Advocacy & Safety - This is really messed up

These are a couple of recent posts from the local list serve.
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I'm a bit freaked out right now.

I just learned a good friend of mine was injured
last night while riding his bike.

Apparently somone swung a bat at him.
I know his collarbone is broken, and I'm on my way
over to check out how he's doing.

What type of response is needed here?
I don't know, but I'm upset and outraged.
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/shift/2004-09/msg00045.html
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That's disturbing. I was (unsuccessfully) attacked by a group of guys in a
pickup truck two weeks ago. It was 2:30 am on a Saturday night, and I was
riding up the hill on SE Harrison at 24th Avenue. A group of guys in a dark
pick-up truck with the tailgate down rode by in the other direction.
Something flew past my head and crashed in the bushes next to me, and the
guys in the pick-up started laughing. They stopped the truck a couple of
blocks down hill and waited. As soon as I turned right on SE 24th, they
slammed on the accelerator and swung around the corner. I immediately rode
into the nearest driveway, turned off my lights and stood in a shadow. The
truck came around the corner a few seconds later, paused when the guys inside
couldn't see my lights in either direction and inched back toward the
intersection where I was hidden. There were at least two guys in the bed of
the pick-up scanning around for me. Unfortunately, I couldn't make out the
license plate number before they drove off again.

There are some pretty f*&%ed up people out there.

Be safe.
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/shift/2004-09/msg00054.html
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I don't think riding that late (esp. on a Sat night) is a good idea ... lotsa drunks out there.

Sick.

man that is scary, good thing the one guy had the sense to pull into a driveway and shut off his lights. sucks though that messages like these which are meant for awareness really just scare people into not going out at night.

I don't think riding that late (esp. on a Sat night) is a good idea ... lotsa drunks out there.

Well, that raises a thorny question: What is it a good idea to do late in the evening (particularly Saturday nights)? Things (insults, beer cans) are hurled from pick-ups at pedestrians, too. Do we just cede our towns and streets to the drunken louts?

I'm not advocating aggression. I am advocating assertiveness. Be alert; ride smart; don't ride alone. A riding partner is also a potential witness. Someone in another thread advocates arrogance. I prefer to think of it as aloofness. Let insults roll off your back, but pursue assaults and threats to the fullest legal extent.

If either of these stories ended with an arrest, it wouldn't feel nearly as sinister.

BTW, that second incident with the pick up truck full of drunks occurred only three blocks from my house, in a good neighborhood, on a route I and many others ride daily...

Nothing bad ever happens to me...

Bothers me to no end that something like that CAN happen to you or I. What is wrong with some of these redneck bufoons? I do not recommend any violence at all, but what about a person protecting himself? A concealled weapons permit is not hard to get. What would you have done if they had seen you and confronted you or threatened you with more than a beer bottle upside your cranium? I do not ever want to be in a situation such as yours but I know that if I am going down, so are the rest of them. Again, I stress, I DO NOT recommend violence at all unless my life or the lives of my family are at extreme risk of harm.