It's unlikely these idiots, or the ones on Speedway a few weeks ago, are "urban" thugs. Urban crime has a more or less rational motivation -- stealing money or valuables or self-protection or power. These attacks seem to be for "fun" -- not that you or I would see much fun in these incidents, but the primate brain has a dark side, especially after a few beers.
I used to live off Langdon Street, not all that far from the Orpheum as a matter of fact, and I got hassled pretty frequently when I rode my bike near bar time. I never got attacked as seriously as Aaron, but one time some jerks in a pickup truck threw a half-full can of beer at me. I wasn't hurt (I was the only time I needed my helmet for protection), but I was pretty upset. The perpetrators of that attack were frat boys, and I wouldn't be surprised if this summer's attackers are frat boys, too. Which would make them, most likely, *suburban* thugs. Eric Westhagen wrote: > Dear Group, > > How does one protect from "urban thugs" or thugs in general when on a > bicycle? As Aaron points out, what was done to him by the occupants of > a white truck was felonious. One thinks of city crime as when someone > is robbed or "rolled" in the big city. And this seeming motiveless act > is not that. With the thugs roving in cars in Madison, one cannot just > avoid an area of higher crime. Cyclists or pedestrians would not think > of moving through high crime districts of Milwaukee or Chicago. Once > the owner of one of Ripon's largest businesses was "rolled" on Rush > Street in Chicago and even rings were pulled off his fingers, worth much > it was said. He was with others at the time of the assault. But in > Ripon it was generally felt he should not have been taking in the "night > life" in such an open way. Aaron's assault was at night from his > posting, but the incident against Dar was in the middle of the day, if I > have that correctly. Is all this random or is their some sociopathic > problem in Madison and being small geographically in the middle, crime > is not segregated? > > Maybe Washington DC might be a place to learn how bicyclists treat > safety in certain neighborhoods. When I lived there, high crime and low > crime areas might be just a block apart. On Capitol Hill, if a flat > didn't come with window bars on any floor lever, criminals would watch > with binoculars and clean places out before a person settled in. > > Maybe correspondence with bicycle groups in the District would reveal > precautions which might have become "unwritten rules" of safe cycling at > all hours of the day? > > Eric Westhagen > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies > > _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
