paulson@hplabsc.UUCP (Anne Paulson) (09/16/83)
[This is in net.flame too. Sorry about multiple separate postings, but
our postnews doesn't seem to want to allow me to post to two groups at once.]
I'm sick of being treated like a second-class citizen just because
I ride a bike instead of driving a two-ton metal monster. I get rocks thrown
at me. I get assholes demonstrating their complete imbecility by doing
something dangerous, then yelling at me as if it were my fault that they
had IQ's lower than a grape's. I have cars coming up to two inches behind
me, then suddenly honking their horns as loudly as possible.
I've been passed on blind corners on narrow downhill roads with no shoulder
so many time I'm beginning to think that's what they teach in Driver Ed.
What is it that causes people's brains to stop functioning when they get
behind the wheel of a car?
Herewith, a few facts for drivers:
Cyclists are entitled to ride on almost all roads (at least in California).
Bicycles have all the rights and privileges that other vehicles have.
At intersections, traffic (that includes bicycle traffic) divides not
by speed, but by intended direction. That means that if you are turning
right on a road with bike lanes, you merge into the bike lane, YIELDING
RIGHT OF WAY TO ALL BICYCLES IN THE BIKE LANE, before turning. It also
means that left-turning bicycles must merge into the rightmost left turn
lane, so don't yell at cyclists who are in the middle of a lane
at intersections. They belong there.
Don't honk at bicycles if you want to pass them. You should only honk your
horn when you want to alert some other driver (or cyclist) of an unusual or
dangerous situation. I assure you that for a cyclist, being passed by a car
is not an unusual situation. Besides, bicycles are quiet, cars are loud,
cyclists are not deaf, and cyclists are not encased in two tons of armor,
so a cyclist can hear you coming. He knows you are there.
Try this experiment- have someone honk your car horn unexpectedly when
you are standing a foot in front of your car. See how loud it is?
See how you involuntarily jump? If you honk at a cyclist, you are likely
to make him swerve.
Drivers seem to believe that since cars are fast and bicycles are slow,
cars should be able to always pass cyclists immediately. WRONG!
It may never have occurred to you, but think on this- sometimes THERE
ISN'T ROOM for a car to pass a cyclist. Lots of roads have some very narrow
places where there is no shoulder. Bicycles are entitled to use these roads.
Cycling in the center of the lane is the standard cyclist's technique for
letting following cars know that the lane is too narrow for a car and a
bike side by side, so if you see a cyclist in the center of the lane,
wait until it's safe to pass, then pass. This may sound like simple advice,
but around here the majority of the drivers don't do it. A couple of weeks
ago I was cycling down a twisty windy narrow road in a residential district.
I was doing maybe 25, in the middle of the lane since the road was
narrow and instead of a shoulder there was a cliff, and just as I was
reaching a sharp curve some halfwitted driver tried to pass me by driving in
the other lane. Suddenly a car appeared coming around the curve (heading
straight for the moron who was trying to pass me). There was a great squeal
of brakes and the idiot managed to get behind me again. Well, the other car
passed us, and then Dumbo went zipping past me, yelling something incoherent
to me about how I didn't deserve to be on the roads... as if *I* were the
one who'd nearly caused the death of two people. I regret to say that this
kind of incident is common. Use your alleged brains, drivers!
(By the way, I know about the law that says if 5 or more cars are behind you
you have to pull over. Of course, and I do... but it doesn't say that when
one car is behind you you have to pull over IMMEDIATELY. You are allowed to
wait until it's safe. If you're behind me on some very narrow road and you
have to wait 30 seconds before you can pass me, too bad. I was there first.)
Share the road with bikes!
Anne Paulson
Hewlett-Packard Labs
ucbvax!hplabs!paulsonbunje@uw-beaver (Carl Bunje) (09/19/83)
This is in response to Anne Paulson's diatribe against drivers who feel that they own the road. I am a cyclist and agree with all of her points, having experienced several of them myself in recent weeks. However, I am also the driver of an automobile, and as such have also encountered situations where a bicyclist, by seemingly attempting to exert his or her right to the road at an inopportune time and fashion, could have caused an accident (needless to say who would have felt it the most). Take the woman wandering about in an intersection, across two lanes of traffic, as if the green light meant that the entire intersection was for her enjoyment only, taking her time and then continuing up the hill ahead in the middle of the leftmost lane, and then having the audacity to yell at me and tell me that my loss of patience was typical of those who should not be allowed on the roads. She was in effect taking the entire responsibility for her safety and putting it into the laps of the drivers on the road with a haughty hit-me-if-you-dare attitude. Not good cycling behavior. Then take the fellow who rides down the middle of the lane at 5mph when there is a wide, well paved shoulder available to him, and looks back with the get-off-my-tail-I've-got-a-right-to-be-here look, and this on a 35mph arterial for a distance of at least 500yds. Now this is not particularly hazardous, but it can be seen that it does not particularly improve the automobile/bicyclist relationship. So, while I wholeheartedly support Ms. Paulson's advice to motorists, I feel that I must also add some advice to bicyclists. Both bicycles and automobiles must share the same roads. It is not necessarily your special privilege, by being a cyclist, to take exceptional risks and expect the automobile to give you the slack. Ride conservatively and use some common sense. Automobile and bicycle traffic is supposedly governed by the rules of the road, but they are most assuredly governed by the laws of physics. Automobilists often don't see cyclists. If merging into traffic, make sure that the autos coming up from behind are aware of your presence. Look back and see, make eye contact if at all possible. Don't rely on that tiny little mirror attached to your helmet to tell the drivers what you are going to do. A motorcyclist friend once said that a cyclist must ride as though he/she were invisible. Drivers, especially American drivers, tend to extend their personal space beyond all reason when behind the wheel. Not that this is the "right" way to be, but it is often the case, and a cyclist often cannot help but wander into that space and cause the driver to become instantly irate. This is one that we'll just have to learn to live with, unless there is some mass therapy for the psychology of power and frustration and what happens when 2 tons of mobile steel are added to the concoction. And a word to the militant cyclists: although you can probably intimidate most drivers on the road, a minor miscalculation by the flustered or angered driver could put you out of the picture for a long time to come. Happy and Safe Cycling, Carl Bunje uw-beaver
ken@turtleva.UUCP (Ken Turkowski) (09/21/83)
All right Ann Paulsen! Your observation that car drivers tend to treat
bike riders as if they weren't there is a real problem, especially when
passing. The law says that you can pass when you can see far enough
ahead, yet many drivers will pass up bicyclists on twisty mountain
roads and other places where it's dangerous, rather than waiting for
a straightaway.
Ken Turkowski
CADLINC, Palo Alto
{decwrl,amd70}!turtlevax!kendaw@drufl.UUCP (09/23/83)
I live in Colorado in one of the canyons where the Coors Classic is run each year. As a result it is one of the favorite canyons to go up during the summer for bicyclists. The road is narrow and winding with only one legal passing zone for the first 2 1/2 miles. The problem for auto drivers (including ones that are concerned for bicyclists) is that the relative speed differences between the car and the bicycle are so much different. We all rely on judgement, learned from experience, to help us react to road situations. Many drivers not used to bicycles on the highway will tend to wait too long before braking. At the last minute they realize that to pass illegally is the only option left. For the moment I am ignoring the drivers who just don't care about the bicyclists' rights. What gets to me are the bicyclists who want to ride in the middle of the lane and will not move over for cars. With this attitude combined with the problem I just covered someone will get killed. What is needed is more awareness and concern on both sides. P.S. Please excuse me for any blank articles that got posted. My editor was messed up. Dave Weisheit AT&T Information Systems
neal@druxv.UUCP (09/23/83)
For you people in net.auto; over here in net.bicycle we've been discussing bike/car interactions. I thought it would be good to extend the discussion to you also. (Anne, you might want to re-post your article over there, though you'll probably be shot if you do....) Anne made many good points. I'd like to emphasize the admonition not to honk your horn when you are right behind a bike. It certainly does scare the shit out of the bike rider, and conveys exactly the wrong message. The biker already knows you're there, since cars are so loud (even when the biker has a helmet on - believe me!). The problem is that for a split second the biker's reflex is to interpret the horn as a signal of immanent danger, causing him/her to behave unpredictably. In fact, the horn simply demonstrates that the driver has seen the biker (and as has been pointed out, the major cause of accidents is drivers not seeing bikers), so the danger factor was actually low. I'm not sure under what circumstances Dave was worried about bikers riding in the middle of the lane. I rarely see bikers in the middle of the lane going uphill. The canyons he is talking about are steep enough that bicycles can frequently hit the speed limit downhill (45, if I'm not mistaken). Even if they aren't moving that fast, on a twisting road it is much safer for them to take up the whole lane so that 1) they have manuvering room 2) cars can SEE them (especially around the frequent corners.) Naturally, if the bike starts to impede traffic, the rider should find a safe stretch to slow down and allow cars to pass. When I'm planning a bike ride I try to go DOWN the heavily-travelled routes and UP the light-duty ones because that way I'll spend less time in traffic, and I'll be moving at a speed more closely matched to the cars, so there's more time for decisions to be made during interactions. Neal McBurnett, AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver. ihnp4!druxv!neal
swifty@fluke.UUCP (steve swift) (09/23/83)
I have a general rule when I ride and I expect cars to follow the same rule: Follow all the traffic regulations. That means if you're riding, stop at all intersections, yield to pedestrians, signal your intentions, etc. I've ridden for years in Seattle and for a year while at Berkeley and only rarely have I had a "bad" encounter with a car. More often I have had problems with bikers while I'm walking or while I'm riding. I once had (at Berkeley) someone one a bike run a stoplight nearly hit my bike and then try to pound my face in when I told him that "it was assholes like you that give bikers a bad name." On a percentage basis, (in my experience) there are many more bad cyclists than bad motorists. Berkeley had the worst bikers I've had the pleasure of riding with, at least so far. If you do have a bad experience, examine your own actions first, and then explain as calmly as possible how the other party mucked up. Remember also that if you're a good rider you can always out-maneuver the car. Knowing this you can sometimes force a lessen on them while still giving yourself plenty of safety margin to get out of harm's way. love to ride Steve Swift (...decvax!microsof!fluke!swifty)
dmmartindale@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Martindale) (09/24/83)
As an occasional cyclist but frequent driver, I have a few comments for cyclists: I, and I'm sure other drivers, are quite happy when a bicyclist behaves like an auto driver if he/she behaves like a GOOD driver. This basically involves following the same rules of the road regarding right-of-way, signalling, traffic signals, etc. that cars are supposed to. A cyclist who signals a left turn, then crosses into a left-turn lane, then waits till the light changes to green gives me some confidence that they are actually planning on turning left and might end up in the correct lane after the turn. More importantly, USE A LIGHT AT NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have good headlights on my car, and will usually see a bicycle at a considerable distance if it has reflectors on the pedals; ones higher up are less effective. But I nearly hit, or was hit by, a cyclist a few weeks ago. I was coming out of the university and he was travelling along the major street in front of it, more or less perpendicular to the alignment of my car. My headlights were not aimed in his direction, and he was thus nearly invisible whether or not he had any reflectors. The tiniest, cheapest bicycle light would have made him many times more visible.
maker@dartvax.UUCP (09/24/83)
An important guideline for bicyclists: Be Predictable!
Predictability reassures the driver behind you, and allows him to act
safely even when you're not. Makes him feel better, too -- an angry
driver is a poor driver. Equally important for drivers, too: drive
so that others can predict what you'll do. It makes it more likely that
they'll behave in a safe manner.
- steve
decvax!dartvax!maker
CSvax:Pucc-H:aeq@pur-ee.UUCP (09/27/83)
One general rule that I, as a biker, follow: Avoid major streets if at all possible. In West Lafayette, IN (where I work), there is one street which carries the majority of the east-west traffic in the southern part of town (including the Purdue campus). When I am on my bicycle, I stick to parallel streets if at all possible; the only case where it isn't possible is when I am approaching the bridge over the Wabash whereby I can reach my home in Lafayette, and then I wait until there is minimal traffic heading my way before I start out into that street. I do this because, as a driver on that same busy street, I am quintessentially annoyed to have to share that street with bikers. There are no bike lanes. Particularly in one stretch, the street is so narrow as to be just barely able to accommodate two lines of cars each way. If I come up behind a biker on that stretch, I must wait until the crush of cars in the left lane breaks long enough to let me around the bike and back into the right lane (the street turns about 30 degrees, and those who wish to follow it must be in the right lane). If bikers would use parallel streets, they would cause much less annoyance to drivers and endure MUCH less risk to life & limb. Those are the reasons I use other streets; I know what it's like as a driver, and I wish to minimize my already-great risk of disabling injury (e.g. death). (The risk is great because I've never had the patience to go buy and install a light and a helmet; I hope that a fellow Purdue netter will be kind enough to send my obituary over the net if needed.) -- Jeff Sargent/pur-ee!pucc-h:aeq
seifert@ihuxl.UUCP (09/27/83)
Riding on parallel streets has another advantage, the air has much less carbon monoxide and related nasties. Problem is, there often isn't a nice handy parallel street to use. One nice thing about bikes is that you can ride "flat out", something rather difficult to do in a motorized vehicle for more than a few seconds without reaching highly illegal speeds. Although I did receive a warning to slow down once! Dave Seifert ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert
swifty@fluke.UUCP (steve swift) (09/29/83)
Now that's the way I like to ride. I've never had the pleasure of riding in Boston. (but my brother lives on Beacon so I understand the scene). I have, however, ridden around the Bay Area (CA) quite a bit. This includes Berkeley and Oakland. The drivers there are a bit different than Boston it seems. If they're coming toward you, it's not because they're crazy drivers, but because they're aiming at you. I enjoy riding in congested cities. There aren't any 60 mph trucks about to run over you. steve swift (...microsof!fluke!swifty)
stevesu@bronze.UUCP (Steve Summit) (10/04/83)
I can't resist any longer. I have to post this.
I'm a bike rider, and I love sharing the road with cars. I know
I have all the rights of a car, and I demand them. I LOVE riding
like a car! I'm not talking about deserted country roads,
either. I ride in the city. What city? Boston, Massachusetts!
Yes, the same city whose atrocious driving habits you read about
in net.jokes. It's as bad/good as they say. Driving in Boston
is a trip. Riding a bike is a trip and a half. It's pretty
flat, so you can ride fast, and the (car) traffic is slow, so
you're on equal footing when it comes to speed. Bikes kick cars
when it comes to maneuverability and 0-10mph acceleration, so you
can really have some fun. (Granted, they have you beat hands
down in the mass category, so don't let them run into you.)
Everyone in Boston admits that you can get someplace faster on a
bike (or walking, for that matter) than in a car. For one thing,
you don't have to be quite so scrupulously observant of all the
absurd one-way streets.
One of my all-time favorite things to do is ride my ten speed at
full speed down Beacon Street. (For those who haven't
experienced Boston, Beacon Street is one of the only streets in
the country where you have to back in to double park.) The cars
are running the whole gamut of Boston tricks: right turns from
the left lane and vice versa, mid-block U turns, and everything.
You really have to be on your toes. You can't pay too much
attention to the cars, though, or one of the VW-eating potholes
will swallow you up... The road is still lousy enough that your
eyes are bouncing out of their sockets and you can hardly focus.
Got to, though -- every car is out to get you and you have to be
constantly aware of everything every car in front of you could
possibly do to screw you up. (Who cares what's behind you, since
you're going as fast as or faster than they are.) Have good
brakes, because everything happens fast at 20mph on streets that
were laid out by wandering cars. That won't solve everything,
because in spite of all your foresight some inspiredly deranged
driver is going to cut you off and you don't want to go flying
over the handlebars. I've lost count of the number of times I
brought myself to a stop with my hand against the roof of the car
that was turning right in front of me, banging on it all the way.
(Boy, does that freak the driver out!)
Hunter S. Thompson says adrenaline is the most potent drug there
is. He is so right. It takes my heart two hours to slow down
after a trip down Beacon Street.
For sheer bursts of insanity, though, nothing beats riding on
rotaries. (Other cities call these traffic circles, and put them
in the middle of low-speed residential districts, and post lots
of informative warning signs. Rotaries in Boston are at the
intersection of expressways, and you don't slow down around
them.) I've never seen the look on the face of a driver I cut
off on a rotary, but I'm gloating. (One of the cardinal rules of
driving in Boston, which applies to all vehicles in a cut-off
situation, is that you NEVER look at the guy you're cutting off,
because that would be acknowledging that you knew he was there
and that he deserved the right of way.)
Sure, I'm suicidal. I never wear a helmet, either, 'cause
they're for wimps. My head is solid bone, anyway. I once took
out the window of a taxicab with my head and walked away. (You
shoulda seen the look on that guy's face. I was barreling along
at about 30, looking over my shoulder at the car I was cutting
off, and I ran into him head-on.)
Now, I'm not recommending this riding style, mind you. But if
you want to have some real fun, living dangerously, point your
two wheels in the direction of the nearest congested metropolitan
area, and show those lazy drivers that two are better than four.
Steve Summit
tektronix!tekmdp!stevesu