Holy shatz! Cop stops bicycle! - Page 40 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-14-2004, 12:33 PM

I've made this point before, but what the hell, I'm going to make i
again. I'm a reasonably intelligent, capable, mature (yeah, yeah, bea
with me) etc etc adult who, at the age of 33, feels that he's competen
to judge whether or not he's capable of getting across a road withou
being flattened by cross traffic regardless of what the traffic light
are indicating. So, do I run red lights? Nope

This is not because I believe firmly in the infallibility of the law
The law is frequently an ass. It is not because I fear the consequence
of my own action. It is because while you and I and probably about 70
(I'm feeling generous) of the population at large is capable of thi
sort of thing, the other 30% isn't. These are the idiots who think tha
it's perfectly reasonable to drive screaming drunk, without wearing
seatbelt, talking on their phone and munching down a Happy Meal™. Th
reason that we have laws about things like driving drunk isn't for th
sake of the sane majority that wouldn't do it anyway, but for the addle
minority who would

Now most of you are making the point that a cyclist hitting a car is
apart from a little panel damage, not going to do anyone any significan
harm other than themselves. Think again. Even in a country like the U
which has an appallingly low level of government funding for healt
care, the cost to the public of dealing with someone pasting themselve
against the side of an Escalade is not small. That's police an
emergency services that could be better employed elsewhere. That's als
funding and a hospital bed that is needed by someone else, and thos
beds are needed, check out the waiting lists for "elective" surgery
Note that not all elective surgery is cosmetic, it covers quite seriou
things that just happen to be non life threatening and therefore aren'
provided to you by the state if you can't stump up the necessar
dollars. But I digress

In spite of what I've said thus far, I'm actually rather in favour of
bit of active Darwinism in society and I'd love to see people having t
deal with the consequences of their actions. The tricky bit is tha
while I'm up for dealing with the consequences of my actions, I'd rathe
not have to deal with the consequences of someone-else's idiocy. Now i
I want Joe Stupid to obey the law so that they don't maim me o
collectively enrage other collective Joe (and Jocelyn) Stupids behin
the wheels of their vehicles or occupy a hospital bed that would bette
serve my child who suffers from a congenital condition (speculative,
don't have any children) etc etc then I'm going to have to do the sam
thing. And it might mean that I get where I'm going a minut
later...damn

Stop at the lights for 30 seconds. Take a few breaths. Take a few swig
from your water bottle. Sit upright and stretch the kinks out of you
lower back. Maybe grin a bit because you're out and about on your bik
and it makes you feel good. If you were that anal retentive about 3
seconds of your time, you'd be in or on a motorised vehicle. It's al
well and good to bleat about personal freedoms and the value of liberty
but those things need to be balanced by a sense of responsibility o
they're worse than worthless, they become a liability to the communit
as a whole when abused by those who don't fully value them

</rant

Apologies for length of post

-

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Zoot Katz wrote:
> Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:16:20 GMT, <E3lzc.22785$Hg2.4554@attbi_s04>,
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Brent P) wrote:
>
>>In article <wzgzc.4072$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Paul wrote:
>>
>>> Most drivers won't swerve for a coon or skunk and if the dog has a tag on the collar,
>>> his owner is mine.
>>
>>Must be different where you live. As a 100% legally riding bicyclist
>>I can say that the majority of drivers treat geese better than bicyclists.

> The geese pose no threat to drivers.

They slam on the brakes for the geese, wait untold minutes for the geese
to cross the road...

> Whenever drivers see a cyclist
> they're intimidated because they're seeing a being superior to their
> own pathetically enfeebled caged selves. They try to compensate for
> their impotence by buying a bigger scud and bullying pedestrians.

I doubt it.

> There was a rush hour traffic report that for 45 minutes repeated a
> warning about five ducks blocking traffic in one lane of the off-ramp
> of a major bridge.
>
> Had those ducks been on bikes they'd have been dead or arrested.

Most likely.

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Zoot Katz wrote:
> Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:16:20 GMT, <E3lzc.22785$Hg2.4554@attbi_s04>,
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Brent P) wrote:
>
>>In article <wzgzc.4072$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Paul wrote:
>>
>>> Most drivers won't swerve for a coon or skunk and if the dog has a tag on the collar,
>>> his owner is mine.
>>
>>Must be different where you live. As a 100% legally riding bicyclist
>>I can say that the majority of drivers treat geese better than bicyclists.

> The geese pose no threat to drivers.

They slam on the brakes for the geese, wait untold minutes for the geese
to cross the road...

> Whenever drivers see a cyclist
> they're intimidated because they're seeing a being superior to their
> own pathetically enfeebled caged selves. They try to compensate for
> their impotence by buying a bigger scud and bullying pedestrians.

I doubt it.

> There was a rush hour traffic report that for 45 minutes repeated a
> warning about five ducks blocking traffic in one lane of the off-ramp
> of a major bridge.
>
> Had those ducks been on bikes they'd have been dead or arrested.

Most likely.

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Zoot Katz wrote:
> Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:16:20 GMT, <E3lzc.22785$Hg2.4554@attbi_s04>,
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Brent P) wrote:
>
>>In article <wzgzc.4072$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Paul wrote:
>>
>>> Most drivers won't swerve for a coon or skunk and if the dog has a tag on the collar,
>>> his owner is mine.
>>
>>Must be different where you live. As a 100% legally riding bicyclist
>>I can say that the majority of drivers treat geese better than bicyclists.

> The geese pose no threat to drivers.

They slam on the brakes for the geese, wait untold minutes for the geese
to cross the road...

> Whenever drivers see a cyclist
> they're intimidated because they're seeing a being superior to their
> own pathetically enfeebled caged selves. They try to compensate for
> their impotence by buying a bigger scud and bullying pedestrians.

I doubt it.

> There was a rush hour traffic report that for 45 minutes repeated a
> warning about five ducks blocking traffic in one lane of the off-ramp
> of a major bridge.
>
> Had those ducks been on bikes they'd have been dead or arrested.

Most likely.

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Zoot Katz wrote:
> Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:16:20 GMT, <E3lzc.22785$Hg2.4554@attbi_s04>,
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Brent P) wrote:
>
>>In article <wzgzc.4072$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Paul wrote:
>>
>>> Most drivers won't swerve for a coon or skunk and if the dog has a tag on the collar,
>>> his owner is mine.
>>
>>Must be different where you live. As a 100% legally riding bicyclist
>>I can say that the majority of drivers treat geese better than bicyclists.

> The geese pose no threat to drivers.

They slam on the brakes for the geese, wait untold minutes for the geese
to cross the road...

> Whenever drivers see a cyclist
> they're intimidated because they're seeing a being superior to their
> own pathetically enfeebled caged selves. They try to compensate for
> their impotence by buying a bigger scud and bullying pedestrians.

I doubt it.

> There was a rush hour traffic report that for 45 minutes repeated a
> warning about five ducks blocking traffic in one lane of the off-ramp
> of a major bridge.
>
> Had those ducks been on bikes they'd have been dead or arrested.

Most likely.

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Zoot Katz wrote:
> Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:16:20 GMT, <E3lzc.22785$Hg2.4554@attbi_s04>,
> [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] (Brent P) wrote:
>
>>In article <wzgzc.4072$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, Paul wrote:
>>
>>> Most drivers won't swerve for a coon or skunk and if the dog has a tag on the collar,
>>> his owner is mine.
>>
>>Must be different where you live. As a 100% legally riding bicyclist
>>I can say that the majority of drivers treat geese better than bicyclists.

> The geese pose no threat to drivers.

They slam on the brakes for the geese, wait untold minutes for the geese
to cross the road...

> Whenever drivers see a cyclist
> they're intimidated because they're seeing a being superior to their
> own pathetically enfeebled caged selves. They try to compensate for
> their impotence by buying a bigger scud and bullying pedestrians.

I doubt it.

> There was a rush hour traffic report that for 45 minutes repeated a
> warning about five ducks blocking traffic in one lane of the off-ramp
> of a major bridge.
>
> Had those ducks been on bikes they'd have been dead or arrested.

Most likely.

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <E4nzc.9897$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, usenet-
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...

....

> well and good to bleat about personal freedoms and the value of liberty,
> but those things need to be balanced by a sense of responsibility or
> they're worse than worthless, they become a liability to the community
> as a whole when abused by those who don't fully value them.
>
> </rant>

Well said!

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <E4nzc.9897$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, usenet-
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...

....

> well and good to bleat about personal freedoms and the value of liberty,
> but those things need to be balanced by a sense of responsibility or
> they're worse than worthless, they become a liability to the community
> as a whole when abused by those who don't fully value them.
>
> </rant>

Well said!

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <E4nzc.9897$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, usenet-
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...

....

> well and good to bleat about personal freedoms and the value of liberty,
> but those things need to be balanced by a sense of responsibility or
> they're worse than worthless, they become a liability to the community
> as a whole when abused by those who don't fully value them.
>
> </rant>

Well said!

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-14-2004, 12:41 PM

In article <E4nzc.9897$[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, usenet-
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...

....

> well and good to bleat about personal freedoms and the value of liberty,
> but those things need to be balanced by a sense of responsibility or
> they're worse than worthless, they become a liability to the community
> as a whole when abused by those who don't fully value them.
>
> </rant>

Well said!

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).