NYTimes article
Homeless Dave
morning: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/fashion/10bikewars.html?ref=style
Among the highlights: a weird vignette of a driver instructing his
child to flip off a cyclist; a caption of a cyclist on a sidewalk full
of peds in Manhattan that reads "A confused biker in Manhattan."
Confused is probably apt.
After relentlessly exploring this issue as a cyclist-driver conflict,
the piece starts to wind up with a faint glimmer of optimism in
connection with a group called the Noon Riders, who do what seems like
a RAT on steroids at noontime through downtown Woodside, California,
much to the annoyance of 'anyone in town':
-----
"Mention the noon riders to anyone in town and you'll see the blood
pressure go up," said Susan George, Woodside's town manager. One day,
she said, she rounded a bend and came upon them: "I slammed on the
brakes and they swarmed around me, screaming and yelling obscenities.
My heart was pounding. It was very scary."
In September, Woodside will test a campaign known as Honor the Stop.
It's the brainchild of Marc Evans, a San Francisco endurance coach
whose client was one of two cyclists killed this spring by a driver.
Honor the Stop features a pledge card and a two-tone wristband: black,
for those killed or injured on the road, and red, to represent the
wearer's commitment to obey stop signs.
Woodside will distribute 5,000 bands. "It's not a campaign just for
cyclists," Mr. Evans said. "It's for all road users."
-----
Nope, no optimism to report there, apparently:
-----
Does Ms. George, the town manager, have a fantasy that the noon riders
will wear the bands and politely stop at intersections?
"I have fantasy visions of the noon riders," replied Ms. George, "but
it's not necessarily about wearing these bracelets."
-----
Andy H.
> a RAT on steroids at noontime through downtown Woodside, California,
> much to the annoyance of 'anyone in town':
in full kits with "Noon Riders" in the caption - it's probably a lunch
training ride. There was something in the article about Palo Alto, and
looking at a map, it looks like Woodside, CA is in among the roads for
a lunch ride to go hammer in the mountains.
Local anecdote: The situation in Woodside at noon is probably more
akin to the stop sign at Broad St. and Huron St. in Dexter that the
AAVC group ride blows through. I haven't been on that ride much this
summer, and construction on the bridge might have changed the route,
but I remember the homeowner on the corner who would come out to shout
at the ride "stop signs are for everyone", and 20 guys and gals would
just roll through the stop, turning left without even touching a brake
lever. He'd come out and shout every week, and the group would
continue to ignore him. Even when the letter to the sheriff, who wrote/
called AAVC leadership, who lectured the group at the start of the
ride, who then full-stopped the group there once, the next ride it was
back to roll-through-as-usual, and the yelling. Getting single
cyclists to stop at stop lights is nothing compared to the willful
disregard a dozen training roadies have for stop signs.
> Does Ms. George, the town manager, have a fantasy that the noon riders
> will wear the bands and politely stop at intersections?
> "I have fantasy visions of the noon riders," replied Ms. George, "but
> it's not necessarily about wearing these bracelets."
and not bother the town any more, but I can see how that can she could
just as easily be having fantasy visions of vehicular violence.
Jeff Gaynor
* Every town in Germany, it seemed, had pedestrian only zones, where the
businesses thrived: shops of all sorts, cafes and restaurants, and
more. Imagine an outdoor mall - but this was in the city centers.
* In Germany, people of all ages ride bikes. It is nothing to see men
and women in their 40's, 50's, 60's and older riding as a matter of
course, whether recreationally, commuting, or shopping. On a 50 km
ride with friends (we're in our 50's) we road on roads only briefly, a
little more on bike paths marked on the roads, on sidewalk bike lanes,
on bike paths mostly paved and wide the most, and even through
cornfields once - a recognized short cut.
* In Munich, on many roads, there are colored sidewalk bike paths. The
guidebook warned, "Bicyclists will ring their bells before knocking you
unconscious." This seems to be true - as they were going fast! As
pedestrians we learned to be alert. But I also had the chance to rent a
bike and had no trouble navigating in heavy traffic: on the paths, or on
the road when necessary.
* Amsterdam: oh my! There were masses of bicycles everywhere - with
separate crowded bike paths as common as roads, tram tracks, and
sideswalks. Crossing the street took a great deal of alertness and
finesse. As busy intersections there were separate signal lights for
cars, bicyclists and pedestrians, not always on the same cycle. It was
one place you didn't dare walk against a red light, as you didn't know
what might be coming from any direction. Bicyclists mostly stopped for
their signal, but you couldn't absolutely count on it. I did not rent
a bike there - in part because traffic was so incessant in so many modes
and directions, that unless you knew clearly where you were headed, you
would be at least an obstruction, if not an accident victim.
It was certainly refreshing to spend 3 weeks in places where bicycling
was common, expected, and respected - where pedestrians, bicyclists,
trams, buses and trains were part of the transportation mix, along with
cars.
-Jeff Gaynor
TeacherPatti
factors, including summer road rage and the “my hurry matters more
than your hurry” syndrome, exacerbated when drivers feel captive to
slower-moving cyclists."
That's the quote that interested me. It seems to me that a lot of this
hostility stems from plain old-fashioned road rage, a very sad sign of
our times.
During the 70s energy crisis, more people started biking, right? (I
was busy being born/running around/driving my parents crazy in the
70s, so I really don't know :)). If so, was there this kind of
hostility??
Patti
Mike Meiser
BTW, I called the cops for the first time on a motorist. Some jerks
in a green dodge that felt it necessary to make three passes.
The third time they turned around I took pictures and waved.
Unforetuneatly the license plate was not readable, but I did give the
police a very good description of them and their truck which had some
very particular features. I'm absolutely sure they were local people
from the immediate area too. Since it's on my commuter route the
chances I'll spot them again are very high.
The fact that they were swinging around some sort of cable or chain
the last time they drove by makes it a grade a felony.
Got to get quicker with the camera... Also, I think it's time to get
one of those plastic bottle pump air horns that do 115 decibles. I
was wondering wether I'd just use it in a retributive manner... I have
to admit... yeah, I would... and who cares. At this point I want to
evoke said a-holes to slow down, even stop and get out of their car.
It'll give me more of a chance to take pictures, call 911 and then
kick their *ss. In self defense of course. :)
Peace,
-Mike
mmeiser.com/blog
fjs
that can be worn on a helmet, to ask about modifications and marketing
a camera for bicycle accident documentation. My idea was to bike
mount the device, which would have a fairly wide angle lense and that
would record images in a looped memory, maybe 10 min loop. The loop
could be stopped by either a manual switch or some inertial switch,
triggered in a crash.
Got no takers. Yet.
And although your image might not show the plate number, what about
image analysis? I think I've seen that on, say, 24 Hours, where they
blow up an image and then use some algorithm to make the fuzzy details
more discernable. Is that just sci-fi? Point is .. your image might
be enough to get at least some of the digits of the plate.
Please post a follow up on this incident. I'm very curious to see if
the AAPD or sherif will pursue it. I truly hope they do.
Finally, I do have an air horn, pumped to about 65 lbs air pressure.
Very, very handy tool! I use it vindictively and as a device to get a
driver's attention. Like the *sshole who blocked the crosswalk on
Fuller last fall, and just sat there instead of turning right when
traffic allowed, because he was involved with his cell phone
conversation. I think I ran out of air that time. The 115 dB horn is
also a notch up from the bell when encountering a jogger with
earbuds. A gentle tap elicits a less than startling "toot" but way
louder than my bell's "ding-ding."
>
> - Show quoted text -
Phillip Farber
Steve Bean
> Interesting article.
>
> BTW, I called the cops for the first time on a motorist. Some jerks
> in a green dodge that felt it necessary to make three passes.
>
> The third time they turned around I took pictures and waved.
> Unforetuneatly the license plate was not readable, but I did give the
> police a very good description of them and their truck which had some
> very particular features. I'm absolutely sure they were local people
> from the immediate area too. Since it's on my commuter route the
> chances I'll spot them again are very high.
>
> The fact that they were swinging around some sort of cable or chain
> the last time they drove by makes it a grade a felony.
>
> Got to get quicker with the camera... Also, I think it's time to get
> one of those plastic bottle pump air horns that do 115 decibles. I
> was wondering wether I'd just use it in a retributive manner... I have
> to admit... yeah, I would... and who cares.
I do.
Be quick with your cell phone first--to call 911. Just the sight of
you using it will most likely get them moving along. They can always
take your camera after they run you over.
> At this point I want to
> evoke said a-holes to slow down, even stop and get out of their car.
> It'll give me more of a chance to take pictures, call 911 and then
> kick their *ss. In self defense of course. :)
They have their reasons for posturing, which none of us will ever
know (or can even imagine, probably.) If that's all it is, that's all
it is.
>
> Peace,
Yes, good idea. Air horns and such won't achieve it though.
Steve
Andy H.
> image analysis? I think I've seen that on, say, 24 Hours, where they
> blow up an image and then use some algorithm to make the fuzzy details
> more discernable. Is that just sci-fi?
and suddenly the image is crystal clear.
In the image processing/machine vision world, you can do things like
simple contrast normalization or dilation/erosion. With multiple
images you can add them to extract low signal foreground features. But
with only a single, noisy, uncorrelated image, you can't create more
detail("information") in the image than was there to begin with...
unless it's on TV.
fjs
in this case, if the plate is a MI plate, then the possible forms on
it are limited; 26 letters and 10 digits in a standard font. It might
be possible to discern a probable number of plates, maybe a hundred or
so, and then just check against the vehicle description. Anyhow,
that's what I would do.
Okay .. I've been watching too many CSIs!