Micro-violations

OK, before I post this, you should see this amazing
data analysis.

You should probably read this whole blog before wasting time on my ramblings. This is truly a landmark blog.

OK, you’re back. I trust that you have read all of Biking in LA. 🙂

There is this are where I ride where people are turning from a rural road onto a freeway. Each and every driver rides across the double yellow lines.

This is funny to me for many reasons. One is that that I have to dash across the intersection, as it is, because the cars come down the rural road so fast, it’s almost as if they come out of nowhere. Also, it’s funny because there are people who claim that “nobody will cross a double yellow line, because it’s illegal, which is why motorists have to buzz cyclists on certain roads.”

Yeah right.

There’s another reason why I think it’s funny that people cross the double lines and that is because it’s totally harmless.

Very few cyclist go through this area, and the ones that do can take evasive action, like ride the wrong way, if they really need to get through this intersection.

This started me thinking of the notion of micro-violations. Note, that I’m not a lawyer, blah, blah, blah. This is merely an idea of my own that I just invented.

The idea is that there are some things that are illegal and are really dangerous like blowing through a stop sign in front of a school.

I know people are in a hurry, and so on, but hello, children! There’s a giant school right in front of you so stop, completely, for these stop signs even if it’s after school hours because many schools have play grounds that are used even at night.

On the other hand, like above, where people blow over a double yellow line, this is harmless.

Many violotions of cyclists, are similarly harmless.

Yet the government treats all violations the same. Worse, many people also treat these violations as the same.

This whole idea is why there are suggestions for changing the law so that it’s more in harmony with what’s actually necessary and safe rather than just blindly and mindless following arbitrary laws.

One last thing.

We are so obsessed with interection violations, we have red light cameras. As per above, I say rightly so.

But now rear ending is incresing. In fact, if you google rear ending statistics, they are totally obsessed about a minor increase in rear endings at red light cameras. The idea is that red light cameras are “dangerous”.

Maybe, but I think that the solution to this problem is to make the lanes more narrow near the red light so that people ride slower. Also, they can ticket tail gating more. I have never seen a ticket for tail gating, only speeding. But tail gating, in many places, can be just as dangerous.

Also, while speeding is just inconsiderate and irresponsible, tail gating is a form of agression and bullying.

If we just accept that most motorists will be incompetent and irresponsible, we can, at least, pull the licenses of those who are hostile.