Scot Jarchow
Thomas I agree with almost everything your saying, although I just want
to make one point about your first paragraph. I would like to point out
that most of the bike lanes are on the same roads bus routes. Despite
buses, roads with the bike lanes are still probably safer then using
alternative routes. That is especially true where I live, the roads in
my area are winding and extremely narrow which provides very little room
for cars, truck?s and suv?s to legally safely pass a bike.
Thanks for providing different view.
THOMAS HOFFMAN wrote:
Trust me I've heard more than my share of
Biker Bus stories. The easiest thing that we
can do, is avoid the Buss routes. We can
easily find a different path home. The Bus
can't. Remember the driver is just trying to
do his job in the safest manner possible.
They do not come to your job and mess up your
day, so we should not try to mess with them.
Trimet drivers see all the stupid things that
happen on the road, so don't expect them to
think we know what we are doing as we ride
down the road.
A Bus Driver so much scratches an illegally
parked car, or slams on his breaks to avoid
hitting an inattentive pedestrian, will be
called to account and defend his actions. Any
incident that involves contact with any other
object, including bike messengers, requires a
drub test on the drivers. Don't for a second
think that TriMet is not looking out for the
safety of Portlanders.
My Dad is a driver, HE recently told me of a
biker that held him up as he worked through
town by Passing the bus and then slowing down
so as to restrict the busses progress. At
times the bus would pass the biker, when it
was safe of course, but the biker would then
pass the bus ride in the middle of the lane
and restrict the busses progress along its
route. At some point along the route the Bus
was required to make a very tight turn. My
father, being aware of the cyclist positioned
the bus in a manner that would force the
rider to slow down and allow the buss to
clear the corner. Remember, that these
drivers are trained professional and if they
so much as bounce off a curb, they Can be
written up. The Rider fell when he realized
that he could not make his way around the
bus. I think the path the biker had was into
a curb, but he fell in the street. The Biker
of course complained that he was "Hit" by the
bus. My old man was required to defend
himself. The riders actions were captured on
video camera's mounted on the bus. Recording
the entire event. TriMet could see the rider
restricting the progress of the bus, the
actions of the driver to prevent a collision
and the rider falling in the middle of the
street when he realized his next choice was
to ride into the curb.
I am not trying to say that the rider did
anything wrong, nor am I trying to defend my
old man, who is a year round Bike Commuter.
{Although you would never guess that looking
at him.} My point is, as bikers we should
complain when it is right to do so. Even if
we see it happening to somebody else. But
before you complain, you should think, what
did I do that would cause the problem? Be
honest with your self. from the stories I
have heard, Most driver complaints are shown
to be the fault of the citizen, not the
driver and problem areas that are consistent
are reviewed and discussed to keep people
safe.
I hope this sheds some light on a drivers
point of view. Personally I would like to
Chew out those riders that are always
bitching about TRI-MET, mostly 'cuz I have no
patience for whiners. But I encourage anyone
to report TRUTHFULLY anything that may happen
to them.
Tom Hoffman
PS This story is second hand news, as I
remember it.
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve-@clark.wa.gov
[mailto:Steve-@clark.wa.gov]
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 9:36 AM
To: ob-@topica.com
Subject: RE: Re: RE: [OBRA Chat] "...be
more careful" says
Tri-met driver
If I'm not mistaken, that same number is on
the back of the
bus. The number that seems to prove useless
is the number of
the route that is displayed along with
where the bus is
going, usually at the top center of the
windshield
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave German
[mailto:dave_g-@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 07, 2004 8:30 AM
To: ob-@topica.com
Subject: FW: Re: RE: [OBRA Chat] "...be
more careful" says
Tri-met driver
All, note this advice regarding the bus #
from a friend
within Tri-met:
Yeah, George is absolutely right. We do
take these things
seriously.
The
trick is getting the right number so we
can identify the
driver. You want
to get the number in the bottom right
corner of the
windshield. With that
number, we can figure out who had that bus
at that time of
day. Once the
driver is identified s/he can be contacted
and spoken to.
Hope that helps.
-Tom
Tom,
Any suggestions?
Dave
>From: "Schreck, George"
<george.-@pacificorp.com<mailto:george
.sch-@pacificorp.com>>
>Reply-To:
george.-@pacificorp.com<mailto:george.
schr-@pacificorp.com>
>To:
velodrom-@yahoo.com<mailto:velodromerac
in-@yahoo.com>, OBRA
Chat
<ob-@topica.com<mailto:ob-@topica.com>>
>Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] "...be more
careful" says Tri-met driver
>Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 17:19:49 -0700
>
>I have had a few similar events where
the bus pulled
over to the curb
to
>pick up a passenger without noting
that I was already
there and ran me
>into the curb. I received a similar
response from the
driver, and my
>response was that I was going to file
a report with Tri-Met. I
received
>an apology from the driver
immediately. Tri-Met takes
these events
very
>seriously and generally does not
tolerate the type of
response you
>received. If you have the number of
the bus or the name
of the driver,
>file a report with Tri-Met.
>
>________________________________
>
>From: steve garcia
[mailto:velodrom-@yahoo.com]
>Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 5:14 PM
>To: OBRA Chat
>Subject: [OBRA Chat] "...be more
careful" says Tri-met driver
>
>
>After getting run off the road by a
Tri-met bus today, I
caught up with
>the bus at a light and told the driver
she just ran me
into the bushes
>on the last corner. Her response was
the same one she
gave me about 2
>or 3 months ago, "you bike riders need
to be more careful".
>
>I attempted to describe my view of
events but she just
threatened to
>call the police. I told her that
would be fine since we
were both
>involved in the same accident.
However, after waiting
for the police
to
>show up for over 20 minutes, I was
encouraged to let the
commuters on
>the bus to go home, meaning a few of
the commuters were
a bit upset at
>me. Luckily, for me probably, the
driver wouldn't let
this one guy off
>the bus.
>
>So, "you bike riders need to be more
careful"!
>
>________________________________
>
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