Dave's Good Stuff

WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa – A man faces up to [a mere] 60 days in jail in connection with a November 2007 accident that killed a West Burlington man who was riding a bicycle.

A judge found Marvin Oberly guilty last week of driving on the wrong side of a two-way highway and passing a vehicle on the wrong side. Douglas Kenney died of [the tragic and needless] injuries he suffered in the accident on Nov. 9, 2007 [due to Oberly’s utterly irresponsible and reckless actions].

Oberly is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 30. He faces [a paltry] 30 days in jail for each of the counts and up to a year suspension [rather than the far more just complete and permanent revocation] of his drivers license. [It is left as an exercise for the reader to rationalize how 60 days in jail and a year's suspension balances out the irresponsibility and recklessness that resulted in Kenney's death.]

Prosecutors argued that Oberly drove up behind Kenney in his pickup and collided with the bicycle Kenney, who was riding his bicycle in a manner consistent with safety and law.

Oberly testified provided the lame and weak excuse during his trial that glare from the sun prevented him from seeing Kenney[, which would have been inconsequential had be been driving on the correct side of the road and not passed another vehicle on the shoulder].

Original here.

Understanding. Empathy. More than skill, I think that’s what’s lacking on the roads. People don’t understand the rules and laws, and (to the point of this post), more importantly, they don’t understand what it’s like for other drivers of different vehicles. Bear in mind that I include myself wholeheartedly in this group, which also, I propose, includes each and every one of you.

The typical car driver doesn’t understand what it’s like to be a bicyclist on the road. The typical bicyclist doesn’t understand what it’s like to drive a semi. How many of us understand what it’s like to drive a bus? Some, to be sure, but not most. What about a garbage truck? 30′ moving vans? Fully laden cement mixers?

As I spend more time as one of the smaller, more vulnerable users of the road, I spend more time thinking about such things. I’m coming to believe that in order to operate a vehicle on todays roads, we should be required to have a deeper understanding of what it’s like to operate a wide variety of vehicles. That means licensing.

What prompted this line of thinking was the many times drivers, in vehicles of all sizes, display an obvious lack of understanding of what it’s like to be me, on a bicycle, sharing the road with them, in their much larger enclosed vehicle. They wait for me to pass when I’m hundreds of feet away (not a horrible thing), or they perceive me going slower than I am and pull out right in front of me – even when it’s clear they see me. They pass without giving me adequate room, or endanger themselves by giving me too much room. These experiences and many more tell me that many drivers just don’t understand what it’s like to take a bike to the roads.

Then I took this logic to the next step. Sure, they don’t understand what it’s like to be me, but do we understand what it’s like to be high up in a semi, or dragging a heavy garbage truck or cement mixer around the city streets, or a school bus full of children? Wouldn’t it help us all to really *know* what it’s like for the rest of the drivers on our shared roads?

Though I doubt it will ever come to pass, in the ideal world, I think we should all be licensed to operate all legally operational vehicles that share the roads with us. Maybe that would go somewhere towards giving us the understanding and empathy that is so lacking on the roads today. Probably not, but it can’t hurt, and it may just make people take driving a little less for granted, and a little more seriously.

Fatty rocks. He has such a good and solid (not like a rock) head on his shoulders. Check out some really fantastic thoughts on being a rider vs. a driver in his post “Both Sides of the Windshield.”

When I started commuting, all of two months ago, I mentally prepared myself for all manner of flak and hooliganism from the barely controlled jackals driving around on Kansas City’s roads. So far, the worst I’ve had are cars passing within the 3′ boundary. They’re just a *little* too close for comfort, but I’ve never been crowded off the road. Furthermore, in every case, I’ve been able to understand, if not excuse, their reasoning. The honking has always been polite (a quick beep vs. a long blaring bray) or well after they already passed (a greeting vs. a warning or a poor excuse for a joke). All in all, I’ve had a fantastic experience, especially when compared to others who report hideous atrocities with alarming regularity.

Happy and safe riding all! Think of my on my hamster wheel all week…

StreetsBlog has a piece called “To Obey or Not to Obey,” regarding whether cyclists should be held accountable, the same as motorized vehicles, to all traffic laws. The piece itself is rather sparse in it’s information. It’s basically the first few note cards as it were, in a much wider and deeper debate and comes clearly on the side of leniency when it comes to observance of traffic laws and regulations. It touches on the idea that traffic regulation was instituted at the advent of the motorcar, for the benefit of the motorcar, ignoring horse drawn carriages, pedestrians, cyclists and all others. Without doing a great deal of research into it myself, I can’t speak for that, except to think that it makes sense.

Additionally, it touches on the idea of “Vehicular” or “Integrated” cycling, which is a theory/belief/behavioral system stating that bicycles should obey all the laws of the road as if they were cars.

I fall somewhere to the outside of that. While I do believe that it is important to behave as if you were a car in most situations, I recognize, for both safety and convenience reasons, that sometimes it is either impossible to adhere to strict compliance, or prohibitively inconvenient to do so.

The most common situation I’ve come across, an example of convenience and one that I face daily, is traffic signals. Consider this: I come up to a signaled intersection consisting of three lanes going in my direction, a left turn only, a straight only, and a right turn only lane. I intend to either go straight, or turn left. Due to my weight, my size, or the amount of detectable metal in my bicycle (vehicle), the signal is not tripped. If there are no other cars visible in any direction, I will sit there indefinitely until 1. a car comes going either in my direction, or the opposite in such a way that the signal is tripped, or 2. I cross the right turn lane, hit the pedestrian walk button, and cross back over into the straight travel lane to wait fo the signal to change. It’s not clear to me if I’m not allowed to make that lane traversal, but it is clear to me that doing so both increases my risk, and is difficult on a heavy commuter bike. So, I’m stuck waiting for another car. Alternatively, given that the signal is in place to increase the safety and flow of traffic, if there are no other cars around, I typically take the option of simply riding through the (red) light and going on my way, comfortable that while I may have broken the language of the law, I’ve not broken it’s spirit.

An example where disobeying the laws of vehicular traffic due to safety concerns doesn’t come to mind immediately.

Discuss.