Hey, let's complain about some drivers. I've gotten used to a lot of nonsense, but I've noticed two things recently that have been bothering me more than usual. The first is the phones. Seriously, it's bad. It seems like every other person is holding a phone with driving. It's bad. If I'm ever done in by a driver holding a phone. please burn down a Verizon store in my honor. Or an ATT store. Whichever really. Also, don't do that. But man, it's bad. I've resolved myself to having to deal with people who speed and people who cut me off and people who are generally not as kind around cyclists as they should be, but the distracted drivers scare me the most because they're just not looking at the road and I'm working with small enough margins already. I know that robot cars will save us all someday and because of this we can't take any intermediate steps to improve things right now, but if we decided that it was ok to take some steps to help lessen the chance that a distracted drivers hurts me, you, someone you know or him- or herself, that would sure be appreciated. So much of my thinking about safety is trying to ride in such a way as to mitigate risk. But it's really hard to think about risk when they exists the wildcard that someone might just not be looking.
Also, right-turn-on-red is a sham and should be banned anywhere people walk. If I'm ever done in by a driver making a right turn on red, burn down a red light district. No, please don't do that. But seriously, it's bad. Even if you were to tell me that it's not dramatically unsafer than other bad driving things, I'll tell you this: it creates a situation that encourages encroachment into crosswalks and this, in effect, is one big fuck you to pedestrians. It's hostile and unpleasant and it's hard to imagine how any civilized place could allow it. It's time to be more honest about that.
Usual route to and from work. I thought about stopping at the bike shop on the way home, but ended up going down a different street. Solution: put a bike shop on every street.
We may as well face it, people are crack addicts with their phones. Laws won't help. Public awareness won't help. The only thing that might work is to get people to put the damned things in the trunk before they start driving. 'Cause if you're on the road and you can reach that phone, well, you'll always sneak that one little hit. Did someone say "hit"?
ReplyDeleteWhenever someone proposes getting rid of right-turn-on-red wherever pedestrians are common, I give them a little thumbs up. It's not exactly a national groundswell (i.e., it'll never happen), but it should be. You can't safely use a crosswalk without studying your surroundings to make sure you're not going to get run over. So, little thumbs up!
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