While doing some reconnaissance on the 10 freeway, Bike Girl noticed some confusing new signage. The CalTrans signs typically used to announce Amber Alerts or how long it takes to get from the sign to, say, Downtown L.A., are now encouraging drivers to pick up their cell phones.
The signs say For Traffic Info, Call 5-1-1.
Bike Girl was confused. The state has outlawed the use of hand held cell phones while driving, and even permitted hands-free cell devices are shown to contribute to crash rates. A study shows 98 percent of drivers cannot multitask effectively enough to carry on a cell phone conversation while driving. Yet a state agency is encouraging drivers to pick up their phones.
Bike Girl has carried out her own studies on cell phone usage among drivers. Whenever she has come the closest to being hit on surface streets, it has been by drivers on the phone. Even Bike Girl's own mother, who is typically an excellent driver, is known to swerve when she picks up the phone, though she will deny that.
Bike Girl wants to know, whose decision was it to encourage distracted driving on signs on the freeway?
Showing posts with label reckless drivers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reckless drivers. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Bike Girl Is Invisible
There are many times when our fair protagonist, Bike Girl, must go under cover. In these instances, she attempts to travel unseen and undifferentiated from the masses. Bike Girl is actually the first female to be awarded the title Master Of Disguise by the ISA (International Spy Association.)
When exercising her prowess at the art of disappearance, it is a given that people do not notice her. However, in her daily life, Bike Girl is somewhat more noticeable. As readers well-know, she enjoys riding all over town in a dress. Any red-blooded male driver would notice a femme-fatale riding about town on a bicycle in a dress. But on one fateful day in June, one particular male driver proved otherwise.
To add to her visibility on this fateful day, Bike Girl was carrying a full pannier on each side of her rear rack. One pannier contained her extremely large, bright green purse. The other pannier contained a Spider Plant so large, it could not be contained by the pannier. This plant, larger than the most comical Halloween afro wig, spilled out of the top of the pannier and its tendrils blew behind Bike Girl in the wind. It was a sight to see, if you saw it.
As she towed her cargo down a road with a Class I bike lane, a vehicle overtook her on the left. As it did so it began to merge into the bike lane. Un-phased, Bike Girl expertly applied the brakes so as to avoid disaster. As the driver pulled into a parallel parking spot, Bike Girl pulled over, approximately 1 car length ahead of him.
(Bike Girl has learned that drivers are somewhat protective of their vehicles, so she made sure to pull over far enough away so as to get the driver's attention without appearing threatening. )
The driver, now suddenly seeing Bike Girl, jumped out of his car with a look of horror on his face. "What happened!?" he exclaimed. Bike Girl calmly told him, in a very sweet voice, that he had come within an inch of hitting her as he merged.
She explained, "We cyclists are very vulnerable on the road, so please watch out for us in the future and make sure to give us a little space."
The driver, like a schoolchild being gently scolded, replied that he was very, very sorry, and that in the future, he would watch more closely for cyclists. Bike Girl was satisfied with this response. She thanked him and rode on.
Later that evening, as our fair protagonist recounted the odd experience to her Significant Other, she wondered aloud what it would take to be more visible on the road. If a woman riding a bicycle in a bike lane wearing a bright pink dress and carting a giant plant cannot be seen, who can? Bike Girl often rides in spandex, but refuses to don one of the day-glo colored jackets or vests worn by some roadies. After the dress/plant getup, she's not sure even the day-glo would have helped.
What then is the solution? Bike Girl thinks vehicular cycling should be taught in PE class in middle schools. That way, a new generation of drivers will be aware of the proper ways to pass cyclists. Bike Girl would also like a series of posters on how to safely pass cyclists at the DMV. But if a driver cannot see a cyclist, even when the cyclist is making every effort to be visible, how can he execute a safe pass?
When exercising her prowess at the art of disappearance, it is a given that people do not notice her. However, in her daily life, Bike Girl is somewhat more noticeable. As readers well-know, she enjoys riding all over town in a dress. Any red-blooded male driver would notice a femme-fatale riding about town on a bicycle in a dress. But on one fateful day in June, one particular male driver proved otherwise.
To add to her visibility on this fateful day, Bike Girl was carrying a full pannier on each side of her rear rack. One pannier contained her extremely large, bright green purse. The other pannier contained a Spider Plant so large, it could not be contained by the pannier. This plant, larger than the most comical Halloween afro wig, spilled out of the top of the pannier and its tendrils blew behind Bike Girl in the wind. It was a sight to see, if you saw it.
As she towed her cargo down a road with a Class I bike lane, a vehicle overtook her on the left. As it did so it began to merge into the bike lane. Un-phased, Bike Girl expertly applied the brakes so as to avoid disaster. As the driver pulled into a parallel parking spot, Bike Girl pulled over, approximately 1 car length ahead of him.
(Bike Girl has learned that drivers are somewhat protective of their vehicles, so she made sure to pull over far enough away so as to get the driver's attention without appearing threatening. )
The driver, now suddenly seeing Bike Girl, jumped out of his car with a look of horror on his face. "What happened!?" he exclaimed. Bike Girl calmly told him, in a very sweet voice, that he had come within an inch of hitting her as he merged.
She explained, "We cyclists are very vulnerable on the road, so please watch out for us in the future and make sure to give us a little space."
The driver, like a schoolchild being gently scolded, replied that he was very, very sorry, and that in the future, he would watch more closely for cyclists. Bike Girl was satisfied with this response. She thanked him and rode on.
Later that evening, as our fair protagonist recounted the odd experience to her Significant Other, she wondered aloud what it would take to be more visible on the road. If a woman riding a bicycle in a bike lane wearing a bright pink dress and carting a giant plant cannot be seen, who can? Bike Girl often rides in spandex, but refuses to don one of the day-glo colored jackets or vests worn by some roadies. After the dress/plant getup, she's not sure even the day-glo would have helped.
What then is the solution? Bike Girl thinks vehicular cycling should be taught in PE class in middle schools. That way, a new generation of drivers will be aware of the proper ways to pass cyclists. Bike Girl would also like a series of posters on how to safely pass cyclists at the DMV. But if a driver cannot see a cyclist, even when the cyclist is making every effort to be visible, how can he execute a safe pass?
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Bike Girl Chooses The Wrong Battle
Sometimes, even a fearless protagonist like Bike Girl needs to stand down. While it is true Bike Girl has a right to be in the road, and many drivers deserve to be yelled at and have their windows tapped, there are some times when standing one's ground, can prove to be the wrong decision.
Last night, as Bike Girl went on a run to cross-train, she found herself in a crosswalk near a busy grocery store. As she made her way across the street, a driver zoomed right in front of her instead of stopping and yielding the right of way.
Bike Girl yelled, "Hey, I'm a pedestrian! You have to watch out! You could hit somebody!"
The young man driving the black luxury vehicle yelled an obscenity at Bike Girl, that translates roughly to, "I don't care."
Bike Girl, wearing fleecy mittens, hit the trunk of his car with her hand as he sped away. He immediately slammed on the brakes in the middle of traffic, and he and his two friends piled out of the car. They surrounded Bike Girl. The driver of the car, who was about 3 inches shorter than our fair protagonist, began spitting obscenities in her face, coming progressively closer. Bike Girl looked right in his eyes, unafraid, and the short driver got close, stood on his toes, pressed his nose against hers while screaming at her, poked her eye with his pinkie and tried to rip off her glasses.
That was enough stoic standing of ground for Bike Girl. She pushed him back and told her not to touch her, and repeatedly yelled, "Get away from me!"
This attracted some attention. Other drivers had stopped and started yelling at the man. His friend appeared to be filming the incident with a cell phone, as if he had some desire to document how his 4'11" friend stood up to a lone female pedestrian who dared to touch his vehicle with her fleecy mitten.
Perhaps because Bike Girl's push was so powerful, perhaps because he finally came to his senses, and perhaps because a driver threatened to call the police, he backed off, got in his car, and sped away.
Bike Girl did not get the license plate of the car, and not a single witness had actually called the police to report the incident.
There will be zero consequences for this driver. He will likely go on to road rage another day, and Bike Girl prays that he never kills anyone.
Bike Girl didn't do anything out of the ordinary on this occasion. She regularly taps on cars to get drivers attention. She feels strongly that they should be made aware when they are doing something incredibly dangerous or stupid. But in this case, Bike Girl's actions turned out to be the stupid ones.
When the car stopped, she should have run away. The driver could have been more violent, or just as violent but drunk, and actually caused her physical harm. She also should have gotten the license plate number. Because that is the only way he could have been caught.
Bike Girl wants to assert her rights, but only in a safe way. From hearing other similar accounts, there seems to be a pattern of things that will make the driver become intentionally violent. The two most provocative actions one can take, are flipping the bird, or touching the car.
Bike Girl's significant other likes to give a thumbs down to bad drivers. That gets the message across without being quite as provocative. Our fearless protagonist is slightly more fearful on the road, and is not sure how she will react the next time a driver threatens her life with a deadly weapon, his car.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Bike Girl Is Happy
Bike Girl is happy. She's happy because someone who used his car as a weapon has been convicted.
Dr. Christopher Thompson admitted to racing down Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California in his car July 4th of 2008 at about 45 miles per hour. The road is a popular winding 5 mile climb. The speed limit is 30. Two cyclists, both very experienced, were also headed down the hill, going between 29 and 30 miles per hour. Thompson, who was speeding, decided that the cyclists were not going fast enough. They exchanged words, Thompson pulled in front of them and slammed on the brakes.
One cyclist's face went through Thompson's rear windshield and the other cyclist flipped over and badly hurt his shoulder. Thompson told the responding police officer he did it to teach the cyclists a lesson.
Bike Girl would like to point out that these cyclists did absolutely nothing wrong. Below is the applicable part of the California Vehicle Code.
21202. (a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations: ...
Now Bike Girl is not going to bother to include the rest of it because this part already shows the cyclists were perfectly fine riding in the middle of the road. If they are riding at a speed of normal traffic, which one assumes would be law abiding traffic, they do not need to move as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway. Normal traffic is not allowed to go faster than 30, and the cyclists were going between 29 and 30.
Bike Girl wishes that more drivers were educated about the rules of the road. She thinks if they knew this short vehicle code provision, there would be less animosity between traffic modes. However, Bike Girl knows there will always be jerks on the road, like Doctor Christopher Thompson.
Thompson faces 10 years in state prison for the 6 felonies and 1 misdemeanor he was convicted of.
Read more about the case here
Dr. Christopher Thompson admitted to racing down Mandeville Canyon in Brentwood, California in his car July 4th of 2008 at about 45 miles per hour. The road is a popular winding 5 mile climb. The speed limit is 30. Two cyclists, both very experienced, were also headed down the hill, going between 29 and 30 miles per hour. Thompson, who was speeding, decided that the cyclists were not going fast enough. They exchanged words, Thompson pulled in front of them and slammed on the brakes.
One cyclist's face went through Thompson's rear windshield and the other cyclist flipped over and badly hurt his shoulder. Thompson told the responding police officer he did it to teach the cyclists a lesson.
Bike Girl would like to point out that these cyclists did absolutely nothing wrong. Below is the applicable part of the California Vehicle Code.
21202. (a) Any person operating a bicycle upon a roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway except under any of the following situations: ...
Now Bike Girl is not going to bother to include the rest of it because this part already shows the cyclists were perfectly fine riding in the middle of the road. If they are riding at a speed of normal traffic, which one assumes would be law abiding traffic, they do not need to move as close as practicable to the right hand curb or edge of the roadway. Normal traffic is not allowed to go faster than 30, and the cyclists were going between 29 and 30.
Bike Girl wishes that more drivers were educated about the rules of the road. She thinks if they knew this short vehicle code provision, there would be less animosity between traffic modes. However, Bike Girl knows there will always be jerks on the road, like Doctor Christopher Thompson.
Thompson faces 10 years in state prison for the 6 felonies and 1 misdemeanor he was convicted of.
Read more about the case here
Friday, October 16, 2009
Bike Girl Needs A Pep Talk
Today on Bike Girl’s commute to work, a driver looked right into her eyes at a stop light and told her that her life was not worth a 1 second delay. Bike Girl asked how much that moment would cost her, and guessed the amount was less than five cents. She then asked if a human being’s life is worth five cents. This middle aged female driver said no.
This exchange took place just after the woman in her snazzy gold sedan merged into Bike Girl with no turn signal, nearly smashing into her front wheel, less than 5 feet from a red light, where the driver had to stop, still straddling the lanes.
“Lady, you were in the middle of the road,” the woman said. This is true. Bike Girl was in the middle of the right lane on a 5 lane road with construction on the tiny shoulder. The middle of the far right lane is exactly where Bike Girl should have been.
Bike Girl, like any cyclist, endures a lot of abuse from drivers, and she endures it on a regular basis. She endures it with a smile and a wave, and occasionally a yell of, “aaaaah!” Bike Girl also makes a conscious effort to obey the rules of the road. She even uses hand signals to turn in a town where drivers seem to believe their signals, speed limits, and even license plates are optional.
But today’s stony-faced, gray-haired, female driver found Bike Girl’s breaking point. Her blunt response that she would rather kill Bike Girl than be 1 second late sent our usually fearless protagonist to the curb, sobbing for 40 minutes.
Bike Girl sobbed because she’s tired of fighting. She’s tired of risking her life to get to work. She’s tired of memorizing license plate numbers of truck drivers who hit-and-run her and laugh. She’s tired of explaining the law to confused police officers. She’s tired of hearing that making her commute safer is infeasible. She’s tired of politicians who can get credit for being bike-friendly without actually doing anything to improve the bike-ability of their district.
Today an emergency room doctor is on trial for intentionally slamming on the brakes in front of two experienced cyclists and sending them to the ER.
Today a beautiful child is an orphan because of a truck driver’s inattention, and that truck driver is home with his family.
Somewhere a cyclist will be killed and journalists will ask if that cyclist was wearing a helmet. They will be shocked to hear that the cyclist died despite wearing that magical piece of styrofoam.
Please help fight this fight. Because while Bike Girl loves to ride, today, Bike Girl is tired of fighting.
If you want to fight, you can start by reading this.
This exchange took place just after the woman in her snazzy gold sedan merged into Bike Girl with no turn signal, nearly smashing into her front wheel, less than 5 feet from a red light, where the driver had to stop, still straddling the lanes.
“Lady, you were in the middle of the road,” the woman said. This is true. Bike Girl was in the middle of the right lane on a 5 lane road with construction on the tiny shoulder. The middle of the far right lane is exactly where Bike Girl should have been.
Bike Girl, like any cyclist, endures a lot of abuse from drivers, and she endures it on a regular basis. She endures it with a smile and a wave, and occasionally a yell of, “aaaaah!” Bike Girl also makes a conscious effort to obey the rules of the road. She even uses hand signals to turn in a town where drivers seem to believe their signals, speed limits, and even license plates are optional.
But today’s stony-faced, gray-haired, female driver found Bike Girl’s breaking point. Her blunt response that she would rather kill Bike Girl than be 1 second late sent our usually fearless protagonist to the curb, sobbing for 40 minutes.
Bike Girl sobbed because she’s tired of fighting. She’s tired of risking her life to get to work. She’s tired of memorizing license plate numbers of truck drivers who hit-and-run her and laugh. She’s tired of explaining the law to confused police officers. She’s tired of hearing that making her commute safer is infeasible. She’s tired of politicians who can get credit for being bike-friendly without actually doing anything to improve the bike-ability of their district.
Today an emergency room doctor is on trial for intentionally slamming on the brakes in front of two experienced cyclists and sending them to the ER.
Today a beautiful child is an orphan because of a truck driver’s inattention, and that truck driver is home with his family.
Somewhere a cyclist will be killed and journalists will ask if that cyclist was wearing a helmet. They will be shocked to hear that the cyclist died despite wearing that magical piece of styrofoam.
Please help fight this fight. Because while Bike Girl loves to ride, today, Bike Girl is tired of fighting.
If you want to fight, you can start by reading this.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Bike Girl Figures It Out
Bike Girl likes to keep an open mind, so she's been known to click over from time to time to see what sort of comments are being made about the recent Mandeville Canyon Incident. The most frequent complaint was that cyclists don’t obey the law and should therefore not be entitled to protection under it.
As a smug form of protest, Bike Girl has been obeying the law to the letter, both on her bike and when driving her car. She has noticed two things.
1. Obeying all traffic laws on her bicycle does not change the way drivers react to her, though it does give her a smug sense of self-righteousness.
2. Obeying all traffic laws in her car seems to make other car drivers even more frustrated with her than when she rides her bicycle.
While neither finding was surprising, when juxtaposed against the comments on the Mandeville Canyon incident, Finding Number 2 was slightly hilarious.
Bike Girl set out to quantify the phenomenon of law-breaking drivers by counting the number of drivers who turn without signaling, speed, and roll through red lights and stop signs. But in the middle of her extremely scientific survey, Bike Girl was astonished to see a fellow cyclist roll through a red light right in front of her.
The dangerous move did not do the Reckless Cyclist much good, because the smugly law-abiding Bike Girl was able to quickly catch up to her. When Bike Girl pointed out to the Reckless Cyclist's misdeed, she merely replied, "Oh well."
This took Bike Girl aback. This is a very similar response to one frequently given by Reckless Drivers! Bike Girl put her survey on hold to Ponder this. She rode home, smugly obeying all traffic laws, and put on her Pondering Cap.
Bike Girl decided the only way to find an explanation was through the use of Math. Bike Girl knows that according to the Transitive Property, if a = n, and b = n, then a = b. Therefore:
If Reckless Drivers = Jerks
And Reckless Cyclists = Jerks
Then Reckless Drivers are really the same as Reckless Cyclists!
This also implies that Jerks can either drive cars OR ride bikes! Yet for some reason, cyclists are all characterized as Reckless, whereas all drivers are not. No one says, "We cannot improve infrastructure for drivers because they speed." Yet, there is hesitation by many drivers to accept the rights of cyclists.
As a smug form of protest, Bike Girl has been obeying the law to the letter, both on her bike and when driving her car. She has noticed two things.
1. Obeying all traffic laws on her bicycle does not change the way drivers react to her, though it does give her a smug sense of self-righteousness.
2. Obeying all traffic laws in her car seems to make other car drivers even more frustrated with her than when she rides her bicycle.
While neither finding was surprising, when juxtaposed against the comments on the Mandeville Canyon incident, Finding Number 2 was slightly hilarious.
Bike Girl set out to quantify the phenomenon of law-breaking drivers by counting the number of drivers who turn without signaling, speed, and roll through red lights and stop signs. But in the middle of her extremely scientific survey, Bike Girl was astonished to see a fellow cyclist roll through a red light right in front of her.
The dangerous move did not do the Reckless Cyclist much good, because the smugly law-abiding Bike Girl was able to quickly catch up to her. When Bike Girl pointed out to the Reckless Cyclist's misdeed, she merely replied, "Oh well."
This took Bike Girl aback. This is a very similar response to one frequently given by Reckless Drivers! Bike Girl put her survey on hold to Ponder this. She rode home, smugly obeying all traffic laws, and put on her Pondering Cap.
Bike Girl decided the only way to find an explanation was through the use of Math. Bike Girl knows that according to the Transitive Property, if a = n, and b = n, then a = b. Therefore:
If Reckless Drivers = Jerks
And Reckless Cyclists = Jerks
Then Reckless Drivers are really the same as Reckless Cyclists!
This also implies that Jerks can either drive cars OR ride bikes! Yet for some reason, cyclists are all characterized as Reckless, whereas all drivers are not. No one says, "We cannot improve infrastructure for drivers because they speed." Yet, there is hesitation by many drivers to accept the rights of cyclists.
Even with her Pondering Cap on, Bike Girl cannot find any Math that explains this phenomenon.
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