From: casseres@apple.com (David Casseres)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc
Subject: Re: Ignorant Cyclists (was: Hints on commuting by bike?)
Date: 15 Sep 92 17:50:51 GMT
Followup-To: rec.bicycles.misc
Organization: Apple Computer Inc.

In article <37ynrtq.tomk@netcom.com>, tomk@netcom.com (Thomas H. Kunich)
wrote:
> 
> [I wrote]
> >In fact, drivers have a hard time seeing pedestrians on the roadway no
> >matter which direction they go in, because their speed is so far out of the
> >range drivers are looking for.  That's why it's a good idea for pedstrians
> >to walk facing traffic.
> 
> So how do you, then, jibe this with the idea that slow bicycle riders
> are somehow in a different situation?

Slow bicycle riders are much faster than pedestrians.

> >On the other hand, a bike going the right direction is reasonably easy for
> >drivers to see.  A bike going in the wrong direction is very hard to see.
> 
> Well, I'm glad you have made this so clear. Bicyclists going the wrong
> way become invisable?

You know, Tom, I don't just make this stuff up.  There's plenty of actual
evidence, and you can check it out yourself if you ever drive a car and
happen to encounter cyclists going the wrong way.

> >"Blatant opinion."  That's real good, Tom, coming from someone who claims
> >it's safer to ride facing the oncoming traffic, in spite of all the
> >evidence that it is much more dangerous.
> 
> It is really too bad that you don't take the time to read the messages
> that you respond to. Any reasonably accurate reading would have discovered
> that I said that, while riding on the wrong side of the street is generally
> bad, children riding there slowly are probably in no greater danger than
> pedestrians.

That isn't how I recall it, but if I really got it wrong, I apologize.

> What we have discovered from your entries is that pedestrians are much
> more manuveurable and much more highly visable. This continues to amaze
> me. Why would anyone advise a pedestrian to walk against traffic and
> be so adamantly opposed to children riding at the same speed in the
> same location?

Maneuverability:  A pedestrian can easily take one step off the roadway
onto a curb, an unpaved shoulder, a berm, or for that matter down into a
ditch, without fear of being injured.  A cyclist trying to get out of the
way of an oncoming car whose driver doesn't see him doesn't have those
alternatives -- most of them risk crashing and falling down in the path of
the car.

Visibility:  Drivers look for cars in front of them, basically.  That means
they are looking for large objects moving fast in the same direction.  A
bike going the same direction matches at least one of those, but a bike
going the wrong way flunks all three.

Children:  Apparently you're talking about children so small that they ride
at the speed of a pedestrian.  Kids under 7, it sounds like.  I'll repeat
what I said at the beginning: there is no excuse for kids that young to be
riding on the street unsupervised in the presence of significant motor
traffic.  None.  If you really were only claiming that it's equally safe
for little kids to ride on the wrong side in traffic, there's nothing to
argue about.

--

David Casseres
Exclaimer: Wow!
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.misc