Learning and Changing your Mind
 

Part of what we're trying to do here is to persuade people to change their minds. Has anything you learned here convinced you to change your mind? The only thing that I ask that you NOT include is any variation on the theme of "I learned how stupid, dishonest, pigheaded (etc.) the people who disagree with me are."

The purpose of this thread is not to convince others to come to your point of view, but to explain what positions of yours have changed and why. If you want to convince people people that you are right, please feel free to create a link to your new thread on the topic.

As to me, I came to the forums as an opponent of all bike lanes. I now agree that bike lanes can work on roads with few intersections, especially if they have high speeds. Genec is particularly persuasive on this point. I've also learned about the value of bike facilities like transit stations and bike lockers.

before, I would never have thought it would be a good idea to "take the lane" in traffic.... now I think it is good in certain situations. (for me).

I am still very much a centrist in the bike lane debate, having seen some which work well for me and some which definitely do not. However, I now probably ride a bit farther from the curb and more frequently take the lane. I never had much luck with mirrors in the past, but based on what I have read here, I am ready to give it another go.

I learned that I live in a very bike friendly city in comparrison to many of these other places.

I learned that acting like a legitimate part of traffic makes drivers treat you like a legitimate part of traffic. Use lights (use them during daylight), signal, avoid blind spots, take lanes, smile, stop and let people turn left in front of you. I think everytime I've allowed some to turn left or allowed them to turn right into traffic I've converted a driver to "bike friendly".

I also learned how to adjust my bike so my hands don't go numb and my nether regions don't get sore:)

jim

I'd like to add to this legitimate part of traffice bit...don't run a red light just because there's no traffic. I've never done it, but, I sure would like bikers on my commute STOP running red lights.

I've learned that many car drivers actually think just like me, that they are scared for bikers and drive very carefully and slowly around bikers, and for this reason I can no longer think that all car drivers are jerks or potential murderers.

Likewise, there are many bikers who should not be allowed to ride on streets, for all the non-traffic-friendly moves they make in traffic...just because they are on a bike, I don't have to support their biking behavior.

I've changed my mind about stop signs; I now agree that the law should allow cyclists to treat them as yield signs.

I've learned a wide variety of viewpoints concerning advocacy, some I agree with, some I don't. I can't say I learned a great deal new concerning how to ride safely, but I've certainly been reminded of a lot of things. I've also learned that there's a lot going on in other cities around the country concerning biking as real transportation that ISN'T going on in Houston. In the Commuting section I've found a load of info about home made lighting that I probably wouldn't have found elsewhere.
I'm new to the forums, but I'll likely be here for a long time.

Probably 80% or more of stop signs are implemented as a traffic calming measure, they are political rather then engineering based. The problem is that while it would be valid to treat political ones as yields, it's not always a good idea to treat engineering based ones as yields. There is no way, from the sign to tell the difference, mind you drivers often ignore them as well.

I've changed my mind a bit on stop signs. I am much less likely to roll thru one when anyone is within a couple of blocks. The local police say if the cyclist is in control and going slow enough to stop if needed they are cool with it. Naturally, if you get creamed anyway it is all on you.

I also learned that the area I live in, by comparison to most of the posters here, is very bike friendly. I am quite happy to say that I have never been honked at or yelled at by a motorist.

I've been convinced about the perils of wrong-way riding (I was originally taught it was *safer* to ride against the traffic). I still do this for a very short distance on one small portion of my commute where crossing the street is impossible due to a barrier fence, but I am much more careful about it. Hopefully on my new commute there will be no reasons to ride the wrong way.

I've also learned something about the debate over bike lanes. I used to think they were the best solution for all situations, but now I know that isn't always the case.

I stopped flipping the bird to motorist that cut me off or pass to close. I feel so much better.

although i have only posted here once or twice, i've been reading this forum off and on for maybe 3 months (all google bike searches lead to bikeforums!) and i've learned a LOT. i came here to learn.

i don't ride through stop signs (ANY stop signs) anymore, because i want to be seen as a valid, law-abiding part of traffic, and also because i found here that people really do get tickets for it. i now take the lane at any intersection where there's a stop light or sign, unless there's a bike lane where i feel safe i won't be run over by turning traffic. (it is so much better than being next to a car who may turn or may not turn, and neither of you knows who gets to go first.) i learned to take the law a lot more seriously, even when certain laws seem kind of dumb: even though a law is dumb, i can still make people mad or get a ticket by not following it. i learned that bike lanes can sometimes be more dangerous than "regular" lanes, and that not everyone wants bike lanes!

i've learned a lot of stuff!

Ditto. Contribute not so much, learned a whole lot. I like the extremists too. They make you think and borrow from their ideaologies. Overall I'm a different (better?) cyclist than I was a couple years ago.

Don't think it's due to anything I've read on the forum, but I've stopped wearing a helmet.

Used to wear one religiously, but haven't picked any of mine up in months except to move them while looking for something else.

These days I just wear whatever ballcap I have handy.

Since all my morning commutes are now before any hint of daylight I may start back wearing a helmet as soon as I get a helmet light. Bar mounted lights don't always put the light where I want it. The helmet would just be something to mount another light on.

I gave HH's theories a try and learned that they don't work.

I gave my own theories a try, and I learned that I can always learn from someone else, whether it's good or bad.

I learned a lot here. The most valuable lesson involved the mindset that I am a fully equal road user. Another lesson learned was that the rules of the road work well for cyclists as well as motorists. A third lesson was that bike lanes are unnecessary and often (although not always) undesirable.

I have moved on--I almost never participate in this forum any more because I've gotten what I can from it. The only issues that still concern me are motorist/cyclist education and Critical Mass. But I'll always be grateful to many of the smart people who posted here in the last couple years!

Learned that lesson long ago when I flipped off some bonehead and he stopped and threw his trunk into reverse. Don't flip off people anymore;) I use to yell questions about their parentage at them but I've had a couple of incidents in recent years that have me rethinking that tactic also. Some people can hear better than others and they take offense when you claim that their mothers are members of the canine species or that their mother and father are related...closely;)

Honestly, since I learned how lane positioning is key to being visible and predictable in traffic, which I learned before I came to BF, I haven't learned too much new stuff. From other forums, I did learn about using the slow/stop signal in various situations, particularly in conjuction with a rear-view mirror. However, I am continually amazed at the seemingly endless irrational defenses for bike lanes on roads without long intersectionless stretches of high-speed traffic often presented here, and the lack of acceptance and/or understanding for the importance of moving left (after a look back and confirmation of ROW to do so) prior to going straight across an intersection, any intersection.

FWIW, Diane has repeatedly demonstrated having a lack of understanding for "HH's theories" -- certainly an inability to explain in her own words without twisting the theories into something they are not -- so whatever "theories" she tried and "learned that they don't work" is anyone's guess.

I've learned I never want to ride a bike in Iowa.

I don't know if I can go so far as to say these forums have changed my mind on anything, since I was pretty much a newbie when I came here, and had hardly any preconceived ideas to be changed. However, I have certainly learned a lot. In fact, almost all of my traffic education initially came from here. I found when I finally took the LAB Road I course a few months ago that I already knew most of it, thanks to this forum.

I do continue to go back and forth on certain issues based on what I read here, especially bike lanes. Since I don't have many where I ride, I've never relied on them and have often leaned towards favoring the anti-BL arguments. However, I'm still a little on the fence, and in fact may be moderating my view a bit. It's still a "work in progress".

Probably the biggest thing I've learned is that riding conditions vary wildly with geography and it's difficult to make blanket statements about anything! ;)

Having ridden, trained and raced bicycles for 19 years, I thought I knew everything there was to know about cycling on the open road. Up until recently, I rode mostly in a static lane position on the right side of the right tire track. I looked back a lot to check on traffic but was still peeved at getting close-passed without warning.

After hanging out in the Forum a while, I figured I would try the rear-view mirror and a more active approach to traffic management. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I can generally tell the approaching boneheads from the normal drivers long before they get close just by how they behave behind me. I consciously take more lane when there are oncoming vehicles and hand-signal vehicles approaching from the rear to slow in these situations and most vehicles will oblige and the operators are grateful, especially on blind turn situations where I can see around the turn further than they can. And, by being farther in the lane I have afforded myself more space to the right to maneuver and make the 'close pass' not so close if I have to. Now I even use the mirror on fast group training rides to keep my mates aware of traffic conditions.

So I think I have learned to be a more pro-active and also safer cyclist.

Bike lanes are by and large just dumb. Out west, they may have improved them but not around here. I was just a beach town in Delaware where they have bike lanes painted everywhere. Right in the middle of town with tons of parked cars, they have the 3' wide bike lane painted right up against the parked cars. A zillion kids riding up and down the street. Further out, they have bike lanes but no sidewalks. So, the pedestrians (rightfully) walk down the bike lanes so I ride out in the street! So what good is the bike lane?

Just to show how much respect the state of Delaware affords cyclist, after Ernesto subsided, the shoulder of Ocean Highway was covered with tree debris and sand. I was riding my bike up the shoulder/bike-lane/ped lane and stopped to discuss the condition of the road with a Delaware State Policeman who was monitoring Labor day traffic. I mentioned to him that the entire shoulder was covered in sand for several hundred feet making riding hazardous and asked him if Del DOT was aware of the situations. He said 'oh yes, Del DOT knows about it, but they are not going to do anything about it until after the holiday. They don't want to pay the overtime". Sure enough, before I left today, I saw the street cleaner going up the shoulder of Ocean Highway.....