Re: [Paddlewise] Elite racers

> On 10/15/07, Tord Eriksson <tord_at_tord.nu> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Here to most pedestrians get killed on, or near, crosswalks, so the clever
> > guys from the authority responsible have simply filed off most of them
> > with
> > some clever machine (some sort of gigantic router), thus decreased the
> > accident rate further!
> 
> 
> It's also a truism that most people who die in their sleep are found in bed.
> If we eliminate beds then we can save a lot of lives.
> 
> 
> > The weird thing is that it seems to work!
> 
> 
> Hmm.
> 
> Those crosswalks that are left are now mostly combined with bumps, poles
> > and other mechnical and optical means to slow the drivers down to a crawl.
> 
> 
> If traffic slows to a standstill then accident rates approach zero. This is
> a well known law of traffic engineering (seriously!) and you may be living
> in a city where they apply it assiduously.
> 
> Craig Jungers

I live in a city that seems to be suffering acute schizophrenic 
tendencies with regard to traffic flow. On the one hand, they removed 
pull-ins for buses, so they now stop in the middle of the traffic -- 
as an aid to slow down traffic; on the other hand, they are 
introducing roundabouts and other measures to reduce waiting time at 
four-way stops. Slow things down; speed things up: it's the old left 
hand / right hand problem rearing its ugly head. Or just normal city 
politics....

Had a friend go to the hospital emergency the other day. He was 
riding his bike home and got into an accident. The doctors told him 
that all the people who thought they were doing the planet a favour 
by riding their bikes around were actually putting their lives at 
risk. Apparently bicycle accidents are up near the top of the list at 
emergency rooms -- in Canada anyway. Other countries may do better.

I avoid crosswalks. I don't trust 'em. Well, not the drivers. I 
prefer to wait well off to the side until I see the coast is clear 
(trying to get some paddling terminology involved here), and then I 
scoot across.

And, speaking of paddling: I had the opportunity to rebuke a few 
paddlers locally the other day when they announced that they were 
hanging up their boats for the season. Hell, it's still well above 
zero (Centigrade) around here during the days -- and most nights even 
-- and there's still lots of paddling to be done.

-- 
  Darryl
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