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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
I was "lucky?". Going for a ride on my old 10 speed had me more
interested in how it was working mechanically than remembering to look for occupied parked cars. Sure enough as I came along side a parked car the driver decided to begin a u-turn. We missed each other. I last had that close call on a motorcyle over ten years ago. Each one brings a sudden wake up call. Most of the street where I ride don't have parked cars, which probably makes for being less prepared for it. -- A website is a place, where, when you go there, it does everything possible to distract you, from finding the information you came there to see.- E.W. |
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#2
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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
On Apr 10, 12:16*pm, Erness Wild wrote:
I was "lucky?". Going for a ride on my old 10 speed had me more interested in how it was working mechanically than remembering to look for occupied parked cars. Sure enough as I came along side a parked car the driver decided to begin a u-turn. We missed each other. I last had that close call on a motorcyle over ten years ago. Each one brings a sudden wake up call. Most of the street where I ride don't have parked cars, which probably makes for being less prepared for it. -- A website is a place, where, when you go there, it does everything possible to distract you, from finding the information you came there to see.- E.W. I had a near hit myself yesterday. I'm generally really good about staying out of the door zone, but this was a wierd situation. A big truck that's always parked at the local sub shop on RT-1 by the rotary, over the curb on the grass, opened the door. I was pretty close to the curb, since I was coming out of a rotary into a 50MPH zone. No harm, no foul, but it was a reminder to stay away from ALL the doors, not just the cars parked on the side of the street. Never gave this trucks location any thought in the past, something about it being over a curb, elevated and what looked to be far enough from the road had me flying past it for years now. |
#3
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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
DanKMTB wrote:
I had a near hit myself yesterday. I'm generally really good about staying out of the door zone, but this was a wierd situation. A big truck that's always parked at the local sub shop on RT-1 by the rotary, over the curb on the grass, opened the door. I was pretty close to the curb, since I was coming out of a rotary into a 50MPH zone. No harm, no foul, but it was a reminder to stay away from ALL the doors, not just the cars parked on the side of the street. Never gave this trucks location any thought in the past, something about it being over a curb, elevated and what looked to be far enough from the road had me flying past it for years now. A u-turn miss and a door miss. Interesting on the door obstacle. Now if cars that had to drive on the right side of the road had right hand drive there would be less incidents. Like-a-wise if left hand drive cars drove on the left side of the street, drivers would always be getting out on the curb side, which seems safer all around. -- A website is a place, where, when you go there, it does everything possible to distract you, from finding the information you came there to see.- E.W. |
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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
On Apr 10, 2:02*pm, Erness Wild wrote:
DanKMTB wrote: I had a near hit myself yesterday. *I'm generally really good about staying out of the door zone, but this was a wierd situation. *A big truck that's always parked at the local sub shop on RT-1 by the rotary, over the curb on the grass, opened the door. *I was pretty close to the curb, since I was coming out of a rotary into a 50MPH zone. *No harm, no foul, but it was a reminder to stay away from ALL the doors, not just the cars parked on the side of the street. *Never gave this trucks location any thought in the past, something about it being over a curb, elevated and what looked to be far enough from the road had me flying past it for years now. A u-turn miss and a door miss. Interesting on the door obstacle. Now if cars that had to drive on the right side of the road had right hand drive there would be less incidents. Like-a-wise if left hand drive cars drove on the left side of the street, drivers would always be getting out on the curb side, which seems safer all around. -- A website is a place, where, when you go there, it does everything possible to distract you, from finding the information you came there to see.- E.W. Left hand drive on left driving roads? And right hand drive on right driving roads? Likely more head on collisions due to drivers not being able to judge where the oncoming vehicle is on the road. Or judge where your own wheels are traveling relative to the yellow line. |
#5
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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
On Apr 10, 3:02*pm, Erness Wild wrote:
DanKMTB wrote: I had a near hit myself yesterday. *I'm generally really good about staying out of the door zone, but this was a wierd situation. *A big truck that's always parked at the local sub shop on RT-1 by the rotary, over the curb on the grass, opened the door. *I was pretty close to the curb, since I was coming out of a rotary into a 50MPH zone. *No harm, no foul, but it was a reminder to stay away from ALL the doors, not just the cars parked on the side of the street. *Never gave this trucks location any thought in the past, something about it being over a curb, elevated and what looked to be far enough from the road had me flying past it for years now. A u-turn miss and a door miss. Interesting on the door obstacle. Now if cars that had to drive on the right side of the road had right hand drive there would be less incidents. Like-a-wise if left hand drive cars drove on the left side of the street, drivers would always be getting out on the curb side, which seems safer all around. Possibly true, but sitting on the curb side of the car also makes it more difficult to see the road, especially around curves going in a curbward direction. My main objection to that plan is purely selfish; I'm right handed so shifting with my left hand would take some getting used to. nate |
#6
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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
On Apr 10, 12:12*pm, "
wrote: Left hand drive on left driving roads? *And right hand drive on right driving roads? *Likely more head on collisions due to drivers not being able to judge where the oncoming vehicle is on the road. Indeed--especially when passing big trucks on two-lane roads. Tom Ace |
#7
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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
On Apr 10, 1:12*pm, "
wrote: On Apr 10, 2:02*pm, Erness Wild wrote: DanKMTB wrote: I had a near hit myself yesterday. *I'm generally really good about staying out of the door zone, but this was a wierd situation. *A big truck that's always parked at the local sub shop on RT-1 by the rotary, over the curb on the grass, opened the door. *I was pretty close to the curb, since I was coming out of a rotary into a 50MPH zone. *No harm, no foul, but it was a reminder to stay away from ALL the doors, not just the cars parked on the side of the street. *Never gave this trucks location any thought in the past, something about it being over a curb, elevated and what looked to be far enough from the road had me flying past it for years now. A u-turn miss and a door miss. Interesting on the door obstacle. Now if cars that had to drive on the right side of the road had right hand drive there would be less incidents. Like-a-wise if left hand drive cars drove on the left side of the street, drivers would always be getting out on the curb side, which seems safer all around. -- A website is a place, where, when you go there, it does everything possible to distract you, from finding the information you came there to see.- E.W. Left hand drive on left driving roads? *And right hand drive on right driving roads? *Likely more head on collisions due to drivers not being able to judge where the oncoming vehicle is on the road. *Or judge where your own wheels are traveling relative to the yellow line. Not that I agree with the left/left business (I don't) but any cyclist who rides assuming drivers have any concept of where they are in the lane, how big their vehicle is or where it stops and starts in the physical world is headed for grief. My very unscientific findings: The Worst: Males in big manly SUVs or trucks, and women in Subarus. Of course, this paints unfairly, with a very broad brush, but I'm alive. I have had my shoulder brushed by a side view mirror while coming down Squaw Pass into Idaho Springs. Close enough, thank you. tf |
#8
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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
On Apr 10, 4:25*pm, Phil W Lee phil(at)lee-family(dot)me(dot)uk
wrote: Erness Wild considered Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:02:59 -0400 the perfect time to write: DanKMTB wrote: I had a near hit myself yesterday. *I'm generally really good about staying out of the door zone, but this was a wierd situation. *A big truck that's always parked at the local sub shop on RT-1 by the rotary, over the curb on the grass, opened the door. *I was pretty close to the curb, since I was coming out of a rotary into a 50MPH zone. *No harm, no foul, but it was a reminder to stay away from ALL the doors, not just the cars parked on the side of the street. *Never gave this trucks location any thought in the past, something about it being over a curb, elevated and what looked to be far enough from the road had me flying past it for years now. A u-turn miss and a door miss. Interesting on the door obstacle. Now if cars that had to drive on the right side of the road had right hand drive there would be less incidents. Like-a-wise if left hand drive cars drove on the left side of the street, drivers would always be getting out on the curb side, which seems safer all around. So instead of the driver sitting on the traffic side, you're going to have a passenger. While it may be questionable as to how much care drivers take when entering and exiting vehicles, it can at least be assumed that they have the basic familiarity with traffic that would enable them to make reasoned judgements of risk. Is there anything to suggest that a passenger would be more capable? And there would be considerably increased problems of visibility, for almost all aspects of driving. These problems are great enough that in some countries, certain classes of "wrong hand drive" vehicles are actually banned. If there's any change that might be worthwhile, it would be to ban opening doors on the side of the vehicle furthest from the curb, and require construction that enabled occupants from that side of the vehicle to climb across.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - I'm not at all for requiring the remanufacture of vehicles, and additional laws, to bring things down to the lowest common denominator. Vehicle operators should be, and are legally, required to be sure the path is clear before opening a door. Cyclists should be aware of the additional risk they run, and avoid the door zone. Even from the perspective of someone that almost rode into a door @ ~25MPH yesterday, more legislation isn't the solution to this problem, IMO. Better enforcement to the legislation we have (such as requiring no vehicle is oncoming before opening a door) is another story altogether. |
#10
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Beware Passing the Parked Car, Bicycle Reminder.
On 10 Apr, 20:15, N8N wrote:
On Apr 10, 3:02*pm, Erness Wild wrote: DanKMTB wrote: I had a near hit myself yesterday. *I'm generally really good about staying out of the door zone, but this was a wierd situation. *A big truck that's always parked at the local sub shop on RT-1 by the rotary, over the curb on the grass, opened the door. *I was pretty close to the curb, since I was coming out of a rotary into a 50MPH zone. *No harm, no foul, but it was a reminder to stay away from ALL the doors, not just the cars parked on the side of the street. *Never gave this trucks location any thought in the past, something about it being over a curb, elevated and what looked to be far enough from the road had me flying past it for years now. A u-turn miss and a door miss. Interesting on the door obstacle. Now if cars that had to drive on the right side of the road had right hand drive there would be less incidents. Like-a-wise if left hand drive cars drove on the left side of the street, drivers would always be getting out on the curb side, which seems safer all around. Possibly true, but sitting on the curb side of the car also makes it more difficult to see the road, especially around curves going in a curbward direction. My main objection to that plan is purely selfish; I'm right handed so shifting with my left hand would take some getting used to. Just make sure you have the drivers door deadlocked. TJ |
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