david58

After discounting the initial statement (the "old wise[sic] tale"), you clarify by stating that this is one of the most extreme cases you have heard of. And then you point out his failure to mention how many engineers stayed on, followed by your equally data-less "Most...have hit something and most are still working." Is it all smoke and mirrors, or you got any numbers?

You refuse to acknowledge that it is even remotely possible that a driver of an auto might be traumatized by hitting a bicyclist. I don't have as broad a background as you do (), so my limited sample of folks involved in auto crashes with deaths involved is probably not of the same scope as your experience. However, the family and friends I have known that were involved WERE messed up, and never got over the fact that a life was lost in the crash - and in most cases the only fault they had was being on the highway at that moment (hit by drunk drivers).

Folks that have killed without remorse are sociopaths - you paint with a very wide brush when you imply that drivers are such. When you blow a red light and get injured or killed, maybe you will be "lucky" enough to be hit by a sociopath, but most likely it will be a "normal" someone that will feel plenty of remorse, even though the accident will be your fault.

And folks want "fair." When we as cyclists ignore the rules of the road, drivers consider it unfair and paint us all with the brush of being JABs. You should understand that, since you are so attuned to watching JAMs. If nothing else, following the rules allows some degree of predictability and order, and that is a good thing. With gasoline prices climbing and more folks commuting to work (at least in my small town), an anarchistic approach to cyclists mixing with cars is a bad thing. Forget the legality, the cars win.

But we ain't gonna change each other's minds, are we now?