Matt, all I was trying to point out is that the cyclist should have been aware
of his situation. It's true, I don't know if the biker was thinking "I'm going
to assert my rights", but the discussion up to this point has focused solely on
the driver's behavior. My statement, "it's not worth being right if it costs
you serious injury" is to provide a counterpoint to the tendency of this forum
to focus on cyclists' rights. That statement applies to defensive driving as
well and there have been ad campaigns that made that very point ("...he was in
the right; dead right.").
I think one purpose of Bikies to improve biker safety; I'm all for bikers
asserting their rights, but I think we should do so judiciously.
Harry
----- Original Message -----
From: Matt Logan <[email protected]>
Date: Saturday, September 26, 2009 9:42 am
Subject: Re: [Bikies] Comment on the biker hit by legislator who ran the
red light incident
To: Harry Read <[email protected]>
Cc: [email protected]
> The "it's not worth being right" argument is a prime example of how
> car-culture orthodoxy distorts discussions about transportation. Unless
> there is hard evidence that the bicyclist abandoned all defensive
> bicycling in an effort to assert his rights it is inappropriate to make
> such a suggestion.
>
> We don't suggest that motorists are asserting their rights to
> unencumbered travel when they are involved in a speeding-related crash.
> We don't suggest that motorists are asserting their right to drive drunk
> in a DUI-related crash. Why should we assume a bicyclist who makes a
> mistake is asserting their rights?
>
> We should just call it like it is in situations like this and point out
> that everyone needs to be aware that large vehicles block sight-lines
> at
> intersections, and to operate their vehicles accordingly.
>
> On Fri, 2009-09-25 at 10:52 -0500, Harry Read wrote:
> > Watching the bus video of the biker hit by the legislator, my wife
> > commented that the biker was hidden from the driver's view by the
> bus -
> > the driver may have calculated that the bus would not be fast off
> the
> > mark. This is not to excuse the driver in any way, I just want to
> offer
> > it as a defensive biking tip. I'm sure this occurred to many of
> you,
> > but I thought worth saying. It's not worth being in the right if it
>
> > costs you serious injury, or worse.
> >
> > - Harry
> > _______________________________________________
> > Bikies mailing list
> > [email protected]
> > http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
> >
>
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