Re: logistics associated with starting a new riding group? - Page 2

02-15-2007, 03:21 PM

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 18:39:31 -0500, John Forrest Tomlinson
> <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>
>> On 15 Feb 2007 11:05:57 -0800, "Prisoner at War"
>> <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>>
>>> On Feb 15, 7:02 am, John Forrest Tomlinson <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
>>> wrote:
>>>> On 14 Feb 2007 22:36:39 -0800, "Prisoner at War"
>>>>
>>>> <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote:
>>>>> I'd really like to meet the asses who started the whole "a
>>>>> bike is a vehicle" mentality,
>>>> I didn't start it but strongly agree with it. W/o it we'd have even
>>>> more limited rights on the road.
>>>> --
>>> I must disagree. AFAIK, bicyclists have always had road rights, as do
>>> even pedestrians.
>> Even pedestrians?
>> Really? So you can just walk down a typical road or street as much as
>> you want - no need to be on the sidewalk? I did not know that.
>
> Many highways (used in the technical sense) either
>
> a) include the pavement set aside for pedestrians; or
>
> b) have no such pavement, and all traffic uses the road surface.
>
> Now of course, there are differences in the details depending on the
> jurisdiction, but the essential difference which results in cyclists
> (and pedestrians) having a _right_ to use the roads and drivers of
> motor-cars having merely a _permission_, is that driving a motor-car
> is not permitted unless the individual who wishes to do so asks to do
> so, pays some form of fee to do so, and undergoes various tests to
> determine if he or she should be allowed to do so; whereas the
> cyclists' (and pedestrians') right to use the roads exists ab initio.

Walk, or ride, on a highway where there is any amount of car traffic and
sooner or later, you may become a footnote in the 'Darwin' log.
Survival of the fittest does not include those individuals who
stubbornly insist on pursuing their right to use the same road as cars.
Simple, huh?
Bill Baka