bad riding a benefit to rider safety?
So on bikebuzz.net ventstation was a post about how the poster was embarassed as a cyclist seeing another rider riding with no reguard for pedistrians, cars, traffic or signals. I understand the frustration. And I think it's not smart to ride like that. You can get hurt and you can hurt others.
But ... the other side of the coin here. Most people barely know the rules of the road when it comes to driving, how are they to know the rules when it comes to riding? but that's not my point. The point I want to make today is that maybe, it will take a BUNCH of people riding badly, for people to notice bicyclists and bicycling.
When I drive in neighborhoods I tend to go pretty slow. Kids may be around and they can (and do) shoot out into the street at any moment. So, if enough riders were to be unpredictable, others may take a less agressive and more defensive attitude.
I've done some pretty un-scientific research on the effect of rider predictability on the amount of space given by drivers when passing. Baisicly sometimes I notice that when I ride erraticly (swerving, unstable or just looking like I don't know what I'm doing), drivers tend to give me a little more space. This is in contrast to when I'm dressed up like a super-hero and holding my line just to the right (or on) the white line. Of course this isn't all drivers as some still buzzed me (or gave me extra space) no matter how I rode.
I don't know. It's just a thought I had.
Wednesday 06/04/2008 | 10:47 am
John on Friday 06/06/2008 | 07:18 pm
I think i saw a blog about an experiment that a guy did. I don't remember the details but it involved measuring the distance that cars left given a series of variable such as attire, helmet or none, right down to the drivers believing they are passing a woman by dragging up. Pretty interesting.
Gunnar on Saturday 06/07/2008 | 09:59 am
Now that you mention it, I remember something about that too.
A quick search led me to these pages:
University of Bath Press Release on Dr. Walkers Study
BBC News article
Dr Walkers page on overtaking
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