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When to honk at a bicyclist



 
 
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  #11  
Old October 14th 04, 04:50 PM
Leo Lichtman
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"Dick Durbin" wrote: (clip)tap on the horn (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I have been looking at some videos about steam locomotives--what most of us
don't know is that each whistle sound and pattern has a specific meaning.
In a way, car horns are like that too, but that has not been mentioned in
this thread. An impatient sustained, annoyed blast directed at someone who
is asleed at a green light is far different from a gentle tap or double tap,
which could be a greeting. Also, the distance from which the warning is
given is part of the message. If you want the cyclist to know you intend to
pass to his/her left on a narrow street, the warning should be softly given,
and not when you're already on his/her elbow. IOW, horns should not be
taken out of context. :-) Just a couple of added thoughts.


Ads
  #12  
Old October 14th 04, 04:55 PM
Tim Howe
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"Claire Petersky" wrote in message ink.net...
Dear fellow Bellevue residents:

snip some excellent reminders from Claire regarding honking

I'll share a minor annoyance I suffered the other day at the end of my
commute home.

I should preface this by saying that the amount of outright hostility
I experience in general is far outweighed by the kindness of most
drivers, but nonetheless:

The last short streatch of my commute home involves one of those
intersections which weren't really designed so much as they just kind
of happened. I crest a hill and roll down the other side for no more
than 50 yards when the road curves sharply down and to the right and I
must turn left across traffic on a blind intersection. There are cars
coming the other way, so after signaling I slow down at the far left
of my lane to sort of roll/trackstand until the traffic clears. The
car immediately behind me slows to be sure of what I am doing and then
passes safely on my right (there is plenty of room), as does the car
behind them. The guy behind that (in a huge Cadillac SUV, of course)
winds the window down and honks and screams at me as he rolls past.

This strikes me as odd for a few reasons.

1) I accelerated out of the last light faster than the line of traffic
he was in and had already been sitting at this intersection for a few
seconds by the time they caught me. So clearly I wasn't slowing
anyone down.

2) Had I been in a car, they would have had to wait for me to turn,
but because I am on a bike they can safely pass me, so I am slowing
them less than I would otherwise.

3) In slowing to honk and scream he takes up more of his apparently
precious time than he would otherwise.

What is it with people in expensive SUVs?

-Tim
  #13  
Old October 14th 04, 06:13 PM
Chris Zacho The Wheelman
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Nice post, Claire. But you're preaching to the choire. Maybe you should
post it in the auto groups (we won't chastise you for cross posting,
promise!). ;-3)

- -

"May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!"

Chris Zacho ~ "Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

Chris'Z Corner
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

  #14  
Old October 14th 04, 09:10 PM
SpearSlinger1
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When to honk:

-Never-. Unless you want me to take the middle of the lane forcing you
to either to change lanes to pass or stay behind me as I grind up this
hill at ~7 mph.


--
SpearSlinger1

  #15  
Old October 14th 04, 10:22 PM
Fred Hall
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When to honk:

When you want to see how quickly a person can remove one hand from the drops
and raise the middle finger of said hand high in the air...
---
But seriously...about a month ago while driving I came up behind four guys
probably my age (late forties) on a two lane country road, ambling along at
probably 10 - 12 mph (no spandex to be seen), gabbing to each other, 4
abreast - 2 in each lane...they took their sweet time, gave me a dirty look
for daring to be on the same road with them, then the two in the "wrong"
(passing) lane moved over so I had to go in the passing lane to get by
them...stretching out single file never seemed to occur to them. Being a
cyclist I didn't lay on the horn, but I sure wanted to...it's actions like
that that give us all a bad reputation.


  #16  
Old October 15th 04, 01:27 AM
Badger_South
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On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 21:22:31 GMT, "Fred Hall" wrote:

When to honk:

When you want to see how quickly a person can remove one hand from the drops
and raise the middle finger of said hand high in the air...
---
But seriously...about a month ago while driving I came up behind four guys
probably my age (late forties) on a two lane country road, ambling along at
probably 10 - 12 mph (no spandex to be seen), gabbing to each other, 4
abreast - 2 in each lane...they took their sweet time, gave me a dirty look
for daring to be on the same road with them, then the two in the "wrong"
(passing) lane moved over so I had to go in the passing lane to get by
them...stretching out single file never seemed to occur to them. Being a
cyclist I didn't lay on the horn, but I sure wanted to...it's actions like
that that give us all a bad reputation.


Sounds like a troll. Did they impede you for more than, say 3 seconds tops?

Did they endanger you in your 2 ton metal cage? Poor thing.

Urge to beep isn't related to anything about reputation or justification;
it's just anger that something small and vulnerable asserted momentary
dominance.

-B


  #17  
Old October 15th 04, 01:57 AM
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On 14 Oct 2004 08:55:49 -0700, (Tim Howe) wrote:

"Claire Petersky" wrote in message ink.net...
Dear fellow Bellevue residents:

snip some excellent reminders from Claire regarding honking

I'll share a minor annoyance I suffered the other day at the end of my
commute home.

I should preface this by saying that the amount of outright hostility
I experience in general is far outweighed by the kindness of most
drivers, but nonetheless:

The last short streatch of my commute home involves one of those
intersections which weren't really designed so much as they just kind
of happened. I crest a hill and roll down the other side for no more
than 50 yards when the road curves sharply down and to the right and I
must turn left across traffic on a blind intersection. There are cars
coming the other way, so after signaling I slow down at the far left
of my lane to sort of roll/trackstand until the traffic clears. The
car immediately behind me slows to be sure of what I am doing and then
passes safely on my right (there is plenty of room), as does the car
behind them. The guy behind that (in a huge Cadillac SUV, of course)
winds the window down and honks and screams at me as he rolls past.

This strikes me as odd for a few reasons.

1) I accelerated out of the last light faster than the line of traffic
he was in and had already been sitting at this intersection for a few
seconds by the time they caught me. So clearly I wasn't slowing
anyone down.

2) Had I been in a car, they would have had to wait for me to turn,
but because I am on a bike they can safely pass me, so I am slowing
them less than I would otherwise.

3) In slowing to honk and scream he takes up more of his apparently
precious time than he would otherwise.

What is it with people in expensive SUVs?

-Tim


Or luxury cars! ONce I was yelled at and gestured at by a paunchy guy,
smoking a cigar and driving a jaguar! This was in an area where there
is a designated bike path. However, this bike path is really dangerous
becuase there are BUS STOPs on it and it basically takes the place of
a sidewalk. So most of us take the road. The cigar guy was waving and
yelling at me to take the path. I just blew him a razberry.

And once, I saw a woman on my street blow a stop sign- barely slowing
down, and not even LOOKING- while she blabbed on the phone and smoked
a cigarette. In a Lexus.

And let's not even get into Humvees.
  #18  
Old October 16th 04, 03:53 AM
Fred Hall
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Have you read any of my other posts in this group? I'd be careful with
casually tossing out the "troll" label so fast...I've put a thousand miles
on my bike this season - so I don't consider myself a troll.

Do you think it's impossible for 4 middle aged men to act like they own the
road on bikes? Did I ever say I was endangered? WTF is your problem?


"Badger_South" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 21:22:31 GMT, "Fred Hall" wrote:

When to honk:

When you want to see how quickly a person can remove one hand from the

drops
and raise the middle finger of said hand high in the air...
---
But seriously...about a month ago while driving I came up behind four

guys
probably my age (late forties) on a two lane country road, ambling along

at
probably 10 - 12 mph (no spandex to be seen), gabbing to each other, 4
abreast - 2 in each lane...they took their sweet time, gave me a dirty

look
for daring to be on the same road with them, then the two in the "wrong"
(passing) lane moved over so I had to go in the passing lane to get by
them...stretching out single file never seemed to occur to them. Being a
cyclist I didn't lay on the horn, but I sure wanted to...it's actions

like
that that give us all a bad reputation.


Sounds like a troll. Did they impede you for more than, say 3 seconds

tops?

Did they endanger you in your 2 ton metal cage? Poor thing.

Urge to beep isn't related to anything about reputation or justification;
it's just anger that something small and vulnerable asserted momentary
dominance.

-B




  #19  
Old October 16th 04, 04:17 AM
twahl
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Posts: n/a
Default


Badger_South Wrote:


Sounds like a troll. Did they impede you for more than, say 3 seconds
tops?

Did they endanger you in your 2 ton metal cage? Poor thing.

Urge to beep isn't related to anything about reputation or
justification;
it's just anger that *something small and vulnerable asserted
momentary*
*dominance.*

-B

It's an attitude that an individual should establish dominance while
using the road that causes problems in the first place, whether that
attitude is shown by "cage" drivers or cyclists.


--
twahl

  #20  
Old October 17th 04, 02:05 PM
R.White
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Badger_South wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 21:22:31 GMT, "Fred Hall" wrote:

When to honk:

When you want to see how quickly a person can remove one hand from the drops
and raise the middle finger of said hand high in the air...
---
But seriously...about a month ago while driving I came up behind four guys
probably my age (late forties) on a two lane country road, ambling along at
probably 10 - 12 mph (no spandex to be seen), gabbing to each other, 4
abreast - 2 in each lane...they took their sweet time, gave me a dirty look
for daring to be on the same road with them, then the two in the "wrong"
(passing) lane moved over so I had to go in the passing lane to get by
them...stretching out single file never seemed to occur to them. Being a
cyclist I didn't lay on the horn, but I sure wanted to...it's actions like
that that give us all a bad reputation.


Sounds like a troll. Did they impede you for more than, say 3 seconds tops?

Did they endanger you in your 2 ton metal cage? Poor thing.

Urge to beep isn't related to anything about reputation or justification;
it's just anger that something small and vulnerable asserted momentary
dominance.


Maybe it's that attitude that caused those truckers to harass you.
Keep asserting your dominance and you'll wind up dead.
 




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