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If you were shooting on a range with several side-by-side shooting lanes, would you feel comfortable going downrange to check your target without calling a cease-fire? Would it bother you to walk 25 yards down to the target, and back, while the shooters to your left and right contined sending bullets into their targets, with those bullets buzzing past you about 3-5 feet from each side of your body? It's not like you're trusting your neighbor to shoot the proverbial apple off your head, you know. They'd have at least of couple of feet of room for error before you'd get hurt.
Just for the record, it appears that everyone would NOT subject themselves to the above conditions. The risk is just way too high.
Okay then, WHY must joggers and bicylists in Georgia do their thing on narrow roads with no sidewalks (for runners) and no bike lane for cyclists, when "sharing the road" means that while the guy on the bike is meandering along the right edge of the road at 15 mph, cars whip past him, missing him only by several inches, rarely more than two feet, going 45-75 mph? Isn't that just as dangerous as a bullet going by, and missing the person by the same distance? Either way, if the driver is attentive and the vehicle is in proper working condition and there are no road hazards that cause one vehicle to swerve, all will be well. A close pass, sure, but no impact. The same could be said for the shooting range. If everything goes right, the guy in the next firing lane ought to be able to put rounds past your shoulder all day long without nicking you.
But if the driver of the car gets distracted and tips his steering wheel to the right for just a second or two--- THUMP! If the motor vehicle has a front tire blow out, or for that matter if the cyclist does, WHOMP. Somebody's a hood ornament. If the driver has a coughing fit, a seizure, or gets stung by a wasp just as she's about to pass the runner training for the Peachtree Road Race, that runner is likely to get launched into somebody's yard with a powerful boost from the car's right fender.
Considering how this country is in a state of crisis as to both petroleum dependency and the sad state of physical fitness among our population, don't you think it would be a good idea to encourage more people to walk, rollerblade, and ride bicycles? To do that safely we need some special roads, or special lanes added to regular roads, that keep motor vehicles further away from the slow self-propelled travelers.
Just for the record, it appears that everyone would NOT subject themselves to the above conditions. The risk is just way too high.
Okay then, WHY must joggers and bicylists in Georgia do their thing on narrow roads with no sidewalks (for runners) and no bike lane for cyclists, when "sharing the road" means that while the guy on the bike is meandering along the right edge of the road at 15 mph, cars whip past him, missing him only by several inches, rarely more than two feet, going 45-75 mph? Isn't that just as dangerous as a bullet going by, and missing the person by the same distance? Either way, if the driver is attentive and the vehicle is in proper working condition and there are no road hazards that cause one vehicle to swerve, all will be well. A close pass, sure, but no impact. The same could be said for the shooting range. If everything goes right, the guy in the next firing lane ought to be able to put rounds past your shoulder all day long without nicking you.
But if the driver of the car gets distracted and tips his steering wheel to the right for just a second or two--- THUMP! If the motor vehicle has a front tire blow out, or for that matter if the cyclist does, WHOMP. Somebody's a hood ornament. If the driver has a coughing fit, a seizure, or gets stung by a wasp just as she's about to pass the runner training for the Peachtree Road Race, that runner is likely to get launched into somebody's yard with a powerful boost from the car's right fender.
Considering how this country is in a state of crisis as to both petroleum dependency and the sad state of physical fitness among our population, don't you think it would be a good idea to encourage more people to walk, rollerblade, and ride bicycles? To do that safely we need some special roads, or special lanes added to regular roads, that keep motor vehicles further away from the slow self-propelled travelers.