Kids playing in the streets

======================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
4:42, no trimming
=================================== END MODERATOR'S COMMENT


"Jeff" wrote in message
link.net...

"Nikki" wrote in message
...
bizby40 wrote:

Without the van, we won't
have room to take the dog with us.


I have a solution for that one. We bought a hitch and platform for the
back of my car. We then bought one of those kennel covers that go over
the kennel so that the dog stays comfy inside when it is cold.

(...)

I would be afraid that the kennel or the whole thing on the hitch would
fall off. I know it is securely fastened, though. As long as the kennel is
securely fastened, it is safe for the dog.

Just the thought of having the dog outside the car is frightening to me.
Perhaps not for any logical reason....

Bizby


If you get the hitch, you can get a bike rack for your bikes, too.

Jeff
http://tinyurl.com/487oc


--
Nikki

"shinypenny" wrote in message
oups.com...

Claire Petersky wrote:
The most common car/bike accident happens when a motorist backs out
of the
driveway, and hits the bicyclist.

There have been numerous times my DF almost got killed because a
motorist parked on the street opened the door without looking first.
The thought terrifies me that someday he won't be able to brake his
bike in time. A bicycle helmet is fairly useless to protect against a
full body slam into a car door. :-(

jen


Actually in this case the helmet may help because the bicyclist may flip
over the door and then hit the street (head first). I had a friend "doored"
and he was lucky not to crack his head (no helmet) Afterwards, he wore a
helmet all the time.

Jeanne

"bizby40" wrote in
:


======================================= MODERATOR'S
COMMENT: 4:42, no trimming
=================================== END MODERATOR'S COMMENT



"Jeff" wrote in message
link.net..
.

"Nikki" wrote in message
...
bizby40 wrote:

Without the van, we won't
have room to take the dog with us.

I have a solution for that one. We bought a hitch and
platform for the back of my car. We then bought one of
those kennel covers that go over the kennel so that the
dog stays comfy inside when it is cold.

I would be afraid that the kennel or the whole thing on
the hitch would fall off. I know it is securely fastened,
though. As long as the kennel is securely fastened, it is
safe for the dog.

Just the thought of having the dog outside the car is
frightening to me. Perhaps not for any logical reason....

oh, i can think of a couple perfectly logical reasons... car
exhaust isn't healthy & what if someone rearends your car.
my dog rides in the car or truck cab. if all the humans are
in the truck cab & the dog is also going along, he would be in
a securely anchored kennel in the bed. since we only have 3
adults & one kid, even in the Focus there's room for the dog
too (he's a Great Pyranees/Border Collie cross. not a small
dog by any standard).
we're thinking of taking him on longer trips with us this
summer & for that we'll be getting him a seatbelt harness, not
so he can't roam the car (he doesn't) but in case of accidents
he won't get thrown & injured (or injure us).
leedogs aren't luggage. they go *in* the vehicle

Kevin Karplus wrote:

On 2005-04-01, Jeff wrote:
When there are speed bumps, I try to go around them. A lot of times, there
is room on the side of them to make it over, or make over with only the
wheels on one side of the car hitting the bump. Of course, if you do that,
you have accomplished the goals of putting in the speed bump.

Drivers who swerve all over the road to avoid speed bumps are a hazard
to bicyclists---the drivers rarely seem to look before swerving.
That is why properly designed speed humps are the full width of the road.

Most of the speed bumps I see are in parking lots, and they are rarely
all the way across because then they'd have to be under the parked
cars. So if there aren't any cars, you can easily drive so that you
don't go over the speed bump with half of the car. I don't see that
as a particular hazard for bicyclists, as there aren't that many in
parking lots.

The speed hump should also be long (about 10 feet along the road).
The City of Santa Cruz has good design standards for speed humps and
does a good job of installing them so that they are minimally
intrusive for bicyclists and cars obeying the 25 mph speed limit, but
are effective in slowing down the speeders. Unfortunately, I could
not find an on-line version of their design standards. I suspect that
they are fairly close to the California design standards, which I also
could not find.

I did see some cyclist behavior a couple of times that I wondered
about. Does anyone know why we saw three cyclists cycling next to the
median against traffic in the Francis Marion Forest (SC)?

That is, if we were going north in the middle of a multi-lane highway
with a grass median, these cyclists were riding south next to the fast
lane of our side of the highway. If they were going north, they would
be on the southbound side also next to the median Adult men if it
makes any difference, and in the middle of the day. There was not a
lot of traffic and almost no place to cycle to - no stores or bars or
anything, and very few houses.

I found it particularly puzzling because FL, SC and NC seem to have
bike paths along side of the road almost everywhere including here.

grandma Rosalie

On 2005-04-02, Claire Petersky wrote:
I lead kids' rides through our bike club, and I have the kids go through
about seven safety rules before we hit the road/trail. The kids think
primary safety rule is "Wear a Helmet", but really it's: "Be Alert". The
most common reason on a club ride for accidents is momentary inattention.
With kids it's even more likely that you'll be distracted or lose focus, so
it's one we really stress. Wear a helmet is at the bottom of the list.
Helmets are great when all else fails, but we never want to be in a position
when the helmet will have to come into play.

Oh all right, here's my list, so you teach it to your kids, too, for rides
on multi-use trails and in traffic:

o Stay alert
o Obey all laws
o Leave space between you and other riders
o Ride single file and as far to the right as is practical
o Communicate with others by saying, "car back!" "passing on the left!"; use
your bell or horn if you have one
o Only pass on the left, only when safe
o Wear a helmet

I have quibbles with some of these safety rules.

Stay Alert: no quibble there. This is very important.
It is necessary to teach kids what to look for and where to look.

Obey all laws: generally a good idea, assuming the kids *know* the laws.
It is probably necessary to be more explicit.

Leave space between you and other riders: a good idea. It may be
necessary to explain *how much* space is needed. Generally
you need at least a bike length front and back and at least
3-4 feet to each side, to be able to see hazards and avoid
road debris. Racing cyclists will train in much tighter
formations, but they are trading off a fair amount of safety
when they do so.

Ride single file and as far to the right as is practical: the first
part is good, but the second is not quite right. You should
ride a straight line a door's width to the left of parked
cars. The "as far to the right as is practical" is actually
not safety advice but anti-bike legislation that several
states have written into their traffic codes to allow cops to
hassle bicyclists. A better thing to teach kids is *where* on
the road they should be and the slow-moving vehicle laws,
which tell them when they have to pull over to allow other
traffic to pass.

Communicate with others by saying, "car back!" "passing on the left!";
use your bell or horn if you have one: The "passing on the
left" phrase is about the only one of these a good bicyclist
needs---the "car back" phrase is used only to tell people who
have been disobeying the "ride single file" rule that they are
about to find out why the rule is there. Bells or horns are
emergency signal devices that really have little use on a
bicycle---when you need an emergency signal, you also need
both hands on the brakes and steering, so you are better off
shouting than reaching for a horn or bell. Some people
recommend using a bell when signaling a pedestrian that you
are passing them on a mixed-use trail or sidewalk, which is an
acceptable non-emergency use. I recommend staying off the
mixed-use trails and sidewalks with a bicycle, and using the
bike on the roads.

Only pass on the left, only when safe: no quibbles here.

Wear a helmet: no quibbles here. I agree that this is a last resort,
but it does reduce the probability of serious head injury by
about a factor 2, so is worth the small inconvenience of
wearing it.



------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Affiliations for identification only.

On 2005-04-02, Rosalie B. wrote:
Most of the speed bumps I see are in parking lots, and they are rarely
all the way across because then they'd have to be under the parked
cars. So if there aren't any cars, you can easily drive so that you
don't go over the speed bump with half of the car. I don't see that
as a particular hazard for bicyclists, as there aren't that many in
parking lots.

Parking lot design is somewhat different from road design.
Most speed bumps in parking lots are much too short, making them somewhat
hazardous to bicyclists. Parking lots in general are very dangerous
places for bicyclists, as motorists pull out without really looking
behind them.

I did see some cyclist behavior a couple of times that I wondered
about. Does anyone know why we saw three cyclists cycling next to the
median against traffic in the Francis Marion Forest (SC)?

That is, if we were going north in the middle of a multi-lane highway
with a grass median, these cyclists were riding south next to the fast
lane of our side of the highway. If they were going north, they would
be on the southbound side also next to the median Adult men if it
makes any difference, and in the middle of the day. There was not a
lot of traffic and almost no place to cycle to - no stores or bars or
anything, and very few houses.

I found it particularly puzzling because FL, SC and NC seem to have
bike paths along side of the road almost everywhere including here.

I can't think of any good reason for cycling facing traffic next to
the high-speed lane of a divided highway. Suicidal perhaps?

------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Affiliations for identification only.

Kevin Karplus wrote:

On 2005-04-02, Rosalie B. wrote:
snip
That is, if we were going north in the middle of a multi-lane highway
with a grass median, these cyclists were riding south next to the fast
lane of our side of the highway. If they were going north, they would
be on the southbound side also next to the median Adult men if it
makes any difference, and in the middle of the day. There was not a
lot of traffic and almost no place to cycle to - no stores or bars or
anything, and very few houses.

I found it particularly puzzling because FL, SC and NC seem to have
bike paths along side of the road almost everywhere including here.

I can't think of any good reason for cycling facing traffic next to
the high-speed lane of a divided highway. Suicidal perhaps?

Well it wasn't an interstate of course, and it wasn't a very high
traffic area because the interstates take most of the long haul
traffic and there's very little stuff in the forest for people to ride
to.

When I was a kid, we did a Girl Scout cycling badge. I don't know if
they still have that badge, but we learned about safety rules, and one
of the things we learned was to ride in the same direction of traffic
and in the street rather than on the sidewalk

I went back to my college for a 45th reunion, and we always rode bikes
around the campus - when I was there cars weren't allowed and it is a
fairly small area. I did see signs in town that prohibited riding on
the sidewalks.

But walking I always walk facing the traffic. So I wonder if these
were people that normally walked, and possibly the roads were
hazardous on the right side. (often in the slow lane there are
potholes etc) . Or maybe they were just a candidate for Darwin.

i was quite impressed with the coastal SE states where SC and NC not
only had bike lanes like I was familiar with in Florida, but also
actual bike routes which had signs marking them just like the car
routes in NC. Traveling on the boat, I never got a chance to see
that.

One thing I would like to go back to - on the training people to look
out for traffic etc - I have a problem riding if I'm looking back to
see what's behind me. How do you deal with that?

grandma Rosalie

On 2005-04-03, Rosalie B. wrote:
....
When I was a kid, we did a Girl Scout cycling badge. I don't know if
they still have that badge, but we learned about safety rules, and one
of the things we learned was to ride in the same direction of traffic
and in the street rather than on the sidewalk

Good---a lot of people in the 1950s were taught (incorecctly) to
behave like pedestrians on their bikes and to ride facing traffic.
Trying to get that misinformation out of what people teach their
families is difficult.

....
One thing I would like to go back to - on the training people to look
out for traffic etc - I have a problem riding if I'm looking back to
see what's behind me. How do you deal with that?

There is a procedure called the "shoulder check" which involves taking
a quick look over one's shoulder while continuing to ride a straight
line. It takes some practice to do correctly (my 9-year-old can do it
in bike lessons on the playground, but not yet when riding on the
street).

The technique is described in most decent bike safety publications.
There is an article describing a typical bike-education class for
adults in
http://www.bicyclesolutions.com/article_marin.html

------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Affiliations for identification only.

"Rosalie B." wrote in message

But walking I always walk facing the traffic. So I wonder if these
were people that normally walked,

I imagine that is their rationale - though it is a little frightening. I
guess it puts *them* in control of being able to swerve out of the way or
not (from visibly oncoming traffic) instead of contending with the constant
stream of cars coming up ones backside.

Kevin Karplus wrote:

On 2005-04-03, Rosalie B. wrote:
...
When I was a kid, we did a Girl Scout cycling badge. I don't know if
they still have that badge, but we learned about safety rules, and one
of the things we learned was to ride in the same direction of traffic
and in the street rather than on the sidewalk

Good---a lot of people in the 1950s were taught (incorecctly) to
behave like pedestrians on their bikes and to ride facing traffic.
Trying to get that misinformation out of what people teach their
families is difficult.

I'm older than that - I'm pretty sure this was in the late 40s. They
still had streetcars on Roland Avenue.

We were taught that we should ride two abreast and I think the
rational was that it would be easier for a car to knock one of you out
of the way, but two of you he would have to pay attention to.

One of the things that my children sometimes had to do which was
hazardous was to ride their horses along the side of the road. For
some reason, some people would speed up to just behind them and honk.
This almost invariably frightened the horse and he would bolt. This
is very dangerous for a car driver to do, as a bolting horse doesn't
always go out of the traffic.

The situation was that they would ride from the stable to the ring
area where jumps were set up. Part of the way was on a dirt road, but
there was one place where the highway (two lane) crossed a small
stream and the bridge did not have shoulders. In the beginning they
were allowed to cross the highway and ride along the back edge of some
people's property, but the people stopped allowing them to do that, so
they had to ride down the road and cross the bridge.

They tried to stop and wait until there was no traffic, but
occasionally people would be speeding and would get down the hill and
to the bridge before they could get across. In one instance dd#1 was
in the middle of the bridge when some yahoo came whizzing along and
blew his horn as he got to the horse, who bolted into the middle of
the road. Fortunately by the time the horse reacted, the car was
already over the bridge.but it scared everyone (except the offending
drive, but including the people coming the other way), and made them
even more careful about crossing that bridge.

One thing I would like to go back to - on the training people to look
out for traffic etc - I have a problem riding if I'm looking back to
see what's behind me. How do you deal with that?

There is a procedure called the "shoulder check" which involves taking
a quick look over one's shoulder while continuing to ride a straight
line. It takes some practice to do correctly (my 9-year-old can do it
in bike lessons on the playground, but not yet when riding on the
street).

The technique is described in most decent bike safety publications.
There is an article describing a typical bike-education class for
adults in
http://www.bicyclesolutions.com/article_marin.html

I had a great deal of problem having confidence enough to ride a bike
again after so long of not doing it. I did my recent riding on bike
paths off the highway altogether. I have trouble even steering the
boat if I'm looking in another direction, so I wondered whether
mirrors would help.

grandma Rosalie