Eric, I agree completely. Respect of the '3-foot' rule is essential for making more people feel comfortable cycling on the public roads.
As noted by others the 3 components of traffic safety are engineering, education, and enforcement (unless there is a fourth?). Engineering has a limited role to play here, because it is impractical to widen every road enough to allow bike lanes. Therefore, education and enforcement are required. Many motorists seem to have missed the part of their driver's manual that clearly states that 'bicycles are legally vehicles, and entitled to their own lane'. They may have seen the bumper stickers that say 'share the road with bicycles', and think that means 'share the *lane* with bicycles'. And then one or both of these situations occurs: irate motorist,approaching bicyclist from behind: look at that idiot riding in the middle of the road (meaning the middle of the lane). Why doesn't she move over? self-righeous motorist passing an irate cyclist: What is his problem? I passed him with at 6 or 8 inches - its not like I hit him (even though he should have been way over). Neither of these is a 'teachable moment', at least for a civilian cyclist. At 4:25 PM -0500 8/14/07, Eric Westhagen wrote: >Dear Steve, > >That sound promising. It has been said that most law enforcement can >virtually "write up" any passing car for something or other. So, the >next step is to find if this is not a safety precaution but rather a >code with a number. Then, even if the State Patrol claims they have >never ticketed a closer margin without an accident, a PSA could be tied >to the code with the----"ITS THE LAW!" After all, whether or not the >law exists is important only from the standpoint of impressing a >conscious distance on motorists before they run us down. And probably >only a declarative PSA will impress this concept. > >Eric > -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Darin Burleigh [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
