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Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs



 
 
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  #11  
Old October 29th 14, 12:35 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Andre Jute[_2_]
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Posts: 10,422
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 7:07:50 PM UTC, Sir Ridesalot wrote:

Funny thing is the Highway Traffic Act here mandates a bell but says nothing about a mirror.


Here neither. Funny that. Just reinforces what I always say about legislators. Most of them are too fat ever to have cycled.

Andre Jute
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  #12  
Old October 29th 14, 04:25 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Sir Ridesalot
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Posts: 5,270
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:37:30 PM UTC-4, JoeRiel wrote:
Sir Ridesalot writes:

BTW, with experience using a helmet or eyeglass mirror comes the
ability to judge how fast something is approaching as well as how much
distance there is between you. When I look into my mirror it's with
both eyes and I can tell where the vehicle approaching is as well as
judge it's speed in relation to me.


Both eyes? How do you do that?


--
Joe Riel


By turning my two eyes slightly so both eyes see the mirror.

Cheers
  #13  
Old October 29th 14, 04:28 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Sir Ridesalot
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Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:50:02 PM UTC-4, Duane wrote:
On 10/28/2014 3:07 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Monday, October 27, 2014 10:03:49 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 10/27/2014 9:36 PM, sms wrote:
Today in my town a high school student was killed by a double trailer
gravel truck. The cyclist was going straight, in the bike lane. The
truck turned right and hit him. The driver did not stop, later stating
that he was unaware that he had hit someone.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_26807458/cupertino-young-bicyclist-hit-by-vehicle-killed

That was a particularly dishonest title for the post! The boy who was
killed was in the bike lane at the side of the road, _not_ taking the
lane in front of the truck. That may have caused his death.

We don't have many details, but the reports said the truck turned right
after the crash. It may have been a right hook crash, a type of crash
made more likely by the cyclist being off to the side, _not_ in the
lane, and thus more easily ignored by the truck driver. It may have
been a case where the trucker passed while going straight, thinking
there was room when he could not, in fact, clear the bicyclist.

In either case, taking the lane in front of the truck would probably
have kept the boy alive.

--
- Frank Krygowski


With the incident I had with the big rig, had I not lrft the center of the lane and bailed from the pavement I'd have become a statistic too. When a big ri8g is gaining on you and you're approaching an area where there's no room to bail, then you are placing your life or well being in tthe hands of that driver and hoping that they're paying attention to what's in front of them (not likely if there's no indication that they are slowing down) and tthey'll slow down in time to avoid running you over.

Seeing as how those rigs are so much bigger and far better protected than I am I'll give up tthe lane if it looks to me like they're going to keep on a rollin'.

Sometimes discretion IS the better part of valour.

BTW, with experience using a hrlmet or eyeglass mirror comes the ability to judge how fast something is approaching as well as how much distance there is between you. When I look into my mirror it's with both eyes and I can tell where the vehicle approaching is as well as judge it's speed in relation to me.

I consider a mirror to be a better item for safe bicycling tthan I do a bell that almost no one in a modern motor vehicle with its windows up is going to hear anyway.

Funny thing is the Highway Traffic Act here mandates a bell but says nothing about a mirror.



Same here. Bell but no mirror.


At first I thought this was a right hook but the article actually says
that the truck turned right AFTER he hit the boy and then kept going.
He wasn't even aware that he ran over a kid in the bike lane.

This is similar to the tractor trailer that ran over the woman in
Montreal under the overpass except that she wasn't in a bike lane. The
truck driver never saw her until he heard something under his truck.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...pass-1.2624013

I know this road and have ridden it before. It's hard to see how a
truck driver couldn't see someone right in front of him.


Don't you just love this section of the article:

"Investigators say they will meet with the 23-year-old truck driver, who was treated for shock after the collision.

Police say he will likely not face charges."

Cheers
  #14  
Old October 29th 14, 04:43 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Joe Riel
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Posts: 1,071
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

Sir Ridesalot writes:

On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:37:30 PM UTC-4, JoeRiel wrote:
Sir Ridesalot writes:

BTW, with experience using a helmet or eyeglass mirror comes the
ability to judge how fast something is approaching as well as how much
distance there is between you. When I look into my mirror it's with
both eyes and I can tell where the vehicle approaching is as well as
judge it's speed in relation to me.


Both eyes? How do you do that?


--
Joe Riel


By turning my two eyes slightly so both eyes see the mirror.


How far is the mirror in front of your face? How wide is the mirror?
For eyeglass mounted mirrors, which sit about four inches in front of
the plane of the eyes, the difference in angle is such that there is no
way I'd be able to see the same object with both eyes.


--
Joe Riel
  #15  
Old October 29th 14, 06:13 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
James[_8_]
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Posts: 6,153
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

On 29/10/14 14:25, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:37:30 PM UTC-4, JoeRiel wrote:
Sir Ridesalot writes:

BTW, with experience using a helmet or eyeglass mirror comes the
ability to judge how fast something is approaching as well as how much
distance there is between you. When I look into my mirror it's with
both eyes and I can tell where the vehicle approaching is as well as
judge it's speed in relation to me.


Both eyes? How do you do that?


By turning my two eyes slightly so both eyes see the mirror.


LOL

--
JS
  #16  
Old October 29th 14, 12:44 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Duane[_4_]
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Posts: 1,546
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:50:02 PM UTC-4, Duane wrote:
On 10/28/2014 3:07 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Monday, October 27, 2014 10:03:49 PM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 10/27/2014 9:36 PM, sms wrote:
Today in my town a high school student was killed by a double trailer
gravel truck. The cyclist was going straight, in the bike lane. The
truck turned right and hit him. The driver did not stop, later stating
that he was unaware that he had hit someone.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_26807458/cupertino-young-bicyclist-hit-by-vehicle-killed

That was a particularly dishonest title for the post! The boy who was
killed was in the bike lane at the side of the road, _not_ taking the
lane in front of the truck. That may have caused his death.

We don't have many details, but the reports said the truck turned right
after the crash. It may have been a right hook crash, a type of crash
made more likely by the cyclist being off to the side, _not_ in the
lane, and thus more easily ignored by the truck driver. It may have
been a case where the trucker passed while going straight, thinking
there was room when he could not, in fact, clear the bicyclist.

In either case, taking the lane in front of the truck would probably
have kept the boy alive.

--
- Frank Krygowski

With the incident I had with the big rig, had I not lrft the center of
the lane and bailed from the pavement I'd have become a statistic too.
When a big ri8g is gaining on you and you're approaching an area where
there's no room to bail, then you are placing your life or well being
in tthe hands of that driver and hoping that they're paying attention
to what's in front of them (not likely if there's no indication that
they are slowing down) and tthey'll slow down in time to avoid running you over.

Seeing as how those rigs are so much bigger and far better protected
than I am I'll give up tthe lane if it looks to me like they're going
to keep on a rollin'.

Sometimes discretion IS the better part of valour.

BTW, with experience using a hrlmet or eyeglass mirror comes the
ability to judge how fast something is approaching as well as how much
distance there is between you. When I look into my mirror it's with
both eyes and I can tell where the vehicle approaching is as well as
judge it's speed in relation to me.

I consider a mirror to be a better item for safe bicycling tthan I do a
bell that almost no one in a modern motor vehicle with its windows up
is going to hear anyway.

Funny thing is the Highway Traffic Act here mandates a bell but says
nothing about a mirror.



Same here. Bell but no mirror.


At first I thought this was a right hook but the article actually says
that the truck turned right AFTER he hit the boy and then kept going.
He wasn't even aware that he ran over a kid in the bike lane.

This is similar to the tractor trailer that ran over the woman in
Montreal under the overpass except that she wasn't in a bike lane. The
truck driver never saw her until he heard something under his truck.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...pass-1.2624013

I know this road and have ridden it before. It's hard to see how a
truck driver couldn't see someone right in front of him.


Don't you just love this section of the article:

"Investigators say they will meet with the 23-year-old truck driver, who
was treated for shock after the collision.

Police say he will likely not face charges."

Cheers


Yeah. I love it. There's no way he wouldn't have seen this woman if he
was looking at the road.
--
duane
  #17  
Old October 29th 14, 04:13 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_4_]
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Posts: 10,538
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

On 10/28/2014 11:43 PM, Joe Riel wrote:
Sir Ridesalot writes:

On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:37:30 PM UTC-4, JoeRiel wrote:
Sir Ridesalot writes:

BTW, with experience using a helmet or eyeglass mirror comes the
ability to judge how fast something is approaching as well as how much
distance there is between you. When I look into my mirror it's with
both eyes and I can tell where the vehicle approaching is as well as
judge it's speed in relation to me.

Both eyes? How do you do that?


By turning my two eyes slightly so both eyes see the mirror.


How far is the mirror in front of your face? How wide is the mirror?
For eyeglass mounted mirrors, which sit about four inches in front of
the plane of the eyes, the difference in angle is such that there is no
way I'd be able to see the same object with both eyes.


In fact, for a typical eyeglass mirror 4" ahead of my eyes, if it's at
all visible to my right eye, it has to be almost directly in front of my
left eye. That can't work.

As has been mentioned, distance estimation by binocular vision tops out
at about 20 feet. Beyond that, one's brain uses other clues. See, for
example, "Monocular cues – 3D information from a single eye" at
http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Conte...pth-perception

--
- Frank Krygowski
  #18  
Old October 29th 14, 08:35 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Sir Ridesalot
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Posts: 5,270
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

On Wednesday, October 29, 2014 11:13:11 AM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 10/28/2014 11:43 PM, Joe Riel wrote:
Sir Ridesalot writes:

On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 3:37:30 PM UTC-4, JoeRiel wrote:
Sir Ridesalot writes:

BTW, with experience using a helmet or eyeglass mirror comes the
ability to judge how fast something is approaching as well as how much
distance there is between you. When I look into my mirror it's with
both eyes and I can tell where the vehicle approaching is as well as
judge it's speed in relation to me.

Both eyes? How do you do that?


By turning my two eyes slightly so both eyes see the mirror.


How far is the mirror in front of your face? How wide is the mirror?
For eyeglass mounted mirrors, which sit about four inches in front of
the plane of the eyes, the difference in angle is such that there is no
way I'd be able to see the same object with both eyes.


In fact, for a typical eyeglass mirror 4" ahead of my eyes, if it's at
all visible to my right eye, it has to be almost directly in front of my
left eye. That can't work.

As has been mentioned, distance estimation by binocular vision tops out
at about 20 feet. Beyond that, one's brain uses other clues. See, for
example, "Monocular cues - 3D information from a single eye" at
http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/Conte...pth-perception

--
- Frank Krygowski


Contrary son of a gun aren't you? Every time someone says something that woks for tthem you then post a disagreement unless thaeir post agrees with one of your stances.

When I look into my mirror I do so with both eyes and do not need to turn my head to look behind me.

Perhaps you need a better mirror?

Cheers
  #19  
Old October 29th 14, 09:40 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Clive George
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Posts: 5,394
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

On 29/10/2014 19:35, Sir Ridesalot wrote:

When I look into my mirror I do so with both eyes and do not need to turn my head to look behind me.


I've been following this little subthread with some amusement. Do I
guess right that you use a bar-mounted mirror? Frank and Joe are talking
about eyeglass mounted mirrors - I'd expect it to be impossible to use
them with both eyes.
  #20  
Old October 29th 14, 10:34 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Joe Riel
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Posts: 1,071
Default Taking the Lane In Front of Big Rigs

Clive George writes:

On 29/10/2014 19:35, Sir Ridesalot wrote:

When I look into my mirror I do so with both eyes and do not need to turn my head to look behind me.


I've been following this little subthread with some amusement. Do I
guess right that you use a bar-mounted mirror? Frank and Joe are
talking about eyeglass mounted mirrors - I'd expect it to be
impossible to use them with both eyes.


He previously said it was helmet mounted. I didn't think the location
would be much different from an eyeglass mounted mirror, but don't know.
Is it convex? That might allow seeing the same thing with both eyes,
but would hurt the depth perception.

As Frank has noted, the binocular effect is probably not significant for
judging distances of overtaking vehicles. I just returned from driving
a car. My left outside mirror is adjusted so that I have to move my
head to the left to see straight behind me. I notice that, when using
it, I normally just move far enough so that my left eye can see the
lane.

--
Joe Riel
 




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