
The tale of Doug Chaffee dodging a water buffalo in India can finally be told to all…
Good News, Everyone! Someone at the city has updated the video recording of Tuesday night’s Fullerton City Council meeting, restoring the first two hours that included public speakers on the Hughes Drive bike lane agenda item, along with Doug Chaffee’s argument that a planned Class II bike lane shouldn’t be installed on the street because he had to deal with water buffalo, cows, and goats in India where they had no bike lanes when he was in the Peace Corps. “Things should move slowly,” says the wizened Mayor pro tem, and so they will, with only two lanes, all traffic on Hughes Drive will now move just as fast as a bicyclist can ride.
Why does Doug Chaffee think that dodging draft animals and their street bundles half a world away is somehow relevant to providing a safe lane for Fullerton bicyclists? Only Doug Chaffee knows…perhaps he was thinking about the water main breaks below Fullerton’s crumbling streets?

हे भगवान ! A water buffalo has been here!
There’s not much more “boots (or more appropriately, tires) on the ground” than riding a bike with an impatient SUV driver at your rear tire with nothing more than a helmet to protect you.
Water buffalo, I think are more manageable.
So in keeping with Doug’s analysis, I suggest interspercing large animals with the car traffic to maintain slower speeds on Hughes Dr. to ensure the safety on cyclists.
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interspersing, but yes.
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Doug thinks bicyclists should share the road. This is just another version of “what’s mine is mine; what is yours is negotiable.” He voted to take away the bicycle lane for parking. Will he vote to take away parking or a traffic lane someplace else for safer riding?
Not likely.
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