Monday, August 22, 2005
Not Environmentally Friendly
Not Environmentally Friendly – with the high price of gas more people are finding an alternate means of transportation. Some use public transportation, others walk, and bicycles are even a substitute for some.
I have always had mixed feelings about blending bicycles with fast moving traffic on major artieries. Better them than me, I am too chicken to ride a bike with high speed vehicles wizzing by a couple inches away. Sure our motor vehicle act says they are entitled to share the road. However a two wheel machine that is a few inches wide and several feet long is no match for a multi-ton mass of metal being driven like a rocket.
But here is one aspect of those trips that can be cured. I notice each morning now that darkness is upon us later once again, that more and more adult bicycle riders ride their bikes on the wrong side of the road. Yes they ride on the left (the car driver’s right) competing with on coming traffic in the worst way. On top of that, they have no lights of any kind and their owners insist on wearing darik clothing.
You might say pedestrians walk on the left so you should be able to see a bicycle just as good. Not so. Bicycles move pretty fast, and they are weaving all over the place. I see this almost every early morning.
In my years of driving to work I have only seen one person riding a bicycle, joining the traffic and doing everything right. He even wears one of those little flashing LED lights on the back of his helmet and also has one on the back of his bike. Kudos to this gentleman, you are doing it right and setting a good example. Not only that, it appears that the majority of the rest of the traffic respects you also.
This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
I have always had mixed feelings about blending bicycles with fast moving traffic on major artieries. Better them than me, I am too chicken to ride a bike with high speed vehicles wizzing by a couple inches away. Sure our motor vehicle act says they are entitled to share the road. However a two wheel machine that is a few inches wide and several feet long is no match for a multi-ton mass of metal being driven like a rocket.
But here is one aspect of those trips that can be cured. I notice each morning now that darkness is upon us later once again, that more and more adult bicycle riders ride their bikes on the wrong side of the road. Yes they ride on the left (the car driver’s right) competing with on coming traffic in the worst way. On top of that, they have no lights of any kind and their owners insist on wearing darik clothing.
You might say pedestrians walk on the left so you should be able to see a bicycle just as good. Not so. Bicycles move pretty fast, and they are weaving all over the place. I see this almost every early morning.
In my years of driving to work I have only seen one person riding a bicycle, joining the traffic and doing everything right. He even wears one of those little flashing LED lights on the back of his helmet and also has one on the back of his bike. Kudos to this gentleman, you are doing it right and setting a good example. Not only that, it appears that the majority of the rest of the traffic respects you also.
This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
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