🚀 go-pugleaf

On 17 Nov 1997 15:39:44 -0800, Karl Anderson <kra@pobox.com> wrote:
: Wasn't this man jaywalking, and wasn't the courier ignored by passing
: cars & gawking pedestrians while he was trying to summon help?  Or was
: this another incident?
: 
: Sure, couriers or any other cyclists who endanger peds are wrong, but
: the usual argument applies.  Why is it that a handful of unsafe
: cyclists cause an uproar, while an army of motorists who are often
: unsafe and at times intentionally so are considered business as usual?

I take it the "usual argument" is to partially exonerate the bicyclist by
assigning some of the blame to the victim, bystanders, uninvolved motorists,
et al.  I don't buy it.  FWIW, I think the number of unsafe bicyclists, as a
percentage of the total, is greater than that of unsafe motorists.  As a
pedestrian, I find that I'm much more likely to have a close call with a
bicycle than with an automobile.  In Cambridge, for example, where most
motorists are super-polite to pedestrians (because they know they'll get the
book thrown at them if they aren't), many bicyclists ride too fast, ride on
the sidewalk, ignore traffic signals (especially walk lights), and never give
up the right-of-way to a pedestrian under any circumstances.  At least cars
usually stay in the street.  I realize that bicyclists have a legitimate beef
over the way they're treated by motorists.  But that doesn't excuse the fact
that a pedestrian who exercises reasonable caution crossing streets is
arguably in more danger from bicycles than from cars.
--   
   ___            _						-  Bob
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(_/__) (_)_(_)  (___(_)_(/_____________________________________ bob@1776.COM
Robert K. Coe ** 14 Churchill St, Sudbury, MA 01776-2120 USA ** 978-443-3265