i ride facing traffic--comments please

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

ilaboo wrote:
over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter



After 60 years of riding this way, you want comments? Why?

On Dec 5, 7:51 am, "ilaboo" wrote:
over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic.

This one falls spectacularly in the middle of the troll-asshole meter!



AH |-|-|-|-|-*-|-|-|-|-| T

You can do it, and sometimes it makes sense, but
has a lot of additional hazards you have to be
aware of and take into account

1. Closing speeds are doubled, so there's half
the safe reaction time when something unexpected
happens

2. There's no clear rule about who gets out of
the way, when both you and the car can see each
other ; so you'll be in the gutter a lot.

3. Nobody coming out of a driveway or side street
or parking lot is going to be looking to avoid
you, where you'd have clear right of way if going
the correct direction.

So it creates a lot of crises waiting to do you
in, all of which can of course be avoided if you
know about them, like giving everybody the right
of way who won't see you, and going off in the
gutter a lot when appropriate. Sometimes that's
worth the hassle, say if it avoids crossing an
impossibly busy highway to travel down it only for
a block or so before turning off again.

You of course take no more space whichever way
you're travelling, but that's not the problem.

I ride the wrong way occasionally when it makes
sense, but not usually.
--


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

On Dec 5, 8:51 am, "ilaboo" wrote:
over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

If you're only riding in da Bronx, slowly, on cruiser, it's not a bad
idea. Just stay out of the bike lanes.

/s

On Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:51:45 GMT, "ilaboo"
wrote:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--

Plonk......

ilaboo wrote:
over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter


-------------
If you ride facing traffic here in
Tucson, you'll either be dead or in the
hospital within a month.

A wisely anonymous poster trolled:
over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

Most automobile accidents also occur when the automobile is driving
with traffic.

what has been your experience?

It's mostly a problem when you meet an oncoming, law-abiding
bicylist. What do you do in that case?

Do you swing to your left and try to force the law-abiding cyclist out
farther into the traffic lane?

Or do you go to your right, between the law-abiding cyclist and the
oncoming motor traffic.

Whichever option you choose, how is the law-abiding cyclist supposed
to figure out which way you plan to go?

Sheldon "I Know I Shouldn't Feed The Trolls, But..." Brown
+-----------------------------------------+
| If a fool would persist in his folly, |
| he would become wise. |
| --William Blake |
+-----------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com
Useful articles about bicycles and cycling
http://sheldonbrown.com

"Ron Hardin" wrote in message
...
You can do it, and sometimes it makes sense, but
has a lot of additional hazards you have to be
aware of and take into account

(snip)

3. Nobody coming out of a driveway or side street
or parking lot is going to be looking to avoid
you, where you'd have clear right of way if going
the correct direction.

(snip)

I ride the wrong way occasionally when it makes
sense, but not usually.
--


On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

I think the roads are safest when everyone does what is expected of them, by
law and convention. With people making up their own rules as they go along,
unsafe unpredictable chaos is the result.

My most important bike safety rule is, never assume a car sees you. I was
crossing an intersection years ago, with the green light, in the crosswalk,
on the wrong side of the street. A car rolled through right-turn-on-red, and
hit me, because he never looked my direction. I got the ticket, and rightly
so. If I had been walking my bike in the crosswalk, the driver would have
been at fault.

On my city commute, I still ride the wrong way for very short distances,
when it makes sense to do so. But I know it is wrong, and I understand the
concept. If anything happens, I know I will probably be 'more wrong' than
the other party.

J.

On Dec 5, 9:18 am, Sheldon Brown wrote:
A wisely anonymous poster trolled:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

Most automobile accidents also occur when the automobile is driving
with traffic.

what has been your experience?

It's mostly a problem when you meet an oncoming, law-abiding
bicylist. What do you do in that case?

Do you swing to your left and try to force the law-abiding cyclist out
farther into the traffic lane?

Or do you go to your right, between the law-abiding cyclist and the
oncoming motor traffic.

Whichever option you choose, how is the law-abiding cyclist supposed
to figure out which way you plan to go?

Sheldon "I Know I Shouldn't Feed The Trolls, But..." Brown


Thank you for eloquently expressing why I hate cyclists who ride
against traffic.

OP is free to perform an anatomical impossibilty upon himself for
doing so.