i ride facing traffic--comments please

ilaboo said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

After 60 years of riding this way, you want comments? Why?

ilaboo said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic.

This one falls spectacularly in the middle of the troll-[censored] meter!

AH |-|-|-|-|-*-|-|-|-|-| T

You can do it, and sometimes it makes sense, but
has a lot of additional hazards you have to be
aware of and take into account

1. Closing speeds are doubled, so there's half
the safe reaction time when something unexpected
happens

2. There's no clear rule about who gets out of
the way, when both you and the car can see each
other ; so you'll be in the gutter a lot.

3. Nobody coming out of a driveway or side street
or parking lot is going to be looking to avoid
you, where you'd have clear right of way if going
the correct direction.

So it creates a lot of crises waiting to do you
in, all of which can of course be avoided if you
know about them, like giving everybody the right
of way who won't see you, and going off in the
gutter a lot when appropriate. Sometimes that's
worth the hassle, say if it avoids crossing an
impossibly busy highway to travel down it only for
a block or so before turning off again.

You of course take no more space whichever way
you're travelling, but that's not the problem.

I ride the wrong way occasionally when it makes
sense, but not usually.
--
[email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

ilaboo said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

If you're only riding in da Bronx, slowly, on cruiser, it's not a bad
idea. Just stay out of the bike lanes.

/s

ilaboo said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

If you're only riding in da Bronx, slowly, on cruiser, it's not a bad
idea. Just stay out of the bike lanes.

/s

On Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:51:45 GMT, "ilaboo" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--

Plonk......

ilaboo said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

-------------
If you ride facing traffic here in
Tucson, you'll either be dead or in the
hospital within a month.

A wisely anonymous poster trolled:

Quoted message said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

Most automobile accidents also occur when the automobile is driving
with traffic.

Quoted message said:

what has been your experience?

It's mostly a problem when you meet an oncoming, law-abiding
bicylist. What do you do in that case?

Do you swing to your left and try to force the law-abiding cyclist out
farther into the traffic lane?

Or do you go to your right, between the law-abiding cyclist and the
oncoming motor traffic.

Whichever option you choose, how is the law-abiding cyclist supposed
to figure out which way you plan to go?

Sheldon "I Know I Shouldn't Feed The Trolls, But..." Brown
+-----------------------------------------+
| If a fool would persist in his folly, |
| he would become wise. |
| --William Blake |
+-----------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com
Useful articles about bicycles and cycling
http://sheldonbrown.com

"Ron Hardin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You can do it, and sometimes it makes sense, but
has a lot of additional hazards you have to be
aware of and take into account

(snip)

3. Nobody coming out of a driveway or side street
or parking lot is going to be looking to avoid
you, where you'd have clear right of way if going
the correct direction.

(snip)

I ride the wrong way occasionally when it makes
sense, but not usually.
--
[email hidden]

On the internet, nobody knows you're a jerk.

I think the roads are safest when everyone does what is expected of them, by
law and convention. With people making up their own rules as they go along,
unsafe unpredictable chaos is the result.

My most important bike safety rule is, never assume a car sees you. I was
crossing an intersection years ago, with the green light, in the crosswalk,
on the wrong side of the street. A car rolled through right-turn-on-red, and
hit me, because he never looked my direction. I got the ticket, and rightly
so. If I had been walking my bike in the crosswalk, the driver would have
been at fault.

On my city commute, I still ride the wrong way for very short distances,
when it makes sense to do so. But I know it is wrong, and I understand the
concept. If anything happens, I know I will probably be 'more wrong' than
the other party.

J.

Sheldon Brown said:

A wisely anonymous poster trolled:

Quoted message said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

Quoted message said:

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

Most automobile accidents also occur when the automobile is driving
with traffic.

Quoted message said:

what has been your experience?

It's mostly a problem when you meet an oncoming, law-abiding
bicylist. What do you do in that case?

Do you swing to your left and try to force the law-abiding cyclist out
farther into the traffic lane?

Or do you go to your right, between the law-abiding cyclist and the
oncoming motor traffic.

Whichever option you choose, how is the law-abiding cyclist supposed
to figure out which way you plan to go?

Sheldon "I Know I Shouldn't Feed The Trolls, But..." Brown

Thank you for eloquently expressing why I hate cyclists who ride
against traffic.

OP is free to perform an anatomical impossibilty upon himself for
doing so.

ilaboo said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

my experience been that people driving against the traffic in the bike
lane
do not stop and get out of the way when i'm traveling in the same bike
lane in
a customary direction. I leave the bike lane and enter the rightmost
traffic lane
to get around them but perhaps i should pedal on and let them do it
instead.
Have there been any reports of head on bicycle collisions in bike
lanes yet?

"Sheldon Brown" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

A wisely anonymous poster trolled:

Quoted message said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i
have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors
etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that
i
know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

Most automobile accidents also occur when the automobile is driving
with traffic.

Quoted message said:

what has been your experience?

It's mostly a problem when you meet an oncoming, law-abiding
bicylist. What do you do in that case?

Do you swing to your left and try to force the law-abiding cyclist out
farther into the traffic lane?

Or do you go to your right, between the law-abiding cyclist and the
oncoming motor traffic.

Whichever option you choose, how is the law-abiding cyclist supposed
to figure out which way you plan to go?

Sheldon "I Know I Shouldn't Feed The Trolls, But..." Brown
+-----------------------------------------+
| If a fool would persist in his folly, |
| he would become wise. |
| --William Blake |
+-----------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com
Useful articles about bicycles and cycling
http://sheldonbrown.com

Thanks, Sheldon; I forgot to mention: When I have seen an oncoming bike, and
I am riding on the wrong side, it has invariably been in the pre-dawn hours.
As we drew closer, I realized he was clearly a non-English-speaking
immigrant, on his way to a minimum wage job. 'Rules of the road' are simply
not on his agenda. So I just duck, and let him pass.

J.

ilaboo said:

what has been your experience?

My experience? In 30+ years of cycling, I've had one collision. I
happened when one of two kids riding together on the wrong side of the
road ran into me.

Art Harris

Quoted message said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i
have an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car
doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that
i know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

You're not doing your part to convince anyone that, with age, wisdom
increases. Nor are you doing your part to support Darwin's theories either,
since you're still alive. I can only hope that you're a troll, because if
you're not, you are among the most-dangerous of cyclists on the road,
primarily to other cyclists.

What keeps us alive on the roads is basically just one thing.
Predictability. People ride & drive in an expected manner, dictated largely
by laws and common sense. The laws clearly state that what you do, riding
against the flow of other bicyclists, is illegal. It is not only an
inconvenience to other cyclists, but an extreme danger as well, since the
logical manner in which to avoid a collision with you is to move out into
the flow of traffic. Unfortunately, that is also *your* logical move as
well, because cyclists ride in that thin margin between auto traffic and the
curb. So, at best, we have a situation where somebody has to blink first.

It's not politically-correct for me to bash fellow cyclists who might be a
customer. But when it comes to basic safety and adherence to logical rules
(and laws), that goes out the window. Thankfully, you're on the other side
of the country, so it's not likely I'll pesonally come across you. But if I
did, I would rate your behaviour as being as dangerous to other cyclists as
cars that turn in front of us. Maybe even worse.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

"ilaboo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:R1y5j.5999$6k1.235@trndny02...

Quoted message said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i
have an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car
doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that
i know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

Quoted message said:

Have there been any reports of head on bicycle collisions in bike
lanes yet?

We had one here in Newport Beach ~ 1yr ago. Mountain bike, wrong way
no helmet, head on with a road bike on PCH no bike lane. Last I heard one
week later the MB'r was still in a coma. Wrong way bikes and mom's
with strollers going the wrong way PMO.

Bob

ilaboo said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i have
an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car doors etc

That makes no more sense than driving a car against traffic-- the
benefits and risks are the same.

If you want to ride your bike on the left, you'd best do it on the
sidewalk where such practice is normal.

Chalo

Turn around and pull down your pants.

HTH!

"ilaboo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:R1y5j.5999$6k1.235@trndny02...

Quoted message said:

over 60 years of riding--have always ridden facing traffic--this way i
have an edge of crack heads, alcoholics, car chases, people opening car
doors etc

i know this is illegal but 60 years says a lot--most bike accidents that
i know of was whn the biker was biking with traffic.

i bike on the streets of da bronx--corner where i live has at lest one
car crash every 2 weeks.

what has been your experience?

thanks
peter

It is only safe if you wear a helmet!

BobT

In article
<[email hidden]>,

Jay said:

My most important bike safety rule is, never assume a car sees you. I was
crossing an intersection years ago, with the green light, in the crosswalk,
on the wrong side of the street.

What is the wrong side of the street?
What is wrong with in the crosswalk with the green?

Quoted message said:

A car rolled through right-turn-on-red, and
hit me, because he never looked my direction. I got the ticket, and rightly
so. If I had been walking my bike in the crosswalk, the driver would have
been at fault.

Exactly what article of the vehicle code did you violate?
The prototype vehicle code that is adopted and modified
all over the USA requires that drivers not enter an intersection
that is obstructed. You were rightfully in the intersection,
the car driver was not. End of story.

--
Michael Press