Re: [OT] A significant negative impact on Linux's popularity?
David Brodbeck wrote in Article
<[🔎] A49762E3-2706-4CF5-A8A2-E84D7C8DF7EA@u.washington.edu> posted to
gmane.linux.debian.user:
>
> On Jul 15, 2007, at 8:15 PM, Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
>> A bicycle legally
>> owns the entire lane they are riding in (in many areas where I've
>> ridden)
>
> Hmm. In most places I've driven bicyclists are required to share a
> lane, and are *not* entitled to an entire lane by law.
Either you do not drive in Washington State as your email address implies,
your you missed that question on the Washington driver's test. Bicycles
are required to take the entire lane when the lane is too narrow for a
motor vehicle to safely pass in the same lane.
> It strikes me that it would really hold up traffic if they were entitled
> to an entire lane, since passing is not generally allowed on city streets.
> Cars would end up stuck behind a bicycle going 10-15 mph, unable to
> legally get by. And unlike cyclists, drivers are not always given a
> free pass by the police for breaking traffic laws.
Cyclists aren't given a free pass, I've got two tickets from 1997 and a
speeding ticket from 7th grade to prove it. Turned left against a no left
turn sign I didn't see too late on a traffic light in '97, was unaware that
children were legally required to slow down for themselves in a school zone
back in 7th grade. Bicyclists are still required to use the first safe
turnout to allow traffic to pass once there's 5 cars behind them, just like
the motorists are. And in my experience as a cyclist and a professional
driver, the cyclists are MUCH more likely to follow the slow vehicle
shoulder driving law than your average Johnny Motorists. I'd estimate
based on what I see driving the I-5 Cascadian corridor that 90% of the
slow-moving cyclists use turnouts versus maybe 1% of the slow-moving
motorists.
> Pro-cyclist groups like Critical Mass seem to feel that cyclists have
> the right to block traffic that has a green light so other cyclists
> can run a red. This sticks in my craw. If they want to be treated
> with the same respect as other motorists they shouldn't be able to
> decide the law doesn't apply to them. Just sayin' it.
Or at least they should understand that only California recognizes a 'mob of
bicycles' as a single vehicle. Not that anybody, even the motorists,
bother to obey the traffic lights in that state.
--
Paul Johnson
Email and IM (XMPP & Google Talk): baloo@ursine.ca
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