[Rescue Muni] Re: Safe biking

David Powers (chromo@sirius.com)
Fri, 30 Oct 1998 11:36:01 -0800

[robert parks]
>Just yesterday I saw a bicyclist signal, stop with traffic, wait for
>pedestrians, wait for cars, and then make his turn when the traffic
>signal indicated it was time, safely ...

Well, it wasn't me, I wasn't riding anywhere near the 22 line the
last couple of days, so there are at least two of us signaling and
waiting and stuff. :)

Having made most of my points I can concede that there are people who
don't take bikes or non-car traffic seriously, and when those people
walk or use a bike or ride Muni, they're ... surprising. Can you tell
where I think the solution lies? Right, better street design
treatment for non-car traffic. A little dignity for everyone will
change the street culture and behavior significantly.

Here's a case made by a carless, hard core mountain-biking friend,
about how aggressive driving is in San Francisco. Imagine a
pedestrian crossing the street at a 4-way intersection, with cars at
all four sides. How do the cars that will cross the pedestrian's path
behave?

1 stay at stop sign until pedestrian has passed through,
keep intersection clear
2 speed up, make pedestrian wait
3 enter intersection, block perpendicular traffic,
then wait for pedestrian (maybe even creep forward)

My friend was saying that #3 is the most common. I consider it very
bad behavior but realize that I've done it when driving, when feeling
pressured from behind. Could we in this forum agree that #3 is
"aggressive"?

What about this:

Using the streets in San Francisco is a pre-emptive activity,
everybody's trying to go first so they can go "at all."

/ dtp /

-- David Powers san francisco ca usa fax 415 436.9141
chromo@sirius.com <http://www.sirius.com/~chromo/screed/> --

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