Caution signs for cars at Stanford - yellow diamond shape w/bicyclesketch

At this writing, there are no caution signs for cars at Stanford.
They should have been installed long ago. People should really be
shocked at this, given the obviousness of the need. Stanford pays all
kinds of vested interest employees huge salaries, including the
bicycle coordinator, campus police, dean of students, etc. And I'm
out there in the f*ing streets!

I posted the following comment under the Stanford Daily opinion Feb 22
"Befriend Your Brain", involving bicycle helmets. and at
paloaltoonline.com .

-----Forward-----

I am a person who is passing out my discount bike repair flyers to
some of the residences. I’ve worked on campus for many years on and
off, doing bicycle work and other kinds of work, often commuting on
bicycle.

On my bike repair web page, I mentioned that a few years ago I wanted
to get hired as the university’s bicycle coordinator, and that if I
had been hired, one of the things I’d have done would be to put up a
bunch of those yellow caution signs for cars to see with a sketch of a
bicycle. So instead of blaming the victims as a reaction to bike
accidents, let’s look at Stanford bicycle policy and policy makers a
little more critically.

I should say here that I believe students should wear a helmet. I wear
a bike helmet whenever I ride. I agree that a helmet at the bikeshop
for $20, partially subsidized by the university, is a good deal.

But as a homeless guy screwed over in the employment system, I can say
that helmet promotion needs to be something other than occupational
capital to paste over larger corruption. I’m tired of watching
carefully selected employees with prestigious resumes who “got there”
for all the wrong reasons and feel entitled to degrade and push out
others, like me, from the economy.

Here are other points I put on my flat tire web page about what I
would have done if I had been hired as the bicycle coordinator:

- The bicycle coordinator would become responsible for creating
standards for bikeshops doing business on campus.

- The University would not dictate or facilitate bike licensing.

- The cement things in White Plaza would never have been put there.

- The University would have purchased a couple tandem bicycles so the
visually disabled students could ride once in a while.

- I’d move the bicycle coordinator job away from the transportation
department and police department, or at least create a multi-
department standing committee.

Saying these things might not help my new bike repair business, but
it’s a way of opposing the system I disagree with that I’d be
contributing to.

-----End Forward----

me wrote:
At this writing, there are no caution signs for cars at Stanford.

I find it strange that you think this is necessary.

Stanford is very bike friendly - it's much easier to get around on
campus with a bike than with a car. The campus has many roads that are
closed to cars, ample bike lanes, and a low speed limit for cars. There
is absolutely no need for additional visual litter (more signs),
uglyfying the beautiful campus.

Saying these things might not help my new bike repair business,

Saying these things will NOT help your new bike repair business!

What will help your new bike repair business is to get that big chip off
of your shoulder. Instead of focusing all your energies on ranting
about the system, focus on providing excellent customer service. The
more you rant about the system the more you drive away people who might
want to be customers because what they want most of all is good service
on their bikes, not to listen to even more ranting about the system.
Someone who focuses on providing excellent customer service will thrive
even in an environment that is fraught with bureaucracy. Someone who
focuses on complaining about the bureaucracy can't also be focusing on
providing excellent customer service.

If you want your bike repair business to thrive, focus on your business.

jc

new for an east coaster:

traffic lights around San Diego mounted 4-5 feet off ground, idea
is...

street signs in Covina mounted 4-5 feet off ground on grave monument
type concrete forms. wierd.
but SD's street's cracks are wicked.

On Feb 24, 9:24 am, jcdill wrote:


I find it strange that you think (that caution signs are) necessary.

Stanford is very bike friendly - it's much easier to get around on
campus with a bike than with a car. The campus has many roads that are
closed to cars, ample bike lanes, and a low speed limit for cars. There
is absolutely no need for additional visual litter (more signs),
uglyfying the beautiful campus.

What will help ...... is to get that big chip off
of your shoulder.....The
more you rant about the system the more you drive away people Someone who
focuses on complaining about the bureaucracy
etc

I think the members of the bicycling newsgroups want a better
discussion than JC Dill wants to drag everyone down to.

If Tim May, the physicist from Intel in the other newsgroup
ba.mountain-folk is correct about her, then JC Dill would have praised
my posting if I were a female. The physicist is also a former
employment director at Intel. He has a lot of Usenet experience.
From my own knowledge, often the least qualified people are the first
to enter a discussion carrying a covert vendetta. When this type of
troll appears, it has a chilling effect on others who would otherwise
want to join an important discussion.

The recent news at Stanford is that a medical researcher from
Singapore died last week when his bicycle was hit by a car at
Stanford. He was thrown 128 feet from the point of impact. When
Singapore reads JC Dill's posting they are going to be horrified by
her callousness over his death, which may require an apology from our
ambassador.

They should be similarly disturbed by apologists for the Stanford
bureaucracy like the response in this thread by Mike Jacoubowsky in
ba.bicycles

On Feb 25, 7:43*am, me wrote:

I think the members of the bicycling newsgroups want . . .

I want to know how you know that people "feel entitled to degrade and
push out
others, like me, from the economy." Just curious.

On Feb 25, 1:01*pm, Bad Idea wrote:
On Feb 25, 7:43*am, me wrote:

I think the members of the bicycling newsgroups want . . .

I want to know how you know that people "feel entitled to degrade and
push out
others, like me, from the economy." *Just curious.

I can answer that one. There are people that think if you are in some
kind of group of which they do not approve, that you don't have a
right to earn a living, have health care or basically do anything
except die quietly. We even have people like that here on the
rec.bicycles.soc group. Those kinds of people are actually quite
common, the problem is when they get control of money and access to
employment, i.e. don't put people like that in HR jobs. Especially
don't put people like that in HR where they have final say in hiring
and firing.

In my own case I think people that have more than one DWI or a DWI
wreck with serious injury or fatality can die in jail.

On Feb 26, 9:17*am, Opus wrote:
On Feb 25, 1:01*pm, Bad Idea wrote:

On Feb 25, 7:43*am, me wrote:

I think the members of the bicycling newsgroups want . . .

I want to know how you know that people "feel entitled to degrade and
push out
others, like me, from the economy." *Just curious.

I can answer that one. . .

Then please do.

Usenet readers here may not be familiar with the Stanford campus so
I'll tell you that there are palm trees, bike/pedestrian paths, and
vegetation on both sides of Palm Drive.

Palm Drive heads towards the main campus Quad via "the Oval" where
many cars are parked. Parts of Palm Drive have bike lanes on the main
road. The speed limit is 25 mph.

A few days ago a letter to the Stanford Daily said that "traffic flow
on Palm Drive is an everyday hazard to cyclists." The author said
that last summer he got a broken shoulder from being struck by a car
at Arboretum Dr., and that he experiences many close calls at the Palm
Drive/Museum Way intersection where that other guy on a bicycle was
killed last month.

I posted a response:

-------

ok, there is a major problem with the Palm Drive at Arboretum
intersection.
What needs to be done there is this – cars have to be adequately
informed to yield to bikes and pedestrians on their right turns.
Driving west to the intersection, they have to be cautioned at least
100-200 feet from the intersection.

The pedestrian crosswalk which bikes also use needs a different signal
to replace the present push-button with the flashing hand. It needs to
be replaced with a “walk-countdown” signal, and maybe eliminate the
push-button in favor of an automatic “walk” signal.

Somebody recently put a couple caution signs there but they are
inadequate. The symbols are small, cryptic, and placed much too close
(20-25 feet) to the busy intersection in a way that drivers can not
spend any time deciphering them while entering the intersection.

Cars on Palm Drive that approach the Museum Way intersection should be
cautioned about bicycles with a yellow sign. This is where the student
was hit and killed by a car. There is no stop sign for the Palm
traffic which can go very fast from the east until they enter the
Oval.