Many Mini Things

[evilhippo]

I need to get back into the habit of writing more frequently. It's kind of awkward to mix an intro post (which I still haven't managed to do) with real life japery with fannish squee. Plus I'm sleepy and my brain is vacant enough that I nearly set frozen vegetables on fire this afternoon, so we'll take it easy. (And by we I basically mean me.)

Comments

[apple_pathways]

Good for you for standing your moral ground and obeying traffic laws! It doesn't bother me so much when cyclists disobey the little rules that seem silly for cyclists to obey in the first place, but when it comes to lights and things like that: I want to know what you're going to do. I want to know that you know what you're going to do, and that you're aware of your surroundings and what's going on. As much as your bright yellow shorts and pointy helmet might annoy me, I do not want to run you over. (There's a lot of cyclists in Birmingham where I work, and it's always a mixed bag of 'serious cyclist who obeys traffic rules to the letter' and 'clueless teenaged boy on bike who will ride down the middle of the road and only move out of my way at the last minute

[evilhippo]

The thing that gets me about cyclists here in Chicago is that it's just as likely to be the "serious" lycra-wearing cyclists that are buzzing around on the streets oblivious to everything else around them. In practice most of us use the Idaho stop law (yield at stop signs, stop at lights with the option of proceeding afterward if things are clear), though by Chicago law we're just like cars. We're not even allowed to stop in or in front of crosswalks (which makes a lot of sense, but is one of the things that just incensed the north-siders that got warnings for it all spring at the one intersection that the police chose to enforce the rules at).

What really drives me crazy, though, is that so few people here signal what they're doing that it actually confuses cars when you signal. If they see you, they just keep a wary distance. Once I signal they start doing all sorts of bizarre things, most of which involve getting in my way and then waving me around them, like crossing two extra lanes of traffic that can't see me is going to

[apple_pathways]

Aww, you're a nice cyclist! I would slow down and hug the yellow line when passing you, and check my side mirror before exiting my car to make sure I don't hit you with my door. :D

I'll admit, I don't think I know what bike signalling looks like. No one seems to do it here! I'd like to think I wouldn't panic and start acting like a moron, but that does tend to be my default setting in so many situations... :P

YAY CRAZY OFFICE STORY! I'm gonna go make popcorn...

[evilhippo]

I try to be a nice cyclist! (I want the people who hate me by default to feel at least a little bit like they're wrong.)

Here are the main hand signals. I thought everyone was forced to learn these when they were little and learning to ride a bike! (-; I was taught the wonky left-arm-at-right-angles right-turn signal, and though I think it makes the least sense, it also seems to be the one that people are least frightened and confused by. You'll never see the signal for stopping from anyone, ever (or at least, I've never seen anyone else do it. I use it when I'm coming up to the curb by my building and there are taxis behind me, and most of them seem to understand, but no normal cars do. It's kind of funny, really, that everyone's default fear on the city streets is taxis, but even when they cut you off to sprint for a fare they're the most predictable things on the street).

Oh no, popcorn! The pressure is on for me to make it a good story now!