Re: Disc brake maintenance tips

On Wed, 26 Jun 2024 23:51:38 -0400, Frank Krygowski
<frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 6/26/2024 9:27 PM, John B. wrote:

 
What's missing from this discussion is "what killed the kid on the
sidewalk?" An elephant stepped on him? He fell asleep and rode over a
lane, marker? ?

>
The boy in question was riding on a downtown sidewalk, on the south side
of the street, heading west. That meant he was riding opposite the
direction of the motorists in the adjacent traffic lane.
>
Speed limit is 25 mph. Traffic was heavy, as it usually is at that
location. A woman was attempting to drive out of a parking lot (having
left an ice cream store, I believe) to head east. She was looking to her
left for a gap in traffic. When she saw a gap, the hit the accelerator,
pulling out to her right. But at that moment, the boy (about 10 years
old) was in the process of riding by her car. She ran him over and
killed him.
>
He was coming from a direction that was unexpected, something few
motorists ever check. If the boy had been walking, he'd have been
slower, so she'd have had more time to notice him; and he may have been
able to jump out of the way if she didn't notice him.

Below is another example of a bicyclist failing to notice that the
driver was preparing to dart out in front of him. It would have been
clear as a bell for anyone who'd been paying attention.  It could just
as easily happened to someone walking or runnning.

To paraphrase what I've seen people on this forum say, bicycle
infrastructure doesn't gaurantee bicyclists safety.

Trusting that others are going to be watching out for you is a
mistake.

This same hazard applies to "innovative" bi-directional bike lanes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k6-AI_X1qE
That facility recorded over ten times the rate of car-bike crashes that
existed before it was installed.

Probably because it began being used by bicyclists.