🚀 go-pugleaf

On 8/14/2011 10:58 AM, Jym Dyer wrote:
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/12/BALM1KMPSE.DTL
>
> | Police announced the stepped-up enforcement effort after a
> | spate of street tragedies, starting with a July 15 incident in
> | which a Washington, D.C., woman was fatally injured crossing
> | the Embarcadero at Mission Street by a bicyclist who allegedly
> | ran a red light.
> |
> | Five days later, a cyclist making an illegal left turn was
> | killed by a box truck at the corner of Fremont and Mission
> | streets.  On Aug. 4, a 9-year-old boy crossing Mission at
> | New Montgomery Street was struck and badly injured, allegedly
> | by a drunken driver.
>
> =v= This "spate," as described, is of course a nonrepresentative
> sample of the type of collisions and road fatalities that occur
> in San Francisco.  The first incident is especially rare, of
> course, which is why it is getting disproportionate attention.
>
> =v= The last is more representative, in that pedestrians are
> injured about twice a day in San Francisco.  Of course, the
> _Chronicle_ would serve its readers better by explaining that
> fact, and the wider context in general.  (Indeed they ought
> to report these collisions even when they don't involve cute
> kids or other novel details.  But exemplarizing the anomalous
> is how "news" is manufactured, the truth be damned.)
>

Oh really? The major thrust of this article is about bicycle collisions 
but, as usual, you always try to shift the focus away from bicyclists.

> | "We fully support attention to behaviors that are worrisome,
> | but it's a worry to me if people are prioritizing issues like
> | that," Shahum said. "There's a difference between someone
> | running a red light and someone riding without reflectors."
>
> =v= As is typical for the _Chronicle_, their excerpts leave
> out the most relevant fact.  Bicyclists were being ticketed
> for not having reflectors during the daytime, which is not
> an infraction.  So what's actually being prioritized here
> isn't even an issue.

Horsepucky, bicyclists were getting tagged for running red lights. What 
part of illegal activities do you not understand.

If the cops can prevent another bicyclist caused homicide, I'm all for it.

Jonz