Old 06-26-08 | 04:36 PM
  #41  
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BarracksSi
Bike ≠ Car ≠ Ped.
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Joined: Jul 2007
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From: Washington, DC

Bikes: Some bikes. Hell, they're all the same, ain't they?

Originally Posted by cyccommute
A line of cars can...and do... accelerate very quickly once they have cleared a choke point.
Sure, but it's also usually possible to see far enough ahead and catch what's about to happen.

(usually..)

Case in point, I saw a cyclist split lanes on 15th St. in Denver going west. This is on a relatively steep hill and has about a 40 degree two lane turn with a light in the middle of the hill and the guy was filtering to the front of the line between the traffic lanes (not on the right). When he was about 4 cars from the light, the light turned green and everyone went. He was too slow to accelerate with the cars (it is a steep hill) and the road really too narrow for 2 lanes, much less a cyclist splitting those two lanes. He came very close to be squashed between the turning cars and had no escape route. It was a boneheaded maneuver. This road is narrow enough...and steep enough that filtering on the right side between the traffic lane and the parked cars isn't really a good idea.
If it really was that narrow, I can't say that I'd even be out there mixing it up with traffic, let alone trying to decide to split lanes or stay right. Most of where I ride has an "out" of one kind or another.

If there was a way for him to see the cross yellow or pedestrian signals changing, or even thinking, "Man, that light's been red for a while... it might change soon..", he would've had a better shot at getting out of trouble.
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