3 Feet Please

It’s sad that taping himself every day is the only way that guy can feel safe. And I can’t believe that policeman said he would have cited him for going under the speed limit! A recent article in our local paper showed me how few people really understand the laws with regard to bikes, though — all I had to do was read the comments:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902230332

Of course, the picture wasn’t selected with an eye toward making people feel better about sharing the roads with bikes and seeing them as an alternate mode of transportation, but the ignorance of some of the comments is breathtaking — one person actually wonders why bikes ride on the road when there is a perfectly good sidewalk made just for them!

That’s a great shirt. I also thought about “If you can read this you’re too close” once. But unfortunately, I have a backpack most of the time, and in the winter it doesn’t work anyway.

@ Trisha: We have similar discussions under newspaper articles here. It’s really sad. E.g. if there are cyclists run over by cars or trucks (even on bike paths!) people claim that it’s the cyclists fault cause they didn’t wear a bright jacket or a helmet. It doesn’t matter that the poor car driver “forgot” to shoulder check. And all that kind of useless insults.. Some people just don’t get that a road isn’t just build for cars but for people to get from A to B no matter what mode of transport they use. Currently we have even similar discussions about scooters. There are a lot of accidents with young people and scooters. In Austria they’re only allowed to go 40 km/h, but most people tune them and they can easily go 80 km/h. I think that’s where the accidents come from. Other people just say that it’s because they can’t ride in traffic because they’re too slow. I just sometimes wonder whether people never have been to driving schools to learn how to overtake slower scooters and cyclists safely. And even if I ride 30 in a 30 zone most car drivers will still overtake me.

Thanks for posting this, Dottie. I was really into cycling when I was a kid. In eighth or ninth grade, I was trying to get in shape to ride a half-century (or something along those lines) when I was hit from behind by a car on a country lane. My friend and I were riding two abreast toward the right side of the lane — a perfectly legal situation — and the guy didn’t move fully into the left lane to pass. He had slowed down, but not to a sufficient extent, and his front bumper near the passenger-side headlight smashed into my rear wheel. The bike was jettisoned from beneath me and I came down on my tailbone, first on his car and then on the asphalt.

The gods looked favorably on me that day, and, all things considered, I was OK (save for a bent bottom vertebrae). But things could have been much, much worse. And all because someone was in too big a hurry, and/or because he just couldn’t recognize the legitimacy of my presence on the road in that moment and appreciate what was at stake. What is so ironic is that this occurred in an area where Amish and German Baptists still travel these same roads by horse and buggy regularly. Drivers are perfectly accustomed to slowing down for them all the time. I don’t get it.

@ Trisha: The same kind of mind-boggling ignorance and outright anger shows up in our local newspaper, too, whenever an article is published concerning bicycles in traffic. It is deeply troubling to say the least.

@Joe: It’s great what you’re doing. I’m getting one of those t-shirts straightaway, and a jersey whenever I have enough pennies saved. I’ll also post a link on my blog. (Surely that will bring it to the attention of at least three more people — ha!)

Sorry to take up so much comment space, Dottie and Trisha.

Dottie~ Nice vid. That was very good reporting for Fox News. In Mpls. they(Fox) chase cyclists around to catch them running stop signs on River Rd.I think we have to stand up for rights, today, but I think we need to pushing for infrastructure changes, so we don’t have to take such risks as riding with cars.

Trisha~ The cyclist picture on your Nashville paper’s page is very provocative. It shows 2 guys riding on the road, with cars behind them. One of the guys is riding a double decker bike. We had a woman riding across a bridge over a highway, fall of a her double decker, over the railing and into on coming traffic. I feel very sad for her and her friends and family, but those bikes are circus bikes. Plus I think they are illegal in Mpls. As long as motorist(which is the general public) see cyclists as different(ie. Freaks) from them, bike transportation is going to continue to meet heavy, angry resistance. It does sounds like you have a mayor worth supporting, though.

It looks like the 3-foot safe passing law is gonna make it on the books here in Texas. I’m thinking about buying one of those orange safety flags and attaching it horizontally on my bike so it sticks out to the left three fee beyond the rest of the bike.

On the other hand, I rarely have a need for it here as it is; most people in Fort Worth are pretty considerate.