as a cyclist, i don't think of using the portion of lane that is needed
to be safe as "sending a message" of any kind; i don't personally feel
that militantly about it it, though i know many bicyclists do. however,
if by this action someone driving 'gets' the message that otherwise
didn't understand that it's everybodys lane for us all to share, then
that's great! (at the risk of sounding too much like i'm about to break
into a chorus of Khum-by-yah,) we're all only people, after all; we just
haven't all made the same choices as to how to get around at the moment.
we're all entitled to make a reasonable effort to keep ourselves
safe, and if there's not enough clean/clear and usable road for a
cyclist to leave room to avoid being 'doored' by people in parked cars
opening doors into them and still be passed by a motorist safely, i
don't think bicyclists are obligated to leave any room for anyone to
pass them in a manner that would be UNsafe, and the Vehicle Codes (in at
least some states) agree.
face it; most of us wouldn't want to hit anyone else, no matter what
they're riding/driving; the bicyclist is typically more attune with the
road conditions at any given point along the route (especially since
they're most likely to suffer the most from any incident), and i don't
have any problem with cyclists determining how much room is needed for
us all to be safe. it's not as if as a motorist i'm going to be as
inconvenienced by having to adjust the pressure on my accelerator or
having to steer a bit to leave a safe margin for us both to get where
we're going.
cheers!
e
Zoltan Finks wrote:
> This makes me think of the whole theory that a cyclist should
> sometimes take up more of the lane in order to send a message of
> strength or entitlement, or in some cases to physically block a car
> from passing when there is not room to safely do so.
>
> On Monday, my wife and I popped in a bike shop Port Orchard. The
> rather eccentric guy in there went on at length about a lot of things
> and one of them was the above.
>
> I am still unsure about how I feel on this one. I don't like bluffing,
> so I don't feel right placing my body on the line to try to hopfully
> affect a certain behavior by the operator of two tons.
>
> My wife has recently pointed out motorcylist's tendency to hug the
> yellow center line, presumably to send a message to car drivers that
> the motorcyclist is entitled to their space and they are willing to
> claim it. Same thing here - what if someone calls your bluff? (or is
> watching TV)
>
> This is the same thing that keeps me from enjoying riding a horse.
> It's about acting like you are in charge of the beast, and causing the
> animal believe it. Talk about bluffing.
>
> Brian
>
> On 11/1/07, Loren Faeth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> There was a story about a drivers ed teacher that was used to
>> illustrate drivers tendency to steer where they look or where their
>> attention is directed. it goes like this.
>>
>> When cresting a hill, a drivers ed teacher told his student to watch
>> out for the car parked on the side of the road. The car on the side
>> of the road was very close. There was little time to react. So the
>> student looked at the car parked on the side of the road. the car
>> started to drift right, and before the teacher could react, they hit
>> the parked car.
>>
>> be careful about calling a driver's attention to something close not
>> exactly in the path of the vehicle.
>>
>> I agree the drift is unintentional, and probably is the chump looking
>> in the mirror to see if they blew you off the road, or not.
>>
>> FWIW
[snip
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