Comment by NikolaNovak
4 years ago
OK, so you disagree with assertions because you ride an illegal vehicle. And want...what? Your use case to be taken as standard? Or for people to understand there are lunatics on the road?
We know :)
(to be fair and charitable: I agree that moving with traffic is, everything else equal, safer than not moving with traffic. But everything else is NOT equal - I am not convinced you have the weight [i.e. centre of gravity, inertia, ability to absorb bumps, etc], maneuverability, traction, braking power, and as you point out insurance or license and possibly training, and possibly protective systems as other vehicles moving at the same speed)
No. I disagree with his assertion that one cannot go >~24MPH indefinitely. The legal limit here is 28MPH. I can certainly do so indefinitely.
1) That's a pretty high legal limit... And doesn't feel all that relevant, given that you report riding at such a ridiculously much higher speed.
2) "Moving with the speed of traffic for my safety" is a... "Nice" (that was sarcasm, I mean egocentric) attitude.
3) "The speed of traffic" may be higher for you now that you live in the countryside, but A) sounds like you rode / ride about as fast in the city, too?; and B) the typical use case relevant to the discussion is not yours but the city/suburban one.
It's bad enough that you can go so fast indefinitely; please don't.
I commuted by bike along Peachtree Street in Atlanta for 3 miles each way for just under a year. Going too slow ends up with motorists making aforementioned risky maneuvers. I don't think I would have done so for so long had I been riding a normal bicycle. There aren't too many people who commute by bike there, and for good reason.