Expert: someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain.
elite |əˈlēt; āˈlēt|noun1 a group of people considered to be the best in a particular society or category, esp. because of their power, talent, or wealth…
Right, he’s a councilman, not a mayor, last I heard. So why would he have the authority to have them removed in the first place? I would think that kind of action would be an executive one, not a legislative one.
Depends on the form of the city government. Some cities have the council members in charge of various city departments, often with amusing/interesting/sketchy results. Portland, Oregon comes to mind.
Here in Toronto, councillors get involved in these types of issues in their ward. For example,the local councillor, Mr. Rae, was a key player in transforming a car lane on Jarvis Street into two cycle lanes.
Heard about a group that painted bike lanes in LA, then the city removed them (painting over them w/black paint). Motorists are still respecting the painted black lane.
Reported several grates today… 6? Actually witnessed Portland’s Sewer Dept. replace one of them. Photos are on my photostream.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ufobike
Most collections of politicians operate under the concept of “Monkey see, Monkey do.” Innovation and trailblazing (pun intended) are not their strong suits. Though many claim to be leaders, most aren’t willing to take the point. Instead, they crave examples, specifications, pilot projects and studies where someone else has taken a risk. If it’s a “lowly” citizen that shows them the way, then so be it.
I hope Yehuda is using regular paint instead of the stuff they use around here (the paint is 5 millimeter thick … ), because then you’ve got another reason why cyclists would avoid roads marked with these ‘sharrows’ …
So what you’re saying is that cyclists are a whiny bunch who will only ride/be happy when every single thing is exactly to their liking?
“The paint’s too thick!”
“There’s a GRATE across the road 10 feet from where any sensible person should be riding, but I don’t like it!”
“I’d ride on the roads if all of the cars would realize that *I* set the pace on the road. If they’re late, they’re late. Too bad.”
PlatyPius, your criticism on that point is ridiculous. If state infrastructure funds, which is a finite amount, is squandered on ineffective and transient symbolism that quickly disappears, then all taxpayers are cheated. Standards have to be met, and infrastructure that fails to live up the standards set by the U.S. Department of Transportation guidelines is a squandering of very limited resources. Say, if the Ohio DOT provided $1/4 million to Shaker Heights DOT for cycling infrastructure, and instead of using that money to install effective and permanent infrastructure they decided instead to stretch it out by painting 3 times as many sharrows using cheap paint that will disappear after the first snowplow scrapes it off the pavement, then everybody loses. Not only the cyclists but also every taxpayer in Ohio as well. It isn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth if the state dumps a dead horse in your front yard and says “Merry Christmas,” especially when you consider that you and every other taxpayer paid for that damn horse.
The paint’s too thick! – A school near me has a yellow zigzag line marking a no parking zone. These lines are so thick they have the same effect as one of K’tesh’s grates! When frozen, they are dangerous to cars too. I hate them. They put a pedestrian crossing in the middle of these lines. Raised the surface to create a speed bump and repainted lines properly on the raise bit. So why did they not re-paint the existing lines properly?
British road markings confuse the bejesus out of me. It’s all zigzags and dots and multicoloured lines. I’d be too terrified to drive or ride in the UK because of that whole drive on the left thing, so I guess it doesn’t matter that it confuses me, but still – it’s like an entirely different road marking language.
I spent a day driving around Wiltshire while visiting London in 2004, and those road markings confused the heck out of me too. The most confusing were the “National Speed Limit” signs. They’re round and have a diagonal stripe — no other markings — and resemble the “No (whatever)” signs (like “No smoking”) with which I’m familiar. I couldn’t figure out what it was that they were prohibiting. Later I learned that they mean something like, “You’re supposed to know what the National Speed Limit is for this sort of road, so don’t go faster than that.” Speed limit signs with numbers on them weren’t much more helpful, because they didn’t have MPH or KPH or anything like that, just numbers. They look something like the signs used to mark county road route numbers in the US. So most of the time I was driving in England, I had no idea what the speed limit was supposed to be. I just matched the flow of traffic and hoped everyone else was driving somewhere near the limit. (I never figured out the different stripes used for parking and no-parking zones in London, either — red, yellow or white, on the street or on the curb, stripes or boxes, straight or diagonal — and all with different meanings. So when I got back too late to return the rental car, rather than trying to figure out where to park in Earls Court, I parked at the rental office in Putney Bridge and took the Tube back to my hotel, then came back in the morning to turn in the car.)
By the way, I had no trouble with driving on the left, but had a lot of trouble getting used to sitting on the right side of the car. All my instincts kept telling me I was too far to the right and needed to move over, so I kept drifting left and scraped the curb several times before I began to adapt. Roundabouts were what I really loved about driving there. By the time I went through my second roundabout I had caught the knack and was wondering why they didn’t use those more in my country. When I got home and had to go back to dealing with STOP signs and traffic lights, I felt like I was being deprived of proper road facilities.
I’m a fan of roundabouts and traffic circles too. We don’t have many in Baltimore proper, but the suburbs are full of them – and D.C., of course, has always had them.
A highway where I often ride has thick paint stripes like that separating (some) turn lanes from the straight-through lanes. Moving sideways across those stripes on a bike can be tricky, especially if they’re a little wet. There’s a definite “bump and scrape” as the edge of the tire hops up onto the stripe, and a noticeable drop as it slides off the other edge. Not all the stripes are like that, just the ones at two or three intersections on my route.
I’ve personally lost control and went down on thickly painted road markings after a rainstorm (a turn arrow located at the bend of a road). What was really scary, was after coming to a stop, directly looking up at the bumper of the car that had been following me, only inches away from my face. Angels were looking over me that day.
I’ve had an experience like that (circa 1974) but not from slippery road markings. It was a railroad track that crossed the road at such an angle that it was almost parallel to the road. It caught my front wheel and I went down in the midst of traffic, with the car behind me stopping just barely in time. I must have had an angel or two on duty, too.
I got a rule about railroad tracks. I ALWAYS approach at a 90 degree angle. Doesn’t matter how they run relative to the road. F@#% the cagers if it pisses ‘em off.
The problem with those tracks is that to cross them at 90° you’d have to cross the center line into oncoming traffic. I turned as sharply across the tracks as I could with only one narrow lane in which to maneuver but I still couldn’t cross at anything near 90°. This was a road I had ridden many times and never had a problem before, but on that particular day I guess the odds caught up with me and the tracks finally got me.
The lines are so wide that the centre of the road is the only safe place. Outside a school. The Tarmac is zoo bad that the whole area is dangerous. The only smooth line is below the lines so if they where burnt off, the ride might be a lot safer!
I normally wouldn’t mind more bicycling infastructure like sharrows and bike lanes but I can see where they can be handled incoorectly. I have a route home that didn’t have a bike lane on it and now has one. What wrong is that now drivers will expect me in versus sharing the road and the bike lane goes through some rough patches. Also, they put a left hand turn into what had been a right turn only. Now it looks like car traffic should be able to turn left from that far right lane when it shouldn’t. BTW, this in San Francisco where they started ramping up the painting of bike lanes and sharrows recently.
Expert: someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain.
Expert: from the Latin, Ex meaning “former”, Spert meaning “a drip under pressure”.
someone who used to spert under pressure? sounds like a coward to me.
Expert : the one who gets stuck with a job when no one else wants to learn the skills required …
Expert – Someone who lives at least 50 miles away and has a power point presentation. modern usage.
that’d be a consultant then
Expert – n. One who has made every possible mistake in a very narrow field, and lived to tell the tale.
As my father often says, “An expert is a mediocre son of a bitch who’s a long way from home.”
sounds more like:
elite |əˈlēt; āˈlēt|noun1 a group of people considered to be the best in a particular society or category, esp. because of their power, talent, or wealth…
Both Rock Island County, Illinois and Pima County, Arizona both routinely seek out the expertise and participation of cyclists.
Expert – The person in the room who knows more on the sybject than anyone else.
Such as spelling?
Expert…..The guy from out of town.
Expert…..The guy from out of town.
Nice to see the councilman make a comeback.
Right, he’s a councilman, not a mayor, last I heard. So why would he have the authority to have them removed in the first place? I would think that kind of action would be an executive one, not a legislative one.
Depends on the form of the city government. Some cities have the council members in charge of various city departments, often with amusing/interesting/sketchy results. Portland, Oregon comes to mind.
Here in Toronto, councillors get involved in these types of issues in their ward. For example,the local councillor, Mr. Rae, was a key player in transforming a car lane on Jarvis Street into two cycle lanes.
He might be head of the Transportation Committee.
Heard about a group that painted bike lanes in LA, then the city removed them (painting over them w/black paint). Motorists are still respecting the painted black lane.
Reported several grates today… 6? Actually witnessed Portland’s Sewer Dept. replace one of them. Photos are on my photostream..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ufobike
The City of Toronto has a habit of doing “officially” actions that were pioneered by the Urban Repair Squad. See the bike boxes at:
http://urbanrepairs.blogspot.com/2010/10/torontos-first-bike-boxes-by-urban.html
Or the “bicycles welcome” stickers at:
http://urbanrepairs.blogspot.com/2009/03/ttc-adopts-new-stickers-by-urs.html
Most collections of politicians operate under the concept of “Monkey see, Monkey do.” Innovation and trailblazing (pun intended) are not their strong suits. Though many claim to be leaders, most aren’t willing to take the point. Instead, they crave examples, specifications, pilot projects and studies where someone else has taken a risk. If it’s a “lowly” citizen that shows them the way, then so be it.
If more politicians were like this the US of SUV might stand a chance
Check out the URS Repair Manual. Looks like Yehuda is following it.
http://web.net/~lukmar/UrbanRepairSquadManual.pdf
And to think I actually accused him of being the one to run over Moon at one time… Good on him.
I hope Yehuda is using regular paint instead of the stuff they use around here (the paint is 5 millimeter thick … ), because then you’ve got another reason why cyclists would avoid roads marked with these ‘sharrows’ …
So what you’re saying is that cyclists are a whiny bunch who will only ride/be happy when every single thing is exactly to their liking?
“The paint’s too thick!”
“There’s a GRATE across the road 10 feet from where any sensible person should be riding, but I don’t like it!”
“I’d ride on the roads if all of the cars would realize that *I* set the pace on the road. If they’re late, they’re late. Too bad.”
PlatyPius, your criticism on that point is ridiculous. If state infrastructure funds, which is a finite amount, is squandered on ineffective and transient symbolism that quickly disappears, then all taxpayers are cheated. Standards have to be met, and infrastructure that fails to live up the standards set by the U.S. Department of Transportation guidelines is a squandering of very limited resources. Say, if the Ohio DOT provided $1/4 million to Shaker Heights DOT for cycling infrastructure, and instead of using that money to install effective and permanent infrastructure they decided instead to stretch it out by painting 3 times as many sharrows using cheap paint that will disappear after the first snowplow scrapes it off the pavement, then everybody loses. Not only the cyclists but also every taxpayer in Ohio as well. It isn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth if the state dumps a dead horse in your front yard and says “Merry Christmas,” especially when you consider that you and every other taxpayer paid for that damn horse.
You’re pretty smart for a Ravens fan.
It’s all over my head, actually, but Ed Reed explained to me.
The paint’s too thick! – A school near me has a yellow zigzag line marking a no parking zone. These lines are so thick they have the same effect as one of K’tesh’s grates! When frozen, they are dangerous to cars too. I hate them. They put a pedestrian crossing in the middle of these lines. Raised the surface to create a speed bump and repainted lines properly on the raise bit. So why did they not re-paint the existing lines properly?
British road markings confuse the bejesus out of me. It’s all zigzags and dots and multicoloured lines. I’d be too terrified to drive or ride in the UK because of that whole drive on the left thing, so I guess it doesn’t matter that it confuses me, but still – it’s like an entirely different road marking language.
I spent a day driving around Wiltshire while visiting London in 2004, and those road markings confused the heck out of me too. The most confusing were the “National Speed Limit” signs. They’re round and have a diagonal stripe — no other markings — and resemble the “No (whatever)” signs (like “No smoking”) with which I’m familiar. I couldn’t figure out what it was that they were prohibiting. Later I learned that they mean something like, “You’re supposed to know what the National Speed Limit is for this sort of road, so don’t go faster than that.” Speed limit signs with numbers on them weren’t much more helpful, because they didn’t have MPH or KPH or anything like that, just numbers. They look something like the signs used to mark county road route numbers in the US. So most of the time I was driving in England, I had no idea what the speed limit was supposed to be. I just matched the flow of traffic and hoped everyone else was driving somewhere near the limit. (I never figured out the different stripes used for parking and no-parking zones in London, either — red, yellow or white, on the street or on the curb, stripes or boxes, straight or diagonal — and all with different meanings. So when I got back too late to return the rental car, rather than trying to figure out where to park in Earls Court, I parked at the rental office in Putney Bridge and took the Tube back to my hotel, then came back in the morning to turn in the car.)
By the way, I had no trouble with driving on the left, but had a lot of trouble getting used to sitting on the right side of the car. All my instincts kept telling me I was too far to the right and needed to move over, so I kept drifting left and scraped the curb several times before I began to adapt. Roundabouts were what I really loved about driving there. By the time I went through my second roundabout I had caught the knack and was wondering why they didn’t use those more in my country. When I got home and had to go back to dealing with STOP signs and traffic lights, I felt like I was being deprived of proper road facilities.
For those interested, a selection of UK road signs, including National and local speed limit signs, can be found here: http://www.worldofstock.com/closeups/MES2605.php
I’m a fan of roundabouts and traffic circles too. We don’t have many in Baltimore proper, but the suburbs are full of them – and D.C., of course, has always had them.
A highway where I often ride has thick paint stripes like that separating (some) turn lanes from the straight-through lanes. Moving sideways across those stripes on a bike can be tricky, especially if they’re a little wet. There’s a definite “bump and scrape” as the edge of the tire hops up onto the stripe, and a noticeable drop as it slides off the other edge. Not all the stripes are like that, just the ones at two or three intersections on my route.
Paint that’s too thick can reduce traction in wet conditions. Ditto with much of the vinyl-based road “decorations.”
I’ve personally lost control and went down on thickly painted road markings after a rainstorm (a turn arrow located at the bend of a road). What was really scary, was after coming to a stop, directly looking up at the bumper of the car that had been following me, only inches away from my face. Angels were looking over me that day.
I’ve had an experience like that (circa 1974) but not from slippery road markings. It was a railroad track that crossed the road at such an angle that it was almost parallel to the road. It caught my front wheel and I went down in the midst of traffic, with the car behind me stopping just barely in time. I must have had an angel or two on duty, too.
I got a rule about railroad tracks. I ALWAYS approach at a 90 degree angle. Doesn’t matter how they run relative to the road. F@#% the cagers if it pisses ‘em off.
The problem with those tracks is that to cross them at 90° you’d have to cross the center line into oncoming traffic. I turned as sharply across the tracks as I could with only one narrow lane in which to maneuver but I still couldn’t cross at anything near 90°. This was a road I had ridden many times and never had a problem before, but on that particular day I guess the odds caught up with me and the tracks finally got me.
The lines are so wide that the centre of the road is the only safe place. Outside a school. The Tarmac is zoo bad that the whole area is dangerous. The only smooth line is below the lines so if they where burnt off, the ride might be a lot safer!
So bad
I like the council man’s approach – I wish we would have more guys like that!
I normally wouldn’t mind more bicycling infastructure like sharrows and bike lanes but I can see where they can be handled incoorectly. I have a route home that didn’t have a bike lane on it and now has one. What wrong is that now drivers will expect me in versus sharing the road and the bike lane goes through some rough patches. Also, they put a left hand turn into what had been a right turn only. Now it looks like car traffic should be able to turn left from that far right lane when it shouldn’t. BTW, this in San Francisco where they started ramping up the painting of bike lanes and sharrows recently.