The facebook prompt says what have you been up to? Ok, been riding, fixing bikes and working on canoes. Been enjoying the fact that Gretchen is off for the Summer and the time we get to spend together. But what is what have you been up to? Its marketing. I do notice that short posts that have very little consequence (vapid?) have the most appeal to folks who follow a site. I admit, that disappoints me. I wish people would get all worked up about stuff like how to make riding better or safer finer points of maintaining bikes how should my bike fit? Stuff like that excites me. Theres some stuff Ive got to get off my chest. On facebook, someone posted that the San Diego area has, for 2014, $22M in grant money for bicycle infrastructure. Only a few posts had been made regarding the subject. I put my opinion there. I wrote that I would like to see at least half of that money spent to do two things: Advertise, on TV and possibly other media, to the driving public, messages that would educate drivers and cyclists about how to safely interact. The other half, Id like to spend on making a better - much better - driver license test. I said we dont need better roads. We need better drivers! More about that test later. Wow! That post made people sit up and take notice! Discussion flourished and the topic was thoroughly explored. Thats what Id like to be able to report. But, guess what? NOT ONE person commented on what I had written. They were all spending that money on separating bike traffic from car traffic. Separating bicycle traffic from car traffic. Doesnt that sound like a good idea? Bikeways Bike Paths A virtual parkway for bicycles. Great! Car drivers wouldnt have to learn to deal with road users who dont have metal cages and air bags. Bicycles make it really inconvenient for car drivers who dont want to learn the rules of the road. Why should they have to know how to drive around other road users that they can crush? Its not reasonable to expect car drivers to learn the rules. Can you sense the more about that test later part of this? OK, the new thing is sharrows. Great. I love em. I only love some of em, though. Others endanger me. In Oceanside, on Pacific St. they are misplaced. They are too far to the right. That indicates to drivers and cyclists alike that we should ride in the door zone. That is exactly what sharrows are intended to prevent! Yet, Oceanside has painted the street in a way that endangers cyclists! Insult to injury. From time to time OPD has programs to ticket cyclists who dont make perfect stops at stop signs on Pacific St. Do they extend the same expectation of perfect stops to cars during that program of ticketing cyclists ($400.00!)? From what Ive heard, they do not. A few months ago, as Gretchen and I were coasting down Melrose toward Rancho Buena Vista High School, a woman passed us and cut off Gretchen in a most dangerous way as she turned her car right to go up into a shopping center driveway. I followed the lady up the driveway and at the stop sign, I asked her if she realized she had endangered Gretchen. Heres how the exchange went: I used my turn signal. I just dont know how to drive around you bicycle people. I can tell you how to drive around cyclists. You should have waited and gone into the driveway after we passed it. Ive done the math. Its two and a half seconds delay for you. Would it be worth it to hurt or kill someone so you can get somewhere two and a half seconds sooner? (This point would be one of the first Id hope to get across in public service announcements if we spent some of that 22 million for better drivers.) Seriously. I have done the math. When people drive cars, they lose some of their judgment. Or, maybe they get a feeling that their forward progress is somehow the most important thing - more important than the safety of others. That goes for other car occupants and pedestrians as well. I should say that goes for car occupants in SMALLER cars. Make no mistake. This is about size. Size is its own subject but super related. Ill try to wrap this up. Driver license test: What a joke our driver license test is! Drivers pass without knowing that cyclists use left turn lanes. Actually, the test doesnt ensure that drivers know ANYTHING about what cyclists are allowed to do and how we should ride. Frankly, it would help many bicyclists if they took a driver test that taught them how to ride lawfully on roads with cars! A driver who passed the test should know how to properly use turn signals! They should know how important it is that they use them, as well. Lets make the driver test WAY harder and WAY more relevant. Well all benefit. Im not against bikeways and such. But I want to have a safe ride ON THE WAY to the bikeways. I want to have a safe ride to work. Children who ride to school should not be subject to drivers whose attention is absorbed by sending or reading a text. Bikeways are nice. But, more than that, we need better drivers. WE NEED BETTER DRIVERS! Chuck
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 05:08:20 +0000
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