You must be joking!

"Dan Gregory" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/22/MNU3VOB22.DTL&feed=rss.news
as if the cyclists were at fault when the dep hit them..

No one has suggested that cyclists Kristy Gough, 30, of San Leandro and Matt
Peterson, 29, of San Francisco who were killed in the March 9 accident on
Stevens Canyon Road in Cupertino, were at fault. Evans, the triathlon
coach who regularly trains riders in the hills of San Mateo County and was
Gough's coach, said it is often the serious athletic bikers who take the
most risks. He said he sees whole clubs of riders zipping through stop signs
and failing to slow down. You get these guys who think they are Lance
Armstrong or something, then they turn around and get themselves killed,"
Evans said.

= in other words, no one is suggesting, except the author of that article.

Male cyclists were almost five times more likely to be killed or severely
injured than women. Fatalities and severe injury accidents affected all age
groups, but riders in their 30s and 40s faired worse than others. Most
common fatalities were 48-year-old males.

= I am guessing, but probably the population of cyclists is around 5x male
to female

"The advocates say large numbers of cyclists fail to follow the rules of the
road, running stop signs and red lights, and drivers are becoming more
aggressive. ", and "Yet even the most staunch cycling advocates acknowledge
that some cyclists give others a bad name by failing to obey traffic laws.
When I see a rider run a red light, I cringe," Shahum said. "Not only is it
totally unsafe, it makes me and all other cyclists look bad."

= What I see here in Denver is that it's the weekend warriors and "Ride the
Rockies" geeks that are far more likely to run red lights, etc. Cyclists
who ride alot know that a couple minutes stopped at a light does not matter.

Bicycling advocates said the statistics might in part reflect a bias among
police officers, who they say often "blame the victims," especially because
cyclists might not get to tell their side of the story as they are being
carried off on stretchers.

= when I was run over 7 years ago, incredibly, I was ticketed for not using
a light on my bicycle ( I was run over in the afternoon ) I was never asked
what happened. Also, it is significant that both the driver and the cop are
Latino. In court, I was aquitted when the cop admitted under oath that she
had changed the time of the accident to after sunset in order to give me the
ticket instead of the driver. Later, the driver lost his license for his
second time, the second time for running me over.

"xzzy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

= when I was run over 7 years ago, incredibly, I was ticketed for not
using a light on my bicycle ( I was run over in the afternoon ) I was
never asked what happened. Also, it is significant that both the driver
and the cop are Latino. In court, I was aquitted when the cop admitted
under oath that she had changed the time of the accident to after sunset
in order to give me the ticket instead of the driver. Later, the driver
lost his license for his second time, the second time for running me over.

I got hit head on by a nurse who was clearly on the wrong side of the road,
entirely in my lane as she came around the blind corner. I was launched like
a guided missile over her car some 30 feet, but luckily I prepared myself at
the last second for what I knew was going to be a flight to hell. I got my
shoes unlocked and clear from the pedals just in time and landed in the soft
dirt. That's what saved me, not even wearing a helmet, just a cycling cap
that day since it was supposed to be just a short ride close to home. The
nurse who hit was clearly upset, when she saw I didn't get up right away,
not because I was injured, but because she was losing time, looking at her
watch and thinking out loud a bit.

She called her hubby on her cell phone who was a local Sheriff about what
she would do, legal implications, nothing to do with an ambulance. As a
nurse, she never once attended to my needs, but instead continued to talk
about the legal implications with her hubby since she knew she was in the
wrong lane. Well, the Sheriff called his buddy the CHP who first came on the
scene. Then the threesome went into a conference about what her options
might be and what the legal problems might be since she was clearly in my
lane. All the while, no one really seems concerned about my injuries.
Finally the CHP asked me if I needed an Ambulance, and the threesome
continued to chat and sweat what their problems might be over this, never
mind that I got hit by some nurse driving on the wrong side of the road, and
I lost because the laws of physics are not too kind when a car meets a
bicycle. I was lucky enough to have minor injuries, and I could of sued in
court, but I didn't. Their insurance company was very quick to try and
smooth this over by covering the cost of repairs to my MB bike.

But this just reminds me again, that in an every increasing population, and
with more cars on the road every year, bicycles have less space. Drivers
always seem to be in too big a hurry, and life is increasing becoming
cheaper and cheaper everyday. People just don't seem to be recognizant of
other people as human beings. We all share this planet together, but what
still persists, and this seems like a problem that goes back to the days of
the Roman Empire, is that people still act incredibly crazy behind the wheel
of a car, even doctors, lawyers, people who otherwise normally are well
mannered. That sense of empowerment behind the wheel of a car, road rage,
etc, is the scariest thing to me as a cyclist. Getting run off the road,
getting flipped off, seems to be part and parcel of the culture of cars
versus cyclists, not always, but the mentality of someone behind the wheel
of a car, is much different then someone riding a bike. People driving cars
often act like two years old, thinking, you get out of my way, or I wil
knock you out of the way!

Here in the United States, they don't have the cultural identity or respect
for cyclists like they do in say Holland, where everyone rides bikes. Over
there its quite natural to ride an old bike carrying groceries from the
store, but if you do that here, people think you are too poor to afford a
car, and that you must be a bum. Here in the states they might knock you
over spilling your groceries and laugh because they think its funny, as
where in Holland they would just think its just somebody getting some grub
for family dinner. No taboo for riding an old bike in Holland, but here the
car is the status symbol, and bikes are generally only looked up to if they
are an 12k racing bike. That mentality should change. Also, there is
probably much less the hostilities between cars and bikes in Holland, and
probably no need culturally speaking for something like Critical Mass, since
they already get it. Over here, we just don't get it, and I don't think we
will ever get it, since the Government gives tax breaks to people who buy
Hummers. The Government should be giving breaks to people who ride bikes!

GBMT

"MagillaGorilla" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Okay, let me point out the problem here before you people in here get your
panties all wet for no reason.

This study cites "bicyclists" which is a generic term that includes little
5 year olds as well as 56 year old immigrants riding their bike back from
washing dishes at the diner at night on the wrong way down the street.

Too bad you haven't a single clue about what you're supposedly discussing.

pathetic:

I'd rather blow through lights and stop signs at 25mph with even a
semi-exerienced group of racer wannabes than tag along with a wino on
a late night run for some 8 ball at 4mph

Joseph.

Too bad you haven't a single clue about what you're supposedly discussing.

Too bad you haven't a single clue . . . .

In article <[email hidden]>,

xzzy said:

= when I was run over 7 years ago, incredibly, I was ticketed for not using
a light on my bicycle ( I was run over in the afternoon ) I was never asked
what happened. Also, it is significant that both the driver and the cop are
Latino. In court, I was aquitted when the cop admitted under oath that she
had changed the time of the accident to after sunset in order to give me the
ticket instead of the driver. Later, the driver lost his license for his
second time, the second time for running me over.

That's a [censored] situation but at least some aspects worked out for the good (I
dubt that's much consolation for any damage to you, of course). Similar sort of thing
happened in Santa Clara, California (not sure of when, it was at least 15 or more
years ago) when a cyclist was going to make a left turn on a three lanes in each
direction road. He got over to the center "beginning and ending left turns" lane and
was waiting for a gap in traffic to make his turn. A car moved intot he lane (going
for a turn further up the road) and plowed him from behind. The seriouly injured
cyclist was cited for "failure to yield the right of way." WTF? No idea how it shook
out in court.

--
tanx,
Howard

Whatever happened to
Leon Trotsky?
He got an icepick
That made his ears burn.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

xzzy said:

Too bad you haven't a single clue about what you're supposedly discussing.

Too bad you haven't a single clue . . . .

No body else does either unless you quote what you're replying to.

xzzy said:

pathetic:

I'd rather blow through lights and stop signs at 25mph with even a
semi-exerienced group of racer wannabes than tag along with a wino on
a late night run for some 8 ball at 4mph

Joseph.

What's pathetic about that? You think that winos are less likely to
get hurt?

Joseph

"[email hidden]" <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

xzzy said:

pathetic:

I'd rather blow through lights and stop signs at 25mph with even a
semi-exerienced group of racer wannabes than tag along with a wino on
a late night run for some 8 ball at 4mph

Joseph.

What's pathetic about that? You think that winos are less likely to
get hurt?

Joseph

No, they're just more likely to get laid than the racer wannabes.

--
Bill Asher

William Asher said:

"[email hidden]" <[email hidden]> wrote innews:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

xzzy said:

pathetic:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'd rather blow through lights and stop signs at 25mph with even a
semi-exerienced group of racer wannabes than tag along with a wino on
a late night run for some 8 ball at 4mph

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Joseph.

Quoted message said:

What's pathetic about that? You think that winos are less likely to
get hurt?

Quoted message said:

Joseph

No, they're just more likely to get laid than the racer wannabes.

--
Bill Asher

I know a guy who worked in an ER. He told about an indigent who came
in and among other things had herpes. They did a swab of the usual
places, but they came up negative. So they swabed where his colostomy
bag was attached. Positive.

Did those guys who paid $5 for "access" get laid? Does that count?

Joseph

xzzy said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

pathetic:

joseph.santaniello wrote in

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

What's pathetic about that? You think that winos are less likely to get
hurt?

Joseph

William Asher said:

No, they're just more likely to get laid than the racer wannabes.

What about LIVEDRUNK(tm) racer wannabes ?