3 ms·

Hi all, I am the cyclist/coder behind the site. It's clearly not "the solution" but I think it's an important part of it. If you do ride, I encourage you to sig

by eezis 11y ago

Hi all, I am the cyclist/coder behind the site. It's clearly not "the solution" but I think it's an important part of it. If you do ride, I encourage you to sign up, the site becomes more effective as the network grows. I am also exploring a couple partnerships that should make the site more effective this summer. Appreciate the support. Thanks.

mrweasel 11y ago
It could be useful for city planning, if there's a large number of "close calls" in a small area, that may indicate a good spot for a bike lane. Other than that I don't see the point. Most of these bike stories are a little weird to me. Countries where not may people bike normally tend to over-think the issue. I seriously doubt that drivers and bikers are deliberately being assholes towards each other (granted a small percentage might be). The drivers simply aren't use to having bikes around, and the bikers think they're in Denmark or the Netherlands. I ride my bike to work every day, 5km, I bike on the small road in the country side for fun (where there's no bike lane) and I never once had an issue that wasn't my fault or related to another bike. Danish drivers are use to bike, their own kids are probably riding their bike to school, so they know how to pass a bike. The main flaw I see in how Americans are addressing bikes are the insistence that bike are cars. They're not. Bike stay in the right side of the road at all time, you never mock around in the middle of the street. As a cyclist you always yield to cars if you're not sure what they are about. You may have the right of way, but that means nothing if you lying under the wheels of a truck.
- eezis 11y ago
  I wish I could share your serious doubt about people's capacity to be assholes toward each other. I can assure you that here in America some people have made that particular pursuit the object of their life's work. And they have pursued it with great vigor and success. -- There is bad behavior from both cyclists and drivers but when drivers do it the results can be lethal. There is also a lot of damage done that simply results from driver ignorance; a lot of older drivers here believe it is illegal to cross a double yellow so they don't pass at a safe distance. Then there are many that simply believe bikes don't belong on the road and damned if they are going to do anything -- like slow down, or alter their course in any manner -- to "accommodate" them. In their minds, if they hit you, it's your damned fault, you don't belong on the road. And, of course, sure as there is gravity, there are drivers that do it intentionally. I agree very strongly with your last paragraph. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should -- especially when interacting with other parties that believe what you are doing is illegal. "Taking the lane" is a cyclist action that many/most drivers in America do not understand and certainly do not like. Think of it from the driver's perspective. Drivers do not consider themselves to be dangerous. So when a cyclist 'takes the lane' to be safer, the action may appear irrational to them and can spark a bad interaction. We have a curious situation unfolding in the U.S. where city planners and managers are encouraging people to commute by bike and engage in activities like 'taking the lane' in certain situations, but they are not taking additional efforts to educate motorists about the actual rules of the road and the motorists tend to see cyclists as "obstacles" rather than fellow travelers. I find it interesting that city planners encourage cycling commuters, then while the people are riding to work the city's own buses nearly run them down.
tucosan 11y ago
This is a great project idea. Riding in Berlin I experience close calls on almost a daily basis. Networking with other riders could be a very empowering tool in an environment that many times makes you feel helpless and without proper means of recourse. @eezis, there is no means of contacting you on your site! Wouldn't it make sense to supply email/twitter info so people can get in touch? Also, I held off signing up, since it was unclear to me what I can expect once I signed up to your site. I.e. what would a database entry look like? Clicking on an incident on the map only gives me the date of the incident and no further info.
- eezis 11y ago
  Good point about a sample report. I just modified the code to show one. More data is collected than presented, these sections are published: http://closecalldatabase.com/incident/show/CO-141108-001/ http://closecalldatabase.com/incident/show/CO-141108-001/ When I review a report, I almost always zoom in on the map, then use the "streetview" feature to get a feel for the context (road width, presence of bike lanes, speed limits, line of sight visibility, general road conditions, etc). That helps me to get a better understanding of what the driver and the cyclist/s were experiencing when the incident occurred. Regarding the contact info, unregistered users can access it from the login/register drop down: http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-u http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-u Registered users can access it via their account drop down or from the FAQ: http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-r/ http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-r/ I might make the FAQ available to non-registered users . . . but in general, cyclists seem to "get it" or they don't. At this stage of development, I'm not really looking to "sell" the idea to fence-sitters, I want the core of the community built around experienced cyclists that have balanced perspective on what's happening out there on the roads. Regarding social media, I have been reticent to engage for several reasons but now realize I probably have to . So I have started to include some of that information in the email notifications. And I am cleverly "hidden" at @eezis and @closecalldb and Kennett Peterson volunteers to keep a FaceBook page (and you might wish to follow his blog: https://kennettron.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/adelaide/ https://kennettron.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/adelaide/). If you ride, you can find me on Strava as well.
  - 11y ago

by eezis 11y ago

mrweasel 11y ago

It could be useful for city planning, if there's a large number of "close calls" in a small area, that may indicate a good spot for a bike lane. Other than that I don't see the point. Most of these bike stories are a little weird to me. Countries where not may people bike normally tend to over-think the issue. I seriously doubt that drivers and bikers are deliberately being assholes towards each other (granted a small percentage might be). The drivers simply aren't use to having bikes around, and the bikers think they're in Denmark or the Netherlands. I ride my bike to work every day, 5km, I bike on the small road in the country side for fun (where there's no bike lane) and I never once had an issue that wasn't my fault or related to another bike. Danish drivers are use to bike, their own kids are probably riding their bike to school, so they know how to pass a bike. The main flaw I see in how Americans are addressing bikes are the insistence that bike are cars. They're not. Bike stay in the right side of the road at all time, you never mock around in the middle of the street. As a cyclist you always yield to cars if you're not sure what they are about. You may have the right of way, but that means nothing if you lying under the wheels of a truck.

eezis 11y ago
I wish I could share your serious doubt about people's capacity to be assholes toward each other. I can assure you that here in America some people have made that particular pursuit the object of their life's work. And they have pursued it with great vigor and success. -- There is bad behavior from both cyclists and drivers but when drivers do it the results can be lethal. There is also a lot of damage done that simply results from driver ignorance; a lot of older drivers here believe it is illegal to cross a double yellow so they don't pass at a safe distance. Then there are many that simply believe bikes don't belong on the road and damned if they are going to do anything -- like slow down, or alter their course in any manner -- to "accommodate" them. In their minds, if they hit you, it's your damned fault, you don't belong on the road. And, of course, sure as there is gravity, there are drivers that do it intentionally. I agree very strongly with your last paragraph. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should -- especially when interacting with other parties that believe what you are doing is illegal. "Taking the lane" is a cyclist action that many/most drivers in America do not understand and certainly do not like. Think of it from the driver's perspective. Drivers do not consider themselves to be dangerous. So when a cyclist 'takes the lane' to be safer, the action may appear irrational to them and can spark a bad interaction. We have a curious situation unfolding in the U.S. where city planners and managers are encouraging people to commute by bike and engage in activities like 'taking the lane' in certain situations, but they are not taking additional efforts to educate motorists about the actual rules of the road and the motorists tend to see cyclists as "obstacles" rather than fellow travelers. I find it interesting that city planners encourage cycling commuters, then while the people are riding to work the city's own buses nearly run them down.

tucosan 11y ago

This is a great project idea. Riding in Berlin I experience close calls on almost a daily basis. Networking with other riders could be a very empowering tool in an environment that many times makes you feel helpless and without proper means of recourse. @eezis, there is no means of contacting you on your site! Wouldn't it make sense to supply email/twitter info so people can get in touch? Also, I held off signing up, since it was unclear to me what I can expect once I signed up to your site. I.e. what would a database entry look like? Clicking on an incident on the map only gives me the date of the incident and no further info.

eezis 11y ago
Good point about a sample report. I just modified the code to show one. More data is collected than presented, these sections are published: http://closecalldatabase.com/incident/show/CO-141108-001/ http://closecalldatabase.com/incident/show/CO-141108-001/ When I review a report, I almost always zoom in on the map, then use the "streetview" feature to get a feel for the context (road width, presence of bike lanes, speed limits, line of sight visibility, general road conditions, etc). That helps me to get a better understanding of what the driver and the cyclist/s were experiencing when the incident occurred. Regarding the contact info, unregistered users can access it from the login/register drop down: http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-u http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-u Registered users can access it via their account drop down or from the FAQ: http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-r/ http://closecalldatabase.com/contact-r/ I might make the FAQ available to non-registered users . . . but in general, cyclists seem to "get it" or they don't. At this stage of development, I'm not really looking to "sell" the idea to fence-sitters, I want the core of the community built around experienced cyclists that have balanced perspective on what's happening out there on the roads. Regarding social media, I have been reticent to engage for several reasons but now realize I probably have to . So I have started to include some of that information in the email notifications. And I am cleverly "hidden" at @eezis and @closecalldb and Kennett Peterson volunteers to keep a FaceBook page (and you might wish to follow his blog: https://kennettron.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/adelaide/ https://kennettron.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/adelaide/). If you ride, you can find me on Strava as well.
- 11y ago