Re: Montana: "Let's make stupidity mandatory!"

On Thu, 16 Jan 2025 11:16:59 -0500, Frank Krygowski
<frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 1/16/2025 4:23 AM, Catrike Ryder demonstrated amazing ignorance by
writing:

how do you seize the lane
if you do not pull out into the traffic?

Our tricycle rider is so unfamiliar with riding on actual roads that he
seems to visualize every road as always being bumper to bumper with
speeding vehicles. But that oh-so-scary image is paranoid fantasy.

<LOL> Krygowski often tries to put words in other people mouths, here
he tried to put thoughts in other person's (me) minds.

Almost all roads feature rather large gaps between moving vehicles. When
I bicycle out of my street onto a four lane that carries something like
30,000 vehicles per day, I do it by waiting for a gap in traffic, much
as I do when driving may car or riding my motorcycle.

So, I guess you do pull out into the traffic.

With any of my three vehicles, I then place myself in the center of the
lane. With any of those three vehicles, motorists who want to go faster
than me merge into the next lane over to pass.

Well, yes, as I just said in another thread. I've found that riding in
traffic in four lanes is easier and safer than riding in two lanes.
I've done it many times.

This is not rocket science. It's all according to existing traffic laws.
It's not dangerous, it's not scary.

Actually, driving, or motorcycling on or walking along near heavy
traffic can be dangerous enough. My wife and I have driven thousands
of miles on the road described below. We've never seen anyone stupid
enough to ride a bicycle on it, let alone "take the lane."

According to a Dateline NBC study, part of US 19 in Florida is the
most dangerous road in the U.S. A Florida Highway Patrol test period
beginning in 1998 and ending in 2003, as mandated by the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration, showed the stretch of US 19
from Pasco to Pinellas county to average approximately 52 deaths a
year, or 262 deaths in the five-year duration of the study. Of these
deaths, 100 were pedestrian related making US 19 the #1 worst road to
walk on in these two counties.[4] Multiple efforts to improve US 19
have been suggested to FDOT.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_19_in_Florida

That's one death a week on a 25/30 mile stretch of high way. How many
fender benders would that take. What are the odds that a fender bender
type of accident with a vehicle would be a serious accident for a
bicycle?

Accident and death statistics are much worse today.

I suspect that you don't ever really ride in any serious traffic.

--
C'est bon
Soloman