John I like your thoughtful approach to this dilemma. I keep thinking of how to be generous around 'less-than-lighted' folks. I don't mean victimized by others. I love the stories one hears of a person who drives up to Starbucks to pay only to find that the previous buyer paid ahead for them, and then the sequence goes on all day long. What if a few of us started freely giving away a few lights, maybe even lights that had a sticker on them 'Pay It Forward'? What might happen? Dave Minden
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of John Martin Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 1:30 PM To: Mark Clear Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Bikies] Comment over bike light ignites attack I think this illuminates a general problem about the danger of "bike- by" comments. Although I'm sure the victim meant it as a helpful piece of advice, nobody likes being snapped at -- and the problem, of course, is that while biking past someone (or being passed), there's rarely time to come up with anything beyond a basic concise message: "Get a light!" In my own experience as a dog-walker, I had a parallel encounter with a biker on a path where I'd pulled my leashed dogs to the side and had them sit when bikers were approaching (vs. create a leash trip wire for wheels). The bikers saw me holding the dogs and assumed that they were unleashed, and one snapped (it sounded like a snap as they sped by) "Get a leash!" I was offended, but before I could explain that the dogs were leashed and held, and just sitting so as be even less of a worry for the bikers, they were 100 yards away, and I thought better than to yell "Got one!" at them because they'd probably only hear "STFU @$$hole!" and not the actual content. This sort of drive-by communication can quickly cycle downward into arguments, and apparently fisticuffs. That said, I'm sorry to hear about the incident, and especially sad that it was from fellow bikers (we sort of expect it from drivers, no?), and I'll be keeping my eye out for unlit Treks and Orbeas -- although maybe now they have one? On Dec 2, 2008, at 1:06 PM, Mark Clear wrote: > http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories/316796 > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
