[SDCBC] A good opinion piece in Voice of San Diego this morning about Per...

[Serge Issakov]

On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 12:10 PM, Chuck Northrop <chuck.northrop at gmail.com>
wrote:

>  Incidents occur when riders attempt to take the lane prior to the
> beginning of the on-ramp and encounter automobile drivers--some drivers are
> aware, some are oblivious.


I'd be curious to know if these incidents that occur happen with riders who
have clearly and visibly established right of way in the lane sufficiently
early, well before reaching the Pershing/ramp split, or only with riders who
stay in the bike lane too long (right before they reach the split) and then
"attempt" to suddenly/unexpectedly cut out in front of a driver who moments
before understandably assumed the cyclist would be staying in the bike lane,
if the driver was even aware of the cyclist in the bike lane in the first
place.

My commute involves crossing the I-5 at La Jolla Village Drive, including
crossing the onramp entrances, and I've learned from experience that the
likelihood of an "incident" is greatly reduced when I clearly establish
right of way in the rightmost through lane early.  I know this is what Brian
Parent has learned as well, and what he teaches in his classes, which he
takes through there.

On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 11:33 AM, Jim Baross <JimBaross at cox.net> wrote:

> I get through there by timing my merges to the generally platooning groups
> of vehicles... and I merge to a straight through position in the lane both
> to show I'm there, to indicate I plan to go straight through, and to provide
> space to the right of me for the ramp runners to make their run.
>

Using the gaps works when there are sufficiently long and frequent gaps
between the platoons.  The busier the conditions, the less likely this is to
be.  I actually prefer to negotiate in busy conditions -- stay in the bike
lane or wide lane sharing position but look back and signal left until
someone slows down to my speed to let me in -- because then I have someone
behind me "running interference" for me, and causing all the other traffic
behind and around them to slow down and use extra caution.  It's amazing how
quickly an earnest and clear request for someone to yield is met, even in
high speed busy traffic.

Lately I've also been experimenting more with Trevor's technique of
splitting lanes, which in this case would mean riding along the left edge of
the rightmost lane rather than controlling the entire right lane.  So far I
prefer to control the lane, especially when, again, I have someone behind me
running interference.  But splitting lanes in high speed traffic is a good
skill to have handy, that's for sure.

Serge


-- 
NOTE: Any opinions expressed above are mine and not necessarily shared by
any organization in which I am involved.
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