campus approach one of the new
crosswalks. As they approach, traffic whizzes by at 30 miles per hour,
because there are neither stop signs nor traffic lights at the
crosswalk. When the pedestrian reaches the crosswalk, he presses a
button on a sign which lights up three flashing yellow light bulbs on
the crosswalk sign. These flashing yellow lights are meant to signal to
drivers that a pedestrian is crossing, and that they must immediately
stop in the middle of the road to allow the pedestrian to cross. The
pedestrian then crosses the road after having (hopefully) stopped both
directions of traffic."

"The extreme absurdity and danger of these crosswalks is hard to convey
in words. You really need to see them in action (or, better still, cross
one of them) in order to grasp how idiotic and reckless the city of
Boulder really was in constructing them. These crosswalks are extremely
dangerous, in the first place, because they employ flashing yellow
lights rather than red lights to stop drivers. I hate to break it to the
anti-car tree-huggers in Boulder, but red lights mean 'stop' to drivers
in this country, whereas yellow only means 'slow' or 'caution.' Drivers
who have never been to Boulder surely cannot be expected to know a
priori that three flashing yellow lights mean 'Stop: people are walking
into moving traffic.'"
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/crovelli3.html

The author predicted accidents at these peculiar Boulder crosswalks, and
the new 8 mph proposal appears to be based on his prediction being
correct. Slowing cross-traffic to 8 mph seems unlikely to stop people
from being hit in crosswalks in the middle of the block by 30 mph
traffic when their only protection is strange non-standard blinking
yellow lights. A yellow light followed by a red light and a walk/don't
walk light would seem to be more sensible. We have them here in Pueblo.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

* * *
Carl,

We have three of these for pedestrian/Students crossing the streets at
UNLV, and they are blinking almost nonstop except at night. I now
completely avoid that street because of the these crosswalks.

JR the postman