Doug, I agree to disagree. I'll keep my ears cocked while looking out, and you can rely on your best tools- eyes and mirrors. As long as we get to where we are going safely and without putting others in danger, I think we have it covered.
-india ----- Original Message ----- From: Doug Adler <[email protected]> Date: Monday, September 28, 2009 3:06 pm Subject: Re: [Bikies] Comment on the biker hit by legislator who ran the red light incident, but waitm there's more! To: BikiesSubmissions <[email protected]> > Sorry I just don't see any of those saving the day. It's nice to know > someone's passing but you can't count on the audible warning, so you > should always look first and signal anyway if you plan to move left, > because someone silent could be passing you. And audible warnings are > nice to give but you can't assume the person you directed it towards > isn't deaf (or listening to loud music on earbuds) so you should be on > visual alert anyway. > I would wager a person can't tell from the sound (in time to react > anyway) whether a car coming up behind you is going to miss by 3 feet > or 3 inches or nail you. A mirror is better for that but even then a > sudden swerve is going to get you. And I'm no expert on goose behavior > but to me they don't seem that much more likely to honk before they > dash out. > > Lawmakers in NY proposed a law against people crossing the street > while wearing headphones, which makes about as much sense to me as > banning the deaf from crossing the street. To me banning them while > biking would be about as ridiculous. Not that you are proposing > that, but in terms of importance I think driving the message of riding > like you are invisible and being truly defensive (as you have done > quite well) does more to improve bicycle safety than opposing > headphone use, and doesn't risk tuning out those who disagree on that > point. > And I think that video as Harry pointed out does exactly that. > (Drives the message of riding defensively that is). > > -Doug > > India Rose Viola wrote: > >Doug, > > > >I hear myself out of danger all the time- when people tell me they > are passing, when cars swerve by, when a goose honks it's warning > signal. And I also call others' attention to danger with my bell, > voice etc. I use my waving arms, too, but there are a lot of times > (really) that an audible warning does or could save the day. > > > >I don't attempt to use hearing instead of seeing, but I use it along > with seeing. If you can't hear well or see well then maybe you have > sufficiently trained yourself to rely on your better senses, but for > the rest of us, we can use all the sensory help we can get. > > > >-india > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: Doug Adler <[email protected]> > >Date: Monday, September 28, 2009 1:29 pm > >Subject: Re: [Bikies] Comment on the biker hit by legislator who ran > the red light incident, but waitm there's more! > >To: [email protected] > >Cc: India Rose Viola <[email protected]> > > > > > >>Great byline, but I just don't know if I can get on board with the > no headphones thing. Maybe my bias as a result of my being hard of > hearing, but I think being alert (and maybe using a mirror) is way > more important than hearing. And depending on the volume you can > still hear ok with them, probably better than I can with my hearing > aids whistling in the wind anyway. So I hate to have music lovers > tune out from the rest of the safety message. In what scenarios can > you really hear yourself out of danger? I just don't see it... > >> > >>-Doug > >> > >>India Rose Viola wrote: > >> > >>>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?) > >>> > >>> > > -- > Doug Adler > Instrument Engineer > Space Science & Engineering Center > University of Wisconsin-Madison > [email protected] > 608-265-9908 > > _______________________________________________ > 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
