Winter is upon us now and, as I feared I would, I am riding less and driving more. I have been growing increasingly busy with the bike summit and my back has been a little cranky the past week but the reality is that as long as I own a car, it is too easy rely on it. Dare I draw a comparison to drug addiction? It's tough to quit drinking if you always have a liquor cabinet full of booze. The weather was pretty nice last week and I did manage a ride on a new Trek Madone for a test ride last Thursday when the temperature was 63 degrees but since then the weather has been getting worse. It snowed a little bit on Saturday and then again on Tuesday night. I finally got myself over the anxiety about riding in the slop and took a little ride into town. Here's the video. The ride was actually pretty nice and once again proved to me that the right clothing makes all the difference!
Denville Snowy day from Brendan on Vimeo.
red light, stop signs ... at least you ran em safely.
ReplyDeleteAahh! Touche annonymous! I will admit tha,t in low volume situations, to treating stop signs as yields and red lights as stop signs. There are are some states that are actually considering changing their traffic code to this concept.If I am not mistaken, in Idaho it is the law--That is, cyclists treat stop signs as a yield and red lights as a stop sign, meaning to proceed if safe. Anyway, for a skilled cyclist this is generally a safer method for staying out of harms way, but, it is not the law and I accept your criticism. I will pledge to follow all the laws in hopes that some of the actually dangerous behavior demonstrated by a lot of motorists on a daily might change as well. Will you pledge to drive and/or ride the same way?
ReplyDeleteSome days here are starting to be known as, Blown Off The Bike Thursday.
ReplyDeleteThe car is looking mighty tempting.
There is a 4 way stop on my way to work that I usually "Roll Through" only when no cars are present. Though I would be pissed if I saw a car do it.
ReplyDeleteI made a pledge a coupla years ago to ride as safely as I can and to not piss off drivers when I can help it.
ReplyDeleteI made the pledge when people close to me started to really worry about my safety when I started upping the miles and biking everywhere.
I sometimes ride with 'hammerhead' bike jock kinda guys and they always ask why I stop at lights & stops (even the 'freebies' where its just a 3 way intersection and actually pretty 'safe' to run, like at 5:35 in yr. video). I reply with something like 'its what my mom would want me to do' and 'even if i run this light safely, you know *exactly* what the 3 or 4 or more cars that see me doing it will think of me.'
Also...Knocking furiously on wood...If I were in an accident with an auto while running a light or stop, I would not want to get a ticket and be written about in my local paper!
All that said, I do treat stops as yields when there is no one around, no drivers, no grandmas watering their garden, and no kids playing nearby. I also often have problems with lights out in the middle of nowhere that dont sense my bicycle and remain red for a long long time.
Sorry for the anonymity...I have trouble using using this page...
-Dean
Dean, you have absolutely convinced me to follow your example. You are 100% correct in your assesment of the perception of cyclists blowing off traffic control signals even if it is actually safer for the cyclist to do so. We are fighting a PR war and the best way to win is by being better than other guys.
ReplyDeleteIt really works out for me. I've heard it called 'vehicular cycling', better yet is the term 'driving your bike' I think it gets respect on the roads. Respect gets you left the room you need, gets you the ability to get
ReplyDeleteinto that left-turn lane, or driveway, with the minimum disturbance of other
traffic.
One question: when do you feel its safer to disregard signals? Sure its faster, especially when that darn light does'nt know I'm waiting!, but I cant think of what makes it safer for you.
-Dean
Oh yeah, ever check out www.bicyclesafe.com ??
I actually post a link to the "How not to get hit by cars" story link from time time on the homepage of Cyclecraft.com. John Forester has a pretty interesting point of view and I probably subscribe more to his way than the separated bike path school. Copenhagen is great and all but it's going to be a long, long time before we have anything resembling that around here!
ReplyDeleteAs far as when is it safer to cheat a traffic signal? With the absence of a "blue box" for bicycles at an intersection or even a signal with early timing for bikes and pedestrians, I feel it is safer to get out in front of the cars traveling in my direction. When we all set out together I feel pretty invisible (which is how forester tells you to behave anyway) so getting out early is a good way for folks to know I am there. The down side is that drivers often get irritated just on principal even though it takes nothing away from them. I guess I would rather have someone know I am there and be a little irritated than have no idea that I am there and run into me.