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Randito
Snarky Member
Joined: 27 Jul 2008
Posts: 9513 | TRs | Pics
Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
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Randito
Snarky Member
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 Tue Dec 08, 2015 7:14 pm |
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| IanB wrote: | | one of my pet peeves is when cyclists are provided a lane at considerable expense ---
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many of our commuter and sport riders insist on thin tires and turn their noses up at the lane that tax dollars paid for |
What so you can barrel down the road half asleep and not have to deal with cyclists, pedestrians and off leash dogs possibly being in the roadway?
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Bedivere
Why Do Witches Burn?
Joined: 25 Jul 2008
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Location: The Hermitage |
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Bedivere
Why Do Witches Burn?
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Tue Dec 08, 2015 7:25 pm |
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Major thread drift since my last check-in.
I'm now waiting to see if I get a ticket in the mail. I was down in Kent yesterday and making a left turn at a busy intersection. I was about the 8th car back from the line when the left turn arrow went green. Everyone started going, and just as I crossed the crosswalk into the intersection the light turned yellow and then everyone stopped, trapping me in the intersection. The stop lasted a second or two and then everyone started moving again slowly. I was trapped in the intersection long enough that I had started moving again but hadn't cleared the intersection before the light turned red and I saw the bright flash from the cameras.
I'll be curious to see whether I get ticketed. I really doubt if a cop had been there rather than a camera that he would've ticketed me since I entered the intersection on green.
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IanB
Vegetable Belayer
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
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Location: gone whuljin' |
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IanB
Vegetable Belayer
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Tue Dec 08, 2015 7:37 pm |
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Sorry to disappoint you guys, but I'm talking about rural roads, and my "small amount of debris" really does mean a dusting of grit and twigs and leaves off trees.
I also thought that I made it clear that I am both a cyclist and a driver, so that I do know what it feels like on both sides of the white line.
And, as your responses keep rolling in, that I do not "barrel down" any roads half asleep. I actually happen to be one of those people that does respect the speed limit - because I'm aware that piloting a vehicle is a huge responsibility - a life and death one.
For that matter, when I come up behind a cyclist where they have no shoulder, I'm the driver that will actually slow to 5 in a 40, if that's what it takes, to wait until I have a clear chance to pass - even if that means I've stacked up other drivers behind me. You want another of my pet peeves - it's the damn drivers that pass cyclists by shamelessly pulling into the oncoming lane forcing me to swerve onto the other shoulder to avoid a head-on!
But apparently boot up and RandyHiker, you have your shorts bunched up so tight that you're going to lash out reflexively. That's sweet of you. I didn't accuse either of you, as individuals, of doing anything wrong on the road. Thanks for giving me the same benefit of the doubt. My complaint was specifically about people who are creating a hazardous situation because they feel their personal riding preference is more important than everybody's safety.
"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
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cascadeclimber
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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
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I got two in a week at the same spot in Issaquah. 20 MPH school zone, doing 26.
In both cases I wrote a letter stating that the fine was not at all in proportion to the offense and if forced to pay it I would file a FOIA request to find out how much the company that put in and runs the system gets out of my $240. Both were reduced without further conversation to well under $100.
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Malachai Constant
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Joined: 13 Jan 2002
Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics
Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
CC I know that camera, all the high school kids know about it also and never get caught. It only seems to get the odd delivery driver or visitor. 
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Randito
Snarky Member
Joined: 27 Jul 2008
Posts: 9513 | TRs | Pics
Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
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Randito
Snarky Member
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Tue Dec 08, 2015 9:50 pm |
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| IanB wrote: | | That's sweet of you. I didn't accuse either of you |
| Quote: | | many of our commuter and sport riders insist on thin tires and turn their noses up at the lane that tax dollars paid for. |
Maybe not me personally -- but you seem to have an axe to grind against folks on two wheels that are unwilling to ride over debris on the shoulder...
which the law does not require the cyclist to do RCW 46.61.770 "...
"shall ride as near to the right side of the right through lane as is safe..."
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Malachai Constant
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Joined: 13 Jan 2002
Posts: 16092 | TRs | Pics
Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
I commuted from Izzy to Bellevue on a road bike for years but quickly changed from 15mm slick tires to 25 mm treads after getting too many snakebite flats. 
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Tom
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Joined: 15 Dec 2001
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Tom
Admin
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Tue Dec 08, 2015 11:05 pm |
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| Bedivere wrote: | | I entered the intersection on green |
Pretty sure you won't get a ticket unless you entered the intersection when red. When the camera fires the flash is really bright (think lightning strike). Hard to miss, especially at night. When I got my ticket in the mail they sent 2 pictures, one showing me at the intersection just when it turned red and then continuing thru the intersection. I probably would have avoided the ticket if I had been going faster. The light seemed to turn to red much faster than a typical yellow, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 
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NacMacFeegle
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Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States |
Here's an idea (might be terrible lol); add another color to traffic lights (blue might work), between green and yellow. Essentially it would be a way of giving a little extra warning so that people would be better able to judge whether they could make the light or not.
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Randito
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Joined: 27 Jul 2008
Posts: 9513 | TRs | Pics
Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
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Randito
Snarky Member
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Wed Dec 09, 2015 5:32 am |
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| NacMacFeegle wrote: | | Here's an idea (might be terrible lol); add another color to traffic lights (blue might work), between green and yellow. Essentially it would be a way of giving a little extra warning so that people would be better able to judge whether they could make the light or not. |
The simpler system used in NYC is that the light is red in all directions for a few seconds.
This helps deal with drivers that speed up when the light is yellow in order to make the light.
Any scheme needs to account for the 10% jerk factor.
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
Joined: 20 Mar 2012
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Location: Seattle |
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Cyclopath
Faster than light
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Wed Dec 09, 2015 9:14 am |
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| IanB wrote: | | While we're drifting, one of my pet peeves is when cyclists are provided a lane at considerable expense - and then choose not to use it because the small amount of debris that accumulates there is too much for pencil-thin tires to deal with.
Bainbridge considers itself pretty progressive, and so bike lanes are added piecemeal to our roads based on safety priority. These are rural roads, so it isn't a paint fix but actual bed widening and paving. And that's great. I've appreciated those lanes myself on my knobby-tired bike.
But the city can't afford to street sweep hundreds of miles of roads weekly, and rather than adapt, many of our commuter and sport riders insist on thin tires and turn their noses up at the lane that tax dollars paid for.
You can see where this is a recipe for driver frustration?
The only way drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians will behave safely, wisely, and considerately towards each other is if each person participates themselves in all three modes of transportation. |
You make it sound like we're lucky you're gracious enough to let people who don't live on your island set foot there.
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IanB
Vegetable Belayer
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
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Location: gone whuljin' |
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IanB
Vegetable Belayer
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Wed Dec 09, 2015 10:56 am |
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| Cyclopath wrote: | | You make it sound like we're lucky you're gracious enough to let people who don't live on your island set foot there. |
I honestly have no idea how you get that out of what I wrote. 
This is probably pointless, but I'll say, again, that our community is very bike-friendly with a long-established bike advocacy group that began lobbying decades ago for bike lanes to make our steep, dark, chip-sealed rural roads safer for everyone. And almost all our bike riders, myself included, use them where they are provided. (More are added year by year.)
My gripe was with a small subset of riders, that insist on making the situation as unsafe as if the lanes did not exist at all. I just don't get it.
I read the RCW that RandyHiker linked, and yeah, the language grants the cyclist the subjective decision as to what they feel is safe. However I cannot understand how that could be interpreted to mean what is safe for their (optional) puncture-prone tires, as opposed to what is safe for both their lives and the lives of others.
"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
"Forget gaining a little knowledge about a lot and strive to learn a lot about a little." - Harvey Manning
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NacMacFeegle
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Joined: 16 Jan 2014
Posts: 2653 | TRs | Pics
Location: United States |
| RandyHiker wrote: | | The simpler system used in NYC is that the light is red in all directions for a few seconds.
This helps deal with drivers that speed up when the light is yellow in order to make the light.
Any scheme needs to account for the 10% jerk factor. |
 That sound's like a good system.
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Bedivere
Why Do Witches Burn?
Joined: 25 Jul 2008
Posts: 7464 | TRs | Pics
Location: The Hermitage |
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Bedivere
Why Do Witches Burn?
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Wed Dec 09, 2015 11:43 am |
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| Tom wrote: | | Bedivere wrote: | | I entered the intersection on green |
Pretty sure you won't get a ticket unless you entered the intersection when red. When the camera fires the flash is really bright (think lightning strike). Hard to miss, especially at night. When I got my ticket in the mail they sent 2 pictures, one showing me at the intersection just when it turned red and then continuing thru the intersection. I probably would have avoided the ticket if I had been going faster. The light seemed to turn to red much faster than a typical yellow, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. |
How long does it take for the ticket to arrive? I'll post here again if I get one. I had just entered the intersection, my rear bumper might even have still been in the crosswalk when it turned yellow and I saw the flash just as the front of my car reached the crosswalk across the street I was turning onto.
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hikersarenumber1
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Joined: 21 Apr 2015
Posts: 466 | TRs | Pics
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You aren't suppose to enter the intersection unless there is space to clear it. People who stop in intersections and block traffic suck.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.61.202
| Quote: | | RCW 46.61.202
Stopping when traffic obstructed.
No driver shall enter an intersection or a marked crosswalk or drive onto any railroad grade crossing unless there is sufficient space on the other side of the intersection, crosswalk, or railroad grade crossing to accommodate the vehicle he or she is operating without obstructing the passage of other vehicles, pedestrians, or railroad trains notwithstanding any traffic control signal indications to proceed. |
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