Originally Posted by
dogbreathpnw
Exsqueeze me?
I am car-free, an League Certified Instructor (#2105), chairman of a local bicycle advocacy group, and a strong believer in safety education for both bicyclists and motorists.
There is a fundamental principle of risk management: identify risks, deter and avoid threats, have a response plan, and be ready to execute it. If you think about it, this is what "defensive driving" is all about. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation actually characterizes their curriculum as "risk management": acting in such a manner so as to minimize risk.
I love that stuff. All of that is completely foreign to the original version of the Effective Cycling curriculum into which you've been indoctrinated as an LCI.
Safety education for bicyclists means a more intense version of defensive driving. Vigilance, anticipating motorist mistakes, that's what it's all about. Yet Jf ignores it almost completely and even the more enlightened LCIs seem to treat vigilance as an add-on, a throw in, which indicates a fundamental lack of understanding about the risks. These guys are still trying to convince people to follow the rules. That's great for kids and such, but the rest of us adults already know about following the rules and are looking for more developed strategies to maximize safety. Experienced cyclists understand that the act of following rules and acting as a vehicle, by itself, is extremely limited as a strategy for "risk management."
Originally Posted by
dogbreathpnw
...
However, when you purport that that the LAB or Mr. Forester recommend that roadway users ignore the possibility that others may make mistakes--sir, you have really crossed a line, and I am rather annoyed.
That is not what I purport to purport.