| Re: Buses with racks go a long way
The Real Bev wrote:
> Wayne Pein wrote:
> A stop sign is one thing. Having to follow a 14-mph bicycle for blocks
> is very different. What's a front loader?
Construction equipment.
>>
>> You assume the bicyclist will get hit from behind, but this is not a
>> typical collision for lawful cyclists. Wear hi-viz clothing during the
>> day and force motorists to slow by using the full lane.
>
>
> Sorry, I truly believe that the purpose of roads is to move as many
> people as possible from one place to another as quickly as possible.
Then every road should be a freeway with full busses with no speed
limit. But that is not that case. So a better definition of the purpose
of roads is for the movement of people and goods. Celebrate rather than
denigrate slow traffic.
> Accordingly, I regard needlessly slowing traffic down as a sin, and a
> LOT of traffic-slowing (euphemistically known as 'traffic calming') is
> needless.
As a legitimate driver of a low power low impact vehicle, I view my
occasional slowing down of motorists as 1) mostly inconsequential, 2) an
unfortunate but necessary consequence, 3) a small price to pay for my
societal positives of not using fossil fuels and its attendant
negatives, and not using scarce parking spaces.
>
> Note: I ride my bicycle about as much as I drive -- 3K miles a year or
> so. I wear high-viz clothing (you can get a lot of nice day-glo
> windbreakers at yard sales), but that doesn't give me the right to slow
> down large numbers of my fellow persons.
People have an inherent right to use human power to travel. If others
are slowed, that's a shame, but I don't worry about it. Similary, I
don't fret when I drive my car and trip a light which causes cross
traffic to come to a halt so I can merge in.
>
>> Note: the stupid SHARE THE
>>
>>> ROAD (with a picture of a bicycle) signs are never placed on roads
>>> like this -- at least I've never seen any.
>>
>>
>> That is a bad sign and should be removed from guidelines.
>
>
> They're brand new, big, and that wonderful day-glo yellow-green color.
> They generally put them on streets with white-painted "bicycle" lanes --
> otherwise known as parking lanes; the City Engineer told me such lanes
> have no legal standing whatsoever, but that they serve as a
> psychological method of slowing traffic down. For that reason and that
> reason alone I'd like the damn bicycle lanes to disappear.
Bike lanes are little more than named shoulders. Shoulders are placed on
higher order roads to facilitate more and faster motor traffic by
providing recovery area and buffer from side of road elements, including
merging cross traffic. So his comment that it psychologically slows
traffic is bogus. OTOH, parked vehicles generally due slow traffic due
to "friction."
Wayne
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