[PLUG-TALK] Used bicycles in Portland?

Michael M. Moore michael at writemoore.net
Sat Aug 29 18:44:37 UTC 2009


On Fri, Aug 28, 2009 at 3:25 PM, John Jason Jordan<johnxj at comcast.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:17:29 -0700
> John Jason Jordan <johnxj at comcast.net> dijo:
>
>> >    The first time you crash and scrape from ankle to hip, and need to shave
>> > around the wound so it doesn't get infected, you'll appreciate not having to
>> > do the shaving around abraded tissue.
>>
>> Perhaps this bicycle riding thing was not one of my better ideas.
>
> More seriously, I went out for a couple of km. today and discovered
> something. The last time I really rode a bike was 20 years ago. I find
> that 20 years ago I was considerably more intrepid than I am today. I
> am no longer willing to trust my ears to tell me if there is a car
> behind me. And if there is a car behind me, I am no longer willing to
> trust that the driver will leave me enough room to get past a parked
> car. Also, apparently my neck is not as flexible, because it is really
> hard to turn and look behind.

After much back-and-forth, I have settled on the method for dealing
with this I feel most comfortable with, most of the time anyway.  I
don't yield -- that is, I don't move over to the right so far that I
will have to move back to the left to get by a parked car.  I used to
veer as far to the right as practical, then have to move left to get
around a parked car, leaving me uncertain about signaling protocol
(after all, I wasn't changing lanes, but I was moving from a
"non-through-traffic area" back into a "traffic area," so was I
supposed to signal?) and about trusting the driver behind me to leave
me enough room to get past.  Now I just hold my ground, even if there
is a good stretch of road ahead of me clear of parked cars.

I find, as a motorist, cyclist, and pedestrian, that the qualities I
appreciate most about people navigating through public space are
consistency and predictability.  People veering all over the place,
changing lanes excessively, speeding up or slowing down unexpectedly,
weaving about left to right to left to right, make me nervous.  (Note:
I'm not really a motorist anymore, except very occasionally, since I
don't have a car and rarely rent or have need of one.)

Once in a while, I encounter an impatient motorist who seems to think
the road belongs to him and I that I should move out of his way, but
the vast majority seem content to slow down, if required, until they
can get by comfortably.  Most of the time, the oncoming lane is clear
and they don't even need to slow down.  Often I am not traveling
significantly slower than traffic, anyway.

It's not a strategy that works or is best-suited to all roads at all
times, but nothing is.  More often than not, it seems to eliminate
confusion, which is often the root cause of accidents (when that cause
isn't blatant recklessness).  Sometimes, in trying to be too polite,
one can just confuse the situation.  I wish more drivers who do things
like try to yield their right-of-way to me at inappropriate times
would realize that.  Sometimes, inadvertently, you can kill or injure
with kindness.

Michael M.
-- 
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within
limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add
'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's
will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
--Thomas Jefferson



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