🚀 go-pugleaf

Jody Levine (jlevine@rd.hydro.on.ca) wrote:
: In article <827255530snz@tmsl.demon.co.uk> Paul@tmsl.demon.co.uk writes:
: >(someone else wrote):
: >> 85% of cyclists who are killed by a car (most are) were not seen
: >> by the motorist. 
: >
: >But only because motorists can't be bothered to look.

: There's also the fact that the separation of cyclist from motorists in 
: Holland also means that you don't have unlit cyclists in the middle of
: the road (as I've seen on the pitch-black Ottawa River Parkway) and
: cyclists balancing a case of beer on the handlebars coming off the 
: sidewalk to cross on red lights without looking, only to give you the 
: finger when you honk at them (quite an agile feat). There's a lot of 
: educating to be done on both sides.

Hmm, I think that the 'separation' between cyclists and cars in the 
Netherlands is not that comprehensive. Only along the 'major' roads 
(speed > 50 km/h) there are consistently cycle paths. Cycling in towns 
still entails a lot of interaction between motorists and cyclists. 

The first time I cycled in Amsterdam my adrenaline level was sky high, 
one of the more scary experiences in my live. Within three onths I was 
totally used to cyclingf in the place :-) 

: The problem in North America (and possibly the UK, I only motorbiked
: and drove cars when I was there) is that there is real animosity
: between cyclists and motorists. They won't make room for each other and
: they have no respect for one another. 

I think that is the problem, yes. I am cycling far more aggresive here 
than ever in the Netherlands. I really resent not being able to use 
cycle-paths because they are so badly maintained, or are very small and 
have to be shared with old grannies and the like. 

A lot of car drivers seem to resent me cycling on 'their' roads. They
become extreemely irritated when they have to wait, and I can just cycle
past to the head of the queue. Roundabouts are also extremely dangerous
sometimes. I (think I) know what I am doing, but the number of dirty looks
and honking I am getting sometimes really makes me doubt it :-) But if you
don't cycle aggresive, you don't stand a chance. 

: This translates into poor
: behaviour on both sides. In Holland there *is* room for everyone, 
: especially in the high traffic areas where it matters most. And they 
: all have proper racks to carry stuff, lights, and places to park their 
: bikes when they get where they're going, and everybody cycles. 

: The only thing that's going to change accident rates here is make cycling 
: an everyday part of the culture. Easier said than done.

Indeed, but the most dangerous part of my cycling is near a school where
parents are dropping of their kids and pulling from the kerb without
looking. I don't think the next generation will have any motivation to
change. They only time my parents brought me to school was when the 
temperature dropped below -15C or the wind above 10-11 Beaufort (sp?)

Frank
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