Witnessed fellow cyclist miss disaster by an inch.
10-21-18, 02:06 PM
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Witnessed fellow cyclist miss disaster by an inch.
Friday, October 19, 2018 at about 2:00PM I was cycling northbound on the Jefferson Davis "bike path" in New Orleans when I had to stop at the intersection with Canal Street due to heavy cross traffic. I waited about sixty seconds for the signal to change and stop the cross traffic. A southbound cyclist on the opposite side of the 6-lane, 2-way roadway was waiting as well. When the light turned green the cyclist proceeded just as a car floored it to run the red light. (It is very common for 1 to 3 cars to proceed after the light is coal red in New Orleans). I freaked out as I witnessed the scene and had one second to wonder how much first aid I remembered. Lucky for the cyclist, who FROZE UP IN THE LANE, modern cars have anit-lock brakes and the motorist was paying attention to the windshield at the time. The car stopped exactly ONE INCH from the cyclist's right knee. After the dust cleared we both proceeded across, and as I neared the now ghost white cyclist I asked him "So did you learn anything from that?" He did not respond.
What he should have learned is that the traffic lights aren't what kills you. It's the moving vehicles. So stop looking at the pretty lights and look at the actual danger. Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go. Lights assure nothing.
What he should have learned is that the traffic lights aren't what kills you. It's the moving vehicles. So stop looking at the pretty lights and look at the actual danger. Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go. Lights assure nothing.
Last edited by JoeyBike; 10-22-18 at 12:18 PM.
10-21-18, 02:34 PM
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Luckily for you. Aren't you the poster going on and on and on about how brazen the thugs are in your "war zone" city and how heavily armed the war zone denizens are in addition? Apparently you must not have been listening to your own messages when you tried to provoke a "response."
10-21-18, 02:44 PM
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When sharing the roads with cars, trucks and pedestrians, you really need to keep your wits about you. Glad nothing other than a change of shorts was needed that day....
10-21-18, 02:52 PM
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Only the Laws of Physics (when applied correctly) offer any protection.
10-21-18, 05:00 PM
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Witnessed fellow cyclist miss disaster by an inch.
FWIW, so often I have posted about my safety aphorisms:
…What he should have learned is that the traffic lights aren't what kills you. It's the moving vehicles. So stop looking at the pretty lights and look at the actual danger.
Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go. Lights assure nothing.
Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go. Lights assure nothing.
…Over the past few months I have come to realize that my safety aphorisms, collected over the years by personal or vicarious experience,are my way of actively aligning the stars in my favor, to anticipate those unseen and otherwise unanticipated dangers.
FWIW, for my own information at least [to include]:..
FWIW, for my own information at least [to include]:..
- You don’t have the right-of-way until the other yields it to you (learned from my teacher in driver’s ed)...
Pope @Jim from Boston often notes, "You do not have the right of way until another person yields it."
Paise the Lord, Brother @Maelochs.I may be a prophet without honor in my own Land (Forum), but I’d like to think that one of my most valuable contribution to Bike Forums is my litany of Safety Aphorisms…
My experience is that people drive differently in every city and treat cyclists very differently. The best advice often comes from cyclists that live the closest to you …
The exception here would also be Jim from Boston--anyone that can successfully commute around Boston has my full respect and probably knows how to deal with about every intersection imaginable!
The exception here would also be Jim from Boston--anyone that can successfully commute around Boston has my full respect and probably knows how to deal with about every intersection imaginable!
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 10-21-18 at 05:17 PM.
10-21-18, 11:09 PM
#6
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Friday, October 19, 2018 at about 2:00PM I was cycling northbound on the Jefferson Davis "bike path" in New Orleans when I had to stop at the intersection with Canal Blvd due to heavy cross traffic. I waited about sixty seconds for the signal to change and stop the cross traffic. A southbound cyclist on the opposite side of the 6-lane, 2-way roadway was waiting as well. When the light turned green the cyclist proceeded just as a car floored it to run the red light. (It is very common for 1 to 3 cars to proceed after the light is coal red in New Orleans). I freaked out as I witnessed the scene and had one second to wonder how much first aid I remembered. Lucky for the cyclist, who FROZE UP IN THE LANE, modern cars have anit-lock brakes and the motorist was paying attention to the windshield at the time. The car stopped exactly ONE INCH from the cyclist's right knee. After the dust cleared we both proceeded across, and as I neared the now ghost white cyclist I asked him "So did you learn anything from that?" He did not respond.
What he should have learned is that the traffic lights aren't what kills you. It's the moving vehicles. So stop looking at the pretty lights and look at the actual danger. Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go. Lights assure nothing.
What he should have learned is that the traffic lights aren't what kills you. It's the moving vehicles. So stop looking at the pretty lights and look at the actual danger. Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go. Lights assure nothing.
10-22-18, 12:14 AM
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What he should have learned is that the traffic lights aren't what kills you. It's the moving vehicles. So stop looking at the pretty lights and look at the actual danger. Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go.
Was introduced to driving that way, by a couple of the most die-hard defensive driver types I'd ever met. Most of those lessons still stick in my mind, even after all these decades. Definitely, a good thing.
10-22-18, 03:56 AM
#8
Cycleway town
A green light does not mean it's safe to proceed.
And that's regardless of your travelling method. It only gives you permission to proceed, under usual caution, which means you may still have to give way.
Some traffic lights will actually send traffic across another live lane, we have that in my town.
And that's regardless of your travelling method. It only gives you permission to proceed, under usual caution, which means you may still have to give way.
Some traffic lights will actually send traffic across another live lane, we have that in my town.
10-22-18, 06:17 AM
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Where I live, it seems to be the accepted norm that it's ok to run through the red as long as it's within 5 seconds of turning. I frequently check the State Laws to determine if something actually changed. Motorists are "compensating" because they know there is a delayed green light for the cross traffic.
10-22-18, 10:14 AM
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Luckily for you. Aren't you the poster going on and on and on about how brazen the thugs are in your "war zone" city and how heavily armed the war zone denizens are in addition? Apparently you must not have been listening to your own messages when you tried to provoke a "response."
Last edited by JoeyBike; 10-22-18 at 10:47 AM.
10-22-18, 10:39 AM
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Friday, October 19, 2018 at about 2:00PM I was cycling northbound on the Jefferson Davis "bike path" in New Orleans when I had to stop at the intersection with Canal Blvd due to heavy cross traffic. I waited about sixty seconds for the signal to change and stop the cross traffic. A southbound cyclist on the opposite side of the 6-lane, 2-way roadway was waiting as well. When the light turned green the cyclist proceeded just as a car floored it to run the red light. (It is very common for 1 to 3 cars to proceed after the light is coal red in New Orleans). I freaked out as I witnessed the scene and had one second to wonder how much first aid I remembered. Lucky for the cyclist, who FROZE UP IN THE LANE, modern cars have anit-lock brakes and the motorist was paying attention to the windshield at the time. The car stopped exactly ONE INCH from the cyclist's right knee. After the dust cleared we both proceeded across, and as I neared the now ghost white cyclist I asked him "So did you learn anything from that?" He did not respond.
What he should have learned is that the traffic lights aren't what kills you. It's the moving vehicles. So stop looking at the pretty lights and look at the actual danger. Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go. Lights assure nothing.
What he should have learned is that the traffic lights aren't what kills you. It's the moving vehicles. So stop looking at the pretty lights and look at the actual danger. Green does not mean SAFE. Green grants you RIGHT OF WAY only. You then decide if it is safe to go. Lights assure nothing.
10-22-18, 11:23 AM
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[QUOTE=BobbyG;20627991]No problems here. Been around BF a long time and have Rhino skin. You picked the right guy to express yourself to. I have no one blocked and never reported anyone to a mod (that I can think of anyway). Thanks for the concern. 
10-22-18, 11:27 AM
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Controls only provide one layer of impact upon an intersection. Anyone might well, depending on conditions, blow through those controls or not see them or be drunk ... or whatever.
Always looking for whomever might be ignoring or not seeing such controls can be the element that's missing in most such situations. If we all did that, doubting that lights alone will "save" us perfectly at all times, we'd probably sidestep a good percentage of those ugly situations that occasionally happen.
I'm sure we've all seen some drunkard blow through a traffic stop. Or someone who's texting or otherwise preoccupied ignoring a signal ... or even a car right in front of them. And we've all seen the news reports of folks blowing right up the back end of a parked car off the side of the road with its emergency flashers on, or even a tow truck dealing with the stopped car. Lots of folks out there who disregard or flat don't see such controls. And while it won't catch every such situation, it sure can help to doubt that lighting and signs only will keep us safe.
10-22-18, 11:35 AM
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[QUOTE=BobbyG;20627991]
Here is a good one for me.
I was driving my wife's car, taking her out to a movie. I stopped for a red light with a UPS truck on my left completely blocking my view of crossing traffic approaching from my left on a 50mph highway. We were chit-chatting while stopped paying half-attention to being behind the wheel when the light turned green. The UPS truck didn't budge. I was not thinking about anything but my DNA is so ingrained with "if you can't see, you can't go" that inexplicably I kept my foot on the brake at the green light for about 4 seconds, which seems like a LONG time NOT going across a green. Just as my attention focused 100% on being in a car I thought to myself: "Why am I still stopped here?" Just then a speeding tractor-trailer, who had just run his red light, shot across in front of me left to right from behind the UPS truck. My blood ran cold thinking that had I just proceeded when the light turned green, which I think 9 out of 10 motorists would do, I would likely be dead now.
The fascinating thing about the incident is that I did not consciously think to myself: "If you can't see, you can't go." It was automatic. I wast totally distracted by our conversation but my "auto pilot" was still saying DON'T GO! YOU CAN'T SEE!.
@JoeyBike I know how you feel witnessing this near miss. Twenty years ago I was stopped at a light and watched a speeding car miss an old lady in the crosswalk by mere inches...it pops into my head every so often.
I was driving my wife's car, taking her out to a movie. I stopped for a red light with a UPS truck on my left completely blocking my view of crossing traffic approaching from my left on a 50mph highway. We were chit-chatting while stopped paying half-attention to being behind the wheel when the light turned green. The UPS truck didn't budge. I was not thinking about anything but my DNA is so ingrained with "if you can't see, you can't go" that inexplicably I kept my foot on the brake at the green light for about 4 seconds, which seems like a LONG time NOT going across a green. Just as my attention focused 100% on being in a car I thought to myself: "Why am I still stopped here?" Just then a speeding tractor-trailer, who had just run his red light, shot across in front of me left to right from behind the UPS truck. My blood ran cold thinking that had I just proceeded when the light turned green, which I think 9 out of 10 motorists would do, I would likely be dead now.
The fascinating thing about the incident is that I did not consciously think to myself: "If you can't see, you can't go." It was automatic. I wast totally distracted by our conversation but my "auto pilot" was still saying DON'T GO! YOU CAN'T SEE!.
10-22-18, 11:41 AM
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The drivers are awful in New Orleans. You can never count on them respecting a light.
10-22-18, 11:49 AM
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Hey guys, please leave the political commentary out of the thread, it's bound to cause a ruckus sooner or later. Thanky! 
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10-22-18, 12:02 PM
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I’m frankly more puzzled trying to figure out if he confused his trails or his canals. (But one trail becomes sharrows before hitting one canal.)
Anyhow, it’s always good to hear about yet another death defying moment.
-mr. bill
Anyhow, it’s always good to hear about yet another death defying moment.
-mr. bill
Last edited by mr_bill; 10-22-18 at 12:06 PM.
10-22-18, 12:16 PM
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10-22-18, 12:30 PM
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Jefferson Davis Parkway at Canal Street. There is a large median (neutral ground as we call them) with a "bike path" on it. The bike path is in a really stupid place where it crosses busy roads. Nevertheless, you can't just go when the light changes. MAP
Yeah, and besides the six lanes of traffic on Canal STREET there are also trolley tracks.
Anyhow, congrats for surviving another day in your “war zone.”
-mr. bill
10-22-18, 01:34 PM
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You missed the 4 most mispronounced street names. Calliope, Clio, Melpomene, and Chartres.
Calliope does NOT rhyme with Cantaloupe. It's a musical instrument and a Muse from Greek mythology (Call-eye-oh-pee). Clio is NOT CL-10. Melpomene is another Muse and also the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. I don't even know the correct pronunciation for her. And Chartres (named after a French Prince) is NOT pronounced Charter (rhymes with quarter) - although every single local says "Charter" Street.
MORE goofy NOLA names...
Last edited by JoeyBike; 10-22-18 at 02:08 PM.
10-22-18, 03:03 PM
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Jeff Davis Pky only crosses Canal Street (Blvd) in one place. Not that hard to find.
You missed the 4 most mispronounced street names. Calliope, Clio, Melpomene, and Chartres.
Calliope does NOT rhyme with Cantaloupe. It's a musical instrument and a Muse from Greek mythology (Call-eye-oh-pee). Clio is NOT CL-10. Melpomene is another Muse and also the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. I don't even know the correct pronunciation for her. And Chartres (named after a French Prince) is NOT pronounced Charter (rhymes with quarter) - although every single local says "Charter" Street.
MORE goofy NOLA names...
You missed the 4 most mispronounced street names. Calliope, Clio, Melpomene, and Chartres.
Calliope does NOT rhyme with Cantaloupe. It's a musical instrument and a Muse from Greek mythology (Call-eye-oh-pee). Clio is NOT CL-10. Melpomene is another Muse and also the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. I don't even know the correct pronunciation for her. And Chartres (named after a French Prince) is NOT pronounced Charter (rhymes with quarter) - although every single local says "Charter" Street.
MORE goofy NOLA names...
10-23-18, 01:35 PM
#23
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We had those. Deemed unconstitutional. Everyone is granted the ability to face their accuser under the constitution. A camera is not an accuser. Also the camera system somehow made mistakes and were nearly impossible to contest. So I have heard/read.
10-24-18, 04:51 PM
#24
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I think, as a general rule (with exceptions), just don't be the first one to go when the light turns green, and don't be the last one when the light turns yellow or red. I myself should heed this, too.
10-25-18, 05:28 AM
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I thought they were still all over the city. Jefferson parish got rid of them, but I still see the signs all over NOLA.