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.

On 26 Jan 2006 07:36:03 -0800,
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? 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.

It's actually in the vehilce code somewhere that the bike lane is
supposed to be used as a turning lane, when possible, if no bikes are
present. If you don't make space for the turners, or don't do so
yourself, expect to hear horns.

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.

>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.

I haven't seen them in San Jose, but is there an observatory nearby?
Because of Palomar Moutain large parts of northern San Diego use
orange/yellow street lights to reduce the light pollution at the
observatory.

Dave

The best drivers in the world live in Seattle Washington!

These motorists hit the green lights just right and know when there is
a stale green. On the Freeway these motorists hit the on ramps
perfectly at just the right speeds in order to merge smoothly with
traffic. A lot of motorists will have the decency to yield to drivers
coming out of the parking lots while cars are backing up at the red
light.

I would suppose that living/growing up in an area that is always damp,
and rainly the drivers learned how to be extra safe on the road.



East-





SD Dave wrote:
> On 26 Jan 2006 07:36:03 -0800,
> 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? 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.
>
> It's actually in the vehilce code somewhere that the bike lane is
> supposed to be used as a turning lane, when possible, if no bikes are
> present. If you don't make space for the turners, or don't do so
> yourself, expect to hear horns.
>
> 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.
>
> >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.
>
> I haven't seen them in San Jose, but is there an observatory nearby?
> Because of Palomar Moutain large parts of northern San Diego use
> orange/yellow street lights to reduce the light pollution at the
> observatory.
>
> Dave

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.

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.

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 17:39:42 -0600,
(Brent P) wrote:

>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.

I've heard that several times on RAD, and I have to wonder how
communities are able to design so many bad bike networks.

I've found the bike lanes here a great asset, and at least in SD, to
be improved upon or modified as suggested by actual bicyclists. It
took a little getting used to, but I have a lot less conflicts in SD
than I did in areas around Buffalo that had no bike lanes.

Of course, here the bike lanes usually end a little bit (100 feet or
so) before the intersection, so maybe that's something other areas
should try.

And as a driver, I love the bike lanes when they're used correctly.
It's nice to know where the bike will be, and the majority of the
riders that I see know how to make hand signals even. I'm not
counting little kids, just the people I see on major roads that are
most likely commuting or otherwise riding a long distance.

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.

Dave

(Timothy J. Lee) in
:

> Bicyclists going straight
> through should pass on the left of right turning vehicles that may be
> stopped for whatever reason.

riding between two moving lanes. that's an uncomfortable move for the bicyclist. i haven't
ridden much for a long time, but i when bicycling, i just hang back until i can continue
forward with moving cars on only *one* side of me.

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.

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:44:56 -0600,
(Brent P) wrote:

>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.

Good thing you've noticed how many bad drivers there are.

There's also bad bicyclists. That was entirely my point. I'd
specifically mentioned the majority do signal properly, and that the
majority of people do understand these and properly yield.

If it was all by both parties, accidents would be zero. But there's
bad drivers and bad bicyclists. If a bad cyclist gets flattened by a
driver who's had no warning at all, he'll be cleared if I'm on the
jury.

Dave