[at-l] Sigh, co-list

[EHamilton]

Those are the two points I was going to bring up if, after looking through all the posts in the thread, no one had brought them up. Thanks, Felix, for doing it! I read them on a cycling-safety website  a couple years ago when learning to be an urban bicycle-commuter in Austin, TX (having never ridden anything but country roads previously.)

I bike a lot (long-course triathlete) and would like to point out that, similarly, you should reach for and drink from your water bottle with your left hand, so that if you have to brake with your free hand, it will be your right, which is on the rear-brake lever.

MacGyver



________________________________
From: Felix J <AThiker at smithville.net>
To: at-l <AT-L at backcountry.net>
Sent: Fri, March 5, 2010 3:03:18 PM
Subject: [at-l] Sigh, co-list


(this from kay k. harvey) 


I’m not sure  where the convention started, or if it has any bearing on modern traffic laws, but my assumption is that lefthanded signals are used for two reasons:
a)      If you’re riding on the right side of the road, you left hand may be more visible to traffic, which is to the left of you;
b)      Your right hand, the one still controlling the bike, uses the REAR brake, which is MUCH safer than using the front brake only, if you have to stop quickly.
That second point is the one that crops up most frequently in my commuting – I’m almost always on the brake at some point during the turn when I am signaling.
 Ke Kaahawe 
-- 
Felix J. McGillicuddy
ME-->GA '98
"Your Move"
ALT '03 KT '03
http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/



      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://patsy.hack.net/pipermail/at-l/attachments/20100310/89f3f88d/attachment.html