tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post5945948253354994993..comments2024-03-29T09:08:47.702-04:00Comments on The Silicon Graybeard: Tech Breakthrough for Those Needing Bone TransplantsSiGraybeardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-14609220161518744532017-09-01T15:30:01.442-04:002017-09-01T15:30:01.442-04:00Just for completeness and in case you come back to...Just for completeness and in case you come back to see this, I didn't think I was slamming you. I just think what you want is essentially impossible. Nobody has the money to do it. <br /><br />The only things <b>I've</b> ever heard of that cause delays of hours are organized protests and activist things, not ordinary cycling. The biggest organized rides probably affect traffic, much like the Boston Marathon or other big city running events do. Around here, worst case is that they hold up Sunday morning traffic at 7AM for a minute. I agree that roads are no place for activist protests of any kind, be it Antifa or bike riders. <br /><br />I don't have any skin in this game. I don't ride in the streets any more and I can't recall the last time a cyclist bugged me while I was driving ('97?). <br />SiGraybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-3809346579449013822017-08-30T19:40:06.951-04:002017-08-30T19:40:06.951-04:00Told you I would be slammed :-)
I know all those ...Told you I would be slammed :-)<br /><br />I know all those things. What I'm saying is that bicycles have no place in the modern urban setting unless specifically allowed for. Yet another thing the modern Utopia has screwed up.<br /><br />I have seen traffic jams in the NW that added hours to traffic, just because of some group of cyclists taking a popular road. This is unconscionable. Some people will die waiting to get to a hospital due to it, and others will die at the hands of frustrated psychopaths who can't get where they're going.<br /><br />Roads are for cars. Period.Malatropenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-15859057038111929242017-08-30T16:54:16.728-04:002017-08-30T16:54:16.728-04:00If cities want bicycle traffic, they need to alloc...<i>If cities want bicycle traffic, they need to allocate space for and build dedicated bicycle paths. </i> ... but that just ain't gonna happen. Nobody's got the money to build a parallel traffic infrastructure. If it isn't parallel infrastructure, then you have the problem of "I need to ride my bike to <i>that place</i> and there's no bike path." Bike lanes on a roadway are a good alternative and not that expensive (if the lane is 20% wider, it ought to cost ... actually less than 20% more)<br /><br />Plus there's the set of problems that infrastructure brings. If accidents are more common at intersections than in straightaways (as they are) and you drastically increase the number of intersections by adding this parallel infrastructure, what happens to the number of accidents? <br /><br />I'm not going to say cyclists don't ride like total A-holes at times, but a group of cyclists is far easier to get around than a piece of construction equipment that's going slow. If you're on a two lane road behind a front end loader loaded on a truck that does 0-45 in about an hour, you're delayed. Delays in traffic happen all the time. In my mind, riding like total A-holes includes riding into traffic instead of with it, not obeying all traffic signs and lights, and not staying as far right as practical. If I saw traffic backing up behind me, I'd wave people around or even turn off the road to get out of the way. That said, there were always stretches a mile or so long with no way off the road. <br /><br />SiGraybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-40473239521539713572017-08-30T16:25:26.146-04:002017-08-30T16:25:26.146-04:00People will slam me for this opinion, but I don...People will slam me for this opinion, but I don't think bicycles have any business using roads designed for cars, except in rural areas and small towns where cars are few and far between. It isn't fair to the drivers to impede the flow of traffic, and it isn't fair to the bicycles to make them use travel paths that will get them killed.<br /><br />If cities want bicycle traffic, they need to allocate space for and build dedicated bicycle paths. Malatropenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-40909970838290890942017-08-30T15:20:50.600-04:002017-08-30T15:20:50.600-04:00There's a traffic engineer from MIT, John Fore...There's a traffic engineer from MIT, John Forester, who has studied the topic of bicycles in traffic and has written a big book called, "<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Effective-Cycling-Press-John-Forester-ebook/dp/B007WTNVZS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504116498&sr=8-1&keywords=effective+cycling" rel="nofollow">Effective Cycling</a>" His data is pretty clear that cyclists do best when they ride in the road, with traffic and behave like traffic to the best of their abilities. Obviously, no bicyclist is going to go 45, the speed limit where we here hit, or the 55 that most drivers go. Heck, 99.99% are not going to go 25. That's where motorcycles have the advantage. They really can flow with the traffic. <br /><br />Bicyclists have that disadvantage plus the disadvantage of being small to invisible in traffic. I've seen drivers appear to look directly at me at a stop sign and then pull in front of me. Did they not see me or not care? In terms of fragility, it's human flesh against around a ton of moving metal. Chances of being OK are 0% to a few significant digits. <br /><br />People have driven their cars into fire trucks running all their lights. If they're so distracted they don't notice something like that, a cyclist (or motorcyclist) doesn't have a chance. <br />SiGraybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-77932719500360272802017-08-30T15:04:32.309-04:002017-08-30T15:04:32.309-04:00And motorcycles also can be somewhat noisier than ...And motorcycles also can be somewhat noisier than bicycles, if one wishes to go that route. Hear and avoid. Although bicycles CAN get pretty noisy rather quickly if you come up behind them, slam on the brakes hard enough to skid the tires slightly, and then hit the horn.<br /><br />You can also generally create a brown stripe that way...<br />}:-]Mark Matisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-49299893448316382082017-08-30T13:20:25.939-04:002017-08-30T13:20:25.939-04:00That's probably because motorcycles are part o...That's probably because motorcycles are <i>part of</i> the traffic, instead of <i>adjacent to</i>. A motorcycle can maneuver out of the way of a problem, but a bicycle can't do much except watch it happen.Malatropenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-51128433859736308602017-08-30T12:59:49.951-04:002017-08-30T12:59:49.951-04:00What's weird is that I know more people who ha...What's weird is that I know more people who have been hurt riding bikes than riding motorcycles.Borepatchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05029434172945099693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-65231003161222909432017-08-30T07:44:47.318-04:002017-08-30T07:44:47.318-04:00We were back on our bikes by Easter of 2000, and r...We were back on our bikes by Easter of 2000, and rode for another decade. We kept finding a repeating story: guys would ride for some number of years, and then decide the risk wasn't worth it, usually after they got hit once - sometimes after the second time they got hit. We met a guy who was deliberately hit - the car opened a door into him while passing at 45. I think it's not out impossible to get killed that way. <br /><br />As phones started spreading widely and "texting while driving" became a thing, we just thought it was too risky. <br /><br />SiGraybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-69195072196963092742017-08-30T00:47:35.531-04:002017-08-30T00:47:35.531-04:00Very sorry to hear about that (I've only been ...Very sorry to hear about that (I've only been following your blog for about a year). I wish there was some kind of system that would just smack people upside the head with something hard if they drifted out of their lanes. I see it too often. Sheer incompetence (unless they're dying, of course).Malatropenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-16041338835136366622017-08-29T22:20:10.425-04:002017-08-29T22:20:10.425-04:00Yes, we were. Of course, I remember your help viv...Yes, we were. Of course, I remember your help vividly. <br /><br />The thing that stayed sore for the longest time was my broken tailbone. When I got back to work after a month, a guy I worked with said, "that's going to be sore for 9 months". Son of gun was right. At least 9 full months. <br />SiGraybeardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00280583031339062059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1592992209402300549.post-16332513253813882292017-08-29T21:58:55.553-04:002017-08-29T21:58:55.553-04:00I remember the incident well. And, the retrieval ...I remember the incident well. And, the retrieval of the 2 bikes back to your house. You and Mrs. GB were lucky to survive the accident. Glad it ended well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com