Old 12-20-07, 01:19 AM
  #19  
Brian Ratliff
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Near Portland, OR
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Bikes: Three road bikes. Two track bikes.

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Originally Posted by ChipSeal
This is my concern about memorials. We already have media, motorists and bicycle advocacy groups molding public opinion that cycling on public streets is an unusually dangerous activity. Memorials add to that perception. Is that a good thing for cycling?
I think this is the wrong question to ask. I can tell you that if I had a loved one die in an accident on the road and I felt strongly that I should memorialize the spot of their death, I couldn't give a damn if it's "a good thing for cycling."

The cycling community here is tight. When a cyclist is killed, it isn't just cycling advocates who memorialize the person. It's the person's family and friends, with the bicycling community backing them. It's a community event and a community protest when a cyclist dies. I don't see anything wrong with that.

As for the "perception" that cycling is dangerous. Well, to a certain respect, it is. But it is a different kind of danger than we are used to. The dangers aren't random events caused by nature. The dangers all consist of decisions that people make that sum up to kill another person. And so be it if those memorials marking the spot of the death of a person on a bicycle remind someone of this.
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