8 Responses to “Bicycle Safety Committee Meeting Set for Monday; Leaf Investigation Results Could Be Discussed”
Comments
November 2nd, 2012
Oh wow. Hopefully this helps to make improvements to road safety or at least help cyclists and motorists alike. People need to have consideration for others on the road and SLOW DOWN when they need to. A lot of sites like http://2wheelbikes.com/ offer information on safety. Hopefully this really helps the city and brings down cyclist accidents.
November 2nd, 2012
So these two guys, Frank and Ted, are once again off on their big adventure and they now they imply that the Newport Beach PD and CSI are incompetent investigators. Then there's this obtuse statement, ---"Skilled, experienced cyclists don’t just fall over,” Ted Rogers wrote in the cycling blog BikingInLA. “And a vehicle doesn’t have to actually hit a rider in order to cause her death. “Something made her to lose control."--- Oh really? What a bunch of horse apples. So if a vehicle doesn't have to come in contact with a cyclist to cause a crash then it is the cyclist that has failed to maintain control and/or is riding faster than is safe. Then you have the pack riders or the cyclegangers as I call them. Gangs of cyclists that weave in and out of their lane in front of traffic, tailgating each other, which brings this tidbit from Sept. 29th 2012 ---"A group of 10-15 cyclists were riding westbound on Bonita Canyon Drive at 10:40 a.m., when a female cyclist accidentally clipped the tire of a fellow biker in front of her as she tried to make a pass,"--"There were no vehicles involved in the accident."--- OC Register. Plus one readers comment, a comment that echos many others feelings about packs of cycleganger's. ---"Unfortunately this does not surprise me. These cycling groups were a safety hazard and concern the years that I was training for the AIDS Bike Rides in Orange County. The AIDS organization has a very strict safety protocol and it is reinforced over and over including riding single file and no drafting ( getting too close to the person in front of you), to name a few. And it was a ride, not a race. We would encounter these packs of cycling groups that were riding 3 to 4 or more side by side, as well as going incredibly fast, passing us and never announcing they were coming... just blew by and showed no regard for our safety either. They seem more concerned about being fast, and getting to where ever they were going quickly. I don't think the roads/bike lanes in OC, even those are set up for peloton type riding. With all of the recent cycling accidents one would think there would be a better focus on safety. It may seem like a slow news day story but it is a chronic problem that needs to be addressed."--- Even regular bike riders dislike your cycleganger packs. Face it, you people are reckless and have absolutely no regard for anyone not even yourselves but you expect everyone else to watch out for your safety and then you refuse to see much less admit when you're wrong. Cyclist do no wrong. Professional police investigators are incompetent and any bike v car accident is the fault of the driver. Yea right!
November 3rd, 2012
Hi Robin. For one example of how a car impacts a bicycle without touching it, wait in your car in a left turn lane on Newport Coast Drive or San Joaquin Hills Road or MacArthur or Jamboree while other cars pass you in the number 1 lane at 50-70MPH. Feel your several thousand pound car rocking from side to side from the displaced air. Imagine the impact on a 200lb cyclist. And then on a child. But a more pertinent example is the momentary loss of control a cyclist feels when startled by the presence of a massive heavy vehicle in her immediate presence when she expected to have the space to herself. Picture an animal in "fight or flight" adrenaline mode when startled. It doesn't know which way to run. Or, to give an example even non-cyclists can imagine, when you walk into a spider web in the morning. Your hands start flying, before you can remind yourself that one of them carries a cup of coffee. And you make that weird, gutteral noise. That's the loss of control caused by the presence of a truck bearing down on you.
November 3rd, 2012
David, you cite prime reasons and make a better case for cyclist not riding up and down the highways than I ever could. Now of all those things you just mentioned, you really believe that sharing the highway with fast moving multi-ton vehicles is sane recreation? And then hmm, tell us more about this 'momentary loss of control' cyclists experience?
November 4th, 2012
There are many good cyclist and motorist out there and they just need to watch out for each other and both respect the road signs. I live on Poppy and the I see the cyclists coming down the street, blowing through the stop signs on 5th, 4th and 2nd. They don't stop. They come down Marguerite the same way. If they want the same rights as the cars then why don't they observe the signs.
November 4th, 2012
There you go Kay: http://youtu.be/qNyYnlyxnlY
November 4th, 2012
Yes David we know that drivers suck. Now rather than continually and repeating yourself on the horrendous driving skills how about pointing the finger back on yourselves for a change and own up and discuss the horrendous attitudes and aggressive riding of the cyclegangers? Why just today we saw 2 spandex warriors blow completely through 3 red lights in a row without even slowing down in the least. Before that a pack of spandex gangers (9) wove in and out of the established and designated bike lane in front of speeding cars. Then there was the guy riding PCH in Bolsa Chica, his hands not on his handlebars but texting. Guess he's unaware of the displacement of air that 60 mph vehicles create. It would be quite easy to video spandex cyclegangers committing all kinds of traffic violations too. Point being we all know many drivers suck but the cyclegangers blatantly and arrogantly ignore traffic laws, exhibit crappy road etiquette and then refuse to address them. Rather it's easier to wag your fingers at everyone else but there are 10 more wagging back at you. Again, you people have much more at risk than any cage driver. Oh and BTW, when a car loses control and crashes and no other vehicles are impacted... It's called 'Failure to Maintain Control' no matter the reason. Face it 'normal' bike riders don't like the spandex clad cyclegangers any more than cage drivers do. Education, a huge dose of humility and courteousness with a dash of diplomacy would do more for you people than all the caution signs and sharrows put together.
November 5th, 2012
Yep, Robin, all true. But about the guy riding no-hands on PCH, I can pull that off myself. So could many people I ride with. But most cyclists couldn't. They'd be blown all over the place when a car came past. Even more so than if they had two hands on the bars.
