Originally Posted by
jimmuller
Good points, but I'd suggest the following quibbles. On my commute I prefer to run my taillight on solid instead of blinking for several reasons. When I see a blinking blinkie while I'm driving it bothers me, really. There is some evidence that people can fixate on a blinker which causes them to approach it more closely unintentionally. More importantly, I want drivers to see my bike as a vehicle rather than as a bike, as long as they see me at all. My own response when seeing bikes w/taillights is exactly this, a red taillight implies a vehicle, a blinking taillight implies a bicycle.
I don't assume people are jerks. In fact, my experience has been that most people decidedly are not, but rather are quite courteous, too courteous sometimes. I ride to be courteous to drivers too, and more important, to be seen as being courteous. I wave them trough intersections sometimes, I wave and mouth "thank you" when appropriate, I wait for (most) stoplights, I brake for pedestrians at crosswalks, I wait my turn at 4-way stops or else go beside a car so as not to take up any turn that might otherwise be a car's opportunity. But I do assume drivers might not see me, that they might be unskilled or inattentive at that particular time. I figure no one wants to hit me, and my job is to make it possible for them to not hit me.
Thanks for the reply. Perhaps you're right about solid vs blinking red lights, but I don't think I'm followed too often by drivers who have nothing else to fixate on, for long enough periods to become entranced. And it's fine with me to be recognized as a (vulnerable) cyclist rather than a non-specific "vehicle."
When I refer to non-cycling peds and cagers as "jerks," I mean "clueless" rather than “malicious.” We have discussed courtesy to motorists, and over-courtesy by motorists.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
… When I'm peeved by a driver’s actions, instead of the middle finger and obscenties, I give my own special Bicyclist's Curse…
I do also bestow Bicyclist's Blessings to drivers who show even a modicum of respect and compassion…Even in car-crazy Boston, I perform numerously more blessings than curses. Probably about 2-3 blessings a day on a 14-mile commute vs about 1 curse every 3-4 weeks.
But,
Originally Posted by
LokiWolflord
...
he called me an a**hole and said that the only reason he didn't run me over was because I would scratch the paint on his SUV...
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
When I mentally de-humanize car drivers, that's my consolation that they won't intentionally hit me. That, and they would want to avoid the hassle of police and insurance reports.