{"id":285246191,"date":"2014-01-15T11:03:11","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T11:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=285246191"},"modified":"2014-01-15T11:03:11","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T11:03:11","slug":"lets-not-avoid-the-real-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=285246191","title":{"rendered":"LET’S (NOT) AVOID THE REAL ISSUES"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letter to the Editor, by Bob Mionske
\nRE: \u201cSanta Barbara cyclists have gone collectively insane.\u201d
\nThat was the conclusion readers of the Santa Barbara View were invited to reach, based on anecdotes involving exactly two cyclists. Do you see the logic? If two cyclists were doing something wrong, that must mean that all cyclists\u2014at least in Santa Barbara\u2014are collectively insane.
\nAnd since all cyclists have gone collectively insane, we can just ignore all of the cyclists who were riding lawfully on the same day that these two riders were behaving badly. If two cyclists were not riding lawfully. all cyclists are collectively guilty, all are \u201ccollectively insane.\u201d Even the ones who were riding lawfully and courteously that day, and every day. Tar them all with the same brush, and let God sort them out.
\nBy the same token, we can also ignore all of the drivers who were breaking the law that day. Speeding? Why that\u2019s a driver\u2019s sacred right, isn\u2019t it? Sure, it\u2019s the number one cause of traffic \u201caccidents,\u201d and virtually every driver does it, but why quibble over that, when we have far, far bigger fish to fry, like one irresponsible guy who was speeding on a bike?
\nWhy point out that virtually every driver rolls through stop signs\u2014the world-famous \u201cCalifornia stop\u201d\u2014with a little \u201cpretend-to-stop\u201d tap on the brakes if they can be bothered, when we can look down our noses at a cyclist who wasn\u2019t wearing a helmet? Sure, helmets are not required, and aren\u2019t even designed to provide protection for collisions with cars. But if we don\u2019t blame cyclists for not wearing a helmet, we might have to look at the real cause of cyclist injuries and fatalities, and we wouldn\u2019t want to open that Pandora\u2019s box. Just like we wouldn\u2019t want to require drivers to wear helmets, even though head injuries are much more common for drivers than they are for cyclists.
\nWhat about drivers violating a cyclist\u2019s right of way? No, we don\u2019t want to talk about that either, even though it\u2019s the most common cause of bicycle collisions, and has happened to every cyclist out there. Instead, let\u2019s complain about the \u201ccycling hell\u201d of somebody getting some exercise once a month. Let\u2018s complain that some cyclist was wearing\u2014Shock! Horrors!\u2014cycling clothes while riding his bike.
\nAnd while we\u2019re studiously avoiding the real issues, why not make up some imaginary laws that victimize drivers while we\u2019re at it? In all my years of handling bicycle injury cases, I have never once seen a driver cited for hitting an at-fault cyclist. Nor has anybody else ever seen such a preposterous injustice. In fact, in the real world, it is all-too-common for an at-fault driver to face no charges after injuring, or even killing a cyclist. And when drivers are cited for carelessly causing serious injury or death, it is almost always on a minor traffic violation, like \u201cfailure to yield.\u201d If you were killed by a careless driver who got the kid glove treatment afterwards, would you feel like drivers are the victims here? Would your bereaved family feel that way?
\nBut let\u2019s ignore that reality, for the convenient fiction of a make-believe world where drivers are all scrupulously law-abiding victims of insane cyclists run amok, rather than the often careless law-breakers of the real world, who injure some 50,000 cyclists and kill some 700 cyclists annually.
\nThat way, we won\u2019t have to deal with the real issues.
\nhttps:\/\/www.bicyclelaw.com\/blog\/index.cfm\/2014\/1\/10\/Lets-Not-Avoid-The-Real-Issues<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letter to the Editor, by Bob Mionske RE: \u201cSanta Barbara cyclists have gone collectively insane.\u201d That was the conclusion readers of the Santa Barbara View were invited to reach, based on anecdotes involving exactly two cyclists. Do you see the logic? If two cyclists were doing something wrong, that must mean that all cyclists\u2014at least … <\/p>\n

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