Missed connection

[DaveK]

You: this thread
Me: wondering where you’ve gone

[dasgeh]

@baiskeli 44922 wrote:

I’m saying that I think we all agree on that. I think.

I certainly don’t agree. You almost always can step on to the asphalt without getting hit by a car. So then you’re in a cross walk and cars have to stop/yield. Maybe not if they’d have to slam on their brakes, but after one or two, they wouldn’t have to. I hope that’s not how you drive. If you see a pedestrian, and you don’t have to slam on your brakes, then yield/stop. It’s easy, and it doesn’t depend on whether there’s a car directly in front of you or not.

I hadn’t seen your earlier post, but “impossible to stop” is certainly a high barrier, and something more than slamming on brakes.

Anyway, sorry, DaveK. I’ll stop.

[Steve]

@DaveK 44924 wrote:

You: this thread
Me: wondering where you’ve gone

Fair enough. Sorry. Back to the thread….

You: crosswalk lying down across gw pkwy
Me: happy cyclist guy waiting to cross

I’m not sure who’s in charge of you or when I can come play out there, but you sure are a good friend. I like your new high viz signs and rumble strips too! Maybe someday they’ll give you a red light to hold.

But seriously, to the little bunny rabbit that hopped in front of me this morning, sorry for my girlish yell. You scared me. And why were you heading to Rt. 50? 50 is no place for a bunny rabbit to go play, especially if you’re not wearing a helmet.

[KLizotte]

@Steve 44932 wrote:

Fair enough. Sorry. Back to the thread….

You: crosswalk lying down across gw pkwy
Me: happy cyclist guy waiting to cross

I’m not sure who’s in charge of you or when I can come play out there, but you are are a good friend. I like your new high viz signs and rumble strips too! Maybe someday they’ll give you a red light to hold.

Oh! Where is this new fangled crosswalk? Rumble strips on the GW Parkway? Hell has frozen over!

[americancyclo]

@KLizotte 44940 wrote:

Oh! Where is this new fangled crosswalk? Rumble strips on the GW Parkway? Hell has frozen over!

Don’t feed the crosswalk trolls! * I say this knowing full well that I’ve ranted my share in other threads.

[baiskeli]

@dasgeh 44925 wrote:

I certainly don’t agree. You almost always can step on to the asphalt without getting hit by a car. So then you’re in a cross walk and cars have to stop/yield. Maybe not if they’d have to slam on their brakes, but after one or two, they wouldn’t have to. I hope that’s not how you drive. If you see a pedestrian, and you don’t have to slam on your brakes, then yield/stop. It’s easy, and it doesn’t depend on whether there’s a car directly in front of you or not.

Huh?

A pedestrian can easily walk out too close to a car to make it impossible by the laws of physics for the car to stop in time. At 25 mph, the distance required to come to a complete stop (reaction time plus time it takes for the brakes to work) is about 85 feet. So if someone walks in front of my car 85 feet or less ahead of me or less, I can’t possibly stop in time. Even if I had zero reaction time, it takes time for a large moving object to come to a stop. A driver can’t possibly be expected to stop in time in all cases. A pedestrian must wait until it is safe to cross by judging a car’s speed and stopping distance.

Maybe we’re just talking about different things.

[Drewdane]

@thecyclingeconomist 43248 wrote:

I have yet to meet “the pink one”… he’s like the wizard from Oz… always out there, mysterious and wonderful, just pink rather than green in this case.

He’s actually a hateful bastard. He says nice things to disarm you, then sticks a pump into your spokes just when you least expect it.

[lordofthemark]

To the adult weaving around on a kid’s bike on the MVT today.

Thank you. Even slowpokes like me like to pass another bike rider once in a while.

[Amalitza]

To the driver of the minivan that swerved into the right-turn-only lane I was riding in, just long enough to buzz me and swerve back into your driving lane, first of all, wtf?

Second of all, congratulations. You are the first driver I have actually flipped off while riding. My first!… so special…

[fuzzy]

You: riding your bike in the bike lane up 15th street NW

me: driving my car up 15th street NW, turning left onto U street NW.

You are lucky we had a missed ‘connection’ because I was paying attention and looking out for you as you disobeyed the don’t walk signal and rode into intersection, totally oblivious & not even looking, as I was turning left with the green turn signal. I stopped so you would not have a ‘connection’ with my car. I was tempted to lay on the horn and wave my el-numero-uno finger at you because you were clearly not paying attention, but your problem is a self correcting and there is no teacher like experience.

That is all.

[jrenaut]

To the guy who passed me just before green as I was stopped in the PA Ave cycletracks at 14th St – did I sound perturbed as I rang my bell and gave you a loud “On your left” when I passed you 20 feet down the road? Maybe that’s because I WAS perturbed. You blew a red light at a heavy pedestrian intersection, passing me too closely with no warning just as I was about to start moving (and therefore most likely to move sideways unpredictably). That was dangerous to you, to me, and to the idiot jaywalkers you went around. It was also stupid. Most of all, it was just rude.

[Terpfan]

@jrenaut 45476 wrote:

To the guy who passed me just before green as I was stopped in the PA Ave cycletracks at 14th St – did I sound perturbed as I rang my bell and gave you a loud “On your left” when I passed you 20 feet down the road? Maybe that’s because I WAS perturbed. You blew a red light at a heavy pedestrian intersection, passing me too closely with no warning just as I was about to start moving (and therefore most likely to move sideways unpredictably). That was dangerous to you, to me, and to the idiot jaywalkers you went around. It was also stupid. Most of all, it was just rude.

I had a similar incident the other day on MVT by the crossing at the airport. I came up on another rider who had slowed and then had to stop for a car. (He was presuming the car would not slow down thus his slowing motion would let him stay in motion). So I slowed down and did not attempt to pass because he was making the turns hard to get going again–probably from being in a high gear. I’m slightly to his left in the road there letting him get back onto the path before I consider a pass and boom, slightly announced someone goes flying by on the left making it essentially three bicycles across. I understand fully wanting to maintain momentum there, but not when it means possibly risking a collision. Just not worth it.

[bobco85]

To the two teens who were on the MVT just south of Belle Haven Park early this morning, one on his bike towing the other on a skateboard with a 20 foot rope (FYI: I have video evidence, thank you helmet cam!):

1. (surprised) WTF?! I didn’t know multi-use path could include this combination of 2 forms of transportation!
2. (amused) It did give me a good laugh after imagining how the two of you were going to make it through the oncoming lake (parts of the MVT were flooded this morning) and the skateboarder becoming a wakeboarder!
3. (judgmental) How did you navigate the twists and turns without running into a tree and/or other trail user? Very dangerous and not very respectful for other people.

[Drewdane]

Me: Using the MUT – on my bike, on foot, it doesn’t matter.

You, being ~75% of the cyclists who pass me: *silence*

Me, sarcastically: “ON MY LEFT, I GUESS!”

[Amalitza]

To the young man who passed me going up the hill from National Harbor to Oxon Hill Road. Yes, I know I don’t really ride up hills all that fast even when I’m trying, and I know at the time you passed me, I was not trying. I was lollygagging, enjoying the weather, not putting much of any effort in at all. I know, I know. Still, I’m pretty sure there’s supposed to be some sort of universal law of nature that says that joggers DO NOT PASS cyclists!

[Author]

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