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"DejaVU" wrote in message
... Badger South scribed in I kinda expected a biking group to be on the side of the bikers. I guess it comes from long experience and the inevitability of the issue. hey, mate I'm on your side. pedestrians are hazardous! There is a big difference between being on someone's side and just doing something silly. "Badger" demonstrated a pattern of riding in a manner that was dangerous to himself and pedestrians. This made him a poor ambassador for cyclists. The "us versus them" attitude only servers to further ostracize cyclists. As another poster put it, we are travelling in borrowed space. Sidewalks and paths are really the domain of the pedestrian. And though we usually have greater rights on the roads, they have been redesigned to accomodate autos, not cyclists. If cyclists treat pedestrians poorly on a path, will the pedestrian not treat cyclists on the road the same way when the pedestrian gets into a car? These are the things we must consider when we have thoughts about "us versus them." Sooner or later, we will be "them." here where I live, we drive our cars on the left always have. but pedestrians, walking pathways (not roads), tend to walk on the right. why? I think that it is reasonably obvious to walk on the left (side you drive your car) on pathways, in malls etc, to make the traffic flow nicely. most of us drive cars or have driven in cars, and have been brought up knowing that cars drive on the left. so why walk right? (answer/solution later) Perhaps the answer you offer below has merit, but my experience is different. I found that most of the students who came from countries where they drive on the left also walk on the left. It usually takes several months for them to adjust their walking habits so they aren't face-to-face with oncoming pedestrian traffic. But it takes much longer for them to switch when climbing stairs. I suppose always using their left hand on the hand rail is a harder habit to break. I ride far left, at about 6km/h, a fast walk. what do they do? twice now, I've seen a lone walker approaching. they were walking on their far RIGHT. they see me from far way, I see them, there is no other traffic on the pathway. behold, about 4 meters from me they swerve RIGHT onto the grass to pass me, yet there is a 3meter wide paved pathway available to the left. This is probably because of what they were taught when they were kids. When walking along a road with no sidewalk, you are supposed to walk AGAINST the flow of traffic (in your case, on the left side of the road) so you have a better opportunity to see traffic and head for the ditch if you need to. Now that you are in their domain, they see you as traffic and feel the need to walk against the flow of traffic so they can head for the ditch where it is safe. They are used to cars passing on their left when they walk down the road, so why wouldn't a bicycle do the same? ... to suspect all pedestrians of being very vague and disconnected from the process of walking. Now this is a true statement. Pedestrians are just unpredictable. I think it has to do with their speed and their ability to switch directions on whim. Joggers are much more predictable, partly because their attention is focused on moving forward, partly because it is harder for them to quickly change directions. The best solution is to move at the same pace as the pedestrians, make all of your moves as obvious and predictable as possible, give pedestrians as much room as possible, and finally, avoid riding where pedestrians are likely to be found (interpreted as, get your bike off the sidewalk). -Buck |
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#52
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#53
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Pedestrians
"H. M. Leary" wrote in message ... I hope you don¹t reclaim your ³ownership² in front of a municipal bus or tractor trailer. No one wants you to be a hood ornament. Very few people will attempt to kill you directly. More likely to happen if they haven't seen you properly or they do something like try to overtake in the wrong place/ badly. Unless you live where there are plenty of psychos then its better to bet on claiming your ownership. |
#54
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Pedestrians
In article , "W K"
wrote: "H. M. Leary" wrote in message ... I hope you don¹t reclaim your ³ownership² in front of a municipal bus or tractor trailer. No one wants you to be a hood ornament. Very few people will attempt to kill you directly. More likely to happen if they haven't seen you properly or they do something like try to overtake in the wrong place/ badly. Unless you live where there are plenty of psychos then its better to bet on claiming your ownership. I did not intend to start a flame war, only to agree with Claire and wish her Œwarm regards². We obviously have more psychos along the I-95 corridor than in other parts of the country... I actually have a hard and soft cover of John Forrester¹s ³Effective Cycling², and Pennsylvania has a ³Bicycle Drivers Manual² - mostly excerpts from the above. I am just trying to encourage cyclists to be aware of their enviornment and ride accordingly. HAND -- ³Freedom Is a Light for Which Many Have Died in Darkness³ - Tomb of the unknown - American Revolution |
#55
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Pedestrians
"H. M. Leary" wrote in message ...
In article , (Claire Petersky) wrote: "H. M. Leary" wrote in message ... I hope you don¹t reclaim your ³ownership² in front of a municipal bus or tractor trailer. No one wants you to be a hood ornament. I find that truly aggressive people behave that way wether walking, driving, or riding. I don¹t like giving up my rights, but doing so is much better than being DEAD right. Always navigate by the laws of gross tonnage. Live long and prosper! You don't understand how this works, do you? I¹ve been riding for 50 years. I must understand something?? I am not going to exorcise my rights in front of a semi going 50mph, or ( in Philadelphia ) a bus which is going to pass me anyway just to pull over at the bus stop 100 feet ahead. This is neither a matter of exorcising or exercising one's rights. It's not a matter of being aggressive. It's not a matter of giving up anything. It's not a matter of being unsafe. You're right! You haven¹t ridden around here with all the soccer moms in their oversized SUVs, late to pick up Junior, have you?? Not around there, but around here. As a matter of fact, until I increased my hours this fall at work, I was commuting precisely at the kid pick-up and drop off times. But HAND, again, this is not about being aggressive, unkind, stupid, or unsafe. You've got to ride, I believe, from the inside out. Both aggression and timidity come from the same place, a place of insecurity and neediness, inside yourself. What you've got to do is not ride from this place of insecurity and neediness, but a place of security and abundance. Then you know it is not a matter of competition between you and the rest of traffic, but one in which you are just another salmon in the stream, another part of the great flow. You don't put yourself out there in front of that barreling semi-truck because you don't need to. You have nothing to prove here. You magnamiously allow the semi to pass you -- because you are generous with your pavement, and it is no skin off of your nose. There may be times, though, when you need your pavement, there can be no question, because you need it to protect your safety. And you take it. No one gives you any guff about it, because everyone respects you and your place on the road. Warm Regards, Claire Petersky ) Home of the meditative cyclist: http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm Singing with you at: http://www.tiferet.net/ Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at: http://bookcrossing.com/friend/Cpetersky |
#56
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In article ,
Buck s c h w i n n _ f o r _ s a l e @ h o t m a i l . c o m wrote: "DejaVU" wrote in message ... Badger South scribed in I kinda expected a biking group to be on the side of the bikers. I guess it comes from long experience and the inevitability of the issue. hey, mate I'm on your side. pedestrians are hazardous! There is a big difference between being on someone's side and just doing something silly. "Badger" demonstrated a pattern of riding in a manner that was dangerous to himself and pedestrians. This made him a poor ambassador I got better. Nary a flesh wound. Now this is a true statement. Pedestrians are just unpredictable. I think it has to do with their speed and their ability to switch directions on whim. Joggers are much more predictable, partly because their attention is focused on moving forward, partly because it is harder for them to quickly change directions. When I walk with my wife, she's like a demented hummingbird, and will never walk -with- me. She's always diving into the shrubbery and woods, and looking at moss and little critters. It drives me nuts. 'No dear, I don't want to look at the little snail. I know they're little and snail-like; yes the moss is very green this year...', I smile. Her attention is -never- on moving forwards. g -B -- Email Replies to johnsonnospm01j att ntelos dott net |
#57
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#58
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"H. M. Leary" wrote in message ...
HAND stands for: ³Have A Nice Day!² !!! I've always thought your name was HAND M. Leary! Blow me away! Warm Regards, Claire no .sig, it got blown away in that wonderful tailwind late this afternoon |
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