In article <12dgp1ko4qejd32@news.supernews.com>, Jeff Grippe wrote:
Ultimately you should (IMHO) ride however you feel safe. You should also
avoid cars wherever possible and be very very cautious around them when
you
can't. There are some bad drivers out there. In a car, my accident would
have been a fender bender with limited damage. On my three wheeled big,
high, trike, you know what happened. I suspect that someone on two wheels
would have been killed.
I will not, I will never go back to riding in stay-away-from cars mode.
It is a way that I will get hit by one. You keep forgeting I used to ride
the way you're recommending. _EVERY_ time I rode I was nearly hit. Not
just some nearly grazed or forced to move right as I am while biking
vehicularly, but T-bone hits as a driver wouldn't see me over on the
sidewalk as they turned off a main road, approached a main road or
barreled out of a driveway.
I started riding vehicularly, and for all my complaints about drivers,
it's light years better and safer. I've traded near misses of T-bone
impacts for the occasional yelling driver or needing to use the reserve
room to my right. I can actually ride 25+mph instead of being speed
limited on the sidewalk and street parallel bike paths (same thing really)
where even 15mph is too dangerous without even considering the people on
foot, the dogs, the children, etc.
You can't convince me to go back to that nonsense. You keep acting as if
I never did it your way. But see, I have.
What happened to you is statistically rarer than being hit while crossing
or entering a road. Riding to stay away from cars means crossing a
potentional path of a motor vehicle every few yards in some cases.
Several times a mile minimum, riding where few drivers if any look.
Here:
http://www.tfhrc.gov/safety/pedbike/ctanbike/ctanbike.htm
Ride out at residential driveway. 5.1%
Ride out at commmerical driveway. 2.3%
Ride out from sidewalk. 0.7%
Ride out at midblock 4.4%
Drive out at midblock 6.9%
TOTAL 19.4%
vs.
Motorist Overtaking Failed To Detect 1.3%
Motorist Overtaking - Misjudged Passing Space 1.2%
Motorist Overtaking - Other 1.3%
Motorist Overtaking - Counteractive Evasive Actions 2.0%
TOTAL: 5.8%
Obviously, the greater risk is in that dodge 'em on and off, crossing
roads stay-out-of-the-way-of-cars sort of riding. That's where many more
collisions occur. Hit from behind isn't even close to the same frequency.
In his own acerbic way, Ed is trying to make a contribution, much the way
eating a lemon would give you vitamin C.
About 11 years ago or so I defended what you are recommending in the
bicycling newsgroups and was soundly trounced by the vehicular
bicyclists. I came around and tried their method out of frustration. It
was simply a horrible riding experience where I had moved to trying to
get by on sidewalks, parkinglots, bike paths and subdivision streets that
didn't go through to anywhere. What the hell happened? The groups get
taken over by a bunch of POBs? Or are they just not chiming in because I
also like cars?