Yeah, yeah, we know all that, but the law of Florida doesn’t change the Law of Physics that says that greater mass rules.

Besides, when was the last time you saw a driver get a ticket for violating a crosswalk, marked or unmarked? If the government doesn’t care to enforce their laws, why should anyone care about their laws?

It was red because you “delayed” him. Had brushed back the pedestrians, the way others do, he would have made that light in plenty of time. Don’t you think that was what was going through his mind while he waited for that light to turn?

Not your age, but where you lived. If you lived in a relatively low traffic area, then it probably wasn’t taught because it wasn’t a big deal. In other places, where children would get run-down for doing what you were doing fairly routinely, then it was a bigger deal and TV ads were run educating children how to deal with traffic. I’ll bet you didn’t see those either.

The NEast US was quite different than the MWest US, even in the ’60′s.

One recent message thread expounded on a particular class of vehicle as being safe or unsafe. A bicycle is not unsafe nor unsafe. A motor vehicle is not safe nor unsafe and the same applies to roadways and intersections. If a roadway is unsafe, it should be closed, not modified to “make it safer”. If a vehicle is not safe, it should be removed from production.

Of course, the key commonality is the operator. Keri and friends have done the Orlando area a great service by educating a few motorists who can read and think, after seeing the back panels on some of the city buses.

I stopped at a green light a couple days ago, while traveling in my Gizmo EV, waiting to turn right, while the two pedestrians crossed in the crosswalk, with the light. The monster pickup truck behind me had to wait, but when I completed the turn, I could have used the sound of the exhaust and power of the acceleration he felt necessary to display to run my EV for a month. No consideration and/or no intelligence? I was pleased to see that the next traffic light was red.

I don’t think anyone can expect the entire driving and cycling population to learn to be safer, more considerate drivers, but that’s really the answer, isn’t it?

Not just motorists have this opinion. Many well meaning cyclists do, too. The logic goes like this:

First, we teach children not to play in traffic. Didn’t you learn that when you were five? If you want to engage in a recreational activity, then don’t do it where it bothers anyone and for heaven’s sake, don’t do it in traffic. Too dangerous!

Next, whose time is more important? The person who is just using his bicycle for fun the way you are or the person who is trying to get to work on time? Certainly, no serious transportation takes place on a bicycle, it is too slow!

Then, if you insist on doing your workout in traffic and obstruct everybody trying to get to work, at least STAY OUT OF THE WAY! The government is busily building bike lanes and trails JUST FOR YOU, so use them! We don’t understand why anyone would want to engage in an activity so dangerous that the government requires helmets, but don’t hold up the traffic if you are going to do so.

Last, since you persist is such a dangerous activity, you should know that you owe your life to careful drivers. After all, every time we pass you, we may have missed and then you would be dead. Some drivers are not as careful, and if you get hit, it is a tragic, but predictable result of your engaging in this dangerous activity in our streets.

As is my practice, I had recorded the entire trip on a pair of Sony digital cams in video mode. After reviewing the video, I found that this particular leader had instilled in her group the need to shout “car back” and were particularly insistent in doing so, when I was the only one not playing gutter-bunny. The roads selected by this ride leader were either far too narrow for same-lane passing, or were multi-lane, high speed roads (US1, NSB) and in either case, riding the line or riding the shoulder, respectively, was too dangerous. I told the leader that my lane position provided the group with a higher level of safety than they would otherwise enjoy, as vehicles were making proper, safe passes when appropriate.

As keri notes, vehicles parked in the “bike lanes” or on the shoulders are of no danger to a properly positioned cyclist. Back in my stripe-riding days, I would become mildly irritated at the motorists who would park there and obstruct “my” way.

The worst of all this encounter is that the other riders also displayed the inferiority cyclist behaviors in the debate at the coffee shop. Oh, no, wait, it is worse, because the ride leader “peeled off” to a side path, at 20 mph and nearly t-boned a pickup truck coming out of a business parking lot.

Yeah, I’m endangering the group!

A short section of the video of the ride:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ1TgVcZsic

Yesterday, I was sitting outside on Edgewater, eating lunch and watching the dismal parking jobs in the onstreet parking. One car was parked illegally for 45 minutes, with its back end in the bike lane. Two other large SUVs pulled in, half-assed, with their wheels a foot into the bike lane. Most of the other SUVs were parked with their wheels on the bike lane line. There is no way a cyclist can pass any of these cars outside the reach of their doors without entering the traffic lane. Add high speed to that and it should be clear why a faster cyclist should already be maintaining a predictable line out in the lane, a safe distance from all possibilities.

Because motorists underestimate cyclist speeds, high-speed cyclists are much more susceptible to drive-outs and left-cross conflicts. I’ve had motorists turn left in front of me when I was screaming down a hill at 30 mph. I need the whole lane to maneuver around someone who does that. Because motorists play mindless follow-the-leader, I want to be on the left side of the lane to be in view of the driver behind the one who is sneaking a left in front of me. And I definitely don’t need to divide my attention between the intersections ahead, parked cars and overtaking traffic.

All of this is established best-practice. All of it is taught to motorcycle drivers. But bicyclists are indoctrinated in the mythologies that make them feel like interlopers, so the simple skills which keep them safe are so much harder to adopt.

First, I can’t recall the last time a driver pulled out in front of me while I was on a bicycle. False starts, yes, that happens to me sometimes, but not actual pull-outs.

Second, I don’t understand her argument that sharrows “limit” how far left the cyclist rides. It certainly doesn’t limit as much as line does. Apparently she doesn’t see that and says, “That’s less of a problem with bike lanes, because they give cyclists more room to maneuver and stay out of the door zone without veering into the lane.”

If the cyclist is too far right so that traffic constantly “pulls out” in front of her and is too close to the doors, then that will happen no matter what is or isn’t there.