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From: bill@utastro.UUCP (William H. Jefferys)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: Car driver asks for advice from bicyclists
Message-ID: <95@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Oct-85 10:47:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: utastro.95
Posted: Wed Oct 23 10:47:22 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 25-Oct-85 07:17:13 EDT
References: <354@sol1.UUCP>, <55@noscvax.UUCP> <1023@druxo.UUCP>
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 41

> In Boulder, where I live, I find some of the bicyclists are INCREDIBLY
> self-righteous about their riding.  By this I mean that if they are allowed
> to use the right lane, even when the road narrows to one lane they will use
> the single lane, riding dead center, rather than moving to the right to let 
> cars pass or going onto the sidewalk.  If they are going to make a left turn, 
> they will ride dead center of the left lane for the 1/4 mile or so leading up
> to the turn. Etc., etc. This is usually ok, except for when they get a little
> rediculous about it- in other words, riding the right lane even when they
> have a bike path.  

Please, let's not encourage people to ride on the sidewalks.  It is
incredibly dangerous (much more dangerous than riding properly on the
street).  Just today I saw someone nearly get hit by a truck coming
out of a driveway, and a friend of mine was killed many years ago
the same way.  For statistics, Palo Alto mandated sidewalk riding
a number of years ago, and the accident rate was way up.  The police
chief called the policy a "disaster".  The ordinance was repealed
after about a year.

I don't object to bike paths as long as they are part of the road.  I
refuse to use a bike path that is separated from the roadway, since
they subject me to the same dangers that sidewalks do.  The dangers
of separate bike paths have been well documented.

Lane sharing:  It's not safe to share a lane if it is too narrow.  12 feet
*minimum*, and John Forester (an engineer who has written extensively
on bicycle traffic engineering) recommends 14.  You bet I will take
the center of the lane if it's too narrow for a car to pass safely.
But I will also move to the right when it is safe.  I don't know how
wide the lanes are in Boulder, but we have a lot here in Austin that
are too narrow for lane sharing.

-- 
Glend.	I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hot.	Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you
	do call for them?    --  Henry IV Pt. I, III, i, 53

	Bill Jefferys  8-%
	Astronomy Dept, University of Texas, Austin TX 78712   (USnail)
	{allegra,ihnp4}!{ut-sally,noao}!utastro!bill	(UUCP)
	bill@astro.UTEXAS.EDU.				(Internet)