Saturday, March 22, 2008
Another Ticket? Update
Some folks have pointed out that it is hard to tell from the video exactly how far the SUV is from me. I've added a still frame from the video as well as a shot that shows my position relative to the line and the wider shot. In the still shot I've added red lines to illustrate approximately how far the tire of the SUV was from the line. My hand/handlebar was directly above or a few inches to the left of the white line and her mirror extended about 8-10 inches to the right of the where her tire ends. The white line is approximately 5 inches wide. That puts her tire about 30 inches from the white line. Subtract the 8-10 inches for the mirror and the 4-8 inches for my arm/handlebars and her car was 12-18 inches away from hitting me. That is well below the statutory minimum of 3 feet, or 36 inches. I've also been asked about the audio of the woman yelling at me. I'm waiting on that for the time being. Check back though I may have it up soon.
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3 comments:
this lady deserves a ticket for being evil and for not giving you the three feet.
also:
1) as a driver, i would not even be thinking of my car mirror, how far it extends, etc - i'd be making sure i didn't hit someone to my left, i'd make sure i got in front of you before a dangerous situ cropped up, i'd make sure i didn't hit you with the base part of my vehicle - like the front grill or the side. the mirror is just not something i'd be thinking about. obviously, that'd be an awareness/education thing for DMV, the local cycling advocacy groups, etc.
2) i think there is a genuine education/practice problem for autos passing cyclists. for instance, how _should_ a driver pass a cyclist? for instance, if there are two lanes going in the same direction, and the left/fast/passing lane is empty, and the cyclist is in/on the shoulder, should the driver move all the way to the left lane, pass, then move back to the right lane? or is it OK to just bump over the broken line splitting the two lanes going in the same direction? if the split is ok, does the driver have to worry about getting a ticket for not signaling? or do they even have to signal?
and, i'm curious if cyclists would prefer a particular type of passing. for instance, most cars feel like they have to gun it past me to the point where it sounds like their engines are going to blow up - even when the roads are completely empty. i kinda understand why that might happen, but it's definitely not necessary. to fix this, we prob just need to get more people on bikes.
just some questions/thoughts.
:)
Nice follow-up to the previous post.
Regardless if she had given you 6 feet, yelling at you was uncalled for. You have just as much right to that road.
Based on everything you collected, I hope she gets a ticket. Well done.
Jeff,
Your doing a tremendous job with this blog. You've inspired me to cosider setting up some camera's and record some of the attempts made on my life when I commute to work by bicycle, which I do a few times a week. Congratulations.
Charles S
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