Automatic transmissions considered harmful

On 3/8/2019 5:15 PM, Radey Shouman wrote:
Frank Krygowski writes:

On 3/8/2019 3:58 PM, Zen Cycle wrote:
On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop. Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car. Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed). I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they
end up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't
going to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning
she was coming from behind you?

I'm having a hard time picturing this whole scenario.

I took it to mean Radey was riding (say) west to east on a straight
road, and the fat girl was driving (say) north to a T stop sign at
Radey's road, which she ignored. And she didn't see him because she
was looking at her phone.

I'm never too bashful to yell loudly in such a situation. But
apparently this girl needed more.

I did indeed yell loudly, and that has worked when windows are open.
Not this time, unless she's quite an actress she never guessed I was
there.

One adolescent behavior I have witnessed after the adolescent has done
something evil is "I'm going to keep my head down and pretend I'm not
here and that I don't hear you." Sort of like playing possum.



Mark J.

Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/8/2019 3:58 PM, Zen Cycle wrote:
On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop. Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car. Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed). I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they end
up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't going
to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning she was
coming from behind you?

I'm having a hard time picturing this whole scenario.

I took it to mean Radey was riding (say) west to east on a straight
road, and the fat girl was driving (say) north to a T stop sign at
Radey's road, which she ignored. And she didn't see him because she was
looking at her phone.

I'm never too bashful to yell loudly in such a situation. But apparently
this girl needed more.

It's 2019. Why are there still no bike-mounted rocket launchers??


Whadda ya mean, no bike mounted rocket launchers?

https://youtu.be/Z4IpkIF1rXE

On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 8:15:54 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Frank Krygowski writes:

On 3/8/2019 3:58 PM, Zen Cycle wrote:
On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop. Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car. Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed). I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they
end up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't
going to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning
she was coming from behind you?

I'm having a hard time picturing this whole scenario.

I took it to mean Radey was riding (say) west to east on a straight
road, and the fat girl was driving (say) north to a T stop sign at
Radey's road, which she ignored. And she didn't see him because she
was looking at her phone.

I'm never too bashful to yell loudly in such a situation. But
apparently this girl needed more.

I did indeed yell loudly, and that has worked when windows are open.
Not this time, unless she's quite an actress she never guessed I was
there.

It's 2019. Why are there still no bike-mounted rocket launchers??

I feel almost like buying one of those air horns Hizzoner Scharf suggested.

I had a small compressed boat air horn mounted on my bicycle whilst I lived in Toronto Canada. Once on a very busy main road a dude went to step off the sidewalk and in front of me therefore I tooted the horn and sure enough he jumped back. As I went by him I heard him say, "DAMN! It was a bicycle. I thought it was semi-truck". I've often though about getting another one to wake up dozy pedestrians and drivers yakking on their cell phones.

Cheers

"Mark J." writes:

On 3/8/2019 5:15 PM, Radey Shouman wrote:
Frank Krygowski writes:

On 3/8/2019 3:58 PM, Zen Cycle wrote:
On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop. Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car. Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed). I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they
end up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't
going to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning
she was coming from behind you?

I'm having a hard time picturing this whole scenario.

I took it to mean Radey was riding (say) west to east on a straight
road, and the fat girl was driving (say) north to a T stop sign at
Radey's road, which she ignored. And she didn't see him because she
was looking at her phone.

I'm never too bashful to yell loudly in such a situation. But
apparently this girl needed more.

I did indeed yell loudly, and that has worked when windows are open.
Not this time, unless she's quite an actress she never guessed I was
there.

One adolescent behavior I have witnessed after the adolescent has done
something evil is "I'm going to keep my head down and pretend I'm not
here and that I don't hear you." Sort of like playing possum.

I think she was really completely oblivious.

On 3/8/2019 7:14 PM, Radey Shouman wrote:
Zen Cycle writes:

On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop. Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car. Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed). I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they
end up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

She was turning right, but took a fairly wide turn. The intersection
isn't a right angle, so she had to turn less than 90 degrees.

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't
going to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning she
was coming from behind you?

She cut in right ahead of me.

I'm having a hard time picturing this whole scenario.

In the US at least--manual transmissions are all about done. The reason
being that a computer-controlled automatic transmission can get better
fuel efficiency than even an expert driver with a manual can.

That said--needing to shift wouldn't prevent the situation. Even
hands-free phones are bad. There's been studies that found that any kind
of distraction that requires interaction (hand-held phone,
hands-free-phone, gps) increases driver error by about the same amount.

https://deltacycle.com/airzound-horn

Doug Cimperman writes:

On 3/8/2019 7:14 PM, Radey Shouman wrote:
Zen Cycle writes:

On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop. Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car. Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed). I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they
end up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

She was turning right, but took a fairly wide turn. The intersection
isn't a right angle, so she had to turn less than 90 degrees.

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't
going to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning she
was coming from behind you?

She cut in right ahead of me.

I'm having a hard time picturing this whole scenario.

In the US at least--manual transmissions are all about done. The
reason being that a computer-controlled automatic transmission can get
better fuel efficiency than even an expert driver with a manual can.

That said--needing to shift wouldn't prevent the situation. Even
hands-free phones are bad. There's been studies that found that any
kind of distraction that requires interaction (hand-held phone,
hands-free-phone, gps) increases driver error by about the same
amount.

I'm not in favor of hands free phone conversations behind the wheel
either, but at least the driver can *pretend* to be looking out the
windshield.


--

On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 8:13:53 PM UTC-5, Mark J. wrote:
On 3/8/2019 2:05 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 3/8/2019 3:58 PM, Zen Cycle wrote:
On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop.Â* Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car.Â* Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed).Â* I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they
end up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't
going to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning she
was coming from behind you?

I'm having a hard time picturing this whole scenario.

I took it to mean Radey was riding (say) west to east on a straight
road, and the fat girl was driving (say) north to a T stop sign at
Radey's road, which she ignored. And she didn't see him because she was
looking at her phone.

I'm never too bashful to yell loudly in such a situation. But apparently
this girl needed more.

It's 2019. Why are there still no bike-mounted rocket launchers??

Have we forgotten Spike Bike already?

Here's the first online source I found:
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mjh/spike.html


HAH!!! That's the first thing I thought of! I did a quick search for it but nothing came up (I didn't look too hard). Spike jumped the shark when he fell in love.

On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 8:14:20 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Zen Cycle writes:

On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop. Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car. Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed). I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they
end up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

She was turning right, but took a fairly wide turn. The intersection
isn't a right angle, so she had to turn less than 90 degrees.

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't
going to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning she
was coming from behind you?

She cut in right ahead of me.

I'm having a hard time picturing this whole scenario.

--

Ah, I get it now. In 30 years of bike commuting, I've been hit by cars twice. Both times it was a driver approaching from the other direction and turning across the road in front of me. The first time the driver had no excuse, clear day, light traffic. The second time the driver had the sun in his eyes and I was partially obscured by a car passing me. He waited for the car that passed me to pass, then pulled through and t-boned me, though he did kinda goose it. meh...I'm still here.

On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 8:14:20 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Zen Cycle writes:

On Friday, March 8, 2019 at 1:57:25 PM UTC-5, Radey Shouman wrote:
Beautiful day today, a balmy 21F this morning, the robins were singing,
a woodlot full of tapped sugar maples on the way to work.

Riding through the top of a T intersection with a minor road on my
right, they have a stop sign, I see a small car that seems not likely to
even slow, much less stop. Fortunately the oncoming lane is empty, and
I swing out past the yellow line, right alongside the car. Curses
(literally, and loudly, but to no effect, windows are closed). I can
see the driver, a fat girl, looking down at her cell phone in her
gearshift hand, grinning like a fool.


OK, you confused me....

The road on the right had a stop sign, the car was coming from the right?
If the car was coming from the right and didn't stop, wouldn't they
end up running into whatever was on the top of the intersection?

She was turning right, but took a fairly wide turn. The intersection
isn't a right angle, so she had to turn less than 90 degrees.

or you were both traveling on the top of the T, you saw she wasn't
going to stop - you dodged into the oncoming traffic lane, meaning she
was coming from behind you?

She cut in right ahead of me.


Ah, I get it now, so if you were driving a bus she would have been road pizza....

In 30 years of bike commuting, I've been hit by cars twice. Both times it was a driver approaching from the other direction and turning across the road in front of me. The first time the driver had no excuse, clear day, light traffic. The second time the driver had the sun in his eyes and I was partially obscured by a car passing me. He waited for the car that passed me to pass, then pulled through and t-boned me, though he did kinda goose it. meh...I'm still here.