I don't disagree with any of what Doug says. I know that I still fall prey to wanting to be right too often in traffic. I bike year round almost every weekday, and each year I learn to bike more and more defensively. And if this nasty accident reminds us all to be more careful, that is good. I also think there are limits to what one person can anticipate or prevent. You can be as careful as possible and still get hit by a car.
Although we are all distracted from time to time, I have to say that it seems from my anecdotal n=1 observations, that the privilege of driving a car/truck/SUV is not taken as seriously as it should be. As much as it may be inconvenient or difficult, driving requires one's full attention. I think biking on roadways or mixed-use paths does too... which could lead me down the path of getting all up-in-arms about folks who bike with earbuds/headphones on. I am not a fan of that. My new byline for cyclists is, "Our senses are our defenses". -India (loves to preach, doesn't she?) ----- Original Message ----- From: Doug Adler <[email protected]> Date: Monday, September 28, 2009 8:53 am Subject: Re: [Bikies] Comment on the biker hit by legislator who ran the red light incident To: [email protected] > > > > I agree with Harry, regardless of whether the light is green for 3 > seconds or 30 seconds it is always a good idea to make sure there's no > one coming when you cross an intersection. I remember this point from > driver's ed a few years back. Would I have slowed and tried to see > around the bus in that situation? Probably not, but as Harry points > out it is a good case point in defensive driving, because we all know > there are lots of idiots, jerks, and distracted drivers out there. I > know because from time to time I am one. Pointing out that an incident > like this illustrates why you have to be careful does not in any way > excuse the red light runner. > > > > In fact I showed it to my 11 year old to make that exact point. This > was after he started riding across a crosswalk on the walk signal and > some jerk turning left turned towards him, stopped a few feet short of > him, and laid on his horn. I could rail on all day about what a jerk > he was and how he wasn't following the rules and taught my kid to use > his middle finger, but I think the better lesson was to always make > sure cars are doing what they ought to before you cross, and assume > nothing regardless of lights and signs. I was actually sort of glad it > happened because I realized I hadn't stressed this. And now he gets a > kick out of riding around pretending he is invisible. > > > > Bob your tagline always makes me thirsty. But alas it's Monday > morning. > > > > -Doug > > > > Michael Rewey wrote: > > I timed it this morning. The all-red phase is 3 seconds. Plus at > least a 3 second yellow > phase. > > On 26 Sep 2009 at 21:27, robert paolino wrote: > > > > On Sat, 2009-09-26 at 20:02 -0500, Michael Rewey wrote: > > > Good grief! Don't start alibiing the car driver's bad behavior. > The bus was already moving > forward off the GREEN light. The bicyclist was not a young stud. He > was 57! Plus there is > an ALL RED phase before the light turns green. > > > I don't think Harry was excusing the MV driver's violation in any > way. > The way I read it, he was simply saying that we (whether as bicyclist, > as pedestrian, or as MV driver) need to be alert/aware/careful and not > assume anything about the behaviour of other users of the road. > > (I'm also not clear on why the bicyclist's age should be relevant to > this discussion, whether 57 or 17.) > > > -- > Now go have a beer, > > Bob Paolino > > "Are Canadians just Americans who carry hockey > sticks instead of guns, > or is there more to it than that?" > --"This Canadian Existence" > Wisconsin Public Radio > > ( ) ASCII ribbon campaign > X against HTML e-mail: > / \ Friends don't send friends HTML-bloated messages! > > A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation. > Q: Why is top-posting frowned upon? > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
