Jim Yanik
Frankly, that last one is the only logical conclusion. Arging about how the double-yellow is a physical barrier that prevents a pbutt, except that since just about everyone breaks the speed laws, we certainly know that the double yellow is not so special any more. It's just a device to try and score usenet argument points. After all, if a Lloyd LLounger was in the middle of the lane, NOBODY would just stop and stay there until it was moved. They'd (at their mortal peril, to be sure) cross the double yellow and just keep on driving.
I counted the bicycles, autosloths, and pedestrians that I encountered yesterday in my ten-mile commute between two college towns. There were 26 bicycles, all ridden by folks obviously over the age of 16, and about 75% were being ridden approximately in a road-legal fashion - about the same as cars. 25% were on sidewalks. Of the 75%, most of them were being ridden within one foot of the fog line. None of them held up traffic at all, and I did not see a single close pbutt. Effect on my commute time due to bicycles - none.
Of the pedestrians I saw, 5 actually had a potential to impact my commute. The first two jaywalked at a light, preventing a left turn. The first one delayed traffic enough to make me miss the light. Two minutes lost. The second one made me stop in the intersection and caused a malfunction in my horn, and, after I got past the play, made me yell "obey the signals, butthole!" Another 10 seconds. 500 yeards up the road, a ped crossed, in a crosswalk, and held up evening traffic both ways while taking a leisurely stroll across the road. Another 20 seconds.
The remainder were autosloths. Trapped through a cycle of lights when dumbbuttes in cars can't seem to get on that "go" pedal enough to allow anyone behind them to get through the light. Another two minutes. On a short section of two-lane, a cement truck drove at 35mph the whole 4 miles. In a 55 that usually runs at 60. Do the math. Then right near my house, and old lady who can't figure out that after you stop at the sign, you are allowed to go. My horn had another malfunction after 30 seconds of waiting, with no cars pbutting in front. Of course, after *she* goes, I have to wait for a string of cars. LOL.
This was not different from every other day - the cement or gravel trucks along that road are also regular, if not everyday, occurances. The jaywalkers really gripe me, because the light cycles are long around here. But it's the cars that are the problem. Bikes NEVER factor in, and there are many more than in non-college towns.
If you can navigate through the sloths and the jaywalkers, but can't figure out how to pbutt bikes, your driving skills are indeed in question.
E.P.
