AG: Aunt Granny's Advice, or How to become an elderly cyclist:

This post is the first of a weekly series of grandmotherly aphorisms.
Each subject line will begin "AG:" for your killfiling convenience.

It seems obvious that the first thing you have to do is to learn and
obey the traffic laws, but it isn't that easy. You have to learn,
UNDERSTAND, and RESPECT the traffic laws.

If you don't understand a rule, you can't possibly obey it, nor can
you tell when it applies and when it doesn't.


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
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On Monday 18 Aug 2014 23:48 in message
,
Joy Beeson wrote:

If you don't understand a rule, you can't possibly obey it, nor can
you tell when it applies and when it doesn't.

All, possibly, true. The law usually has a workaround though; Ignorance
(of the law) is not a defense.

--
Regards _
/ ) "The blindingly obvious is
/ _)rad never immediately apparent"
I hope I live to relive the days gone by
Old Before I Die - Robbie Williams

On Mon, 18 Aug 2014 19:48:28 -0300, Joy Beeson
wrote:


This post is the first of a weekly series of grandmotherly aphorisms.
Each subject line will begin "AG:" for your killfiling convenience.

It seems obvious that the first thing you have to do is to learn and
obey the traffic laws, but it isn't that easy. You have to learn,
UNDERSTAND, and RESPECT the traffic laws.

If you don't understand a rule, you can't possibly obey it, nor can
you tell when it applies and when it doesn't.

How come "Aunt Granny"?

It would seem to reference some hooky-pooky somewhere on the family
tree :-)

Aunty Bee sounds right and proper though :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Tue, 19 Aug 2014 18:00:54 +0700, John B. Slocomb
wrote:

How come "Aunt Granny"?

Particularly when I've never even *seen* a bottle of Bitter Brittle
Root.


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

On Monday, August 18, 2014 3:48:28 PM UTC-7, Joy Beeson wrote:
This post is the first of a weekly series of grandmotherly aphorisms.

Each subject line will begin "AG:" for your killfiling convenience.



It seems obvious that the first thing you have to do is to learn and

obey the traffic laws, but it isn't that easy. You have to learn,

UNDERSTAND, and RESPECT the traffic laws.



If you don't understand a rule, you can't possibly obey it, nor can

you tell when it applies and when it doesn't.





--

joy beeson at comcast dot net

http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/

The above message is a Usenet post.

I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

All of that is quite correct Joy but how many cyclists do you know that obey the traffic laws to the letter?

Traffic laws for cyclists are invented by non-cyclists and while they make sense in heavy traffic conditions they often make no sense at all on empty streets.

For instance - cars should ALWAYS stop completely at stop signs but bicyclists go a great deal slower, are generally higher above street level and can see opposing traffic more clearly. Also cyclists are the one's that would suffer from dangerously running stop signs. So their judgement is a great deal better than some traffic planner in an office somewhere.

Also - just the other day I was walking to a coffee shop early in the morning. There was a police car pulled over and they were apparently upbraiding a man for riding on the sidewalk. He was traveling opposite the direction of traffic on a one way street. The sidewalk was not only very wide but I was the only pedestrian on the street for three blocks in any direction.

While I was observing this a worker on a bicycle pulled out of a dangerous stream of traffic onto the sidewalk. The second cop started yelling at him to get in the street. He was a workman working three doors down from the corner from which he entered the sidewalk. And during this time the commute traffic continued to go through this section 10 mph or more above the speed limit with no action by the officers. And even worse - these cars are speeding through this section that contains small businesses and pedestrians and multiple crosswalk DESPITE the fact that they know that the lights are timed to give red lights on every single corner. And this is done to discourage cars from using city center side streets as commute lanes.

Until traffic laws are enforced in such a way that makes some sort of sense you are not going to find people that understand them in such a way to make traffic laws workable.

There doesn't seem to be any controls at all on speeders anymore in California. As a cyclist I used to see cars rolling stop signs. Now I see them not even slowing up even on busy main streets.

Well, I know the neighborhoods in which to watch for that kind of thing. And for the most part because bicycles are getting more popular traffic is growing more accepting and more polite to cyclists in general.

And now that certain people are growing older and riding slower this is a great deal more noticeable.

I once witnessed an egregious example of not understanding the rules:
A traffic light changed and a car stopped in the intersection to wait
for it to turn green again.

Though we call it a stop light, a red light doesn't mean "stop". It
means "it is not your turn to use the intersection". Had the driver
understood this, he wouldn't have remained in the intersection when it
wasn't his turn.

The most-common way to avoid entering an intersection is to stop, but
it's also permitted to move slowly enough that the light turns green
just as you reach it, or to turn off on a side road if one presents
itself.

Likewise, a green light isn't a command to shut your eyes and plow
straight ahead. A green light grants permission to enter the
intersection if it is, in your considered opinion, safe to enter the
intersection.


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

"Joy Beeson" wrote in message
...


I once witnessed an egregious example of not understanding the rules:
A traffic light changed and a car stopped in the intersection to wait
for it to turn green again.

Though we call it a stop light, a red light doesn't mean "stop". It
means "it is not your turn to use the intersection". Had the driver
understood this, he wouldn't have remained in the intersection when it
wasn't his turn.

The most-common way to avoid entering an intersection is to stop, but
it's also permitted to move slowly enough that the light turns green
just as you reach it, or to turn off on a side road if one presents
itself.

Likewise, a green light isn't a command to shut your eyes and plow
straight ahead. A green light grants permission to enter the
intersection if it is, in your considered opinion, safe to enter the
intersection.

Prick.

On Sunday, August 24, 2014 at 5:42:50 PM UTC-7, Joy Beeson wrote:
I once witnessed an egregious example of not understanding the rules:
A traffic light changed and a car stopped in the intersection to wait
for it to turn green again.

Though we call it a stop light, a red light doesn't mean "stop". It
means "it is not your turn to use the intersection". Had the driver
understood this, he wouldn't have remained in the intersection when it
wasn't his turn.

The most-common way to avoid entering an intersection is to stop, but
it's also permitted to move slowly enough that the light turns green
just as you reach it, or to turn off on a side road if one presents
itself.

Likewise, a green light isn't a command to shut your eyes and plow
straight ahead. A green light grants permission to enter the
intersection if it is, in your considered opinion, safe to enter the
intersection.


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

Well, I admit that's the best description of how lights should be treated I've seen.

On Mon, 7 Sep 2015 13:20:25 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

{Repost snipped]

Well, I admit that's the best description of how lights should be treated I've seen.

Thank you.



--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

When overtaking a parked car, treat it as though its door were already
open. There is no way to be quite certain that there is nobody in the
car.

Ride down the center of the lane, allowing as much space for the
parked car as for the oncoming traffic. Closing speeds are greater
for the oncoming traffic, but it's only in spy movies that moving cars
suddenly change shape.

Do not allow yourself to be overtaken while overtaking. If you have
to stop dead and wait for traffic to clear, stop dead and wait for
traffic to clear. If you have to get off and walk around the car on
the sidewalk, get off and walk around the car on the sidewalk. If you
have to take another route, take another route.


--
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.