The Risk: Bicycles!

=v= Check out this bizarre Op-Ed piece in the _Daily_News_:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/ 253732p-217248c....

=v= I did a web search on the author and found that she's head of one of those anti-environmental junk science groups. Hence her dismissal of the dangers of toxins and carbon monoxide, etc.

=v= What's bizarre is that her idea of a 'real' risk is being run down by a bicycle. This in a tabloid newspaper that has a seemingly unending supply of lurid stories and photos about cars and SUVs running down pedestrians! I think she comes off as a real idiot by freaking out over bicycles.

=v= I do of course think it's hazardous and wrong to operate a bicycle in an unsafe manner, but to call this THE 'real' risk is really kind of loopy. <_Jym_>

I have to wonder which cabinet position this person will get???

Department of Transportation, of course.

You tell my friend, the mother of a 17 year old boy knocked down by an unlit bicycle riding on a pavement in the dark when her son was knocked down, fractured his skull and subsequently died that there is no risk from bicycles. Cyclists seem to think they can be both pedestrians and motorists. We need more cycle lanes to give them their own place to go.

The last set of figures I have (for the UK) show that you are around 200 times more likely to be killed on the footway by a motor vehicle than by a bicycle. Consider the difference in the number of miles per year done on the footway by the two types of vehicle.

Now, in my view, the footway is no place for a cyclist to be. But we mustn't forget that they are there primarily because of fear of traffic. The solution is not to try to separate cyclists from other traffic, but to teach them to ride in motor traffic confidently and safely. It will never be possible to put bike paths and bike lanes everywhere, so eventually all cyclists will have to accept either riding in traffic, riding on the footway or curtailing their selection of routes.

So, if you want cyclists off the sidewalks here's what to do: when you drive in your car, make sure you look out for cyclists and give them plenty of room. Tell your friends to do the same. Teach your kids to do it. Berate anybody you know who you see carving up a cyclist. Then the Sidewalk Sams will have no excuse.

You are a very shallow ASS 'Jym'.