Tractortom

This first week after 'daylight saving time' kicks in really sucks. I have trouble getting to sleep at the regular time, struggle to get out of bed in the morning, and it's still dark at 7am when I want to get on my bike and ride to work. I made the decision last weekend to stay off the bike for this first week of the time change for those reasons. Then the news this morning showed three different school bus accidents nationwide on Monday, and cited the time change and overtired drivers as part of the problem. Don't need to knock me in the head! Seems like I made the right decisions when two different soccer moms in SUV's from HELL cut me off in my S10 today in a seven mile commute to work. I've decided to stay off the bike until next week, and allow the drivers a chance to get caught up and working again before I go out there.

Be careful out there guys...everyone is overtired and cranky and it's hard to compete on a bicycle when everyone is caged in two tons of steel and plastic.

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee

onehappypanda

I agree with the being careful part, seems like the drivers are grumpier this week than normal.

But adding that as a statistics-nerd, 3 school bus crashes *across the nation* in a day is not significant. The news quotes perfectly common occurances and tries to make them sound special to get a story out of it all the time. We all know car crashes are common, doesn't matter if it's a regular car or a bus. Probably just drivers being drivers, and the news being overly dramatic, as usual.

DX-MAN

I'm a little disturbed by the thought that car crashes, bus crashes, things like that, are "not significant" in ANYONE'S mind. People die EVERY YEAR, to the tune of 30,000-40,000, AND IT'S JUST THE 'COST OF DOING BUSINESS'?!?

WHY ARE WE NOT, AS A SOCIETY, GOD DAMNED OUTRAGED BY THIS?

It is NOT acceptable to drive like an ASS because you're tired, grumpy, distracted, poor, just got fired, or ANY OF IT. NO ONE'S RIGHTS roll over another's.

It MIGHT be about .001% more acceptable if the dumbasses were the ones dying, but there are WAY too many innocents doing the DYING.

Damn.

onehappypanda

Whoa there, calm down killer. First of all, the term "not significant" means not statistically different from how it is at any other time of the year. As in, the news reports those three crashes during daylight savings time as if they're a huge increase from normal, but they probably aren't. It doesn't say anything about social acceptability of crashes, that's a completely separate issue. Crashes suck regardless of whether they're common or not, pretty sure most people would agree with that.

mctrek

Rode to work this morning (13.7miles one way) for the first time this year! Last year I commuted about 1500 miles on my bike.

It was a little dark this morning, little bit of drizzle, a bunch of head wind! But hey it was 60 degrees and it's March 13th, so I'll take it!

Had plenty of lights and reflectors so with the exception of one semi most cars gave me plenty of room I guess the semi guy must of gotten messed up by the time change...

onehappypanda

Haha mctrek I felt the same yesterday. It was drizzling but it was up in the 60's, and as an Ohioan I don't waste 60-degree days in March

wphamilton

I've wondered about this since I was a young kid, and I still haven't figured it out. You are completely right and we should be outraged, and not shrugging it off as "accidents happen". The only explanations I've come to are the cynical ones: as a society we value convenience more highly than other people's well-being, and we don't understand that risk, as potential harm to an individual, is identical to actual harm when applied broadly.

How many times have you heard risky behavior justified - I mean risky to other people, not just the person taking the risk - justified because nothing bad happened? Or even that it was the right decision "because it worked". I honestly think it's a cultural blind spot that people can't understand what's wrong with that reasoning.

locolobo13 

Why? You said it yourself. 30-40k deaths per year. 3 is an insignificant fraction of the whole. In the city just go outside and listen for the sirens.

As far as unacceptable to drive like an ass. People have emotions. Those emotions affect their judgement and actions. That's a cold hard unemotional fact. The only way to stop it completely is to stop all driving. I don't see that happening.

I can't speak for others but I know I have made my share of mistakes behind the wheel, on foot or on a bike. I don't have any solutions. I just try to not make the same mistake the next time.

woodway

Huh? It's just a one hour time change...

AdamDZ

Yeah, can't be that bad?

I was able to switch without any major problems so no issues getting up in the morning.

dynodonn 

I feel the time change, the body clock hasn't adapted yet to DST, I'm still groggy waking up in the morning, and it usually takes a week or so to get the body clock in sync.

tjspiel

That's kind of what I was thinking. It's not any darker in the morning after the time change than it was just a few weeks ago. But then again, I'm farther North and it's darker in the mornings anyway during the winter (which is will change in couple more weeks).

Schwinnrider

People have to die of something. We've reduced the number of smokers, so we can't count on that to thin the population. We have improved health care so that people can live into their 90s. So car crashes are it. LOL

snowman40

You want insignificant? Starting in 2013/2014 car model years, all new cars must have a rearview camera system. This camera system will help prevent injury or deaths of 18,300 people nationwide (USA, and the death number is only 300). All because a congressman didn't lock a door or his wife take their granddaughter upstairs with them....

That is 0.00000522857143 of the population. 3 school bus wrecks isn't anything, but it will get eyes and ears for the local news (it is children...), which means more eyeballs on the screen increasing their ratings, which means they can increase ad rates....

genec

I too find this wholly appalling... And then folks get on and respond with statistics that the millions of miles driven in autos apparently does justify the deaths (at least in their minds).

I remember Helmet Head asking me by how many I would like to see such deaths reduced... and I responded I would like to see automotive death rate at zero. He said that was impossible and that all the low hanging fruit had been harvested, or something to that effect, and then went on to list the numbers of deaths in other areas of our lives... down right depressing actually. Apparently stupidity in various forms tends to be the biggest killer overall.

And looking at the posts that followed your post... yep, folks coming on and telling you that this is acceptable... just as before. Unless of course it is your loved one involved... Then it becomes a national issue that becomes something like MADD.