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Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers
Scott en Aztlán wrote: > Once again as I walked to the train station this morning I was nearly > run down, this time by a young Asian female driver. This occurred at > an intersection adjacent to the one where the MFFY flip-over > colllision occurred last week (look for that one in tomorrow's Irvine > World News, BTW). > > At this intersection, a local collector road intersects with a > frontage road next to a freeway. Cars coming from the residential > neighborhoods in Tustin Ranch stack up in the dedicated right turn > lane at this intersection, waiting impatiently for an opportunity to > turn right and then make an immediate left lane change to get to the > freeway on-ramp. These cars are usually unable to turn right on red > because they are pinned down by heavy cross-traffic, so when they get > the green light they are super-anxious to get moving again. It's not > uncommon for 4 or 5 vehicles to cut across my path as I walk through > the clearly marked crosswalk, even though technically they are > required to yield. > > The real problem is the drivers a few cars back; while they are > farther back in the line, their view of the intersection is partially > blocked. On more than one occasion one of the drivers 4 or 5 cars back > has honked their horn because the lead car has stopped to give me the > right-of-way. > > This morning the first few cars in the stack cut in front of me as > usual, but this little Asian cupcake was too busy staring at the back > bumper of the pickup truck in front of her to notice that I was in the > crosswalk directly in front of her car. When she finally saw me, she > slammed on her brakes, and I gave her my best "WTF" expression. She > waved an apology, so I let her off the hook with no further > punishment. > > But this made me realize one more reason why drivers just don't see > pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and motorcyclists: they are looking at the > bumper of the car in front, or a spot on the ground 12 feet in front > of their car, or off to their left checking for cross-traffic - > anywhere but the actual direction their car is travelling. Looking at the bumper of the vehicle ahead instead of examining their surroundings to obtain better "situational awareness" as you so adequately have expressed in the past? Perish the thought! On another note, I am about to depart Northern California in a few minutes, which fortunately is my first (and hopefully last) visit to the region. WTF is it with the retards around here who treat bike lanes as extra turning lanes? I used to think east coast drivers were retarded; now I'm beginning to think they are rocket scientists, at least with respect to what I've been witnessing over the last two weeks. And what the hell is it with those stupid yellow street lights in San Jose? Those damned things are the same color as the yellow in the traffic signals. |
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Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers
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#4
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Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers
In article >, SD Dave wrote:
> A lot of right turn lanes have been removed throughout the state to > allow for the creation of a bike lane. It seems like a reasonable > compromise to me. Bike lanes over complicate the road system and result in more conflicts and problems in my experience. Maui has the most extensive system that I have ridden on, and every intersection was f'd up because of them. They worked between intersections but that's the easy part. A wide curb lane always works. |
#5
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Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers
In article . com>,
<TedKennedyMurderedHisPregnantMistress.dwpj65@spam gourmet.com> wrote: >On another note, I am about to depart Northern California in a few >minutes, which fortunately is my first (and hopefully last) visit to >the region. WTF is it with the retards around here who treat bike lanes >as extra turning lanes? The California Vehicle Code requires right turning vehicles to merge into the bike lane before turning if they have to turn across the bike lane. Of course, they must yield to bicyclists before merging in, rather than squeezing them into the curb. Bicyclists going straight through should pass on the left of right turning vehicles that may be stopped for whatever reason. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Timothy J. Lee Unsolicited bulk or commercial email is not welcome. No warranty of any kind is provided with this message. |
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Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers
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Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers
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#8
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Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers
In article >, SD Dave wrote:
> Of course, if all bicyclists knew what hand signals were and the way > to take turns in traffic, instead of just swerving across 50mph > traffic to make left turns, the bike lanes could be even more > effective. Have drivers learned what hand signals mean? I've had more than one driver move into the on coming lane and pass me as I've signaled a left turn. Thankfully I always take a moment to look over my left shoulder when turning left from anywhere but a left turn lane. |
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Why Pedestrians are Invisible to Drivers
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