What to do if you have had a Bicycle Accident

[Tim Kelley]

Post this to the compendium? Put this on the future Arlington BAC or Bike Forum blog?

[thecyclingeconomist]

Thanks for posting… it’s a good refresher even for those of us that feel like we’ve been doing this a long time and are prepared. Being prepared isn’t just gear, it’s a mindset, and that is easily lost when we commute the same route day-in and day-out.

Cheers!

[rcannon100]

Yes, this was intended as content for you to do with as you will, ala Kathy’s suggestion. Just thought I would improve it a little.

I posted it to my own blog Windy Run. I never got any traction on an ArlBAC or Forum Blog. I was thinking about creating a WIKI which would be like a compendium – institutionalizing wisdom. It is unfortunate when good thoughts are ephemeral with a short shelf life. And as I have yammered about with others, there is a good bit of recreating of the wheel (lots of people repeating the research for DC bicycle parking zoning regs, instead of having that research in one good place available to all).

[Tim Kelley]

@rcannon100 34394 wrote:

I never got any traction on an ArlBAC or Forum Blog.

The BAC will be discussing marketing efforts to grow their visibility and membership at the next meeting. I think Megan said this type of outreach would be one of the topics. I highly encourage you to attend.

[rcannon100]

Yeah like I said to Megan and Mark, after a full day of cubicle living, I am not inclined to spend my evening in a meeting. Actually, that is part of the whole philosophy of a social media strategy – it creates the opportunity for energy, work, and dialog outside of the confines of a meeting. My experience with meetings is about 5 minutes of content gets delivered or generated in about one hour.

[Tim Kelley]

That’s too bad. I’m sure your enthusiasm and talent will be missed at the meeting.

But I guess that means if you don’t show up, then you can’t complain about it not happening in the future!

[Certifried]

@Tim Kelley 34392 wrote:

Post this to the compendium?

done

[Certifried]

@Tim Kelley 34395 wrote:

The BAC will be discussing marketing efforts to grow their visibility and membership at the next meeting. I think Megan said this type of outreach would be one of the topics. I highly encourage you to attend.

is there any kind of tie-in between WABA and Maryland? I always see plenty of activity in DC and VA, but it all seems to be separate from the MD-inside-the-beltway stuff. Or I’m just looking in the wrong place….

[Tim Kelley]

@Certifried 34451 wrote:

is there any kind of tie-in between WABA and Maryland? I always see plenty of activity in DC and VA, but it all seems to be separate from the MD-inside-the-beltway stuff. Or I’m just looking in the wrong place….

The reference about the BAC was to the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee. Your local jurisdiction may have a similar group that meets.

WABA works throughout the region. Here’s some blog post reading for you:

http://www.waba.org/blog/tag/montgomery-county/

http://www.waba.org/blog/tag/maryland/

[rcannon100]

That’s too bad. I’m sure your enthusiasm and talent will be missed at the meeting.

But I guess that means if you don’t show up, then you can’t complain about it not happening in the future!

Er, no. That would only be true if you close the door to democracy so that the process only includes those in the room. That would be silly – and not democracy. I would say other things about how this fails notions of democratic discourse and being effective, but I wont.

I will say this, a govt official, or even a govt contractor, should be careful about saying that citizens cannot complain, or saying when and how citizens have permission to engage the political process. That would be treading very close to first amendment problems.

[Dang, where is that rant button]

Okay, Tim, you have me going. This goes on to the bigger subject of the reinvention of the Arlington Way, and how Arlington is experimenting with Arlington Connect to bring the political discourse to the people – and capture citizen’s discourse that is taking place online. There are more Arlington citizens currently engaged in Arlington political debate online, than there are in Arlington Civic Associations – and that means the Arlington Way really needs to be reinvented.

But here’s my point. I was able to take the time and craft up this guide – because I was sitting at my son’s baseball game at Barcroft park. I have time – but its weird and unusual time. It is in pockets in odd places. And it is frequently while sitting beside a sports field. I have time for my family; they come first. If I can make time for other things in that time, I do. Here, I wrote a guide about bicycles. Other times it was a survey of all candidates and their views on bicycle transportation.

The old legacy Arlington Way that you have to show up to a meeting an anachronistic. And it is particularly anachronistic because Arlington is where the Internet was conceived. It was a DOD project, operated out of the office building across the street from you Tim. The idea that 40s later Arlington failed to get the email, and bring political process into the information era – is laughable. The Arlington Way is failing because too often it remains the fiefdom of the few who thing that going to a meeting on a weeknight is fun. This is generally people without children, without jobs that are overly demanding, or without something else in their life. And then they build walls around the fiefdom and say “You cant complain unless you show up to the meeting.” Bullhockey. Right here, right now, we are engaged in political discourse. Political discourse is happening all around us. ARLNOW has become a political force in Arlington. Blogs causes a ruckus last election when it became clear one candidate didnt think she had to pay taxes. It was my blog that got all of the candidates to state clearly their position on bicycle transportation (not the BAC). It is Steven’s Blog that made a ruckus about Bollards.

Political discourse in Arlington has transformed. The government is struggling to figure out what that means, and how to deal with the strong rise of citizen voices – that is rising outside of the civic associations. The Civic Associations are floundering. Mine can barely find its purpose, while others have active energy taking place through blogs, discussion forums, and even facebook pages.

Physical meetings as the necessary and required form of political process is a thing of the past. If you want the BAC to be more effective, learn that lesson. The fact that anyone can credibly say, if you dont come to the meeting, you cant complain, is 100% demonstrative of how the BAC has problems.

[rcannon100]

@Certifried 34450 wrote:

done

Certified, what do you mean “done” Did this get posted somewhere?

[Tim Kelley]

Check the top sticky in the Bikes and Gear sub-category.

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?3055-Bikes-and-Gear-link-compendium

[dasgeh]

@rcannon100 34454 wrote:

Er, no. That would only be true if you close the door to democracy so that the process only includes those in the room. That would be silly – and not democracy. I would say other things about how this fails notions of democratic discourse and being effective, but I wont.

I will say this, a govt official, or even a govt contractor, should be careful about saying that citizens cannot complain, or saying when and how citizens have permission to engage the political process. That would be treading very close to first amendment problems.

Look, there are plenty of ways to participate. But ABAC right now is a really a series of meetings. It’s not even a strictly governmental body. If you want it to be different, then please participate to make it different. Though, when you say things that amount to “I don’t feel like participating in the ways that are set up to participate”, then you can’t really expect those of us who are willing to give of our time to weight your opinion very heavily.

Though many of the regular members of ABAC do frequent this forum, this forum isn’t ABAC. If you can’t/won’t come to meetings and want your voice heard, you could write something and have some one read it. But you won’t be participating in the discussion, because the discussion will happen in the room. You can’t really expect all of us to change how we operate because you’ve posted on the forum that you want to be involved, but only on your own terms.

[Steve]

@rcannon100 34454 wrote:

Er, no. That would only be true if you close the door to democracy so that the process only includes those in the room. That would be silly – and not democracy.

I will say this, a govt official, or even a govt contractor, should be careful about saying that citizens cannot complain, or saying when and how citizens have permission to engage the political process. That would be treading very close to first amendment problems.

This is generally people without children, without jobs that are overly demanding, or without something else in their life. And then they build walls around the fiefdom and say “You cant complain unless you show up to the meeting.” Political discourse in Arlington has transformed.

Is there really a need for the personal level of this attack? After all, Tim is one of the few people who dedicate their career (at least currently) to trying to improve the cycling in Arlington that we all enjoy. And from the few ABAC meetings that I have attended, I don’t think it is at all fair to characterize the rest of the group as you have. To the point of where this started, I think the comment was more of the “if you don’t vote, you can’t complain” type. While you can participate in the forum, on some level if you don’t attend the meeting, you are forfeiting a vote. It’s much like the blog in that you can attempt to be political, and you can even greatly influence the political discussion, but voting remains important.

[Tim Kelley]

I’m not suggesting you have to commit your first Monday of every month from now on. My point was that you had complained in an earlier post (“I never got any traction on an ArlBAC or Forum Blog.”) without really giving it enough of a chance.

I think an ongoing blog is a fantastic idea that I’d really like to see happen. Writing one email probably won’t get you very far with the BAC, so I was encouraging you to attend the next BAC meeting since it is on this very topic!

Be the change you want to see! Or something like that, right?

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