Advocacy & Safety - Newspaper article on cycling dangers!

This was an article in the local paper today!
Safety advocates: Too many bicyclists putting themselves at risk (http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080711/COMMUNITIES32/807110350&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL)

I thought about posting it under advocacy but it was the references to commuters that got me going. Not sure which direction they were trying to go with this but obviously my opinion would be biased.

WARNING: If you have high blood pressure or pre-existing heart conditions DON'T read the feedback/comments section. Too many ignorant people live in this area.

First of all this is A&S no doubt. Second of all the article seemed pretty even-handed except for the getting over to the right thing.

Is this supposed to be scary?

http://cmsimg.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C0&Date=20080711&Category=COMMUNITIES32&ArtNo=807110350&Ref=AR&MaxW=318&Border=0

The article says, essentially, that careless bicyclists run greater risk of getting killed. Let's see, yakking on cell phones, riding two-up on a one-seater, swerving in front of cars, etc.

Agreed the only contentious comment was the "to the right" thing at the end. I think the author threw that in looking for their creative closing.

Is this supposed to be scary?

http://cmsimg.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C0&Date=20080711&Category=COMMUNITIES32&ArtNo=807110350&Ref=AR&MaxW=318&Border=0

Makes me think of Bill Hicks. Paraphrased (at best): "I have never looked at an egg and thought it was a brain."

ok i live in jersey... yea is sucks to ride a bike here sometimes... even worse to drive... and the peopel that got killed ( particularly the d&d guy and the 2 people on one bike ) were most likely illegals as there are many of them in this area...

dont get me wrong those guys are great, they ride every day, stay in the maximum hardest gear and never shift, and come in all the time for racks and tubes!! but they also ride mostly because they cannot get a license because a lot of them are illegally in the country

Do you even have to go to journalism school to get a job at a paper now?

This guy's all over the place.

- what does immigrant status have to do with bike safety?
- are they implying that helmets would have saved these 3 people's lives? For all we know, they had them on.
- is biking to work the dangerous risk they're trying to stop?


Overall, I get the feeling that a lot of these single-line quotes could have been taken out of context. I don't even need to read the comments to know this is just bait for all the bike-hating motorists out there to start venting.

i thought the article was ok for the most part.

-pulling statistics though, how many nj automobile drivers/passangers were killed compaired to the 11 nj bicyclists killed reported within the same time frame?

-when was the right of bicyclists/road questioned and needed defense or definition?

-was there a socio-economic predudice generalization implied in the article?

a few questions/critiques.....

tomg

Maybe the article was not too biased one way or another, and I completely agree that the use of helmets and lights could prevent some of the fatal accidents. A heightened awareness is not a bad thing. I just would have rather seen it pitched a different way. Judging by other posts I've seen here most areas of the country are reporting on the increased riders and the benefits of cycling.

I guess what got me going were the one sided arguments occurring on the comments board below the article. Many of the posters seemed to feel the solution was to ban cyclist from the roads and confined to bike paths (non-existent up by me) while others suggested licenses, insurance, and registration for cyclists. One poster actually remarked that majority of cyclists on the road were drunks who lost there license and another advised that it was illegal to make left turns from left turn lanes. I believe their quote was "get off your bike and use the crosswalk".
On the days I ride to work the thought often crosses my mind that some of the drivers would like to see me off the road or assume i'm riding due to a DUI but actually reading it puts a different spin on it. Those complaining about running lights and stop signs are agreeable.

I really could care less what they think but its nice to see we are well loved.

OK, so did they put a helmet on another egg and drop that one too? Did the egg in the helmet bounce and not break? PHHHEEEEEEEWWWWWW.

Egg = Head is a kinda bad comparison, but I'll keep wearing my helmet anyway.

Shouldn't she have been paying attention to driving rather then scrutinizing a cyclist? God i swear these drivers on our roads today are WAY too distracted, lets ban them...

We should all keep our bikes in the garage where they belong and stick to big, safe SUVs...


http://k53.pbase.com/u44/maxgts/upload/28340510.xterrarollover_0002e.jpg

I loved the quote about how in a bike/car collision the car will always win. Wow. How profound. And how often does a car win the car/semi collision?

Otherwise, it seemed like a typical evergreen story.

First of all this is A&S no doubt.
Good call.

They should show an egg cracked on the dashboard of a car as well. It should have a tiny cell phone in its ear.

You know, I can hit my head with a fork all day long and it doesn't break! But, try it once on an egg and it does!. Yeah, I hate the juvenile tactics these young reporters use to liven up a story.

They should show an egg cracked on the dashboard of a car as well. It should have a tiny cell phone in its ear.

:roflmao2:

I loved the quote about how in a bike/car collision the car will always win. Wow. How profound. And how often does a car win the car/semi collision?

Otherwise, it seemed like a typical evergreen story.


There seem to be a lot of Bike Riders who haven't wrapped there collective intelligence around the fact that a car will always triump in a confrontation. Accepting that fact is step one in cycling safely.

As for car - truck interactions, the car may come out worse for wear but the occupants will generally fare well due to the inclusion of safety devices.