Captain Mellow and his Mobile Observations: Double Standard...

Captain Mellow rides around quite a bit. Sometimes this riding takes the form of training, other times it is to get himself to work, or to run errands, sometimes it is just simply for fun. The reader should keep in mind that all these reasons for riding are fun to Captain Mellow, and that fun is not limited to that fourth category of ride. Well, in the course of all this riding around Captain Mellow often observes things which strikes him as curious, bizarre, stupid, or at least innnnteresting. One such observation was previously noted here.

It just so happens that the other day, yesterday to be exact, Captain Mellow was out on one of his so-called training rides, and while descending Padua Avenue he glanced over at the exit from Padua Park and noticed the sign (shown above) placed along the sidewalk warning pedestrians to WATCH FOR CARS. That got the Captain to wondering if there was a similar sign warning the drivers of said CARS to WATCH FOR PEDESTRIANS. In order to satisfy his curiosity, on the next lap around the Upper Loop, Captain Mellow, after waiting for a pedestrian to clear the access drive, rode on into the park and swung his bike around to the exit where he came face to face with the two signs shown below. Turns out the drivers of exiting cars don't have to watch for pedestrians, but are reminded to watch for rogue rider-less bicycles. Actually the Captain is not so naive, and realizes that if bikes are passing by they are likely to have riders on them, even if signs graphically suggest otherwise.

Captain Mellow is not always sure how the placement of signs like these works, but wonders if the signs, being placed before the sidewalk, means there are a lot of people riding bikes on the sidewalk along here? He also wonders if the dual bike signs are meant to encourage drivers to look both ways when exiting? Or is it just a redundancy, overlooked at the time of construction. Anyway, although Captain Mellow has never been a pedestrian along here, and does not foresee such an occurrence, he hopes that drivers watch for pedestrians as well as riders of bicycles when they leave Padua Park.