Just a short “wake up the legs” ride yesterday to prepare for today’s 100. Before I head out for the 100, I thought I’d catch up.
Took this photo in Herndon. It’s a hole in the trail! Yikes! While I was taking it, several people on bikes were crossing the intersection against the red light. Sigh. One said, “the driver waved us through,” as if to explain or justify.
I never run red lights. Not in my car, not on my bike. I don’t want to feed the ambiguities that people in cars feel towards us and I certainly don’t want to be the person on a bike that a person in a car finally loses patience with – and doesn’t stop. It’s not the fear of the law that stops me (although Herndon police are pretty diligent about writing tickets at that particular intersection). It’s the fear of being hit by a car because I’ve not been Predictable, Alert, and Law-abiding.
There were also a number of people going in excess of 20mph in this very crowded section, weaving in and out of pedestrians. Holidays on the trail are almost as bad as weekends!
When I got back over near my area, I was in a traffic lane getting ready to cross the light. A guy was on a bike near me crossing with the crosswalk. This is a perfect illustration of how much safer it is to be in the road. With that wide curve, people slide through that right on red all the time. They’ll look left up the road to see if another car is coming, but rarely slow down to see if a pedestrian is waiting. And once the walk light comes on, they don’t even slow down at all – they have a green. I’m sure he thought I was crazy being in the road with cars.
So, a quick 16 and home. Today – the long road ahead. 🙂
