Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
He speaks the truth. When you throw your leg over the top tube and pedal off into traffic you are ACCEPTING a certain level of risk. Or at least you SHOULD be accepting it, because this risk is very real.
this:
Originally Posted by
ItsJustMe
So, he's admitting that the police department is unable to maintain order and safety on the roads for all legal road users, which is one of the things they're supposed to be doing.
Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
OK...now you know something most of the old-timers on A&S have known for a long time. So now that you are AWARE that what you are doing is potentially life threatening, and the cops have better things to do than worry about people who KNOWINGLY put themselves at substantial extra risk in traffic, what are you going to do?
Keep on keeping on...
...or hang up the bike.
What's it gonna be?
The lions are lurking in the tall grass and the sharks are swimming in the oceans too. An easy way to avoid being eaten is to avoid those dangerous places. If you leave the beach, it's really all on you.
Life is risk, hanging up the bike is a risk, since you will become part of the
sedentary nation. People are dumb sheep, fearing sharks but
cows kill more people every year (why don't we have cow week on Animal Planet??).
The officers comment was to tell me about horrible collisions and injuries to bikers. I was too slow to ask about the horrible collisions and injuries he's seen with autos. However, as a society, we all accept the risks of driving without much thought at all, but biking .... OMG THAT'S DANGEROUS!!!
For the record, I'm no n00b at road riding, transportation biking, or A&S. I've biked for transportation since the early '80s and have been involved with A&S groups in Minneapolis since 2010. However, this incident happened in a small town west of Minneapolis (Wayzata), that is full of old, rich people, as a result, local government and PD are of the 'car-only' types.
In summary, I will keep riding, recording, and reporting with every intention to help make the roads better/safer for all road users.