Holy shatz! Cop stops bicycle!

Tom Keats

In article <E4nzc.9897$xm6.5574@fe29.usenetserver.com>,
Resound <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> writes:

> Now most of you are making the point that a cyclist
> hitting a car is, apart from a little panel damage, not
> going to do anyone any significant harm other than
> themselves.

Actually the original point in the original post was the
bicycles and cyclists should be licensed & registered and
maybe insured so that cyclist traffic law offenders could be
punished. Especially since bicycles have the alleged
potential of causing much damage and injury to motor
vehicles and their drivers.

Is the added governmental bureaucracy Non-Motor Vehicle
Departments etc. would create really so necessary?

cheers, Tom

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keydates

On a slightly different topic, how do traffic lights work? I ask this because sometimes at stoplights, I don't trigger a green light and end up waiting 10 minutes for it (no, I'm not impatient).

Resound

I wouldn't go along with the registration and licensing of riders part. It would put a lot of people off cycling, which is the last thing needed. As someone else pointed out, offences committed by cyclists can be dealt with in exactly the same way as any other offence committed by someone who isn't carrying ID. I suppose that I'm neither specifically for nor against the parent post, but I do hold some opinions that I felt were relevant.

__________________
This is a test reality. Please do not adjust your paradigm.

Resound

In most places it counts as a non-functioning traffic signal. Proceed with caution, and the law is most likely on your side in any case (IANAL). If there aren't any cars around to trigger it for you then it's a fair bet that the traffic is hardly murderous

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Tom Keats

In article <NXnzc.23065$R%1.17956@fe22.usenetserver.com>,
keydates <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> writes:
> On a slightly different topic, how do traffic lights work?
> I ask this because sometimes at stoplights, I don't
> trigger a green light and end up waiting 10 minutes for it
> (no, I'm not impatient).

http://bikesense.bc.ca/ch4.htm and scroll down to the
section titled: 'Traffic Signals' (it's near the bottom of
the page.)

Actually the whole Bike Sense manual is pretty good, but
it's in the context of British Columbia traffic law;
other jurisdications might differ on some of the legal
topics covered.

cheers, Tom

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John David Galt

> Must be different where you live. As a 100% legally riding
> bicyclist I can say that the majority of drivers treat
> geese better than bicyclists.

Geese can't be expected to know what they're doing.

Tom Keats

In article <kbozc.23849$mO.3118@fe28.usenetserver.com>,
Resound <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com> writes:

> I wouldn't go along with the registration and licensing of
> riders part.

Same here. But every once in awhile some officious driver
such as the original poster gets it into their head that
it's a good idea. Then they start trying to promote that
idea. I'm compelled to do all I can to keep them from
getting very far with it.

> It would put a lot of people off cycling, which is the
> last thing needed. As someone else pointed out, offences
> committed by cyclists can be dealt with in exactly the
> same way as any other offence committed by someone who
> isn't carrying ID. I suppose that I'm neither specifically
> for nor against the parent post, but I do hold some
> opinions that I felt were relevant.

And I respect your opinions, and I think we're more or less
of the same mind. Scary, eh? :-)

cheers again, Tom

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Tanya

"Daniel J. Stern" <dastern@127.0.0.1> wrote in message news:<Pine.GSO.4.58.0406141455150.12870@alumni.engin.umich.edu>...
> On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Tanya wrote:
>
> > The cops in Toronto are in the midst right now of their
> > "Cycle Right" campaign which basically means stopping
> > bicycles for *any* sort of infraction. More stories
> > here: http://www.web.net/~lukmar/BLD/B1398152979/C25804-
> > 9906/E1050780882/index.html
>
> Interesting!

Surely not interesting to the folks that find themselves
with big fat tickets for not having a bell or for doing a
rolling stop at a stop sign.

> > > Be nice if cops could/would (they probably can) write
> > > tickets and impound bicycles until the ticket is paid.
> >
> > Do you think they should do the same for automobiles?
>
> That's essentially what refusal to renew registration
> amounts to.

Ah but the difference is there is a grace period. I'm
assuming you are talking about impounding the bicycle on the
spot. Also refusal to renew registration only amounts to an
effective impounding if you actually get caught driving the
car without the renewed registration.

Brent P

In article <cal46s$i9g$2@blue.rahul.net>, John David Galt wrote:
>> Must be different where you live. As a 100% legally
>> riding bicyclist I can say that the majority of drivers
>> treat geese better than bicyclists.
>
> Geese can't be expected to know what they're doing.

I don't stop for geese, they then either abort their road
crossing nonsense or get out of the way before I reach them.
Even if not so, it's no excuse for treating them better than
a legal road user.

Daniel J. Stern

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Brent P wrote:

> They slam on the brakes for the geese, wait untold minutes
> for the geese to cross the road...

Geese misuse the road out of ignorance and without malice.
Too many cyclists misuse the road knowingly and with malice.
Perhaps that explains why some motorists behave more
benignly towards geese than towards cyclists.

-Stern

Kevan Smith

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004 20:32:45 GMT, keydates <usenet-forum@cyclingforums.com>
from cyclingforums.com wrote:

>On a slightly different topic, how do traffic lights work?

In a lot of different ways, none very bicycle oriented

If you are looking for ways to reduce your wait or make them
all while they are green, then the key is repetition. Ride
the same routes each time and over a period of a few weeks
you will learn the speeds you need to ride between various
lights. I play it like a game now. My goal is to ride
crosstown on my fixie without putting a foot down --
trackstands don't count. In other words, go crosstown making
all the lights and not stopping. It's not an impossible
goal, I don't think.

--
Kevan Smith
xrinafzvgu23@lnubb.pbz

keydates

Problem is, most of the times the "non-functioning" lights are the ones at intersections where the cross traffic is very busy (ie a highway) while I'm on an "ordinary road." Thus, I essentially have to wait for a green light, which gets annoying if I have to wait so much longer than I actually should.

Sometimes the crosswalks don't work either. At one intersection, pressing the button does not get a green light and you wait there until you say, "F*ck it, I'm going." and go. Then, of course, the light will change. But only after you ran the red.

Daniel J. Stern

On Mon, 14 Jun 2004, Tanya wrote:

> > > http://www.web.net/~lukmar/BLD/B1398152979/C258049906-
> > > /E1050780882/index.html

> > Interesting!

> Surely not interesting to the folks that find themselves
> with big fat tickets for not having a bell or for doing a
> rolling stop at a stop sign.

Well, neither is it "interesting" for a motorist to receive
a ticket for rolling through a stop sign (there is no such
thing as a "rolling stop" -- if you're rolling, you didn't
stop!) or for driving a car not equipped with a horn.

> > > > Be nice if cops could/would (they probably can)
> > > > write tickets and impound bicycles until the ticket
> > > > is paid.
> > >
> > > Do you think they should do the same for automobiles?
> >
> > That's essentially what refusal to renew registration
> > amounts to.
>
> Ah but the difference is there is a grace period.

...and registration of cars, don't forget that. If bicycles
had to be registered, there'd be no reason for on-the-spot
impoundment.

> I'm assuming you are talking about impounding the bicycle
> on the spot. Also refusal to renew registration only
> amounts to an effective impounding if you actually get
> caught driving the car without the renewed registration.

Since the registration expiry date is readily visible to
even the casual observer -- it's right on the rear license
plate in most states and provinces -- this offence gets
noticed and ticketed in a hurry. Practically nobody drives
for long with expired plates. And the more expired they get,
the more trouble one stands to get in.

-Stern

Zoot Katz

Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:52:24 -0400,
<Pine.GSO.4.58.0406141751150.21513@alumni.engin.umich.edu>,
"Daniel J. Stern" <dastern@127.0.0.1> wrote:

>Too many cyclists misuse the road knowingly and with malice

Pull another fable out of your ass, goof.
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zk