Advocacy & Safety - frickin media!!!

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View Full Version : frickin media!!!


Rancid
11-22-04, 06:59 PM
Wow, these people aren't biased

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11472834%255E24218,00.html


bubba's_BCS
11-22-04, 07:11 PM
While I agree that that article is pretty ridiculous, it is an op-ed column. This is just that man opinion. Please excuse my spelling, long day.

Fugazi Dave
11-22-04, 07:32 PM
Stupid, yes, but not to be unexpected. Doesn't surprise me a bit.


Dchiefransom
11-22-04, 08:37 PM
I'll bet if the cyclists didn't purposely block traffic in the tunnel, the paper wouldn't have had anything bad to say about them.

Fugazi Dave
11-22-04, 09:06 PM
And if nobody ever did anything to get anyone's attention, drivers would continue to crap on cyclists indefinitely. Legal or no, affecting change doesn't always involve methods that please others.

Roughstuff
11-23-04, 06:28 AM
And if nobody ever did anything to get anyone's attention, drivers would continue to crap on cyclists indefinitely. Legal or no, affecting change doesn't always involve methods that please others.



Well of course they could try to get people's attention by earning their respect instead of their contempt; but hey, CM has its own freak agenda: This would not be the first time this group has flagrantly broken traffic laws in support of its vague agenda -- seemingly based on a pathological hatred of cars. The whole Op Ed seems pretty reasonable to me.

roughstuff

DnvrFox
11-23-04, 06:38 AM
Wow, these people aren't biased

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11472834%255E24218,00.html

I don't see the bias.

If autoists had purposely blocked a favorite, well used bicycle route for an hour or more, I have no doubt that a bicyclist would have written a similar article.

To me, the blocking of traffic by CM groups adds nothing positive to bicycling. This is not the appropriate way to gain attention to a problem or to bicycling, IMHO!

HereNT
11-23-04, 07:06 AM
I hope they all brought beer for the hour stuck underground. I'll block traffic, and make it move around me while I am moving as well, but just putting a bike as essentially a blockade seems dumb. I wouldn't mind blacking up traffic pretty much anywhere on a CM, but the bikes need to be moving. Because the point is that bikes are TRAVELING on the same road as the cars. Stopping should not be a point of CM.

filtersweep
11-23-04, 07:20 AM
How many bridges take an HOUR to cross by bike?? Sounds like a deliberate attempt to annoy. I don't know about AU, but in most of europe, it is illegal (if not dangerously stupid) to bike through tunnels. And yes, there seem to be many crit mass folks who do possess a "pathological hatred of cars." What's the big deal?

bac
11-23-04, 08:58 AM
The ironic part of the editorial is the last statement:


Finally it has dawned on those with the responsibility for enforcing the road laws that they must be applied to everyone.

That's what cyclists want also! We want the law applied when motorists violate it @ the expense of a cyclist. We want the law applied when objects are thrown @ cyclists from autos. We want the law applied when we are doored, and killed.

WE WANT THE LAW APPLIED TO EVERYONE ALSO!!!!!!! Given most motorists' perspective, this point is simply lost. Sad indeed. :(

Noif666
01-16-05, 07:54 PM
Fist of all, the Herald Sun is NOT a good newspaper to read if you want FACTS. It is purely and simply a tabloid paper.
Second, the theory behind CM is a sound one. The problem with Melbourne's CM is lack of organisation which results in a large pack of people doing their own thing and not focusing on the original intent - to make other road users appreciate we are "vehicles" by law. It seems Melb's CM are more for disrupting traffic any way they can as opposed to using road layout and laws to their advantage.
CM would have a greater chance of success if the cyclists involved obeyed the road rules... this would be harder to do than say. Maybe if there were "Group leaders" for every 20-30 people, while maintaining an overall large pack???

Noif666
01-16-05, 07:55 PM
"First", I meant "First"! :o
Although I wouldn't mind putting a fist into the faces of some HS reporters :fight: :D

nycm'er
01-16-05, 09:37 PM
What should I do to earn an driver's respect? Shall I thank someone who didn't kill me with their lack of attention or flippant attitude toward my life? Should I pull over every time I see a car? Should I offer foot massages to those parked in bike lanes? What do you think any biker can do to earn respect? When has respect ever been given without being demanded? What do girly men do to earn respect? Seems to me smashing windshields is within the current climate of problem solving within our country. Do not give me any of that vehicular cycling horse s**t. My vehicle weighs 21 pounds, not 4100. That method will get you killed in my town.