“Sooner or later, one of the bicyclists who refuse to use the bike path built along Route 5 is going to get hurt. This time of year the road is jammed with weekend motorcycle groups and other vehicles. Route 5 has a narrow shoulder that provides little room for cyclists when two vehicles are approaching/passing each other. Serious cyclists consider the bike path unsuitable, but that isn’t going to change the laws of physics when an inattentive driver spills his or her coffee while meeting an oncoming dump truck.”

I’ve heard that commercial driving schools emphasize “the laws of physics” by instilling in drivers that vehicles with greater mass have the de facto right of way.  This seems to be an excuse to allow some people to drive like morons just because their vehicles are larger.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re driving a semi or a tricycle, everyone has to take responsibility not to drive recklessly or hit anything.  The above comment was quickly followed up today with:

“I promise to never ride along Route 5 again. Obviously people who drive that route should not be operating machinery, such as a car. Please do not go to the other side of the county since that’s where I live and have children. The thought of someone like the person who commented recently on a road anywhere near my children scares me.”

The problem is that most drivers are like the first commenter: they are more worried about “spilling his or her coffee” than driving safely.  Everyone is too distracted by personal items like mobile phones, radios, and in-car DVD players to pay attention, so when something happens (a bike suddenly pops into view), they see it as a violation of their personal space.  In driving a manual transmission, I find it impossible to do anything but drive, so maybe a resurgence in manuals will make things better.  However, I really wonder if I’ll make it through my life without being involved in a serious car accident.  Whether it be biking, running, walking, or driving, I experience more and more close calls every week and one of these days I might not be so lucky.

It is annoying, as well as a safety hazard, for bicyclists to ride along Route 5 when taxpayers spent $1 million per mile to have a bike path constructed. Cannot James City have an ordinance that bicycling on Route 5 is prohibited on all sections where there is a parallel bike path?

Yesterday, there was this response:

In response to the person complaining about bicyclists along Route 5, I’m sorry to have offended you. I didn’t vote for the bike path boondoggle, so please don’t crucify me for not using it. I am a competitive cyclist and find that the folks using the bike path don’t pay attention to what is going on in front or behind them. Also, the path is narrow, and riding at speed along it would create high risk. Thus I ride Route 5, which does have enough room for both cyclists and road vehicles, at least for folks who are competent at driving. I have a right to use the road, so please don’t yell out your car window at me anymore. As with many of the topics in the Last Word, aren’t there better things to do with your time?

This wasn’t me, but I have a good idea as to who it is and I completely agree with their statement.  While I haven’t been on Route 5/John Tyler in awhile, I have received plenty of grief from drivers in that area.  It’s as if the bike path serves only to make them angrier.

Day 1: Saturday 4/10/2010

When I arrived in Norfolk, there was a mix up at the ticket counter – the web check-in boarding pass I printed the day before was invalid and it took some work for the ticket agent to print a new one.  When we arrived in Chicago that afternoon, it was a very long trip from the B concourse island to the international terminal.  We had to go under the ramp, into the main terminal, and take a train to the international terminal, a good 15 or 20 minutes.  Fortunately, the terminal was not busy and we were able to check in at the SAS counter without any issues.

The TSA agent checking my boarding pass at the O’Hare International Terminal commented about me being from Virginia; she said she had never been there.  When I travel to other parts of the country, I always get interesting comments from the locals about me being from Virginia.  In Palo Alto, a waitress commented that it was cold in Virginia, when at the time I remember it was really much warmer at home than in Silicon Valley.  When in Gloucester visiting an old roommate, I got a comment from his neighbor that I was from “Virginny.”  I’ve also heard another Massachusetts resident (who attends school at William and Mary) refer to “Virginny,” as well.  Hollywood always portrays Virginians with thick backcountry accents when the reality is nothing of the sort.  Some have the Tidewater accent, but it’s unnoticeable to the untrained ear.

Also, there were no restaurants in the O’Hare International terminal: 8 bucks for a pre-made sandwich.  Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long until the Stockholm flight departed.  I noticed that nearly everyone waiting was Swedish, for there were no blue American passports that I could see.  Once on the plane, I realized we lucked out on the seat assignments and got extra legroom since we were just behind the premium economy section.

On the flights, my adviser and I talked about the direction of my career in school and afterwards.  Placement at a faculty job would probably require more time in school, perhaps up to another year, while a research lab may require less.  It’s all about gaining enough experience to do what you want to do.  It was interesting to talk to him about the possibilities since he has experience in both industry and academia.  Both have benefits and drawbacks and there is no way I want to close the door on any particular track just yet.  Just this week I talked with some other students in our department about the time required to complete a Ph.D., and those Master’s students involved in the discussion were wary of spending years in school to graduate.  I would not be opposed to spending another two years in school as long as I worked hard enough to get some good papers published in the hope that I could get a good faculty position at a research university.  From the looks of it, I have plenty of time to think about it and decide.

Day 2: Sunday 4/11/2010

As usual, I didn’t sleep much on the plane, only short bouts of 10 or 20 minutes.  The sun came up quickly and the clouds parted, giving us a view of jagged mountains and snow and little sign of life.  Before landing, the ground was covered up again by thick fog, which we soon descended into.

Though it was 7:30 in the morning, the airport was almost completely deserted.  Immigration and customs was a breeze considering we were the only flight arriving at the time.  A high speed train took us from the airport to the Stockholm Central terminal; a speedometer read well over 200kph as trees and buildings flew by.  I doubt any train at home travels anywhere near that fast.  From the train terminal, we took a subway two stops until we were near the hotel.   One thing I found odd was that the subway tickets had to be purchased from one of several convenience stores surrounding the subway entrance.  In the subway terminal, there were no ticket machines or windows and no signs indicating where tickets could be bought.  Instead, we had to ask someone at the entrance looking for freeriders where we could purchase tickets.

The city was mostly deserted, though it was a Sunday.  Stores were closed and nearly nobody was on the subway or walking around on the streets.  Even the school where the conference was to be held was nearly empty of students with the library closed.  Weatherwise, the day started out cloudy but later the sun came out, with temperatures in the lower 40s – pretty much a December or January day at home.  It’s a good thing I brought my heavy coat.

The hotel had a room available as soon as we arrived, which was surprising since it was only 9 in the morning.  My adviser and I slept for a few hours and then headed out in the afternoon, exploring Gamla stan and the area around the conference.  We walked by the parliament building and the Stockholm Palace, taking a ton of pictures.

To me, it seemed as if everyone was pretending that the weather was nice.  People at coffee shops sat outside at tables, wearing winter coats while being punished by the wind.  Others stood in lines at ice cream stands, despite the 40 degree weather.  Plenty more were out running and biking.  I suppose weather can be much worse in Stockholm.

The crowds picked up some in the afternoon, but there were few restaurants around our hotel so we settled on a Mongolian BBQ place.  I’ve been to similar places at home, but in the brief time I’ve been here there wasn’t anything interesting that caught my eye.  Just the usual McDonald’s and a few other places labeled “American Grill,” or “Steakhouse.”  I travel thousands of miles to get away from American food, among other things, but it seems I can’t escape it.

Day 3: Monday 4/12/2010

Though sleep was better than the previous night, I still had trouble.  I almost never sleep well on trips since it’s always hard for me to adjust to new environments.  I got up before 7AM and went out for a run beyond the university where the conference was, noticing there was a large park I could check out, so I headed that way and was surprised.  City blocks now packed with commuter traffic and sidewalks packed with people suddenly gave way to a vast forest with tons of dirt trails.  Plenty of other people were out running and biking.

I tooled around on the trails for awhile and headed back.  I was surprised that traffic would stop even if it looked like I was about to cross the street.   In addition to the trails, there were large paved paths with marked lanes for bikes and pedestrians.  Sweden seems to have solved the bike path problem so prevalent in the United States.  By making the paths wider and by separating pedestrians and cyclists, cyclists can cruise the bike paths without having to dodge pedestrians.  In the city, sections of curb separated bike lanes from vehicle traffic, also decreasing the chance of a bicycle accident.

On Monday, there were a handful of workshops; I attended one on “Cooperating Objects,” which appears to be a new buzzword in the embedded/sensor networks community.  A few people spoke about event detection and machine learning, with ideas similar to my research.  There were easily several hundred people, much more than at previous conferences I attended, people from all over the world.

At the reception Monday evening, I met Alexandra from Romania, who attended school in Slovenia.  It was interesting talking to her, considering that we are from very different and faraway places, yet we work in the same field.  We hung out quite a bit between breaks throughout much of the conference and through her I was introduced to a few others from Eastern Europe.  At school, it can feel very insular with few people to share your work and ideas with, but at a place like this, everybody is doing the same thing, and they come from everywhere.

Day 4: Tuesday 4/13/2010

Tuesday was a long one.  I was up at 6:30 to run, with plenty of daylight.  I explored a different part of the park than before, but ended up by a factory.  I’m still surprised at the number of trails in the city.

The plenary speaker seemed to be more of a biologist, speaking about human and animal brains as a control system.  There were quite a few talks in IPSN about machine learning and/or event detection so it was interesting to see others’ approaches to similar problems.  Later on, there was a poster and demo session which lasted until nearly 7:30 at night.

During the poster/demo session, I met a guy from the University of Utah which had concocted a sort of “x-ray” vision with 802.15.4 radios – I remember reading about this on the internet a few months ago.  Link quality between radios would change due to people moving about in the room, and with enough links, the moving people could be localized.  Apparently, his paper based on this was rejected mostly because nobody believed it.

Day 4: Wednesday 4/14/2010

On Wednesday, I hit the motherlode for trails when out on my run.  On previous runs I seemed to hit dead ends – running into roads, office buildings, or even factories, but today I found a trail that took me out to the rest of the park.  There were plenty more trails and open space by the time I had to turn around.  It was also sunny right from the start instead of morning fog.

The IPSN tracks were pretty interesting, again with a few on event detection and machine learning.   One group took a twist with a technique I used in my paper that I hadn’t thought of.  I also went to the CPS conference sensor network track, but didn’t really see too much differences compared with the typical sensor network research.

Day 5: Thursday 4/15/2010

I ran again in the morning, out to all the new trails I found the day before.  Unfortunately, the clouds returned.  At the conference, my adviser’s adviser, Jack Stankovic, was the plenary speaker.  During his talk, he used the example of a storm in Chicago as a reference to real time job scheduling.  The next day, I was supposed to return home via Chicago – hearing about any airline problem in Chicago was the last thing I wanted to think about.   This example eerily foreshadowed the problems to come for my return flights (through Chicago).

There were a few other sessions in the IPSN track that were interesting – at least one other event detection paper that was related to my work.  Then, in the afternoon, it was time for my presentation.  Since I was in the sensor networks track of RTAS, most people were in the concurrent IPSN track, so I didn’t get a huge audience.

Just before the presentation, I found out about the ash cloud coming from Iceland.  One of the other people in the room mentioned about flying back through Chicago the next day, as were my adviser and I.  He then mentioned something about maybe not getting back, and that’s when I found out about the ash cloud causing a huge mess in the UK and northern Europe.  It was headed to Sweden next.

With this on my mind, it was my turn to present.  I thought I did reasonably well and finished on time, except that I rearranged my slides just before the presentation and wound up having a backup slide placed ahead of my last slide, causing me to skip through it.

Following my presentation, my adviser and I locked ourselves in a discussion room in the university library and proceeded to call the airline reservation number to get a new booking.  The earliest we could get was the following Tuesday, over four days away.  Weather reports stated that the cloud might stay for days or weeks.  I walked back to the hotel and extended the hotel reservation until Tuesday while in the lobby other conference attendees scrambled to adjust their plans.

At the very least, I’ll get to see more of Stockholm and Sweden, though the weather isn’t supposed to hold up.  Fortunately for this week it has been fairly warm and sunny.  We’ll have to take it day by day to see if the ash cloud will dissipate enough to allow us to go home.  If Tuesday comes and goes and there’s no sign of the cloud letting up, it might be worth a try to head south via train or bus through Denmark to somewhere where I can fly out.

I don’t mind sharing the road with bicyclists, but it would be nice if they obeyed road rules. Ride single file as far right as possible, use hand signals and stop at stop signs. Motorists are not mind readers.

Though the author means well, this is also a boilerplate anti-cyclist argument: since cyclists don’t follow the law, they are a nuisance.  In absolute terms, many more drivers exceed the speed limit and blow through stop signs and traffic lights, so it isn’t just a cycling problem.  Otherwise, why all the traffic light cameras and speed cameras?  I learned awhile ago that unless I want to die, I’ve got to stop at every light and even the stop signs.  Stopping at stop signs gives me extra time to be sure no cross traffic is coming.  Plenty of times I’ve been at an intersection with a hedge obstructing my view of the cross traffic and as soon as I peek around it, a car whips by.

As far as single file goes, if you ever ride in a group and you aren’t single file, prepare for motorists to unleash hell upon you, even if you move over.  I recall at least one time I was on a ride with a friend when a car came up fast from behind and laid on the horn before I had a chance to get over.  Virginia law states that any cyclists traveling more than two abreast must move over for approaching traffic, but it doesn’t outlaw two or more abreast altogether.  Few people have patience, even out in the boonies:

While riding bicycles on the Capital Trail last weekend, a young motorist stopped to allow us to cross Greensprings Road. Unfortunately, the minivan behind him started blowing the horn as we crossed.

Returning to the first author, the “far right as possible” can be interpreted pretty loosely: riding on the edge of the road can be extremely dangerous, especially when it comes to trucks.  Too many times I’ve had trucks pass within inches of me because they are not willing to pass in the oncoming lane.  Whenever I hear a truck coming, I make sure to get out at least three or four feet into the lane to either force the truck to pass in the oncoming lane, to wait until the oncoming lane is clear, or to use as slack if the truck decides to pass within inches of me anyway (which is what usually happens).  At every light and stop sign I always stop in the middle of the lane and never pass stopped traffic in the gutter.  When I stop in the middle of the lane and queued behind other traffic at a light, other cars always see me and will stop behind me in line.  Since I’m in the middle, they also won’t pass dangerously close to me until I am safely through the intersection and back up to speed.

Another letter proclaims:

I am a cyclist in greater Williamsburg and was riding along the Capital Trail last weekend when a woman walking her dog started yelling at me that I was riding too fast for the bike trail. When riding along Route 5 and Greensprings Road, I get yelled at by motorists telling me to get off the road and get on the bike trail. Where is a cyclist in the ‘Burg supposed to ride to make everyone happy?

This is exactly my argument with the last post: riding on a bike trail can be dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.  I’d like to avoid getting clotheslined by someone walking their dog, nor do I want to hit someone at 20+ mph.  The author makes a valid point: you’re screwed if you do and screwed if you don’t when it comes to bike paths.

The increase in grief is probably linked to the increase in the local population.  Each time I return to the roads after a hiatus I see yet another section of woods torn down for development along my route.  More traffic lights pop up along with widened roads.  However, it’s good to see that people aren’t all road ragers, especially since many of them also own a bike.

Why are bike races allowed along Lightfoot and Fenton Mill roads? Bicyclists were running at a break-neck 25 mph in a 55 mph zone.

I was at this race last weekend: a lazy Saturday morning in the middle of nowhere couldn’t be a better time and place to have a bike race.  It’s so unfortunate that the author was driving one of the three cars that travel those roads every day.  The race was not a closed course, so I suppose the author/driver didn’t have the patience to quit speeding and drive carefully, especially with police around as escorts:

Who pays for those police cars? If the bicyclists pay for them, I hope there is a hefty fee to cover the gas and wear and tear on vehicles that my tax dollars bought.

The author of the above statement is living proof of why a police escort was needed in the first place. When I’ve been on the bike, I’ve been accosted countless times by people like this.  Such a person sees the road as his or her personal space: all others must bow down before them.  How dare cyclists use a road paid for with “my tax dollars.”  It’s not like the cyclists don’t pay taxes, either.  Indeed, the registration fee for the race probably included pay for the police, which is one of the reasons bike races and triathlons are so ridiculously expensive.  Of course, the letter continues with the obligatory bike path comment:

Bicyclists cry for bike lanes then don’t use them, there’s a $50 million path to Richmond that they don’t use.

I’ve already visited on how “running at a break-neck 25 mph” on a bike path is extremely dangerous to pedestrians, but the author’s emphasis is less on safety and more towards the “$50 million.”  In the end, the money arguments aren’t really about misuse of “my tax dollars,” but more about everyone else just being in the way.  Can’t we all get along peacefully?

Google Maps link

Looking at the picture, I think I’m ready for summer. Today, wintry winds whip across the bleak and deserted Williamsburg landscape. Tumbleweeds blow across the Sunken Gardens. Snow is in the forecast and just thinking about biking outside makes my blood turn to ice.

The prevailing attitude of drivers comes in two flavors.  First, they argue that the speed differential is too great to make cycling safe.  This may be true, but shouldn’t drivers be paying enough attention to deal with any potential obstacles?  Any driver should prepare to see a downed tree around the next corner or be aware that an oncoming car could turn left in front of him.  As a cyclist and driver, I think about these things constantly on the road, but it seems that most drivers do not.  Despite being the most dangerous method of transportation, most drivers think that accidents happen to other people but not to them.

The second argument is that cyclists do not obey the traffic laws.  Several of the comments in the above article whine about cyclists blowing through lights and turning in front of cars.  I admit I started out as one of the cyclist mavericks drivers complain about.  It wasn’t long before I realized that if I wanted to stay alive, I couldn’t just go through a light despite the lack of cross traffic.  A car I couldn’t see would more than likely appear out of nowhere.  Even as I follow the rules, plenty of cars come out of nowhere and now I pretty much expect oncoming cars to turn in front of me and to pull out in front of me when I approach an intersection.

There seems to be a double standard when it comes to drivers and cyclists.  If I so much as tear through a yellow light, someone will yell or honk.  I could almost guarantee that driver probably blew through several red lights himself in the past week.  Just sit at a busy intersection in Virginia Beach and just count the cars that go through red lights, turn right on red without stopping, or don’t use their turn signal.  I’ll bet that within a few minutes there would be more violations than those performed by all cyclists in the city for that day.

An ad-hoc report linked from the Freakonomics blog seems to back this up: in studying over 2,500 cyclist-involved accident reports, vehicles were at fault more than 90 percent of the time.  Most cases occurred when a car stopped at a stop sign or red light would pull out in front of a cyclist who had the right of way.  This happens to me at least several times per week.  The study was performed by a Canadian physician and the police reports were from Toronto, so I could only imagine the situation is worse in the United States.  The report goes on to say that Toronto cyclists are six times more likely to die than a cyclist in the Netherlands.  It also reports that despite the existence of poor weather, Ontario non-cyclists are most discouraged from getting on their bikes due to the lack of bike-friendly infrastructure and antagonistic drivers.  Lastly, the report cites evidence linking the lack of cycling to an increase in health problems and obesity.

Of course, the study was performed by a cyclist, posted on a cycling team website, and was not peer reviewed.  The statistics may be an upper bound for the number of driver-induced accidents.  There is also the DOT-endorsed Hurt Report, which was a similar study involving motorcycle accidents in the Los Angeles area.  In the Hurt Report, drivers were at fault 66 percent of the time in motorcycle-involved accidents.  In this case, all of the investigators just to happened to be motorcyclists, so it also may be difficult to draw valid conclusions.

Regardless of whether or not the statistics are valid, it pays to be extra careful when cycling in the age of texting and driving.  As drivers have become more distracted over the past years, I definitely have experienced more near misses.  The extra vigilance I have gained while on the bike has also been a significant help as a driver.  If today’s antagonistic drivers had spent more time on their bikes as kids, they probably would make the roads a much safer place.

That said, it was an interesting trip, or sequence of trips, covering Boston for a paper presentation and then to Charlottesville for a Wireless Sensor Networks “retreat”. The first thing that happened started several days before I left to Boston, tripping on a downed branch in the street which nuked my ankle and plantar fascia, as I later found out. I got up when it was still dark out the morning I left for Boston and went running only to find my foot in incredible pain. It was the worst plantar fascia pain I’ve ever had, despite having trouble in that area plenty of times. So after getting back I found myself unable to walk without searing pain in my heel and barely able to limp around. This, right before a day of airports, subways, and walking around Boston.

Fortunately, the flights did go well this time around. Everything was basically on time going out and coming back from Boston. I left last Monday morning, connected through Washington, and took a shuttle flight to Boston. I had to take a bus from the terminal to the T station which was tricky since there were several buses that all looked the same but went to different places. The subway was straightforward but I did have to change trains once. It dumped me out two blocks from the hotel and I just walked limped from there.

In an effort to save the department some money, I went a day late.  It turned out that when I got to the hotel in Boston on Monday afternoon that there were no sessions scheduled for the rest of the day.  I had hoped to sit in on a few to see what everyone else was doing and to be sure that I had about 20 minutes to present.  Since nothing was going on, I dropped off most of my junk at the hotel and went outside to walk around, despite my heel pain.  I figured I might as well take advantage of being somewhere else besides school for a change.

Clearly, people in Boston know a good day when they see one and get out when it’s nice.  This was the first time in awhile that I had been there when it wasn’t winter.  The previous times, the Charles was iced over, snow piled up, and winds whipped through the streets.  Not many people were out then.  This time, I walked through Boston Common and it was packed.  I didn’t realize there was a pond that you could swim in.  I went up and down the streets near the hotel, found some food, and went back to the hotel to crash.  As tired as I was, I didn’t sleep.

My presentation was first thing Tuesday morning so I practiced the night before and hoped that the length would be about right.  I wanted to get up early and run in Boston before I presented, but I realized that my heel pain was too great to do that.  When I got to the conference room where I was to present, there was only one guy in there in charge of the projector.  Nobody else came, not even the session chair, until five minutes before I was to start.  After I got going more people showed up including another professor from William and Mary who also had a paper.  Fortunately, everything went well and I handled the questions without any real issues.

The next trick was getting back since I had to go to UVA the next day.  I was booked on a 3 PM shuttle flight from Boston to LaGuardia, but that would give me less than an hour to connect.  If there were delays, I could miss the connection and get stuck, as I experienced little more than a month ago.  I wanted to get on an earlier shuttle flight but when I booked the ticket, the system wouldn’t let me.  Interestingly, the book I was reading had a character that took a shuttle flight to LaGuardia and then was able to return anytime without charge since it was considered an “open” ticket.  I’ve also heard elsewhere that you could just change your ticket on shuttle flights if there was room.  Since the flight out had few people on it and the Boston shuttle terminal was nearly empty when I arrived, it seemed that changing my ticket wouldn’t be limited because of full flights.  I got the subway and bus back to the airport and got there early to see if I could leave sooner.  Nope, the gate agent demanded 50 bucks.  So much for all the hype over “open” tickets.  Another guy asked the same question, but apparently arriving an hour or two early was worth the money to him.

I sat in the empty Boston airport for several hours while two other shuttle flights left for New York, both with very few passengers.  Finally, when I got on my plane, I was assigned an exit row where the seat in front of me was removed.  I had double legroom.  I guess I was rewarded for waiting.  The flight back to Norfolk was a little late and I managed to get home at 8 that Tuesday night.  This time I really did crash and slept for over 11 hours.  Yet another big day was coming up.

On Wednesday I left home for Charlottesville and picked up the other student in our group, Zhen, from Williamsburg.  We got there Wednesday night and stayed at a hotel that was hopefully within walking distance of where the meeting was the next day and Friday.  Since I couldn’t run and was still in pain, I took my bike with me so I could explore Charlottesville in the early morning hours before everything started.  Biking was interesting since it was dark and there were a lot of big hills compared to Williamsburg.  On Thursday morning, my headlight came off its mount and shattered all over the pavement.  I had to get a new one.

My adviser told us that the retreat was to be held in the rotunda, which motivated the choice of hotel since it was within walking distance.  I had been to the rotunda before and it seemed weird since it was only really one room where tours were given.  I asked him several times if that was where it was, but when we got there Thursday morning the doors were locked and nobody was around.  I had the number of a UVA grad student which told us that it was at the business school, which was nowhere near the rotunda or the Computer Science building.  He couldn’t say where in the business school it was, and after looking at a map, the business school complex was huge.  We might never find where we were to go.  Somehow we managed to find the right room and building after running into a knowledgeable receptionist right after we walked in the door of the first business school building we found.  We got to the right room 45 minutes late.  Other UVA students laughed when I told them that my adviser said the meeting was in the rotunda.

The retreat was more or less an informal series of conference-style presentations.  Most everyone was a UVA student presenting on a work in progress.  There were lots of unsolved problems which led to all kinds of nasty questions.  It appeared as though some students didn’t practice since they went way over time or were cut off entirely with zillions of slides left.  The few that finished early were given plenty of discussion to fill in the gaps.  There were lots of interruptions, especially from the professors, and usually the adviser of the student would cut in with some difficult question about something that hadn’t been fleshed out yet.

The retreat went all day Thursday and then Friday until just after noon.  There were a lot of demonstrations, including that of a fall detection system for the elderly where the user would wear several accelerometers and gyroscopes.   One of the students with sensors taped to his shirt and legs fell down on the floor five or six times, which was pretty amusing, especially since the system didn’t indicate a fall until the last attempt.  There was a breakout session where my group discussed future applications and system designs.  An interesting thing that came out of that was the release of more iPhone/Google Maps-style APIs for third parties to make use of the deluge of data from sensor networks.  Someone commented that very soon you’ll find a microphone, panoramic cameras, among other sensors on every street corner, essentially providing a live Google Street View.  Imagine what someone could do with that: follow people remotely as they go about their day or generate a tag cloud of things people are discussing the most and break it down by location.  When I got home, I noticed that Google Maps now has a traffic congestion tool that uses GPS and speed readings from mobile users to determine if a road segment is congested.  Stuff like this that people currently consider to be invasive is going to be more commonplace and acceptable.

After all that I managed to get back home last Friday afternoon.  Since the traffic was such a mess in the tunnels, I wound up going through some nasty parts of Portsmouth to get around everything, something I hadn’t done before.  It took me as long to get from Charlottesville to Williamsburg as it did to get from Williamsburg back home.

Overall, the trip was probably worth some of the fatigue and heel pain since I gave a conference presentation and got a fair amount out of the retreat.  With the start of the fall semester, most the travelling is done for awhile and it’s time to get going on work that I haven’t been able to get to since I was gone.

My first observation is that weekends are worse than weekdays.  This seems counterintuitive, since one would think that weekend drivers aren’t rushing to or from a job and would be more patient.  Maybe the rage just builds during the week and people just want to let off some steam.  I will say the traffic is definitely worse on the weekend.   I’m betting that slower travel times in combination with a greater pool of possible angry drivers is probably why I get more grief on weekends.  However, it isn’t just that the increase in road rage is correlated with weekends.  In the past few months, it became apparent that another factor was at play.

I’ve now realized that weekend or not, I’ve never had any nasty encounters when I’m wearing my William and Mary jersey.  Cycling clothes are expensive: comfortable shirts and jerseys require me to lay down a least $70, so I’ve only got a handful of jerseys and shorts.  All my other jerseys are solid colors and unbranded except for one, which has the school livery.  I wind up wearing it a few times every week since my clothing options are limited, and when I go out in it, nobody would even think of touching me.  With the William and Mary jersey, it’s like I’m wearing a Superman costume, but with any other jersey, I might as well be Lex Luthor.

This is quite a strange observation, but research has shown that any small similarity between two strangers can help form a strong bond between them.  In a recent study, Manchester United fans primed to think about their team loyalty were more likely to help a stranger wearing a Manchester United shirt than a stranger wearing the shirt of a rival team or no team logo at all.  When you have a bond with someone, no matter how small, you are more likely to help them if they are in trouble or respect them if they are biking on the road.

Another observation of mine is that the magic jersey has no power in Virginia Beach.  I’ve gotten just as much grief wearing it there as I have with other jerseys.  There just aren’t enough people that can identify with it as there is in Williamsburg where nearly everyone has some relationship to the school.  As a professor or staff member, you don’t want to hit one of your own students.  As a student, you wouldn’t want to injure one of your fellow classmates.  As a local, you wouldn’t want to insult someone who lives down the street.  Even tourists stay well away, knowing I’ve got ties to this place.

I ought to get another William and Mary jersey.  Wearing it on a weekday is probably my best bet for avoiding road rage.

A local study says that almost one third of young professional Williamsburg residents intend to leave within four years.  Although those polled stated that they liked the area, the main complaint was that the cost of living was too high and average pay was too low.  This area just isn’t geared towards younger people, especially those who are recent college graduates.  Instead, Williamsburg is focused on retirees and tourists, and those that aren’t in those groups get gassed.

Why?  Because those in the local government are mostly older or retired and own businesses that cater to tourists.  And who elects them?  A dominant contingent of older workers and retirees.  Since the most of Williamsburg thinks that anyone under the age of 30 is a nuisance, the government reflects this position.  The government and locals protest any affordable or student-oriented housing.  An effort is made by the city to prevent homeowners from renting out their properties.  The noise ordinances have been strengthened.  And of course, there’s the arcane three person rule, which effectively limits housing options for young professionals with a low income.  As a student or young professional, you either live elsewhere or live with four or more people illegally.  You just hope city officials don’t sue you or randomly inspect your residence to see if more than three unrelated people are living together.  The city council even wants to remove the 24 hour warning before inspectors show up at your residence.  What happened to the fourth amendment?

Younger people come to live in Williamsburg in two ways.  They either grew up here or graduated from William and Mary with a local job offer.  I’m more of the second category: I don’t think anyone my age would willingly move to Williamsburg unless they had existing ties here.  The environment is just too oppressive for most people my age, with plenty of animosity.

Anyone would think that a grassroots effort could be made to at least get more student friendly officials in local government.  It’s hard to do that when the voter registrar blocks student voter applications.  Recently, the registrar allowed students to register in Williamsburg, which allowed a student candidate to run for office, but enough AARP members went to the polls to ruin his day.

So here in Williamsburg, most people get what they want out of their government: preventing fewer students and younger professionals from living within the city limits.

A similar situation exists with another local government I am familiar with: Virginia Beach.  An overwhelming majority of Virginia Beach residents hate cyclists.  Though two deaths have occurred in the past two years, drivers are still bloodthirsty.  Recent efforts by cyclists to lower the speed limit on some of the more well traveled cycling routes only serves to make the driving population more enraged (the comments on these articles are insane).  The roads aren’t safe for cyclists in Virginia Beach because of high speed limits, it’s because of drivers’ attitudes.  Most drivers in Virginia Beach think no cyclist has any business being on a road, and the position of the elected government reflects that.  When a cyclist died after being hit from behind, the Commonwealth’s Attorney decided not to prosecute the driver.  Furthermore, thanks to the city council, there are no bike lanes in Virginia Beach.  A more cyclist-friendly government would promote the installation of bike lanes and provide a more friendly environment for cyclists.  Unfortunately, since most residents see bike lanes and more cyclists as an infringement of their personal space, they elect officials that share the same position they do.  As a result, we get the situation we have now, with animosity building on all sides.

We elect the government that we deserve on all levels, even at the state and federal level.  State governments are running out of money and making huge cutbacks in an attempt to balance their budgets.  California is so desperate as to hand out IOUs instead of tax refunds.  Since the federal government sees the power to tax its citizens as an indefinite line of credit, there is no mandate to balance the budget and the federal deficit is spiraling out of control.  People complain that essential government services are being cut while the federal government is incurring serious debt.  However, these people are no different than the government they deride.  With almost half of all Americans spending more than they make each year, many voters are in no position to complain: they elected a government that acts just like they do.  If people were able to make better spending decisions on an individual level, I would imagine the government they elect would do the same.

Somehow, people expect elected officials to be held to a higher standard then those that elected them.  However, those in office act the same way everyone else does, bringing along all the same weaknesses and quirks.  Though nobody in Williamsburg runs for office with the position to evict students and young professionals, it happens as a matter of course since those that vote share that belief.  Since most Virginia Beach residents are on a crusade against cyclists, elected officials end up adding fuel to the fire.  While most Americans acknowledge they have poor spending habits and wish to improve and never do, those in our state and federal legislatures do the same thing.  Don’t expect the government to save you from anything since your failures are the same as theirs.