Bicycles

[prog]

It may seem strange, given the reasons for it, but recent events have led me to read, write, and think more about bicycling, and I've decided that it's now not entirely unlikely that I will obtain a bike sometime in the nearish future.

An increasing number of friends have taken up cycling as an urban commute alternative over the last couple of years. And I used to do this same thing, way back in Florida, biking to school and around town every day, and I always enjoyed it. When I returned to New England for college (and all that came after) I just never thought of it again, even though I wouldn't start driving for another three years. Your guess is as good as mine. At any rate, I've lately become increasingly aware of all the time I spend walking, and as much as I love walking it'd be nice to be able to go a little faster when I wanted to.

I've started paying more attention to the (many!) cyclists I see every day as I walk around. I responded with skepticism when karlvonl commented earlier that most cyclists ignore traffic signals, but now the anecdotal evidence does seem to be mounting up. The majority of the cyclists I see seem to act as if they're just speedy pedestrians, looking both ways at intersections but then crossing at opportunity, no matter what color the light. I've never really noticed before, and I wonder if this is because most people expect cyclists to act thus.

For the life of me, I can't remember how I myself treated traffic signals back in high school. (I do recall that I rocked the manual turn signals something fierce, and this too is something I see many cyclists not bothering with around here.) I assume that all this stuff may be technically illegal but seldom enforced. The page on the topic at massbike.org basically takes the attutude "Aw, c'mon guys, you really should," and cites silly reasons for stopping (It gives you a chance to rest! If you blow through reds on your bike, you'll start doing it in your car!!).

Anyway, this isn't anything I'm gonna start tomorrow, but it's something interesting.

Comments

[nuns.livejournal.com]

Yes, I see what you mean. I think a large part of my position is based on a personal preference that if I am going to be injured, I would prefer it be MY fault.

I'm not aware of any data - in fact, I doubt there is any data, because too many of us consider our positions to be self-evident. Opinions are strong enough, and rationalizable enough (I made up the word rationalizable just now - for the moment I am pretty proud of it) to make research seem unnecessary. Of course, research is NOT unnecessary. I would love to see some data, if we could convince the relevant agencies to gather it.

Unfortunately, too many people in positions of power consider cyclists to be at best expendable and sometimes actually targets. Once in Pittsburgh (and to stave off the question, at the time I was actually conforming exactly to traffic law in that city), I was sideswiped by a bus. Pedestrians applauded the bus driver, because the general perception is that all cyclists deserve to be hit by buses. This perception hinders pretty much every aspect of traffic-relations as they intersect with cycling. Including, I suspect, the willingness to fund research.

[radtea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I see where you're coming from. My experience as a cyclist hasn't been nearly so bad. I've had more bad experiences as a pedestrian than as a cyclist, although that's probably simply due to the higher mobility a bike gives you, so you can dodge out of the way of cars nosing out into intersections and the like.

On the red light thing, I found this article fascinating: he advises everything, up to and including lying your bike down on the sensor to activate a green light. But he never once suggests that you pedestrianize, which is what I always do in these situations, and which seems to me entirely reasonable.

I also think it's weird that the cyclists in the first picture are all clustered in the turning lane, rather than lined up in single file along the right edge of the through lane, where they belong. I guess in an environment where cyclists are harassed by drivers, they will tend to adopt avoidance strategies that implicitly cede the road to cars. Which sucks.

[radtea.livejournal.com]

Doesn't address the red light issue, but has some interesting data and results. That there is no sex difference in cycling risk is surprising. It's also interesting that riding on the sidewalk is high-risk compared to on the road.