Thanks Steve for bringing the conversation back to the original topic. This is a really easy thing to do and is a good habit to get into even when you see people with headphones. Some actually have the volume low enough that they can hear you when you give warning. I have been experimenting recently, and just saying, "passing" in a friendly conversational tone seems to be the most effective. When I say "Left" or "Passing on your left," sometimes it startles people and they just hear the word "left" and think it's a command to move left. A simple message of "Passing" seems to be well understood and they don't follow the unintended subliminal message and move left.
Thanks, John Rider The Bike Safety Guy On Tue, Sep 8, 2009 at 7:59 AM, Meiers, Steve <[email protected]>wrote: > This discussion has drifted quite a bit from the original topic of how to > encourage responsible bicycling but let me get back to the original message. > > Changing the behavior on so many levels of so many cyclists is a Herculean > task at best. Let me suggest a more modest step. > > Bicyclists are supposed to give a warning if they pass a pedestrian or > slower bicyclist. I'd estimate this happens maybe 5% of the time. How > about a concerted effort to encourage cyclists to give an audible warning? > This would be much appreciated by pedestrians and cyclists and isn't hard to > do. Even the cyclists who are in too much of a hurry to stop at stop signs > can give a warning as they pass people. > > > > Steve Meiers > Safety educator > (608) 267-1102 > Box 2986 > Madison WI 53701 > [email protected] > > > ------------------------------ > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Eric Westhagen > *Sent:* Sunday, September 06, 2009 7:29 PM > *To:* John Martin; BikiesSubmissions > *Subject:* Re: [Bikies] A Modest Proposal, Bikers Take the High Road / > Biking Rules Street Code > > Dear John, > > Very good-----lets face it--we are all pulling each others legs. > > EW > > John Martin wrote: > > As I understand it, "elite" is a group or class of persons enjoying > superior intellectual or social or economic status. > > Let's break it down into how we're all elite: > - superior intellect: those who think they have the right answers are > intellectual elitists > - superior social class: those who do not choose our preferred form of > transportation are social elitists > - superior economic status: people with jobs or positive income are > economic elitists > > I suspect that since we all have opinions (here anyway ;-), we're all > intellectual elitists to somebody. And since we all have internet access, > we're social and economic elitists. > > I think what Eric is saying is that bikers shouldn't force drivers to give > up their cars and get on bikes through legislative (or other non-democratic) > means. If bikers think that they know what's best for drivers (biking), then > they are (intellectual) elitists. > > I think what Mitchell is saying is that Madison's bikers come in all > economic shapes and sizes and are thus not (economic) elitists. > > But this doesn't really touch the heart of the question, which I think was > about building bicycling infrastructure to attract more drivers onto > bicycles more frequently (do I have that right?). One side might argue that > by building this infrastructure, we are unfairly subsidizing an elite > minority. The other side might argue that we're already unfairly subsidizing > a motorized elite, and investing in more bike (and pedestrian) > infrastructure is only an impossible game of catch-up (they'd say "Imagine > what the world would look like if what was spent on cars was matched with > forms of human-powered transport!") > > My .02 cents suggests that as the ratio of drivers:bikers goes down (that > is, as more drivers get on bikes), the number of ambulances needed will go > up (Eric's point a few messages ago) *unless* a bike-friendly infrastructure > accompanies the shift, and *until* drivers become familiar with the travails > of bikers (Matt's point), and accustomed to bikers on roads (the Modest > Proposal). > > See, we're all right. And we're all elitists! > > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org > >
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