Today I have been mostly discovering just how much Swedish people love their motor vehicles. (When this saga is done, I may explain exactly what I discovered and how.)
Separately, out on my bike today, another instance of eye contact saves your life. When a car should give way to you as a cyclist, ALWAYS LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE DRIVER until you are certain they have seen you. Guy drove onto a roundabout without even once looking in my direction, let alone noticing me.
#BikeTooter
@bestdeadends Please tell us what have discovered.
IMHO if one does not love the vehicles, bikes, boats, audio systems or whatever gear they own, they should get rid of it. There's no reason for keeping stuff one does not like nor use.
@bestdeadends Such an interpretaion would IMHO require more information about the car driving individuals.
My point is - brutally said - this: people are usually narrow minded and ignorant.
Some examples:
1) A pair of nordic pole walkers walk side by side, chatting, on a combined cycle/walking road without centerline. They get surprised when I pass them with bike, my medium sized dog running in a bike leash. A fierce feedback follows as the person my dogs passed thought I should have kept more distance than the 1 meter I had. These chatting women walked side by side reserving about 1,5 m of the whole width of the road.
2) I am sailing a 29 ft keel boat towards the wind, tacking on a fairway. A tugboat tugging a large barge, filling 1/3 of the narrow passage comes towards me. A motor boat comes from behind of me and prepares to pass me from the left side as one should. When I have less than 5 metres water under my boat I have to tack to the left. The skipper of the motorboat gets furious and comes back to yell at me saying I should have maintained course and speed. Nothing said about he shoiuld have given me way in all cases because I was sailing and he was using engine.
I could give an endless series of examples like this. The less protective structure you have and the bigger the speed difference, the more vulnerable you are. Thus, it is important to remember that people are generally ignorant and not alert.
@Elias
Kiitos. I'm fine.
32 years on a bike, and best part of 6 years working on/off as a cycle messenger (Edinburgh, London, Brisbane) mean I do OK at reading other roadusers' actions before things go critical. Hence my advice about eye contact and choosng where to look (eyes or if not visible, front wheels).
Every cycling knock I've ever acquired except one* has been my fault, with no other vehicle involved.
#BikeTooter
@bestdeadends This happened in Parainen in SW archipelago corner of Finland. A local police patrol car stopped me as I was riding my bike downhill from my home towards the center of the town.
- You cannot brake and stop safely at that speed.
As the local policemen had the habit of buying weekend beers at the local groceries on Fridays, using the very same poilice car i replied:
- I can guarantee I am able to stop my bike qucker than that car on a Friday with two cases of 24 bottles of beer in the trunk.
End of the discussion. :D
Ian
Elias Aarnio