Re: Riding a bicycle in traffic

My ex roomate was loosing movement in his legs falling down a lot, and told
me barely has any feeling in his legs to this day. He rear ended a ladies
car, guess the mini stroke had something to do with this. BTW he's 62 if it
matters. They took his license for a few months, then the doctor ok'd him to
drive again. Howd ya like having him driving behind your bike! Comforting,
they'll let anyone drive if they can afford it.
Dave
http://www.noweldrecumbent.com

"NYC XYZ" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Damn, y'all should have seen me on my 'bent in mid-town rush-hour
traffic.

That's how I normally ride, and no, you don't need a helmet. Just a
sense of the flow of traffic and pedestrians. It's like a game of
Blackjack, really.

Bike messengers rule!

Johnny Sunset aka Tom Sherman said:

Since there seem to have been quite a few (cross)posts about the safety
of riding a bicycle in traffic, I thought this video [1] on the topic
would be instructional.

[1] <http://www.digave.com/videos/sfx-web.mpg>.
[2] And no, Ed Dolan, you will not get a virus by clicking on the link.
--
Tom Sherman - Behind the Cheddar Curtain
Post Free or Die!

Dave said:

My ex roomate was loosing movement in his legs falling down a lot, and told
me barely has any feeling in his legs to this day. He rear ended a ladies
car, guess the mini stroke had something to do with this. BTW he's 62 if it
matters. They took his license for a few months, then the doctor ok'd him to
drive again. Howd ya like having him driving behind your bike! Comforting,
they'll let anyone drive if they can afford it.
Dave
http://www.noweldrecumbent.com

It's true, driving should be a priviledge (it IS, actually, insofar as
one has to be licensed for it), but things have long gotten to the
point that folks think it's their God-given right or something.

I think just one instance of drunken driving should be enough to
permanently revoke the license, for example. Things should be that
strict. Instead, all they do is harp on cyclists wearing helmets and
[censored] like that, while the real problems go unchallenged.

"NYC XYZ" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Dave said:

My ex roomate was loosing movement in his legs falling down a lot, and
told
me barely has any feeling in his legs to this day. He rear ended a ladies
car, guess the mini stroke had something to do with this. BTW he's 62 if
it
matters. They took his license for a few months, then the doctor ok'd him
to
drive again. Howd ya like having him driving behind your bike!
Comforting,
they'll let anyone drive if they can afford it.
Dave
http://www.noweldrecumbent.com

It's true, driving should be a priviledge (it IS, actually, insofar as
one has to be licensed for it), but things have long gotten to the
point that folks think it's their God-given right or something.

I think just one instance of drunken driving should be enough to
permanently revoke the license, for example. Things should be that
strict. Instead, all they do is harp on cyclists wearing helmets and
[censored] like that, while the real problems go unchallenged.

NYC, drunken drivers are the one thing that I fear the most when I am on the
road with motor vehicles. I am death on them. Hells Bells, I drink myself
but I would NEVER drive after having a few drinks.

Did you know that at one time in Nigeria the cops would pull over a drunken
driver and execute him on the spot with a bullet to the head. Now there is
perfect justice!

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

NYC XYZ said:

Dave said:

My ex roomate was loosing movement in his legs falling down a lot, and told
me barely has any feeling in his legs to this day. He rear ended a ladies
car, guess the mini stroke had something to do with this. BTW he's 62 if it
matters. They took his license for a few months, then the doctor ok'd him to
drive again. Howd ya like having him driving behind your bike! Comforting,
they'll let anyone drive if they can afford it.
Dave
http://www.noweldrecumbent.com

It's true, driving should be a priviledge (it IS, actually, insofar as
one has to be licensed for it), but things have long gotten to the
point that folks think it's their God-given right or something.

I think just one instance of drunken driving should be enough to
permanently revoke the license, for example. Things should be that
strict. Instead, all they do is harp on cyclists wearing helmets and
[censored] like that, while the real problems go unchallenged.

Drunk bicyclists can be a danger to themselves. Many years ago, someone
I knew was stopped at a red light (in her car) and was run into by a
bicycle. Seems the bicyclist was out bar-hopping and didn't want to
drive (ok, that part is a smart move), but he got so drunk he rode right
into the side of her car (put a nice dent it in). He ended up with a
trip to the emergency room.

Janet

"Janet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

NYC XYZ said:

Dave said:

My ex roomate was loosing movement in his legs falling down a lot, and
told
me barely has any feeling in his legs to this day. He rear ended a ladies
car, guess the mini stroke had something to do with this. BTW he's 62 if
it
matters. They took his license for a few months, then the doctor ok'd him
to
drive again. Howd ya like having him driving behind your bike!
Comforting,
they'll let anyone drive if they can afford it.
Dave
http://www.noweldrecumbent.com

It's true, driving should be a priviledge (it IS, actually, insofar as
one has to be licensed for it), but things have long gotten to the
point that folks think it's their God-given right or something.

I think just one instance of drunken driving should be enough to
permanently revoke the license, for example. Things should be that
strict. Instead, all they do is harp on cyclists wearing helmets and
[censored] like that, while the real problems go unchallenged.

Drunk bicyclists can be a danger to themselves. Many years ago, someone I
knew was stopped at a red light (in her car) and was run into by a
bicycle. Seems the bicyclist was out bar-hopping and didn't want to drive
(ok, that part is a smart move), but he got so drunk he rode right into
the side of her car (put a nice dent it in). He ended up with a trip to
the emergency room.

Janet

There was an old guy here in town who rode a trike every day to do his
chores. He had whiskers like Santa Claus. He was always drunk as a skunk and
one day the cops got him and told him he couldn't ride his trike about town
anymore. So now he is walking about town to do his chores. But he is still
as drunk as a skunk.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Janet said:

NYC XYZ said:

Dave said:

My ex roomate was loosing movement in his legs falling down a lot, and told
me barely has any feeling in his legs to this day. He rear ended a ladies
car, guess the mini stroke had something to do with this. BTW he's 62 if it
matters. They took his license for a few months, then the doctor ok'd him to
drive again. Howd ya like having him driving behind your bike! Comforting,
they'll let anyone drive if they can afford it.
Dave
http://www.noweldrecumbent.com

It's true, driving should be a priviledge (it IS, actually, insofar as
one has to be licensed for it), but things have long gotten to the
point that folks think it's their God-given right or something.

I think just one instance of drunken driving should be enough to
permanently revoke the license, for example. Things should be that
strict. Instead, all they do is harp on cyclists wearing helmets and
[censored] like that, while the real problems go unchallenged.

Drunk bicyclists can be a danger to themselves. Many years ago, someone
I knew was stopped at a red light (in her car) and was run into by a
bicycle. Seems the bicyclist was out bar-hopping and didn't want to
drive (ok, that part is a smart move), but he got so drunk he rode right
into the side of her car (put a nice dent it in). He ended up with a
trip to the emergency room.

Janet

Still significantly better than driving while drunk.

(newsgroups trimmed, no recumbent or rbr content)

"Janet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Drunk bicyclists can be a danger to themselves. Many years ago, someone I
knew was stopped at a red light (in her car) and was run into by a
bicycle. Seems the bicyclist was out bar-hopping and didn't want to drive
(ok, that part is a smart move), but he got so drunk he rode right into
the side of her car (put a nice dent it in). He ended up with a trip to
the emergency room.

Here in Seattle, we recently had an incident where a drunk on a bike pushed
a woman under a bus. Of course, all the headlines were on the theme of,
"Cyclist kills pedestrian on sidewalk". Then, the paper published a letter
in which the writer condemns cyclists as being a bunch of irresponsible
scofflaws. But by the paper's own account, the perp "was wobbly while riding
.... and he smelled of alcohol, had watery eyes, slurred his words and had
trouble maintaining his balance. Clearly, this was not a "bicyclist." It was
a drunk person pushing or riding a bike on a sidewalk. For all of us riding
downtown, just trying to get to work, we need this sort of thing?

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Edward Dolan said:

NYC, drunken drivers are the one thing that I fear the most when I am on the
road with motor vehicles. I am death on them. Hells Bells, I drink myself
but I would NEVER drive after having a few drinks.

I've been extremely lucky and have never come across one, whether in a
bike, or driving myself, or under any other circumstances. Almost
every week there's some report of it -- and every other month it turns
out to be an off-duty cop! -- so when I really think about it, it's
almost enough to make me give up bicycle commuting! I don't know why
the law is so lenient on drunken drivers, but here in the City it's a
crime to ride your bike on the sidewalk (thankfully 97% of beat cops
are very sensible in this regard and don't even bat an eyelash). What
happened to all the MADD and SADD campaigns?

If you ever want to kill someone in New York, make sure you do it with
a car. That doctor who blew up his $9 million townhouse to spite his
soon-to-be-ex-wife should have ran her over instead. With a DWI/DUI,
he would have gotten, what, a year in jail or something like that.

Quoted message said:

Did you know that at one time in Nigeria the cops would pull over a drunken
driver and execute him on the spot with a bullet to the head. Now there is
perfect justice!

Great idea -- but Nigeria is one of the most corrupt places in the
world (Colin Powell himself said this on his Africa tour), so I'm not
sure if they even shot the right guy!

Quoted message said:

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Janet said:

Drunk bicyclists can be a danger to themselves. Many years ago, someone
I knew was stopped at a red light (in her car) and was run into by a
bicycle. Seems the bicyclist was out bar-hopping and didn't want to
drive (ok, that part is a smart move), but he got so drunk he rode right
into the side of her car (put a nice dent it in). He ended up with a
trip to the emergency room.

Janet

Wow, that's kind of funny, actually. (Ahem.) I hope he paid for the
damage, as well as fined and whatnot.

I never understood the beer thing at the end of a bike ride (or kayak
trip, for that matter). I never understood alcohol to begin with,
actually. What the hell kind of celebration is that, taking gulps and
gulps of Nyquil???

It takes a pretty warped sense of values to think riding while drunk is
significantly better than driving while drunk. Chances are somebody gets
seriously hurt or dies either way.

"dgk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Still significantly better than driving while drunk.

Edward Dolan said:

NYC, drunken drivers are the one thing that I fear the most when I am on the
road with motor vehicles. I am death on them. Hells Bells, I drink myself
but I would NEVER drive after having a few drinks.

That might be a counterproductive fear. Here's a study that
found that during a 3-year period (1995-1998), driving while
intoxicated was a factor in only 4% of NYC bicyclist fatalities.

http://rightofway.org/research/cyclists.pdf

--
Steven O'Neill [email hidden]
Brooklyn, NY

sfb said:

It takes a pretty warped sense of values to think riding while drunk is
significantly better than driving while drunk. Chances are somebody gets
seriously hurt or dies either way.

Can we get a cite for this? Actually, no we can't, because we
have no idea how many cyclists cycle drunk, and therefore will
never know at what rate "someone" is seriously hurt.

--
Steven O'Neill [email hidden]
Brooklyn, NY

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

It takes a pretty warped sense of values to think riding while drunk is
significantly better than driving while drunk. Chances are somebody gets
seriously hurt or dies either way.

Yes, but on a bike it's usually only the drunk who is hurt, and not
innocent bystanders or other drivers.

Quoted message said:

"dgk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Still significantly better than driving while drunk.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

People are far more distracted with cell phones, pda s, elaborate sound
systems, ect.,, than they used to be. They had a guy dress up as a gorilla
for a test. They had several drivers drive a pre planned route to see if
they noticed anything unusual. None of them seemed to notice during the test
that a guy in a gorilla costume was walking next to the road. They noticed
that people have selective vision only seeing what is expected. The same
thing happened with native indians when ships would sail in the seas. They
only saw ripples in the water but not the boats because they didn't know
anything like it existed or have ever seen one before. After a period of
time the boats started to appear to them. If I find the article I will post
it otherwise if someone is familiar with it please list the link

Dave
http://www.noweldrecumbent.com

"Steven M. O'Neill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Edward Dolan said:

NYC, drunken drivers are the one thing that I fear the most when I am on

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

road with motor vehicles. I am death on them. Hells Bells, I drink myself
but I would NEVER drive after having a few drinks.

That might be a counterproductive fear. Here's a study that
found that during a 3-year period (1995-1998), driving while
intoxicated was a factor in only 4% of NYC bicyclist fatalities.

http://rightofway.org/research/cyclists.pdf

--
Steven O'Neill [email hidden]
Brooklyn, NY

Stop being childish. Dangerous behavior is dangerous behavior regardless of
the stats.

"Steven M. O'Neill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

sfb said:

It takes a pretty warped sense of values to think riding while drunk is
significantly better than driving while drunk. Chances are somebody gets
seriously hurt or dies either way.

Can we get a cite for this? Actually, no we can't, because we
have no idea how many cyclists cycle drunk, and therefore will
never know at what rate "someone" is seriously hurt.

--
Steven O'Neill [email hidden]
Brooklyn, NY

Actually, the person that may be most hurt is the driver that takes out the
cyclist when the cyclist wanders out into traffic. The innocent driver has
to live the rest of their life knowing they killed somebody.

"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

It takes a pretty warped sense of values to think riding while drunk is
significantly better than driving while drunk. Chances are somebody gets
seriously hurt or dies either way.

Yes, but on a bike it's usually only the drunk who is hurt, and not
innocent bystanders or other drivers.

Quoted message said:

"dgk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Still significantly better than driving while drunk.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

Actually, the person that may be most hurt is the driver that takes out the
cyclist when the cyclist wanders out into traffic. The innocent driver has
to live the rest of their life knowing they killed somebody.

In a situation like that, my feeling is that the driver didn't kill the
drunk cyclist; the cyclist killed himself using the driver's car as his
weapon.

And yes, I would feel bad if I was the driver in this situation, but it
wouldn't eat at me for the rest of my life unless I had actually done
something wrong.

....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

sfb said:

Stop being childish. Dangerous behavior is dangerous behavior regardless of
the stats.

If you mean "We don't have stats, but we are sure this behavior is
dangerous," that might be reasonable.

If you mean "The stats show this behavior is safe, but we know it's
really dangerous," that's foolish.

Fortunately, I'm sure you meant the former.

- Frank Krygowski

Claire Petersky said:

... and had
trouble maintaining his balance.

Yea, that's a problem when bicycling drunk. When stopped at a light you can
lose your balance and fall over.

Don <www.donwiss.com> (e-mail link at home page bottom).