Posts by BenWilson
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The road code (pg20) says that two cyclists *can* ride next to each other legally.
Doesn't mean it's not a fucking rude thing to do if you're holding up traffic, or risking a potentially fatal accident on a highway. It's also legal to drive your car at 1 km/h in a 50km/h zone, but how hard is it to let traffic pass before you do?
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Happily never took it again.
I envy you. It took me about 6 years to realize there was no point. And I still can't prove it.
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There are a lot of crap drivers, inexperienced drivers, drunk drivers, drivers with something else on their mind, some distraction etc. But none of that goes to suggest that their vision did not improve from driving. It just says that cars are still dangerous. Which is part of the very reason the vision improves - it has to.
Definitely cars should be more aware of cyclists and pedestrians. But equally, cyclists in particular should acknowledge that they are putting themselves in danger by doing what they are doing, and that they have an extra special duty of care because of it. They are on something that is extremely underengineered, low powered, has very little braking power, no ability to protect them in an accident whatsoever, wobbles from side to side, extremely slim profile lowering their visibility, requires no license to drive, and yet can actually go quite fast for all that. Furthermore, the rider is usually quite distracted because they are also concentrating on powering the bike, they are often tired, and they're thinking about the end of the ride. It is no surprise that cyclists are often injured. If they can put themselves in drivers shoes then they will be a lot safer.
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That's a fairly large generalisation, don't you think Ben?
Of course it is, Emma. I'm doing it to explain, from a lifetime driver's perspective, how it feels. I'm being honest. Naturally I give lifts ungrudgingly to people all the time, and yes, I do like doing it. It's the times when I don't like doing it, and I get guilt tripped into it, that these thoughts occur to me.
Jack, I totally agree about cycling adding to the road experience. And being a motorcyclist opened my eyes even more. I have driven trucks too, although I draw the line at getting an HT license (although now, saying this, I'm tempted). I deal with trucks by giving them right of way, on the automatic assumption that driving them is really hard. I do the same for buses, with the added factor that there's karma in it - you're giving up a little of your time to get the same amount of time back for a lot of people. Indeed, often, you're not giving up any time at all, you pass the bus at the next stop anyway. Also, I want more people on buses, means more road space for me.
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This explains why every time I've been hit by a car (both on foot and on a bike), the first thing the driver's said to me was "Sorry, I didn't see you." Personally, I think that drivers are great at watching out for specific objects - viz car-sized objects travelling around the speed limit and near the centre line. Other objects, not so much.
This is the kind of thing non-drivers would think. Without directly experiencing driving, the error in that is probably not apparent. You most likely did not put yourself in a position that the driver could see you easily. This is another reason to learn to drive, so that you can see the road the way drivers do, for your own safety. Drivers look at other drivers eyes ALL the time. They don't expect to be seen. It's total rubbish to say drivers don't look out for pedestrians, and dogs, and little objects on the road, etc.
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@BenWilson: out of curiousity, since you enjoy driving, why do you resent driving other people around? Do I need to give my friends more petrol money :)?
It's hard to put my finger on it precisely. Perhaps, but that's probably not it for me. It's more about the expectation that you will drive them because it is so easy for you to do it, and so hard for them to cope any other way by comparison. The truth is, driving themselves would be even easier for everyone. They don't have to do it all the time, but it would be nice if they could do it some of the time. It seems....selfish, perhaps. Like getting someone to wipe your arse.
I did also live with a non-driving girlfriend for about 8 years. Perhaps that's what gave me the shits the most, she failed the written test, couldn't handle the shame of it, and never tried again. So I got nagged for lifts a lot.
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Do they have surprising outbursts of emotion there too?
Well, one that I attended nearly all died laughing about how stupid what we were discussing had got. Gabriel White was the culprit "Hmmm, I don't know, <rubs chin in mockery of about 8 different professors, and the tutor> I've played some pretty damned competitive doll's games in my time". Funny bloke, just the kind of guy philosophy needs when it all gets a bit too serious.
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That's obviously where I want a critic, and not a general punter.
I like that kind of critic, the one who talks to 'who this will appeal to, and why'. They're very useful, much more so than one who dismissed a horror film I had nearly died of fright in as "Chill-free yawn-a-rama time". If he'd stuck to his usual game, he might have said "Unless you are under 12, in which case you are likely to pack death, but in a good way".
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What does sophistication mean in this context? I take it as meaning a more developed ability to discern artistic quality, based largely on training and experience. Your implication is that some tastes are more sophisticated than others.
That one is not particularly hard to answer. Discernment is simply learning to see things (or any other sense). You definitely can't have a 'progressive' debate without it. However, people can be discerning about quite different things. In watching Avatar, you could be a very discerning audience wrt the 3D element, having experienced a lot of 3D somehow, possibly through computer gaming. Most of the theatre going audience, including most critics, quite probably have almost no discernment in this respect at all, yet.
I consider myself a discerning viewer of martial arts movies. Not just because I've watched a lot of the movies, but because I've been doing martial arts since I was 10, have researched them a fair bit, discussed them a lot with other martial artists etc. When watching a martial arts movie, I'm bringing this with me. I may develop extremely different opinions than other people because of it. For instance, I tend to find the non-chinese movies these days appalling, because they use actors who have not specialized in the genre. It sticks out just how awfully slow, weak, and sloppy they are, no matter how much cinematic tricks are used. It's one of the main things I hold against The Matrix .
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I can understand the whole "hassle the non-drivers" thing. Having spent probably YEARS driving these people around, it seems like very mild payback. They never really seem to appreciate that it's a real drag, actually, to cart people around just because they won't do it for themselves.
For me, driving is sensual. I love it, try to make love to the vehicle with my hands, reach into it's soul with my ears and heart. The practical element is a bonus. I feel like I'm 15 feet long and bulletproof, because, quite literally, I am. Well, I'm more bulletproof, anyway.
For that reason, I got my motorcycle license. It was not a practical choice, but one based purely on the love of seizing one of the most joyous forms of transport every invented between my legs, and letting rip. It feels consciousness-expanding to me, and I think that is quite literally true, apparently the vision of drivers improves dramatically, particularly peripheral vision. Road-sense is entering a much larger world, in which my thoughts rove up to 15 seconds ahead, seeing things that the non-drivers would not care to even look for, minor pressure changes in the traffic a long way ahead, the attitude of the drivers all around me, evidenced by the subtle nuances of their car body language.
I pushed very hard to get my wife to get her NZ drivers license (she had an Australian one). After that, I had to push her to drive. Despite the aggro this caused, it has done a lot to make her a less nervy person on the road, to expand her social life, to escape from the house-bound tendency of non-drivers living in the 'burbs. She freely admits that it was the right thing to do. It's extremely empowering.
Yes, cars are also a burden, a chore, at times. For some people, they're unnecessary. But why do I always seem to end up driving those people around?
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