http://www.torontolife.com/informer/columns/2015/03/10/urban-diplomat-driven-to-despair/ Dear Urban Diplomat: what should I do about an annoying e-biker? March 10, 2015 urbandiplomat@torontolife
[image / Carlos Felipe Pardo/Flickr http://cdn.torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/ebike-urban-diplomat.jpg ] Dear Urban Diplomat, Every day on my commute along Eastern Avenue, this guy on an electric bike zooms past my car, sometimes in the bike lane, sometimes weaving between cars, sometimes popping up onto the sidewalk for a few metres before plonking back onto the street. It’s maddening. Short of gently nudging him with my bumper, what should I do? —Driven to Despair, Cliffside Nothing brings humankind together like our shared loathing of law-flouting e-bikers. The scourge of the road, they are neither bike nor motorcycle, yet their operators adopt the unpredictability of the former and the swagger of the latter. Legally, e-bikes aren’t allowed on sidewalks or divided cycle tracks (like the one on Sherbourne), but they are allowed in painted bike lanes. So for the sidewalk portion of your complaint, the law is on your side. Do not—repeat, NOT—nudge him with your bumper or any other part of your car’s anatomy. Call the non-emergency police number at 416-808-2222 to provide the where and when of his repeat offending. With luck, you’ll be driving by and witness the bust. This article appeared first in the March 2015 issue of Toronto Life. [© torontolife.com] [dated] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/10252518/Why-cyclists-should-be-allowed-to-jump-red-lights.html Why cyclists should be allowed to jump red lights 13 Sep 2013 ... The best way for a cyclist to stay safe is to sometimes break the rules ... ... http://www.minnpost.com/second-opinion/2013/02/why-motorists-get-so-angry-cyclists-psychologists-theory Why motorists get so angry at cyclists — a psychologist's theory By Susan Perry | 02/20/13 Motorists get angry when they think cyclists are getting away with something by breaking society’s agreed-upon rules. A study issued earlier this year found that motor vehicle drivers and cyclists are equally responsible for car-bike collisions in Minneapolis. But, as comments to media reports of that study demonstrate, the finger pointing continues, with bicyclists blaming aggressive drivers for most collisions and drivers blaming “inconsiderate and stupid” cyclists. The anger from motorists toward cyclists seems especially raw. So I read with interest British psychologist Tom Stafford’s latest Neurohacks column for BBC Future in which he offers his theory for “why cyclists enrage car drivers.” “It's not because cyclists are annoying,” he writes. “It isn't even because we have a selective memory for that one stand-out annoying cyclist over the hundreds of boring, non-annoying ones (although that probably is a factor). No, my theory is that motorists hate cyclists because they think they offend the moral order.” An evolutionary response And how, exactly, do cyclists offend that moral order? It has to do, Stafford explains, with two cornerstones of cooperation theory: the “free rider problem” and “altruistic punishment.” The free rider problem is the resentment that occurs when we believe some people are “cheating” at what Stafford calls the “game of coordination where we have to rely on each other to do the right thing.” In other words, we get angry when we think someone else is getting away with something by breaking society’s agreed-upon rules. And one way humans have evolved to deal with that problem is altruistic punishment. “Altruistic punishment is a punishment that costs you as an individual, but doesn't bring any direct benefit,” explains Stafford. “As an example, imagine I'm at a football match and I see someone climb in without buying a ticket. I could sit and enjoy the game (at no cost to myself), or I could try to find security to have the guy thrown out (at the cost of missing some of the game). That would be altruistic punishment.” Blame evolution Which brings us back to drivers’ rage at cyclists. Writes Stafford: [E]volution has built into the human mind a hatred of free-riders and cheaters, which activates anger when we confront people acting like this — and it is this anger which prompts altruistic punishment. In this way, the emotion is evolution's way of getting us to overcome our short-term self-interest and encourage collective social life. So now we can see why there is an evolutionary pressure pushing motorists towards hatred of cyclists. Deep within the human psyche, fostered there because it helps us co-ordinate with strangers and so build the global society that is a hallmark of our species, is an anger at people who break the rules, who take the benefits without contributing to the cost. And cyclists trigger this anger when they use the roads but don't follow the same rules as cars. Now, cyclists reading this might think "but the rules aren't made for us — we’re more vulnerable, discriminated against, we shouldn't have to follow the rules." Perhaps true, but irrelevant when other road-users perceive you as breaking rules they have to keep. Maybe the solution is to educate drivers that cyclists are playing an important role in a wider game of reducing traffic and pollution. Or maybe we should just all take it out on a more important class of free-riders, the tax-dodgers. [© minnpost.com] ... http://eugenebicyclist.com/2012/10/07/on-the-bike-license-proposal-and-sharing-the-road/ 'Mandate bicycle license plates and license to ride a bicycle' October 7, 2012 http://www.katu.com/politics/Your-Voice-Your-Vote-Licenses-for-bicyclists-168879536.html ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws Electric bicycle laws For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=subject%3Aevln+NOT+subject%3Are&days=0&sort=date http://www.independent.com/pr/2015/mar/16/save-date-santa-barbara-earth-day-press-release/ 2015 Earth Day Festival @Alameda Park 11a-6p 4/18-19 Santa Barbara CA http://evfleetworld.co.uk/news/2015/Mar/ALD-Automotive-assists-NCP-with-move-to-electric-vans/0438018810 NCP Car parks deploy e-NV200 e-vans for London.uk fleet's everyday use http://www.airqualitynews.com/2015/03/05/tfl-awards-deal-for-londons-first-all-electric-bus-route/ Arriva operating Optare ebus on TfL contract for London.uk 312 route http://www.airqualitynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/London-electric-bus-e1425572286258.jpg http://cleantechnica.com/2015/03/07/california-considering-bill-cut-sales-tax-green-cars-half/ CA Bill for 3% Sales Tax On plugins http://www.autoblog.com/2015/03/08/california-more-tax-benefits-green-cars/ http://lompocrecord.com/news/local/buellton-installs-electric-vehicle-charging-station/article_3b276c9f-325d-5bdd-9e18-5f0a9ed0cc90.html Dual L2 EVSE @$0.35kWh 107 W. Highway 246 Buellton CA + EVLN: Electric Kawasaki Ninja E2&E2R motorcycle patents filed {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-What-to-do-about-a-law-flouting-unpredictable-e-biker-ca-tp4674322.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
