D dings car again... I need a reality check

Parent Cafe
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<p>I shudder when I see wrong-way cyclists. Wrong-way cycling is a way to die.</p>

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<p>Safety alert: Novelisto got it WRONG when it comes to pedestrian safety. From WA DOT website:</p>

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<p>[WSDOT</a> - Pedestrian Safety in Washington State](<a href=“http://wsdot.wa.gov/walk/safety.htm]WSDOT”>http://wsdot.wa.gov/walk/safety.htm)</p>

<p>And if a cyclist decides to ride on my sidewalk instead of the bike lane and starts signalling to me to yield… my heels are sharp enough to puncture bike tires. Just kidding, but it really annoys me when this happens. I wish every cyclist in my town was just like CF!</p>

<p>Added: for the drivers out there who forgot a very simple rule - there is a crosswalk ar every intersection in my town even if it is not marked as such.</p>

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<p>notrichenough, </p>

<p>Where do you live? In my area, road shoulders don’t extend all the way to the intersection. They stop somewhat before the intersection, so a driver couldn’t possibly be in the marked shoulder at an intersection. For that reason, on a road with a narrow shoulder, the driver in the rightmost lane, if he stays in the lane, will already be positioned to make a right turn.</p>

<p>As far as I know, it is generally illegal for a driver to drive on the shoulder of the road. We were not talking about road shoulders, but bike lanes.</p>

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<p>I don’t think this should be considered normal, but unfortunately for W’s :slight_smile: it is pretty normal. All my female friends have had numerous accidents/experiences like this. I had my first accident after 3 1/2 years of having a license, and it wasn’t my fault. My father was still very upset at me. Funny how things work out eh.</p>

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<p>I live in the northeast (eastern MA to be exact). The road system is ancient, illogical, and unplanned - I don’t think they ever heard of a grid. There are zero roads in my town that have more than one lane in each direction, zero bike lanes, I think there are maybe 3 intersections in the whole town that even have turn lanes. My entire commute is on single-lane roads.</p>

<p>The debate comes up occasionally when roads are repaved, should they be widened for bikes. The answer is always no - too expensive, people don’t want to lose parts of their front yards (almost no sidewalks in my town either), a lot of utility poles are only 1 or 2 feet from the edge of the road and would all have to be moved, a lot of trees would have to come down, and then the knuckleheads start talking about “losing the rural character of the road” (we are 20 miles from Boston) and then the idea is dropped.</p>

<p>It’s kind of funny when they rebuild bridges on these single lane roads. If it is a state road they build them to Federal specs, so you’ll be tooling along this narrow road with one foot shoulders and then suddenly the bridge will be 4 lanes wide, then it’s right back to one foot shoulders.</p>

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<p>Maybe that’s normal for kids that don’t buy their own cars and pay their own insurance. Most of the kids I knew in high school bought their cars and paid their own insurance. They were not on parents’ insurance… parents were not that, well, not to imply you are naive, but they weren’t rich enough to pay higher rates for an idiot, which is to say, their teenager.</p>

<p>I think she does need more practice and better skills, but more importantly, the caution and responsibility that comes with ownership.</p>

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<p>So then, notrichenough, what are we arguing about? Your town doesn’t have bike lanes, so how could you be required to merge into them?</p>

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<p>Well, you said that is was legal for cyclists to ride on the shoulder and pass cars on the right to get to the front of traffic at an intersection, and also that it is motorist incompetence if a driver makes a right turn and nails a cyclist.</p>

<p>So who would be at fault?</p>

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<p>It’s legal for cyclists to ride on the shoulder, but the shoulder doesn’t extend all the way up to the intersection. </p>

<p>Some cyclists squeeze by stopped cars at intersections. That’s dangerous; they shouldn’t do it. If there is not room, the cyclists shouldn’t squeeze in, and an accident that results would be the cyclist’s fault. Yes, I know cyclists do this. They are foolish. I do not defend them.</p>

<p>If on the other hand a right-turning car inexplicably leaves room on the right for cyclists, which happens all the time in my area on roads with bike lanes, and then the right turning car hits the straight-through cyclist, then it’s the motorist’s fault. </p>

<p>Another common accident, which happens both on roads with bike lanes and on roads with no bike lanes, is a driver passing a cyclist just before the intersection, then turning right and cutting off or hitting the cyclist. That’s the classic right hook, and it’s the driver’s fault-- he should have yielded. Innocent, law-abiding cyclists die in right hooks, which is why I get so angry about them.</p>

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<p>I think everyone should quit arguing about the bike lane and get out and go for a ride on this gorgeous spring day!</p>

<p>And yes, I plan to follow my own advice. Not actually a bike ride but a nice little hike. :-)</p>

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<p>I was going to ride, but it’s raining here. However, I’ll go anyway. What’s a little rain? Although actually we’re having quite a lot of rain. Still, off I go.</p>

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<p>Some places…not so gorgeous.</p>

<p>BB – Things have indeed changed since I was in the Girl Scouts and they taught us to walk <em>with</em> the traffic. Although I notice that safety experts now tell you to cross the street if there is a bend in the road so that you are seen on the curve. Oh, well, it’s all exercise.</p>

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<p>Not so gorgeous here either but we like to say there is no bad weather, only bad clothes.</p>

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<p>“Most of the kids I knew in high school bought their cars and paid their own insurance. They were not on parents’ insurance… parents were not that, well, not to imply you are naive, but they weren’t rich enough to pay higher rates for an idiot, which is to say, their teenager.”</p>

<p>Insurance companies charge premiums for, and are supposed to be advised of, any member of the household, i.e., anyone who is a regular resident of the house. The theory (which is probably true) is that people who live in the same house frequently borrow each others’ cars. If these kids borrowed the mom’s car, the mom’s car insurance would apply, not the child’s. And since the kids weren’t reported as residents, there would have been a problem with the insurer, who would have alleged material misrepresentation. Either your state has a unique approach, or those families didn’t realize they should have just insured the kids’ cars, and reported all possible drivers to their insurance company.</p>

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<p>CF - I don’t know how wide this lane is, but this is probably what the other poster is talking about: <a href=“http://farm4.static.■■■■■■■■■■/3074/2924455037_9fc8eba337.jpg?v=0[/url]”>http://farm4.static.■■■■■■■■■■/3074/2924455037_9fc8eba337.jpg?v=0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>These are the types of bike lanes I see all the time.</p>

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<p>My insurance company never asked me about others in the household. They only asked about others in the household who would be driving the car. “Will anyone else be driving the car?” My friends paid their insurance and I know this because it’s why I decided not to buy a car!</p>

<p>They were NOT allowed to borrow their parents’ cars. I had my license and I paid my mom insurance for her car for emergencies, but this was like, in case my sister was stuck somewhere. I think i only used the car three times in three years. I finally “rented” a car from her for a summer job and then paid the insurance… </p>

<p>Perhaps the parents do have to pay extra for the kids in Washington, but not the full amount if the child is not a driver of that car, for sure.</p>