Advocacy & Safety - I Nearly Ran Over A Pair of Hispanic Gentleman On Bicycles

At 9pm, with no lights, going towards traffic on the right-hand side (on a one-way street, no less).

Oh dear.

What does it matter if they were Hispanic?

What does it matter if they were Hispanic?
http://members.arstechnica.com/x/hawkear/thatsracist.gif

What does it matter if they were Hispanic?I don't think it matters, really. However, I have noticed a tendency that many wrong-way riders with no lights tend to be Latino immigrants. Certainly not all wrong-way riders, but many of them. I don't know if that signifies some cultural difference (i.e., different traffic laws in the country they emigrated from), or just a lack of understanding that bicycles are part of traffic, and therefore, ride in the same direction as all other traffic.

I see the same wrong-way tendencies in working-class riders who are riding because they can't drive, which makes me think the tendency stems from a lack of understanding that bicycles are a part of traffic.

Then there's the messenger I saw riding the wrong way down a one-way street yesterday...

I had a conversation about bicycling recently with a young friend of mine whose family came here from Mexico. He was born in the US, but for a time lived in Mexico. He was surprised when I told him about riding in the same direction as traffic, because he learned in Mexico to ride facing traffic and felt it was safer to ride that way. Even when I explained that it is safer to ride with traffic, he had difficulty believing me because of the way he was taught to ride.

Because "Mexican day laborers" sounded less politically correct.

The point is that if I had reached the corner about three seconds later, they would have on my windshield.

What does it matter if they were Hispanic?

Maybe none where you live, but around here if there is a bicycle rider going against traffic in the dark with no lights, there is a 100% chance that they are Hispanic. I'm not sure why Beerman mentioned it, but it makes for another example of people coming to this country and expecting the country to change for them rather than them wanting to be part of this country.

If my observations make me racist, so be it. That means only that I can either be racist or blind.

Maybe none where you live, but around here if there is a bicycle rider going against traffic in the dark with no lights, there is a 100% chance that they are Hispanic. I'm not sure why Beerman mentioned it, but it makes for another example of people coming to this country and expecting the country to change for them rather than them wanting to be part of this country.

If my observations make me racist, so be it. That means only that I can either be racist or blind.I don't think they expect us to change our traffic laws. I think

1) They don't necessarily know that bikes ride with the traffic flow; and

2) They don't feel safe riding in a manner that counters what they've been taught.

If they are riding at night without lights it puts the onus on them to avoid being hit. Its easier to do that if you are riding against the traffic, particularly if there are no sidewalks at the side of the road, which may be the case where they leant to ride. I see many cyclists riding at night in dark clothes and without lights on both sides of the road. The small number of bike fatalities, speaks well of the alertness of the motorists.

If my observations make me racist, so be it. That means only that I can either be racist or blind.

Well then, thank God you chose 'racist'!

This Reminds Me Of An Article I Read In A Magazine, Not Sure Which One; Biking? Cycling? Abe Some Of You Have Read It Too. Either Way It Was About The "unseen Cyclist" Basically The Illegals Who Have No Choice But To Ride A Bike As Transportation. It Pissed Me Off, Wish I Knew Which Mag It Was So I Would Never Buy It. Basically It Said "we" Who Ride For Recreation/fitness/enviro Concerns Are Not The True Cyclists, They Are. We Just Come Up With Excuses To Ride Whereas They Have No Choice. What Pissed Me Off The Most Was One Illegal They Interviewed Who Had An Expensive Trek And Would Not Say How He Got It. The Author Stated That He Was Probably More Entitled To It Than The Original Owner.

He Should Take His Head Out Of His Ass And See How Happy He Would Be If The Bike He Worked Hard To Buy Was Stolen.

Why on Earth do you type like that?

Why on Earth do you type like that?


He's learned from Fox News that shouting is the only way to make his point. Luckily, the forum software converts allcaps text to the initial-caps style you see above for readability.

He's learned from Fox News that shouting is the only way to make his point. Luckily, the forum software converts allcaps text to the initial-caps style you see above for readability.

Oh, ok. Well it doesn't work. That gave me a headache.

Oh, ok. Well it doesn't work. That gave me a headache.

Yeah. I usually just ignore anything I see capitalized that way... it rarely contains anything worth knowing.

I would actually love to see a program to provide cheap blinkies to working cyclists (regardless of ethnicity).

Regardless of whether they are immigrants or not, there are lots of people that ride bikes as primary transportation because that is all they have. It would be nice to see them have some minimal safety gear for the ride home from work.

You know what's awesome? When terms describing people's race become racist!

And just because the mexican immigrants previously mentioned aren't aware of our culture, it doesn't make it less stupid to ride with no lights at night.

I would actually love to see a program to provide cheap blinkies to working cyclists (regardless of ethnicity).

Regardless of whether they are immigrants or not, there are lots of people that ride bikes as primary transportation because that is all they have. It would be nice to see them have some minimal safety gear for the ride home from work.+1

You know what's awesome? When terms describing people's race become racist!


By the same token, since what they were doing wrong had absolutely nothing to do with their ethnicity, why mention that they were Hispanic?

Or is the implication that, being Hispanic, they must have been doing something wrong, because, you know, that's how those Hispanics are?

By the same token, since what they were doing wrong had absolutely nothing to do with their ethnicity, why mention that they were Hispanic?

Or is the implication that, being Hispanic, they must have been doing something wrong, because, you know, that's how those Hispanics are?

If you read the thread, you'll note that their being hispanic WAS relevant, since several people mentioned that apparently you learn to ride against traffic in Mexico.

I refuse to believe that including less information in a discussion simply to appease the PC freaks makes the world a better place.

Actually, the real reason was to help you all better envision the event.

Had they been yuppies, or Mormons, or Buddhist monks, or a pair of nude women, you can rest assured that I would have done the same thing.

Some of you guys are making it seem like I said something actually so un-PC that it's terrible. But, no, that's not true: if I had said something like "sweaty, greasy, Beaners" or some other sort of racial epithet or slur, yes, you'd be in the right. But I didn't, and I'm not

Hell, I worked at the San Jose Flea Market for three years.

This Reminds Me Of An Article I Read In A Magazine, Not Sure Which One; Biking? Cycling? Abe Some Of You Have Read It Too. Either Way It Was About The "unseen Cyclist" Basically The Illegals Who Have No Choice But To Ride A Bike As Transportation. It Pissed Me Off, Wish I Knew Which Mag It Was So I Would Never Buy It. Basically It Said "we" Who Ride For Recreation/fitness/enviro Concerns Are Not The True Cyclists, They Are. We Just Come Up With Excuses To Ride Whereas They Have No Choice. What Pissed Me Off The Most Was One Illegal They Interviewed Who Had An Expensive Trek And Would Not Say How He Got It. The Author Stated That He Was Probably More Entitled To It Than The Original Owner.

He Should Take His Head Out Of His Ass And See How Happy He Would Be If The Bike He Worked Hard To Buy Was Stolen.

What pisses me off is seeing an adult who, presumably took English in school, typing like this. This is just awful!!:mad:

Stop this PC-bull****. Using descriptive language to help the reader dimension a particular situation is not "racist." You guys are ridiculous. No wonder we live in a country full of Walmartian Republicans-when the liberals refuse to act like grown adults, and choose instead to act like a bunch of college lesbians, the working classes will choose Nascar, to be sure.

Maybe none where you live, but around here if there is a bicycle rider going against traffic in the dark with no lights, there is a 100% chance that they are Hispanic. I'm not sure why Beerman mentioned it, but it makes for another example of people coming to this country and expecting the country to change for them rather than them wanting to be part of this country.

If my observations make me racist, so be it. That means only that I can either be racist or blind.
Or, it means that you're a 'piece of work'.

:rolleyes:

I would actually love to see a program to provide cheap blinkies to working cyclists (regardless of ethnicity).

Regardless of whether they are immigrants or not, there are lots of people that ride bikes as primary transportation because that is all they have. It would be nice to see them have some minimal safety gear for the ride home from work.
Get Lit gives out free bike lights to low-income cyclists:
http://bikeportland.org/2005/12/19/help-get-lit-buy-more-lights/

Stop this PC-bull****. Using descriptive language to help the reader dimension a particular situation is not "racist." You guys are ridiculous. No wonder we live in a country full of Walmartian Republicans-when the liberals refuse to act like grown adults, and choose instead to act like a bunch of college lesbians, the working classes will choose Nascar, to be sure.

What's wrong with college lesbians?

They're ****ty cooks.

I don't think it matters, really. However, I have noticed a tendency that many wrong-way riders with no lights tend to be Latino immigrants. Certainly not all wrong-way riders, but many of them. I don't know if that signifies some cultural difference (i.e., different traffic laws in the country they emigrated from), or just a lack of understanding that bicycles are part of traffic, and therefore, ride in the same direction as all other traffic.

I see the same wrong-way tendencies in working-class riders who are riding because they can't drive, which makes me think the tendency stems from a lack of understanding that bicycles are a part of traffic.

Then there's the messenger I saw riding the wrong way down a one-way street yesterday...

How do you even know they were latino? Because they have dark skin? Could have been Native American. I'm Cuban with no "latino" features, so if that had been me riding, the poster would have just said a person, yet it was a latino riding. What difference does it make?

Stop this PC-bull****. Using descriptive language to help the reader dimension a particular situation is not "racist." You guys are ridiculous. No wonder we live in a country full of Walmartian Republicans-when the liberals refuse to act like grown adults, and choose instead to act like a bunch of college lesbians, the working classes will choose Nascar, to be sure.

I will not be told by you or anyone else what I can and cannot do or write. Take your right wing rantings somewhere else if you can't be civil

I will not be told by you or anyone else what I can and cannot do or write. Take your right wing rantings somewhere else if you can't be civilLOL, I'm about as "left-wing" as it gets, actually, but when the perpetually offended start to crowd my side of the aisle, it makes me want to take the trash out. Some people are capable of making mention of race without using the word "racist," if you're not one of them, let the adults talk for awhile.

Our bicycle coalition gave out free blinkies last year. They plan to do it again. I noticed immediately the people you usually see riding wrong way in the dark were suddenly riding right way now that they had a blinkie.

He's learned from Fox News that shouting is the only way to make his point. Luckily, the forum software converts allcaps text to the initial-caps style you see above for readability.


I GUESS YOU ARE RIGHT! FOX NEWS AND THE POLITICALLY CONSERVATIVE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO SHOUT TO GET THEIR POINT ACROSS. I GUESS I WAS HALLUCINATING WHEN I HEAR HOWARD DEAN RANT LIKE A WWF WRESTLER, OR ALL THE WHINING AND CRYING FROM AL GORE WHEN HE LOST, AND THE HOLLYWOOD LEFTISTS.

What pisses me off is seeing an adult who, presumably took English in school, typing like this. This is just awful!!:mad:

IM SO SORRY TO OFFEND YOU, ITS JUST HOW IT SHOWS ON MY HOME COMPUTER WHEN THE CAPS LOCK IS DOWN. PerHAps This IS BeTTER, MorE eAsy On thE Eyes. SORRY HAD TO DO IT, NO MATTER HOW IMMATURE, BUT THEN AGAIN I HAVE ALREADY BEEN ACCUSED OF VIRTUAL SHOUTING TO GET MY POINT ACROSS.

Stop this PC-bull****. Using descriptive language to help the reader dimension a particular situation is not "racist." You guys are ridiculous.

SERIOUSLY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. IT IS SO TIRING HOW OFFENDED PEOPLE GET. CALL ME A WHITE OF EUROPEAN DESCENT. :eek: OH MY GOD YOU ARE SO RASCIST! WE ARE SO CAREFUL TO NOT OFFEND ANYONE IT IS SICKENING.

IF THE PERSON WHO POSTED THIS STARTED BY SAYING " I ALMOST RAN OVER A COUPLE OF WHITE GENTLEMEN" WOULD ANYONE CARE? WOULD THIS POSTING HAVE TURNED INTO A POLITICAL WAR LIKE IT HAS?

How did you know they were gentlemen?

And live2bike80, seriously, tap your capslock key. That's very annoying.

Well then, thank God you chose 'racist'!

Blatent name-calling follows: You're an idiot.

I deal with people of different races daily. One thing I have found that the vast majority of people share is an inclination to identify the race or other traits that distiguish the subject of a story from the story teller. A friend of mine, who happens to be black, has done so for all of the 25+ years that I have known him. "This white dude..." or (and this is my favorite) "This Spanish dude..." are phrases that often start a story with him. It's common among all races, and it's not a racist thing. It's just a way to identify the subject of the story. It's not always race either: "This cop cut me off" or "This clown was juggling bowling pins" or "This roadie blew by me without announcing that he was going to pass" or "This soccer mom gabbing on her cell phone sqeezed me out of the lane".

The fact that most Hispanics will ride on the wrong side of the road should not be trivialized. As I pointed out, it is an importation of their habits that is causing a dangerous situation, and they would be safer if they were observant of our laws. To label me a racist for saying so is idiotic.

How did you know they were gentlemen?

And live2bike80, seriously, tap your capslock key. That's very annoying.

caps lock is off. here's something to piss off alot of people. most likely not gentlemen as the hispanic (illegal) day laborers around here have a tendency to piss behind the 7-11's they hang out at waiting for jobs, and have the tendency to oggle women and shout out perverted comments to them. so not exactly my definition of gentlemen. not that i havent seen the same behavior in other populations but i figure saying it would stoke the fire even more.

How do you even know they were [Hispanic]? Because they have dark skin? Could have been Native American.

I hate to use the tired joke, but when was the last time you saw more than one Native American at a time. And I highly, highly would doubt that a pair of Native Americans would be riding bicycles at 9PM at night in a Mexican neighborhood. Also, how often do you see Native Americans with mustaches?

Seriously now, maybe I should delete the "Hispanic" from the OP so that you guys can actually comment on the point, which was that these guys were VC (sort of - it seemed to me like they'd be riding their bikes to and from their work, wherever that would be) and riding dangerously.

I would actually love to see a program to provide cheap blinkies to working cyclists (regardless of ethnicity)....
There is such a program. It's called K-mart.

Well, the "I nearly struck a wrongway rider" theme has been done to death. (The search function is your friend.)



If you've nothing substantive to add, then I move that the mods lock the thread.

Lock it? I hope they trash it.

I hereby move to ban all forms of descriptive language from BF.
No weight, sex, age, race, hair color, or eye color references.

Consequently this line: "a short man of hispanic descent almost ran me off the road" will become "a human almost ran me off the road"
Try giving that description to a police officer.
Officer: Did you see the driver?
Me: Yes. It was human.
Officer: I need a description. Age, ethnicity, sex, etc?
Me: It was human.

<--independent left leaning moderate who can not stand the current PC BS.

Well, the "I nearly struck a wrongway rider" theme has been done to death. (The search function is your friend.)

And "some redneck cager nearly ran me off the road!" hasn't been?

And "some redneck cager nearly ran me off the road!" hasn't been?

Non sequitor.

Non sequitor.

Oh, pardon me. Let me rephrase, since comparing two genres of oft-created threads is a logical fallacy.

If and only if "some redneck cager nearly ran me off the road" has been done innumerous times, it can be referred to as "having been done to death."
"Some redneck cager nearly ran me off the road!" has been done innumerous times.
Therefore, "some redneck cager nearly ran me off the road!" can be referred to as "having been done to death."

How do you even know they were latino?Because I grew up in a Latino neighborhood.


Because they have dark skin? Could have been Native American.Could have been Native American. Could have been Indian, too. But I grew up in a Latino neighborhood, so I know a Latino immigrant-- as distinct from a native-born Latino-- when I see one. It's not about the skin color, it's about cultural differences.


I'm Cuban with no "latino" features, so if that had been me riding, the poster would have just said a person, yet it was a latino riding. What difference does it make?As I said, it doesn't make a difference; however, I was observing that Latino immigrants tend to ride against traffic, based on my observations, and wondered aloud if that was based on cultural differences, or if they just don't know that they're supposed to ride with traffic.

Our bicycle coalition gave out free blinkies last year. They plan to do it again. I noticed immediately the people you usually see riding wrong way in the dark were suddenly riding right way now that they had a blinkie.Now that's a useful insight into wrong-way riding.

Beerman, my only point is that we're not discussing cyclists run off the road by motorists with necks of whatever color. If you want to start up a new thread about that, be my guest. But of course it would be susceptible to the same objection: it's been done to death.

Actually, we sort of are. Because I was the "cager" that cut them off and nearly ran into them, from their perspective, whereas I see it differently, because I was in the car, and saw them bearing down right at me.

caps lock is off. here's something to piss off alot of people. most likely not gentlemen as the hispanic (illegal) day laborers around here have a tendency to piss behind the 7-11's they hang out at waiting for jobs,Are public toilets available to them, or should they just wait until they get home later that night? What would you do if you were waiting around for a job and needed to "use the facilities"-- wait until later that night?


and have the tendency to oggle women and shout out perverted comments to them. so not exactly my definition of gentlemen. not that i havent seen the same behavior in other populations but i figure saying it would stoke the fire even more.So if that's admittedly common working-class behavior, and you don't have some sort of racist agenda, why point it out when "hispanic (illegal) day laborer's" do it?