Interesting role switch

[question everything]

Hit-and-run cyclist injures mailman - OC Register

ANAHEIM A mail carrier suffered serious head injuries Monday when he was hit by a bicyclist while delivering mail in an unincorporated area of Anaheim.

U.S. Postal Service worker Marconi Murabe, 55, had just delivered a package to a home at 10621 Brookhurst St. and was crossing the sidewalk when a 10-speed mountain bike hit him at about 11:30 a.m.

The bicyclist stopped briefly before riding away.

Anyone with information is asked to call the CHP at [phone].

From http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/atoz/article_730757.php

[Patiod]

1. The bicyclists near my house are demonic

A bike trail crosses the parking lot for the commuter rail line. The path goes right in front of where you get off the train (the path is about about 5 feet from the track). Pedestrians aren't usually thinking "I should be looking right and left for speeding people dressed head to toe in red spandex" when they step off from their nightly commute, and there's no markers as you exit the train, except zebra stripes that look like a pedestrian crossing.

The spandex people can see clearly ahead of them (no curves - dead straight path) that a train has pulled in and people are streaming off the train, with other people streaming off the train behind them. They can see that there's no opportunity for the pedestrians to stop and look out for bikes - they need to get across the bike path and keep the train door clear. But every fucking night the goddamned spandex creeps still insist on flying through the parking lot without stopping or even slowing down.

A few have side-swiped me - I hope they all get flat tires.

/edit: when in my car, I always give bicyclists the right-of-way, give them room, be polite. But when they are bearing down on me as I exit the train, I'm tempted to whack at them with my umbrella.

[question everything]

2. Has anyone asked the city, or whoever owns the land

to post signs on the bicycle lane to yield to pedestrians?

After all, if we all encourage people to get off their cars - public transportation, cycling - we should get the systems to work in harmony.

[Patiod]

4. Good point!

It's SEPTA's parking lot, but the Montgomery County Parks is responsible for the trail.

I'll email both right now with that suggestion.

Thanks Qeverything

/edit: emailed both organizations. Thanks for the idea.

[question everything]

5. I like the bike trails in the Twin Cities

and always chuckle when I see the miniature stop signs, or the skinny crosswalk marks - where people would move from parking lot to, say, adjacent facilities like a ball park. And, yes, the new Greenway Trail does go through a platform of the Light Rail at Cedar Square. But we rode on a weekend so I did not pay attention to any yield signs.

[Patiod]

6. I got an email back from the Open Space Guy

and he said he'd forward my suggestion to the Parks Guy.

So at least someone is reading their email

Sorry to bust so hard on what my SO and I call "The people from the planet Spandex" - we do take care to give them leeway when we're the big mean machine people in our cars. We just wish they'd do the same for us when we're walking the trail - the considerate bikers will call "watch out ahead" or give us a verbal "beep beep".

[mzteris]

3. where's bush?

:rofl: