Re: CNN anchor pleads guilty to hit-and-run of cyclist in NY - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

08-08-2003, 02:59 PM

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Brent Hugh) wrote in message news:<b2f48572.0308061119.6632a72e@posting.google. com>...

> If all that is really true, then he needs to become the posterboy for
> a "Share the Road with Bicycles" campaign--talk about it, make ads,
> financially support it, do stories about it on CNN, etc etc etc.
>
> Anybody besides me think it would be worthwhile to send a few letters
> to Cafferty and to CNN suggesting that this would be a wise way for
> them to deal with this situation?
>
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

For what it's worth, here's a letter someone from the St. Louis Bike
Fed wrote CNN. I wrote a similar letter. If even eight or ten others
take the time to write, there's just the chance it will turn on a
small light in the sub-reptillian organs they carry around near the
upper ends of the bodies and call brains.

It seems to me, anyway, it's worth a try . . .

----
Bicyclists across the country have been watching with interest the
story of your morning anchor Jack Cafferty and his recent unfortunate
encounter with a cyclist. While I am disturbed by the comments of his
lawyer, as quoted in Newsday, that "this was never anything more than
a traffic violation," if Mr. Cafferty is open to even slightly more
introspection on the matter, he might be able to use his celebrity
status to raise awareness among your audience on the need for
motorists to share the roads with cyclists. Autos making sudden, and
often unsignaled, turns across the paths of cyclists are a fairly
common cause of injury to cyclists. Motorists need to be reminded of
the fact that they are sharing the roads with a variety of users --
pedestrians as well as cyclists -- and that operating a large, heavy
piece of machinery through this environment requires a high degree of
alertness and care. There is a very widespread reluctance among
motorists to see things this way. Since Mr. Cafferty's sentence
includes 70 hours of community service, perhaps he could make
arrangements to use his name recognition to help shape public
awareness on this subject.

Russell A. Willis III
Policy Task Force Chair
St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation
----

--Brent
bhugh [at] mwsc.edu