Quoted message said:...when I'm in a helpful mood I say "It's safer to ride on the right." Some of them will learn and
others won't, but I've never had anybody get mad at me for saying it. It helps if you say it with a
little music in your voice.
I think it's easier to reinforce good behavior than chastise bad.
It makes my day to be able to compliment another cyclist for their good moves, and it doesn't happen
that often. People like to give and get positive feedback in general.
If I ride with a "bike police" attitude, I'm souring my whole experience. It's very easy to find
examples of poor traffic handling skills where I ride. If I decide that I have a responsibility to
modify the behavior of every cyclist I encounter, I'm putting myself in a no-win situation, IMHO.
Truthfully, I'm just trying to get around, not wave the flag.
I've written here about how I'm getting used to the traffic patterns and streets on my new commute
route. The four to five lane west one way I ride across town feeds southbound lefts at several
points. There are arrows on the pavement to indicate this.
At the same time the left curb lane is a pick up and drop off area for delivery vans, passenger
cars, etc. The right side is worse. The traffic is dense enough that you can't see the lane
markings, grates, or manhole covers if you haven't been there a time or two under light traffic
conditions.
The good thing is that the pedestrian signals have countdown timers on them rather than the typical
red hand and white walk symbols.
When the clock hits zero, the yellow light goes on. Very handy.
At some of the feeder points the turn lane is doubled. OK, that's the scenario, except that in the
morning the traffic in the center two lanes is going balls to the wall at 30-40 mph trying to beat
the lights (M Street between 17th and 21st for you DC types).
Tuesday last I observe three cyclists in file lanesplit into a two lane left, minivan door pops open
and lead cyclist merges right in front of a left turning car, second cyclist breaks right, nowhere
to go, comes back left and just misses door, third rider cuts behind the parked minivan and comes to
a stop at the curb.
Total chaos. Nobody dies. I'm in the third lane over, light turns red and I stop. I can see all
three of these folks are a little shaken up, what am I supposed to do, give them a twelve paragraph
lecture on how not to get splattered?
Not today, I have to get to work.
--
_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------
__________306.350.357.38>>[email hidden]__________
