Comments on: How to collide with a pedestrian

By: Treadly and Me

Treadly and Me — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 09:24:29 +0000

Absolutely no offense taken jur because I know that you're dead right. Collisions happen because at least one person makes an error of judgement and often, as in this case, both people.

I know your commute is blissfully clear of Swanston St, so let me say that I see the way people walk there as noticeably different to how I encounter pedestrians on the shared trails. At least on the trails we're all travelling in one of two directions—down Swanston at times it seems they're all over the place.

But true to my word, I've been much more cautious since Tuesday night!

By: jur

jur — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 06:52:40 +0000

lighthearted comment, no offense meant Pedestrian's fault, bloody idiot. But you're also a bloody idiot for assuming there is a path open to you with a pedestrian in front of you... with them being totally unpredictable, you could have figured that there is an excellent chance for the ped to end up in your assumed path. I have learnt to slow right down, and be ready to come to a full stop if necessary. It's just a pity about the lost momentum...

By: Treadly and Me

Treadly and Me — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 04:57:29 +0000

I'm ambivalent about bike lanes (as you can tell from recent posts). I don't oppose or favour them in principle.

But then I don't see the need to "upgrade" Swanston St with the Copenhagen treatment. A problem with these fully segregated lanes may be that pedestrians will tend to step into them (from either side) with less care than they would use when stepping into the "real" traffic lane. And the fact that pedestrians in Swanston St are already pretty relaxed about crossing without looking makes me think that Copenhagen-style lanes won't do anything to change this.

By: pedaller

pedaller — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 08:53:08 +0000

Or, the more bike lanes there are, the less aware motorists will become of cyclists in traffic lanes as the expectation is that cyclists will only exist in bike lanes, and that’s one of the many concerns I have about bike lanes.

By: Peter Chen

Peter Chen — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 04:50:31 +0000

I agree that the bell ringing thing is nuts (you’d have to rig it to the wheel so it continually rang), but I’m not so sure about cycling lanes in general (not in your case) – i think the more we see dedicated physical infrastructure for cycling, the more the general punter is made aware of cyclists as regular, acceptable, normal road users. Though I accept the point about bikes as toys though. On the subject of water cooler talk, you’re right! How many times have I had a random person tell me some “evil cyclist” story when they hear I cycle: its exactly the same thing I get with being a vegan … as soon as people find out they go into a totally defensive-agressive mode… P