Bicyclists - Best way to punish drivers who endanger you

In article om>, wrote:
>
> Brent P wrote:
>>
>>
>> > While not a certainty, it seems there's a strong probability that car
>> > enthusiasts _do_ smell foul when _they_ sweat. And since that's their
>> > own experience, they mistakenly imagine everybody else must smell as
>> > bad as they do.
>>
>> You continue to fail to compute that the same person could be both.
>
> Hardly. I am both a cyclist and a motorist, and the same is true for
> almost every cyclist I know.

Leave it to you to try and change things. Read what you wrote above again.
Car and bicycle _enthusiast_. You clearly fail to compute that rutinely.
This is rather clear from countless replies to my posts where you have
tried to cast me as some evil motorist who is trying to push bicyclists
off the road, not computing that I also ride the same roads I drive upon.
In addition, you certainly make the impression that you aren't
interested in automobiles beyond being an appliance like a blender or
toaster given your posts.

Tom Keats wrote:
>
> But I wonder - why, on those minor streets, do so many
> drivers feel compelled to time their passes to coinside
> with where 2 cars parked on opposite sides of the street
> create a bottleneck, and there's so much clear space behind
> and ahead of those 2 parked cars?

You see the same thoughtlessness in dozens of road situations.

My street is just off a four-lane arterial with no light at the
intersection. Sometimes it's hard to pull out to the left due to heavy
traffic. Over the years, hundreds of drivers have approached as I
waited for a clear spot... and slowed... and slowed... and turned into
my street without a signal. If they'd signaled, I could have gone. A
little awareness and courtesy, that's all it takes.

Over the years, hundreds of drivers coming from my right have stayed in
their left lane, when I'd be able to pull out if they used the curb
lane. Again, just a little awareness and courtesy.

Then there are the drivers that can't - or won't - merge properly at an
onramp; the drivers that block the left freeway lane as they drive
slower than everyone else; the drivers that line up side by side on the
freeway for 15 miles or so; the drivers that think they'll get
somewhere faster if they are two feet from your back bumper... and so
on.

IMO, it's because most people turn into either zombies or psychopaths
when they sit in the driver's seat.

Scott en Aztl=E1n wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 19:49:24 -0800, "Claire Petersky"
> > wrote:
>
> >Because the bike route is on such sparsely used roads, for the 5
miles on
> >the sections that have the 25 mph speed limit, I only encountered
five cars
> >for those five miles in the morning. And by "encountered", I mean, I
either
> >passed while they were at a stop sign, waiting for traffic to clear
>
> Hear that, folks? We've just had a pedalcyclist admit that he ran at
> least one stop sign.

:-)

Clearly, the "reading comprehension" portion of the driving exam needs
to be stiffened!

:-)

Scott en Aztl=E1n wrote:
> On 23 Feb 2005 19:39:39 -0800, wrote:
>
> >What we've seen is the car enthusiasts claiming everybody stinks
when
> >they sweat, while the bicycling enthusiasts (who _must_ have more
> >experience sweating) claim that normally clean people do not stink
> >after they sweat.
>
> Correction: ONE pedalcyclist hads made this claim. And has no way to
> prove it.

Well, there have been others who have agreed that they have no such
problem. But if you refuse to believe me, that's your option.

What we _do_ know is that you smell terrible when _you_ sweat. We
could begin to speculate why, but I suppose that's better taken to
alt.personal.hygiene, or alt.body-odor, or some other vaguely
unpleasant group!

In article .com>,
> wrote:
>
>Preston Crawford wrote:
>> On 2005-02-23, Scott en Aztln > wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > Whatever you say, Mr. Spock.
>>
>> That's a compliment, I suppose. Since Mr. Spock is intelligent and
>> logical.
>
>To apply some logic:
>
>What we've seen is the car enthusiasts claiming everybody stinks when
>they sweat, while the bicycling enthusiasts (who _must_ have more
>experience sweating) claim that normally clean people do not stink
>after they sweat.

All that shows is that bicycle enthusiasts live in a dream world.
--
There's no such thing as a free lunch, but certain accounting practices can
result in a fully-depreciated one.

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 19:49:24 -0800, "Claire Petersky"
> wrote:

>Just for fun, I decided to really pay attention today to how many cars I
>encounter on my commute, and how many may be delayed by my presence. The
>ride is about 5.5 miles, just to the P/R.

Thanks for the idea, Claire! I applied in to my 7 mile trip home.
First two miles, 5-lane secondary arterials, nope, everybody who
wanted past me got by with no delay. Onto 4 miles minor artery,
delayed 2 cars by about 20 seconds following a light (right lane not
wide enough to pass safely), then they caught up with the rest of the
traffic at the next red light -- no net delay. One car got behind me
at the following light, same situation, cost him about 25 seconds --
this one got through the next two lights, but he was behind the
traffic he was trying to get around by getting behind me in the right
lane where the road widened for a light; I don't think this was a net
delay, either. Finally, one car was caught behind me at a stop sign,
lost another 20 seconds. (He let me know how unhappy he was by
revving his cute little Corolla engine!) But then he made it up to
the next red light, which would have caught him anyway; no net delay.

There seems to be a pattern developing here...

>It seems like the concern about bikes delaying cars is a complete non issue.
>Yes, it's a possibility, but just looking at my little personal study, it
>would appear not to be significant. The cars all take major arterials, and
>are only on these little side streets and tertiary arterials trying to get
>from their houses to the major arterials and back. Meanwhile, as a cyclist,
>a pleasant low-traffic tertiary arterial is the perfect road to use, and I'm
>not going to be on the major roads in the way of all the cars.

I'll occasionally get on a major artery, usually for a block or so. I
don't feel guilty, because (a) I am traffic, and (b) I don't hold up
traffic nearly as much as I did the other day in the car when the
jackass behind me wanted to push me 15 miles over the speed limit
(which is at the bleeding edge of safety, based on what I've seen)
through a narrow, winding stretch of interstate. I bet I held that
poor driver up 30 seconds or more!

Pat

Email address works as is.

On 2005-02-24, Matthew Russotto > wrote:
> In article .com>,
> > wrote:
>>
>>Preston Crawford wrote:
>>> On 2005-02-23, Scott en Aztln > wrote:
>>>
>>> >
>>> > Whatever you say, Mr. Spock.
>>>
>>> That's a compliment, I suppose. Since Mr. Spock is intelligent and
>>> logical.
>>
>>To apply some logic:
>>
>>What we've seen is the car enthusiasts claiming everybody stinks when
>>they sweat, while the bicycling enthusiasts (who _must_ have more
>>experience sweating) claim that normally clean people do not stink
>>after they sweat.
>
> All that shows is that bicycle enthusiasts live in a dream world.

Yes, a dream world filled with facts and numerous personal experiences
that confirm these facts (I threw you a couple websites explaining the
science behind it, did you read them?)

We could go on like this forever, but clearly you are one of those people
who would argue that the sky isn't blue just to win the argument, so why
don't we declare you the "winner", you can go buy a "all sweat stinks"
medal for yourself and you can where it whereever you go in your car.

Meanwhile, I have a bike to go jump on and a workplace to go stink up.

Preston

On 2005-02-24, > wrote:
>
> Scott en Aztln wrote:
>> On 23 Feb 2005 19:39:39 -0800, wrote:
>>
>> >What we've seen is the car enthusiasts claiming everybody stinks
> when
>> >they sweat, while the bicycling enthusiasts (who _must_ have more
>> >experience sweating) claim that normally clean people do not stink
>> >after they sweat.
>>
>> Correction: ONE pedalcyclist hads made this claim. And has no way to
>> prove it.
>
> Well, there have been others who have agreed that they have no such
> problem. But if you refuse to believe me, that's your option.

Not only have we agreed, but I posted 2 websites that explained the
science behind it and dared our stinky car-loving friends here to go
Google this subject and see what they got. There are literally hundreds of
websites and postings to the Usenet that discuss this subject and the
conclusion is almost always the same. So not only are they ignorant to the
facts, but willfully so, since I've given them places that prove that it's
more than just you and I who agree that there is no problem.

Preston

On 2005-02-24, Scott en Aztln > wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:04:19 -0600, Preston Crawford
> wrote:
>
>>>>Frank is no mutant. You just aren't too bright.
>>>
>>> Whatever you say, Mr. Spock.
>>
>>That's a compliment, I suppose.
>
> No, that's sarcasm.
>
> I guess you aren't bright enough to have realized that.

Actually, mine was sarcasm too. Who isn't bright now? I was trying to
counter your insipid sarcasm with sarcasm of my own. So they'd like,
cancel each other out in some kind of sarcasm-cancelling collision. And
you totally missed it.

Preston

On 2005-02-23, Matthew Russotto > wrote:
>>You're just wrong. Clean people who sweat don't stink. That's a fact with
>>very few caveats.
>
> It's simply entirely false.

No, it's not. Yes it is. No it's not.

You stink, Matt. We get it. I don't. Frank doesn't. All the cyclists that
have commuted at every job I've ever worked at (and there have been a lot
since I live in hippie bicycle land here in Portland) and didn't take
showers also didn't stink. You apparently have quite the stink issue.
That's fine. Doesn't make it fact.

>>It's the bacteria that stinks.
>
> The bacteria cause the odors, yes. But the bacteria are ubiqtuous.
> Even if you washed them all off (and you can't), you'd acquire new
> ones from the environment immediately.

Not fast enough. I'll grant you, that if my morning commute were a
century, then yeah, I'd stink, because eventually I would start to pick up
bacteria from the environment and sweat through it. But aside from that
you're just wrong. And you stink, apparently. A fact for which I feel bad
for you.

Preston