Frugal yet effective bike facilities
His Highness the TibetanMonkey, originator of the Stop the Bullshit Campaign
this puts an end to all the bullshit surrounding bike facilities)
Yep, I went to South Beach last night and I'm happy to say that the
"bike facilities" on Washington Ave have been both effective and
frugal. It's just a bicycle painted on the traffic lane, which I take
it to mean "bicycles belong." In effect I saw people riding leisurely,
and saw NO PEOPLE ON SIDEWALK.
This is something that we need all over the beach for it to become
bicycle friendly. I went all the way down on Indian Creek through
Alton Rd to South Beach and it amounts to a suicidal mission. I find
it IMPOSSIBLE to get from here to there. So expect very few sightings
of me at South Beach.
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His Highness the TibetanMonkey, originator of the Stop the Bullshit Campaign
this puts an end to all the bullshit surrounding bike facilities)
Yep, I went to South Beach last night and I'm happy to say that the
"bike facilities" on Washington Ave have been both effective and
frugal. It's just a bicycle painted on the traffic lane, which I take
it to mean "bicycles belong." In effect I saw people riding leisurely,
and saw NO CYCLISTS ON SIDEWALK.
This is something that we need all over the beach for it to become
bicycle friendly. I went all the way down on Indian Creek through
Alton Rd to South Beach and it amounts to a suicidal mission. I find
it IMPOSSIBLE to get from here to there. So expect very few sightings
of me at South Beach.
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His Highness the TibetanMonkey, originator of the Stop the Bullshit Campaign
"Yes the new bike signs are completely useless. What a waste of
money!"
Hey, it's not what I said. I've been debating this with the pros for
10 years so I pretty much know what we need and I also I know that an
excuse NOT to do something is to say there's no money. We could dream
about proper bike lanes but we are not a priority in the jungle.
In the meantime we need to coexist with cars, and TAKING THE LANE is
the best strategy to survive in said jungle. The cyclists (the types A
& B --lycra type and messengers-- won't want to hear about bike lanes)
go arguing for ever as to what is best and we are waiting. Few argue
though that the safest place to be in right in the middle of the lane,
where you have high visibility and the car leaves the lane. The 3 feet
law is pure BS. Nobody can measure that with a tape. And bike lanes
create a dangerous conflict at corners. Having those signs though, I
argue, amounts to encouraging cyclists to take the lane. THE THING IS
TO BRING THE PEOPLE OUT. The worst aggression I had against me was
from a driver who thought I shouldn't be on the road (I shouldn't be
over the bridges at 96st ST causeway), so he was technically right and
it's still that way. When they think you belong though you earn
immediate respect and have more space.
Notice the sign is in the middle of the lane. Only a fool would ride
next to the cars where they could open the door anytime. Yesterday I
was forced to take the lane briefly (at Alton Rd) to avoid parked cars
and this dumb lady blasted the horn at me. We need to start somewhere.
I think this is going to be the way into a full blast TAKE THE LANE
policy. We can take a free ride with the Egyptian revolution, don't
you think?
In Holland the car is always at fault when hitting a cyclist until
proven otherwise. Nice policy, huh? At the same time, we have to keep
the reckless cyclists under control and issue tickets (or impound
their bicycles --I'm talking about the bums who are broke) for those
reckless enough to go without lights, or are camouflaged in dark
colors.
Coexistence of different species may not be easy, but the Law of the
Jungle is worse. Imagine we could ride from South Beach to Haulover --
or perhaps Hollywood Beach-- and not worry about cars. I mean the cars
worry about you because they are behind you and they orderly exit the
lane and re-enter. I've tried this and it works most of the time: THE
MORE YOU LAY CLAIM TO THE LANE THE MORE RESPECT YOU ARE GIVEN.
The problem is that such strategy works with 90% of the drivers, but
10% of them act as animals and that's when we must use the whip. This
means there has to be some kind of enforcement for the whole thing to
work.
And now off I go on my monkey bike (I got three, so we are talking
about A, B & C).
His Highness the TibetanMonkey, originator of the Stop the Bullshit Campaign
> "His Highness the TibetanMonkey, originator of the Stop the Bullshit
>
> Campaign" <nolionnoprob...@yahoo.com> writes:
> > Yep, I went to South Beach last night and I'm happy to say that the
> > "bike facilities" on Washington Ave have been both effective and
> > frugal. It's just a bicycle painted on the traffic lane, which I take
> > it to mean "bicycles belong."
>
> if drivers just get mad and continue to act aggressively towards
> cyclists ("damn kids' toy using _my road_; how dare they disrespect my
> massive SUV!"), then many people will still be reluctant to cycle there.
>
> The markings probably help a bit, but the problem is cultural...
True. It's a pure TERRITORIAL CONFLICT between two species.
Notice they could co-exist (Key West, bikes and SUVs from outside) or
intimidate the other onto the sidewalks (where I live).
Some among the little species though put us down and ride rusting
bikes without proper care or equipment.