Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Being, as I am, interested in matters of safety and public perception, I'm thinking of running a brief study.
I propose to sit at a popular four-way-stop intersection in Fremont, at 34th and Evanston, outside the PCC, and record who stops. The vehicular categories will be: car, bicycle and motorcycle. The types of stop will be: full stop, rolling stop, pause, and ignore. I will observe for a set period of time, probably 15 or 30 minutes, just to get a feel for what's actually happening.
This is an intersection which gets a fair amount of traffic of all types, including a lot of bicycles. Once collected, I'll publish the data here.
I would be very interested if others wanted to join me in this task: pick yourself an intersection, and record who does what for a while. For clarity, let me define my terms:
Car: any enclosed, three-or-more wheeled vehicle, powered by something other than human power (ie, gasoline, diesel, electricity, etc.).
Motorcycle: any open, two- or three-wheeled vehicle, powered by something other than human power (ie, gasoline, diesel, electricity, etc.).
Bicycle: any open, two- or three-wheeled vehicle, powered primarily by human power (including electric-assisted bicycles).
Full stop: coming to a complete stop so that all forward motion is ceased. A bicycle track-stand counts as a full stop, since the bicycle moves backwards.
Rolling stop: slowing to a near-stop without actually eliminating all forward motion.
Pause: slowing for the stop sign, but not coming to a near-stop. This is a judgement call on the part of the observer.
Ignore: rolling through the stop sign without significantly slowing down.
As I was planning this study, walking back from about 5 minutes observing this intersection, I watched a motorcyclist with a severely under-clothed passenger, roll through a stop sign as if it didn't exist. Nothing like motivation, eh?
I would also like to say that this study is not intended to promote the stop sign as some kind of godlike traffic safety device. I actually find stop signs fairly annoying in their profusion (visit Europe, and you'll be hard pressed to find a stop sign anywhere). This is a study to see who's paying attention, and who's obeying the laws we have.
Posted at 13:16 permanent link category: /misc
And people seem boggled when I yell at them for riding their bicycle through a stop sign:
From Facebook, today. Reasonable, non-violent people react to bicyclists.
Posted at 11:02 permanent link category: /bicycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater