TobyC
Patriot
Toy trains.
New Rant Thread
- Thread starter Paper Plane
- Start date
Great day today, sunny, not too hot and a nice breeze. Lots of people out riding their bicycles. All well and good but why do they insist on riding on the sidewalk instead of the road. It's called a sideWalk for a reason. I know, it is a small irk but makes backing out of your driveway a little hairy at times never mind the pedestrians having to dodge the bikes.
Bob
Bob
chazt
shave
Ok, Bob, now you‘ve got me going! Here in Queens County where I live, traffic congestion is as awful as anywhere you can possibly imagine. So what did the City of New York decide to do? Check this out… they’ve repurposed hundreds of miles of local roads from two driving lanes plus a parking lane next to the curb in each direction (that’s 4 lanes worth of driving space ). Now, working laterally from the center, there’s one lane in each direction for cars, a parking lane to the immediate right, then a small buffer zone, then a bike lane, another small buffer zone, and finally the curb. Imagine what happens when the local elementary and high school, and community college all dismiss at the same time, and you want to make a left turn to get home ‘cause you gotta pee, and the jackass going in the other direction blocks the intersection. What about the cars behind the turning car? They’re screwed because there are cars parked right there and they’ve nowhere to go! The City has also installed speed cameras and red light cameras everywhere. Getting around by car in NY has always been a bitch, but now it’s just an out of control nightmare. My daughter lives 8 miles away, and it often takes 45 minutes to drive home. Highway, local roads, side streets, it doesn’t matter. They have restricted the flow of automotive traffic to the point where what used to be a 15 minute drive has been tripled on most days. And, oh, I forgot to mention that the real kick in the head, ass, stomach and nuts is you might might see a bicycle in the bike lane maaaaaybe once a month. Maybe. My friends moved to New Hampshire just to get away from the traffic. Seriously.
Happy to see that there are places more mucked up than where I live. Here they have put in bike lanes on both sides of the street with 2 car lanes and a parking lane on one side. Where the bike lanes are you encounter bikes travelling facing oncoming traffic instead of travelling the same direction as the cars are. You can add powered handicapped vehicles using the bike lanes too and running counter to the traffic. That is on top of bikes and powered mobility vehicles on sidewalks. Thanks, I feel better as misery loves company.
Bob
Bob
Back into your driveway so that you can come out forwards?
Many do but that would be just too easy. I'd still have to dodge the damn bikes when I use the sidewalk.
Bob
Vacumatic
Testy
I grew up in York where the roads are always congested, getting onto the roads in reverse was a nightmare. One house built in the 1930s had a garage with a turntable, huge garage of course. Turntables in your drive/garage are still a thing apparently
Bikes on pavements can be a nightmare, there was a case a few years ago when a small child was killed by a speed demon on his bike but if the roads have speeding cars then perhaps it is the lesser of two evils.
Bikes on pavements can be a nightmare, there was a case a few years ago when a small child was killed by a speed demon on his bike but if the roads have speeding cars then perhaps it is the lesser of two evils.
Yes, there are no easy solutions at this point. It is just getting worse as more people are encouraged to us bikes as a gesture towards being environmentally friendly.
Turntables are an interesting solution but outdoor ones likely a nightmare due to our extreme weather conditions. Garages here are much larger than in Europe with a favourite size being 24 ft X 24 ft and larger. If you made the driveway the same width for about the same length in front of the garage, you could turn your car around there and drive out facing the road.
I have done that with a 22 ft X 22 ft pad in front of the garage met by the regular 10 ft wide driveway. Seems to work for the most part but still a pita.
Bob
Makes you wonder if the punishment fits the crime.
www.tbnewswatch.com
Bob
David Voss sentenced to five years for role in Norval Morrisseau art fraud ring
Read the full story and comment on Tbnewswatch.com
Bob
Vacumatic
Testy
Makes you wonder if the punishment fits the crime.
David Voss sentenced to five years for role in Norval Morrisseau art fraud ring
Read the full story and comment on Tbnewswatch.com
Bob
Just had an enjoyable read of your local news and classifieds!
chazt
shave
No restitution? No, it doesn’t fit the crime imo. Another shocker was that one of the individuals charged was apparently a family member of the artist himself. I have no tolerance for people who intentionally rip off the original creativity of legitimate artists, be they fine artists, musicians or writers.Makes you wonder if the punishment fits the crime.
David Voss sentenced to five years for role in Norval Morrisseau art fraud ring
Read the full story and comment on Tbnewswatch.com
Bob
Vacumatic
Testy
Reading local news goes back to the days when most people bought an evening newspaper, wherever I was I read the local news.
There is nothing like reading a newspaper in the old style, ie print form. The electronic format does nothing for me, other than hurt my eyes. In fact I find I read a newspaper less thoroughly when it’s elctronic. There is no pleasure in the electronic format; I find it sterile and makes reading the paper a chore and not a pleasure.