To add my 2 c to this: I'm over 60, have been riding bicycles since I was 13, cars since I was 16 and motorcycles since I was 21 so I've had lots of experience with at least these 3 forms of transport. I've been lucky in having had no significant crashes with any of these modes. As a bicyclist I have never had a problem with cars though I'm very careful and won't ride on a road that is too narrow for a car to pass easily. As a motorcyclist, I ride defensively with the assumption that cars won't see me. I never assume a car will stop just because there's a stop sign. That said, my point in posting is to express that there are often many factors that go into a crash, including road conditions, attentiveness of the driver, how visible the bicyclist is, design of the road system, factors in human perception, etc. These are all important. 1. One of the most interesting courses I took in college was Experimental Psychology where we mostly experimented on ourselves in perception and learning. Perception is not as clear cut as most of us assume. We assume we see what's there and don't see what isn't there - often not so. 2. As a bicyclist it is a source of constant frustration on how bad road design is with regard to bicycles (even in Madison). As a culture we just don't get it that the bike can be a significant form of transportation and not just a recreational toy. Thus riding a bicycle is an inherently dangerous activity. 3. As a bicyclist, I hope I am permitted to say that my fellow cyclists often don't do their part to keep themselves safe. Many seem to think all the rules of the road do not apply to them and that they should be able to ride at night with no lights or reflectors and dark clothing. Yes, the driver shouldn't hit you anyway, but what good is your righteous indignation when you're dead or injured. Given the bicycling climate in this country (bad) it just makes sense to tip the odds in your favor as much as possible by riding smart. 4. As a driver, I am aware that it is absolutely impossible to be 100% attentive and never make a perceptual error. I have been most fortunate in having few enough of these lapses to never have hit anything (excepting a poor fawn that darted out of the darkness just as I and another car were passing on a country road). My first hope would be for the road systems to be gradually redesigned to accommodate bicycles. Unfortunately, I don't see this happening in my lifetime. I have noticed that WI is incredibly lenient when it comes to drunk driving. Changes to this attitude and set of laws is more likely to happen but will be a slow process. So for us bicyclists, it comes down to doing whatever we can to decrease the probability of getting hit - and you know what those steps are. Also, one thing that will not help is to take an antagonistic attitude toward cars and drivers. Every expletive, hand signal, etc. you do alienates another driver and makes it less likely bicyclists will be taken seriously. Robin Alexander
________________________________ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Darryl Jordan Sent: Wed 2/21/2007 6:02 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Bikies] Re: fatality update This is not to exonerate the driver... However, just because it's night and headlights are on doesn't make a stealth cyclist or pedestrian visible. *Just last night, I saw a boy across the intersection chasing a loose ball. He was wearing dark clothes. The only way I could see him was the motion across my field of vision. If the cyclist were in the same lane, the relative motion would have been less noticible. Motion and brightness are instinctive attention grabbers. If something isn't moving or bright it's going to get lost in the background. *Glare will obstruct vision. If there are lights in the direct field of view, especially headlights, store front lights, street lights and any or all reflecting in ice or a wet surface will obscure darker objects by causing the pupils to conscrit and reduce night vision. It's like an automatic camera changing exposures for light value. *Dirty, fogged or frosted windows will obsure objects *The door pillar on the auto will obscure an area of vision. I agree, that the diabetic spin is questionable. The driver was probably distracted with something or didn't handle a turn or lane change. Or the driver was scared to death. But I also believe that cyclists can be invisible to most drivers under some circumstances. Last fall, I was biking after dark along the bike path behind Olbrecht Park and a cyclist with no lights, dark bike, and dark clothes appeared out of the dark area between the street lights. Kind of spooky to see this stealth cyclist approach. My opinion is that some (but not all) of these cyclists are not out for recreation or out for the communal good but are using old and cheap bikes to save money or because they can't drive. Like pedestrians who wear dark clothing, they can see the road ahead but doen't perceive themselves as being invisible to others. Just my two two cents to play a devil's advocate. Regards, DJ --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > ... the cyclist who was killed recently on Femrite > Rd. > > It was pitch dark out, he didn't have any lights or > even a reflector. > They think the driver may have had a diabetic > reaction tho alcohol is a > possibility. They are awaiting lab reports before > deciding what to do > next. > > > > The "diabetic reaction" sounds like a made up excuse > to me. This > bicyclist was hit from behind, remember? It is not > pitch dark if the car > had its headlights on! Granted, the bicyclist > should have had lights and > a reflector. But that still doesn't take away from > the fact that the > driver of the motor vehicle was at fault for hitting > him. > > The DOT Motorist Handbook says your headlights will > let you see about 400 > feet ahead and that you should drive at a speed that > allows you to stop > within 400 feet (Page 41 of: > http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/drivers/docs/e-handbook.pdf > ). Therefore, > there is no excuse for hitting a bicyclist from > behind, even if the > bicyclist doesn't have any lights or even a > reflector on the bicycle. > The driver of the motor vehicle in the case should > have been issued a > citation regardless of whether the bicyclist had > lights and reflectors or > not. > > Mike Neuman > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
