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From: sdo@brunix.UUCP (Scott Oaks)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle,net.politics
Subject: Re: Bicycles, Violence and Hatred
Message-ID: <10467@brunix.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Apr-85 13:36:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: brunix.10467
Posted: Tue Apr 30 13:36:20 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 6-May-85 00:41:35 EDT
References: <1370@reed.UUCP> <124@kontron.UUCP> <5055@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Reply-To: sdo@nancy.UUCP (Scott Oaks)
Distribution: net
Organization: Brown University Computer Science
Lines: 34
Xref: watmath net.bicycle:1122 net.politics:8856

>>The woman isn't *completely* a bozo --- the bike path down Venice Beach
>>here in California has had a stack of injuries and few fatalities involving
>>overzealous bicyclists running into pedestrians.  It *can* happen.
>
>I've ridden that bike path plenty of times and have almost run into 
>people but sure wasn't MY fault.  The path runs right through the middle
>of the beach and in the summer there are thousands of people (and probably
>more bozos :-)) wandering around. They pay no attention to where they are
>walking and will walk right into the path of a bicycle. What am I supposed
>to do, ride at 1 mph? Also, to show the stupidity of the beach goers, last
>summer I was almost decapitated when someone decided to roll up their
>kite string across the bike path - I saw it at the last second and slammed
>on the brakes. They didn't even apologize!

I had some similar experiences last summer riding along Lake Michigan in
Chicago.  At one point, the bicycle path goes through Lincoln Park, and the
first few times I took  it I went riding down the path at what I thought
was a rather cautious pace.  One day I rode between a mother and her
toddler; the mother was unaware of my approach and there was about 6 feet
between the two of them.  But since I took the mother by surprise (and, I
suspect, since she didn't know where exactly her child was), she swore at
me and started ranting about dangerous bicycles.  I know that nothing I did
was unsafe, but I also know that there's no way that I could ever convince
her of that.  The problem is that, despite the fact that this (and similar)
paths are designated as bicycle path, the general public doesn't pay
attention to such things--they blithely assume that anything that isn't a
street must be for general traffic (despite the posted signs and the variety
of other places where they could walk, etc.).  I decided after this that
the grief just wasn't worth it, and took back to the streets.
-- 
Scott Oaks                      I can not understand how a person of sensitivity
Brown University                can pass up an hour and a half trip to see a
{decvax, ihnp4, allegra}!brunix!sdo    bunch of battle-scarred $1500 claimers
                                       running at a dumpy Rhode Island track.