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02-11-09, 11:30 PM

#19

ChipSeal

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Quote:

Originally Posted by CommuterRun

True but I think this is because motorists, upon seeing another motor vehicle in front of them, expect that motor vehicle to be moving at, at least close to, the same speed they are traveling. They then allow themselves to be surprised when it isn't. Upon seeing a cyclist, however, they expect the cyclist to be moving at the same speed they would ride a bike, about 5 mph. (snip)

Naturally I agree with CommuterRun completely, but I wish to add to his point. This instant recognition that a cyclist is a slow moving object in motorist's way causes them to immediately respond with evasive action. (Just as they would with a grandfather clock.) They either merge without a fuss or slow at a distance. They would never rush up to you and swerve around you (or a grandfather clock in the middle of the lane) at the last moment and surprise their tailgater.

The first rule one learns about driving a car, and one that is reinforced every time you get behind the wheel is: Don't hit anything. Motorists will even swerve to avoid things that are of no consequence. Like balloons or plastic shipping bags on the wind. That is how ingrained and automatic this is!

Car/car rear enders expose the danger of riding on the shoulder or in the "minorities only" lane. If motorists paid more attention to what they are doing, they would perceive that a car in their path was not moving. But they are intermittently scanning while attending to something other than driving. But a grandfather clock or a cyclist in the middle of the lane is not so easily overlooked, precisely because they are both instantly recognized as slow moving objects, and a hazard. The first rule asserts its self, and the driver has plenty of time to react.

But the hapless cyclist off to the side in his "Guantanamo lane" will be dismissed by the distracted motorist as being "out of the way" if he is seen at all. The motorist will return his attention to the distraction. The poor cyclist, so cowed by his fear of overtaking traffic that he cowers at the edge of the roadway, must now trust that this inattentive motorist won't drift into him. This same driver who is likely to be so distracted he wouldn't notice a CAR stopped in his lane!

Interesting, Buzzman; "I'd like to take you on a twisty New England mountain road and have you put that grandfather clock around a blind curve- which, by the way, for some of us is our local arterial- and that thing would be in pieces when the next car came along."

But in that scenario, any unmoving object out of sight by a curve would be struck. From a car bumper to a downed tree to a stalled mobile home truck, right? A situation where a cyclist would want to be seen from as great a distance as he could, and to be clearly identified as being in the lane- not out of the way.

As for the construction zone, well you are in Massachusetts, right? The whole country knows you guys take three times longer than anyone else to do a construction project. (Like the Big Dig.) Those traffic cones were probably just tired from having to stand there year after year!

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