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From: bunje@uw-beaver (Carl Bunje)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: bikes and cars
Message-ID: <722@uw-beaver>
Date: Mon, 19-Sep-83 07:13:16 EDT
Article-I.D.: uw-beave.722
Posted: Mon Sep 19 07:13:16 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 19-Sep-83 16:56:35 EDT
References: <1375@hplabsc.UUCP>
Organization: U of Washington Computer Science
Lines: 60

This is in response to Anne Paulson's diatribe against drivers who feel
that they own the road.  I am a cyclist and agree with all of her
points, having experienced several of them myself in recent weeks.
However, I am also the driver of an automobile, and as such have also
encountered situations where a bicyclist, by seemingly attempting to
exert his or her right to the road at an inopportune time and fashion,
could have caused an accident (needless to say who would have felt it
the most).  Take the woman wandering about in an intersection, across
two lanes of traffic, as if the green light meant that the entire
intersection was for her enjoyment only, taking her time and then
continuing up the hill ahead in the middle of the leftmost lane, and
then having the audacity to yell at me and tell me that my loss of
patience was typical of those who should not be allowed on the roads.
She was in effect taking the entire responsibility for her safety and
putting it into the laps of the drivers on the road with a haughty
hit-me-if-you-dare attitude.  Not good cycling behavior.  Then take the
fellow who rides down the middle of the lane at 5mph when there is a
wide, well paved shoulder available to him, and looks back with the
get-off-my-tail-I've-got-a-right-to-be-here look, and this on a 35mph
arterial for a distance of at least 500yds.  Now this is not
particularly hazardous, but it can be seen that it does not
particularly improve the automobile/bicyclist relationship.

So, while I wholeheartedly support Ms. Paulson's advice to motorists,
I feel that I must also add some advice to bicyclists.

	Both bicycles and automobiles must share the same roads.
	It is not necessarily your special privilege, by being a
	cyclist, to take exceptional risks and expect the automobile
	to give you the slack.  Ride conservatively and use some
	common sense.  Automobile and bicycle traffic is supposedly
	governed by the rules of the road, but they are most assuredly
	governed by the laws of physics.

	Automobilists often don't see cyclists.  If merging into
	traffic, make sure that the autos coming up from behind are
	aware of your presence.  Look back and see, make eye contact if
	at all possible.  Don't rely on that tiny little mirror attached
	to your helmet to tell the drivers what you are going to do.
	A motorcyclist friend once said that a cyclist must ride as
	though he/she were invisible.

	Drivers, especially American drivers, tend to extend their
	personal space beyond all reason when behind the wheel.  Not
	that this is the "right" way to be, but it is often the case,
	and a cyclist often cannot help but wander into that space and
	cause the driver to become instantly irate.  This is one that
	we'll just have to learn to live with, unless there is some mass
	therapy for the psychology of power and frustration and what
	happens when 2 tons of mobile steel are added to the concoction.

	And a word to the militant cyclists:  although you can probably
	intimidate most drivers on the road, a minor miscalculation 
	by the flustered or angered driver could put you out of the
	picture for a long time to come.


Happy and Safe Cycling,
Carl Bunje
uw-beaver