Advocacy & Safety - Speeding motorist confesses to hitting cyclist

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2009/06/10/20090610abrk-phxhitandrun.html

This is the final straw. Everytime I read or hear about an arrested hit and run driver I hold my breath to see if he is hispanic. It really seems 75% of the hit and run drivers I read about being arrested are hispanic. Some of these men were born in the USA, others were born outside the USA and are here legally, yet others were born outside the USA and are here illegally. I mentioned this to a few people and they tell me it's a cultural thing, but I really don't understand why it would be a cultural thing. That would be like saying shoplifting is a cultural thing, yeah right. Anyways this driver might not have been caught had he not been hispanic driving a bmw, had he been anglo driving a pickup the cops probably never would have bothered stopping him for speeding and he would have gotten away with it.

Second, Drivers Ed classes need to include a chapter on what to do if one hits a bicyclist or pedestrian. The penalties for leaving the scene should be stressed, and there should be questions regarding hit and run on the drivers test. I've read about priests and rabbis hitting cyclists and leaving the scene, of all people. When a driver hits a pedestrian or cyclist I think panic must set in, good men become bad men and they just drive away. Bicyclists and pedestrians that get hit by cars are the victims, they are the good guys. The drivers who hit the bicyclists and pedestrians are the aggressors, the bad guys. I think these hit and run drivers don't want to be considered bad guys so they leave.


I wonder if this is the first time Mr Rojas hit ANYTHING and ran. Since we can't come up with a profile of the average hit and run driver. I think we can use DUSA, reasons why drivers hit and run. So if a driver is likely to be any of the following-- drunk, unlicensed, scared, aggressive or just young there is a higher likelihood that he will hit and run. The more of those traits apply to him, the more likely he is to be a hit and run driver I'm thinking.

I'm sure everyone in Phoenix will update us about Mr. Rojas. This is sad, 77

DUSA...http://www.deadlyroads.com/whydriversrun.shtml

In my city, I was on town council, a couple years ago we had 80% of our arrests being hispanics (almost all illegals), virtually none residents of our town. It was a major drain on our budget.
Your thought that most of the hit and runs you read being hispanic, is not hard to believe.

I'm glad to see bigotry is alive and well on bike forums, goes nicely with the stupidity.

I'm glad to see bigotry is alive and well on bike forums, goes nicely with the stupidity.

It may not be bigotry (although it sure read "harsh"), but merely a matter of location. The southwest does have a large Hispanic population... in California for instance the majority population is projected to be Hispanic sometime in the next 15 years. That alone would indeed mean that most auto collisions would be by persons of Hispanic decent.

Of course the same may not be true for say Pennsylvania.

Of course the implication that there is some cultural reason for persons of Hispanic decent to drive in a particular manner are ridiculous... Far too many non Hispanic Americans have also demonstrated poor driving habits. I would venture to say poor driving habits are a mainstay of the American education and road system... not of any particular heritage.

In fact, while cycling in Mexico, I found motorists to be quite accommodating... giving me far more road than visiting gringos.

I'm glad to see bigotry is alive and well on bike forums, goes nicely with the stupidity.

No bigotry in my post. I make no assumptions as to why most of the arrests in my town were hispanic. I simply stated what was reported to me by our police department.

Of course the implication that there is some cultural reason for persons of Hispanic decent to drive in a particular manner are ridiculous... Far too many non Hispanic Americans have also demonstrated poor driving habits. I would venture to say poor driving habits are a mainstay of the American education and road system... not of any particular heritage.

In fact, while cycling in Mexico, I found motorists to be quite accommodating... giving me far more road than visiting gringos.

Percieved driving ability in the original environment is irrelevant; it may seem like it takes quite a bit of skill to negotiate this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM), but those same drivers will probably cause a load of accidents in the US.

Wow...zero to bigotry in one post? This has to be an A&S record.

Yeah the response is sad.

In my city, I was on town council, a couple years ago we had 80% of our arrests being hispanics (almost all illegals), virtually none residents of our town. It was a major drain on our budget.
Your thought that most of the hit and runs you read being hispanic, is not hard to believe.

Sounds like hyperbole to me. But even if it was true, all the cheap labor surely more than made up for it. Also so what?

At least the dude confessed, how many "citizens" would do that off the cuff?

Florida is pretty backward and slow to see the light. In Gainesville Florida they had seperate maternatiy wards for black and white, through early 1970s. I guess you all are getting what you pay for in state taxes.

While cycling I've been hit by three drivers, including one who left the scene but was subsequently found. All three were caucasian American citizens. I've also never been mugged by a black man, never brawled with an Irishman and never lost a job to an illegal alien. The smartest guy in my graduating class wasn't Asian and so far as I know, the Jews haven't taken over my local bank.

Apparently little that I've learned from internet forums is actually true.

Percieved driving ability in the original environment is irrelevant; it may seem like it takes quite a bit of skill to negotiate this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM), but those same drivers will probably cause a load of accidents in the US.

You of course are making the assumption that someone IS from another land AND learned how to drive there.

The USA is the land of driving... one can often live in another country without having to drive anywhere.

it isn't bigotry. Poor, undereducated people habitually do things that hurt the rest of society. violent crime, including injuring and killing cyclists has got to be more prevalent among the "disenfranchised," to be facetiously pc, groups in society. classism is far different from racism.

This is the final straw. Everytime I read or hear about an arrested hit and run driver I hold my breath to see if he is hispanic. It really seems 75% of the hit and run drivers I read about being arrested are hispanic. Some of these men were born in the USA, others were born outside the USA and are here legally, yet others were born outside the USA and are here illegally.

In the absence of supporting documentation, I'd say a blanket statement like "75% of the hit and run drivers I read about being arrested are hispanic" qualifies as bigotry.

On a related note, read this (http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/index.php?/news/comments/fleeing-cuba/). It's a story about what happened to the Cubans from the 1980 Mariel boatlift, which was one of the reasons Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan. The influx of over 100,000 poor Cubans into south Florida, including a few thousand criminals, resulted in a huge crime wave in the early 1980s. But now, the people who fled Cuba for the US, and their children, are fully integrated into US society and are, on average, better educated and earn more than the average American.

Immigration is a good thing. Moving hardworking, motivated people into a free country releases their potential. It always has, and it always will. It's why America is the great country it is. But then, fear of foreigners has always been a part of America too.

In my city, I was on town council, a couple years ago we had 80% of our arrests being hispanics (almost all illegals), virtually none residents of our town. It was a major drain on our budget.
Your thought that most of the hit and runs you read being hispanic, is not hard to believe.

Having been a state representative, a member of a city council and current member of our county board, one learns to ask questions of local authorities. Are we targeting certain demographics for traffic stops?, is one to be asked.

Driving while minority is an issue.

But now, the people who fled Cuba for the US, and their children, are fully integrated into US society and are, on average, better educated and earn more than the average American.

Guess what? If they'd have stayed in Cuba they'd still be better educated than the average American! I'm pretty sure their life expectancy would be longer as well. But they wouldn't have a big flat screen tv and an suv so, hey, viva america, no?

Phoenix is more than 40% hispanic, so even leaving aside issues of poverty and selective enforcement, a lot of speeding will be done by hispanics.

Poor, undereducated people habitually do things that hurt the rest of society. violent crime, including injuring and killing cyclists has got to be more prevalent among the "disenfranchised," to be facetiously pc, groups in society. classism is far different from racism.

B.S. - poor, undereducated people more often do things that hurt themselves (if they hurt anyone at all that is)

it's the very thin layer of über-rich (mostly white males in the US) that hurt the rest of society by acting in very selfish ways

racism is a product of a classist society - except when your economic class doesn't separate you from "the other" the undereducated will fall back on the other "ism" to find a leg up
classism and racism aren't different at all, they're both forms of prejudice (as in pre-judging before knowing) and discrimination based on false assumptions and hierarchy systems

injuring and killing a cyclist is not more prevalent among disenfranchised - if you're driving a BMW you're not disenfranchised and the person's ethnic background has got squat to do with his actions

the social & economic structure in the US functions on passing-the-buck and pointing the finger at someone else
if it wasn't then we'd have a whole lot less of the disenfranchised

we pay a lot of lip service to the notion of "how our mothers raised us"

:notamused:

Poor, undereducated people habitually do things that hurt the rest of society.

I've seen a lot of ******** statements on this board, but this one sets new standards.

Last time I looked the most damage to our society was done to us by primarily white, rich, over educated banking and political types.

Last time I looked the most damage to our society was done to us by primarily white, rich, over educated banking and political types.

tadawdy was referring to violent crime, not the economy.

tadawdy was referring to violent crime, not the economy.

Oh, that makes the racist bigotry ok then. Aren't you late for a cross burning?

poor guys an crime
http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/nation_world/47912682.html


betcha dont have names like that in you're neck of the woods lol

When a driver hits a pedestrian or cyclist I think panic must set in, good men become bad men and they just drive away.

Good men don't become bad men under these circumstances. Rather, such a situation causes some bad men, who might do a good job pretending to be good men in other aspects of their lives, to show their true colors.

If a good man accidentally hits someone with his car, he stops and tries to help. If he runs away like a coward, he was never really a good man to begin with.

wow that post is the worst thing ever.