🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <dodd-1111941109060001@reliant.arlut.utexas.edu>,
dodd@cayman.asg.arlut.utexas.edu (Stirling S Dodd) wrote:

>You have the right to state an opinion about whether or not bicyclists
>SHOULD have the same rights and responsibilities as drivers,  but remember
>that the LAW says that they DO!  So someone 'asserting' that they do isn't
>truely speaking hypothetically.  When you 'challenge' that assertion you
>are therfore raising a question as to whether the LAW is fair and just. 

Whether or not bicyclists have the same RIGHTS as motorists under the law
is of course not an issue.  The law is clear here.  Whether or not they
have the same RESPONSIBILITES is an issue.  I have already named three
responsibilities that motorists have that bicyclists don't have: vehicle
registration, vehicle inspection, and operator licensing.  Bicyclists do
not have these responsibilities, therefore they do not have the same
responsibilities as motorists.  

>There simply isn't anywhere I need to be so quickly, that I can't take 15
>seconds to treat a cyclist with caution and curtousy.

On a busy street with narrow lanes, a bicyclist can cause a whole lot more
than a 15 second delay.  Try passing a bicyclist on 24th Street between
Lamar and Guadalupe during the morning or evening rush hour.

Cyclists, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to ban you from the streets. 
I'm just making the point that the situation is not very good for either
side right now.  Cyclists run the danger of getting run over by hostile
motorists, and motorists are hostile because the cyclists impede traffic. 
What it comes down to is that there is too much of a speed and size
difference between bicycles and cars for them to share the same lanes
without interfering with each other.  I wish all the major streets in
Austin had bike lanes.  These have problems of their own, as I have
already mentioned, but I think they'd be better than the current
situation.

                                ++Don Nash

Internet: D.Nash@utexas.edu     The University of Texas System
THEnet:   THENIC::DON           Office of Telcommunication Services