I have sympathy for the sad soul that won't slow down to avoid hurting others. That will be heavy karma.
If you are the faster traffic, then you have an ethical responsibility to not run into side stepping old men or ladies, oblivious walkers talking side by side, not strike cyclists on the road or pedestrian, not run into the rear end of slower cars (Richard Petty actually pushed someone out of his way on the interstate here some years ago); different rules for different venues, but if it isn't about fellow humans safety and well being it is just wrong. I have a pedal assist electric velomobile (1kW, and geared a bit high for legality - good for maybe 23 mph on level ground, 28 mph pedalling). I feel like a real intruder on the local greenways. In off hours I use them - with patience when there are people walking or riding. But mostly I put myself out in the automotive traffic where I am counting on them to give me a break. Road cycling is an act of faith every time a car or truck approaches from the rear. Cyclists ought to recall that when on multi-use greenways. And when they take to their cars. The greenways here are posted to have a 10 mph limit. A cyclist passing through with pannier and gear could adhere to that. But the multitude of unloaded cycles are rarely piloted below that limit. It is not enforced or self enforced at all. Under no circumstance should a cyclist come within a couple feet of a walker, and serious consideration to reducing approach speed is the ethical method. I got the old road-squeeze-play on a path last time out. Two oncoming cyclists almost side by side from the front, two from the rear in line(unknown and unheard by me), and myself to the far right. None of them slowed, and the two from behind clear me by inches. I don't know how they avoided each other.Alll someone had to do was show a little sense. This will always be the nature of multi-use paths. I personally think they should be bike only, or no bikes at all. The more populated they become the more this is so. I should note that I don't care for bike lanes on the roads. They cause ambiguity, and the thing that keeps you safe is being predictable. I like the sharrow markings. LIke this: https://sites.google.com/site/michaeleross/ShareTheRoad.jpg I really can wait for machine operated cars. That will make cycling ever so much better. On Thu, Sep 17, 2015 at 12:21 PM, tomw via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > Like most ambiguous topics, this one has plenty room for people to > self-justify their position and scrutinize and find a way to discount > others > positions, so agreement is difficult to reach. The CA DMV gives legal > guidance in that state, but it is just what the humans who created it came > up with based on their biases and input they received. It could be revised > at any time. It states that an electric bike shall not have greater than > 1kW power and not be capable of traveling greater than 20 mph on level > ground without pedal assistance (actually it says "ground level"). A 1kW > bike will easily go faster than 20 mph on level ground unassisted with > pedaling, so to comply with this law would require some type of speed > limiting on the bike. > > There has been conflict over electric bikes for a few years now in places > such as China and the EU where they are far more common than here in the > US. > There are the "slow" types (usually walkers) on one side, and the "fast" > types on the other, with the former invoking law and order for strict rules > and compliance with them, and the other wanting freedom to do what they > want. The main complaints are of people going too fast on bike paths or > sidewalks. This certainly seems a valid point, since *bike paths* > frequently have many walkers on them, and sidewalks were originally made > mainly for walking. However, in my area it was the bicyclists who organized > and persevered through political hoops for years to get the bike paths > made, > but once they were made the walkers claimed them as their own and > complained > about bicycles going too fast, e or not. Same thing is true of mtn bike > trails. My attitude is if you ride your bike on the road expect motor > vehicles, if you walk on a bike path expect bicycles. I have about as > much > sympathy for those pedestrians on bike paths who take up the entire path > walking 2 or 3 abreast engaged in conversation and paying no attention to > their surroundings (including a bicyclist repeatedly shouting "on your > right"), as I do for bicyclists who ride 2 or 3 abreast on roads. In my > opinion both need to be more considerate of others. I also have little > sympathy for fast riding bicyclists who refuse to slow when passing > pedestrians. We need to realize and respect that not everyone wants to go > as slow or fast as you do, and show some consideration. > > Clearly collisions between pedestrians and bicyclists could be serious at > higher bikes speeds, so I agree they should be limited. I guess I would > suggest posting speed limits on bike paths, as we do on roads. You can > have > an electric bike that goes faster, but you have to obey the posted speed > limits, which like roads, would vary. Of course now we have to agree on the > limits. My straw man would be 10 mph in congested areas, and 20 mph in > less > congested ones. But in these days of very limited budgets, I expect > enforcement would be spotty at best. > > -- > View this message in context: > http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Re-EVLN-Questions-answered-Should-you-buy-an-electric-bike-tp4677586p4677640.html > Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at > Nabble.com. > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -- To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. Thomas A. Edison <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasaed125362.html> A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. *Warren Buffet* Michael E. Ross (919) 585-6737 Land (919) 576-0824 <https://www.google.com/voice/b/0?pli=1#phones> Google Phone (919) 600-2892 Cell [email protected] <[email protected]> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20150917/3dc7a01f/attachment.htm> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
