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From: fred@varian.UUCP (Fred Klink)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: red flag projecting into traffic
Message-ID: <380@varian.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 3-Oct-85 15:00:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: varian.380
Posted: Thu Oct  3 15:00:47 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 7-Oct-85 05:49:45 EDT
References: <1445@utcsri.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Varian, Walnut Creek, CA
Lines: 35

> 
> I use my bicycle mostly for short (1-3 km) commutes along pretty busy
> streets.  Here in Toronto most motorists are fairly considerate, in my
> opinion, but once or twice in every ride someone will try to readjust my
> left ankle.  Under a certain amount of pressure at home, partly because
> I used to ride daily with my 3-year-old on the back, I eventually bought
> one of those plastic waggly things with a red flag on the end that sticks
> out into the traffic.  I didn't like to do it, because as a motorist I
> find them a little annoying ("I don't need that thing to tell me how much
> space to leave."), but to save my neck from the inconsiderate drivers I
> decided to risk annoying others.
> 
> Problem:  My impression, based on rather poor statistics so far, is that
> *more* drivers come too close with this flag than without.  Sample event:
> I protest in my usual mild way, and get the answer (extensively edited)
> "I didn't hit you.  I didn't even hit that thing [indicating the flag].
> So what are you worried about?"
> 
> The numbers are small, as I said, so I can't be sure.  But the villain's
> reaction suggests a theory, namely that drivers are trying to just miss my
> flag, instead of leaving a sensible margin around my corporeal self.  Weak
> theory plus weak numbers suggest the flag may be increasing the danger.

There's a principle supposedly used by traffic engineers that anything
that attracts too much of a drivers attention without having an immediate
and obvious meaning is hazardous.  The reason being, the motorist tends
to look at the object a bit too intently and unconsciously drive *toward*
it!  I've heard or read that that's why those long poles with an orange flag
on the end that were popular with cyclists a few years ago have gone 
(deservedly) away.  I have an experience with a leg light that may confirm
that.  I was riding one night and was nearly side-swiped by a station
wagon that looked alot like my girlfriend's mother's car.  Stopping at her
house after the ride, the mother saw me unstrapping the leg light and
said "Oh, that was you.  I thought it was a UFO"  Good thing for me
she decided against saving the earth that night!