[Mykeru]

@CCrew 1813 wrote:

Naa, he’s on the bike because of DUI’s and he’s an illegal alien.

You know, it’s amazing how many motorists assume because I ride a bike, I don’t have a car. As if being a bicyclist means you’re an anti-car luddite or a homeless person a step up from wheeling a shopping cart.

I have a 2008 Jeep Patriot. Mostly because it’s sort of a sub-compact SUV, my bike fits in it nicely, and the name itself provides nice contrast to whatever leftist, anti-theist magnetic bumper stickers I swap out on the back for long drives.

I have explain to motorists who think that way, that as I drive and bike, I speak from experience, whereas as they are solely fat-assed, dumb motorists who would drive around a parking lot for 15 minutes so they don’t have to walk 30 extra feet, they are speaking from pure ignorance.

It goes over pretty much as well as you expect.

[Mykeru]

@eminva 1795 wrote:

Hello —

I was telling my husband about this last night and he thought of something I hadn’t — some intersections in DC have cameras mounted on the traffic signal structures (and not just red light cameras that are triggered by scofflaws). If this is one of those intersections, there might be a video record of this incident. The first step of course would be a police report, but it might be worth looking into if there is a camera.

Liz

I’m probably really cynical about social mores and the police, but even if there is a tape of the incident, I’m sure the interpretation will be this: The driver is a “citizen”, the guy on the bike is a “scumbag”.

@Rootchopper 1805 wrote:

I hope someone from WABA reads this and then asks drivers to sign a pledge to drive responsibly. Maybe they can team up with AAA.

Seriously? Is the lady who chirped “I HATE bicyclists” going to sign it? If gas hits $5 a gallon, that’ll just give driver’s more reason to hate bicyclists. That’s the fun of irrational, bigoted hatred: It’s fueled by confirmation bias.

[Mykeru]

@acc 1781 wrote:

I must be naive or simple-minded but I do not understand the reference to the lead fishing weights, obviously something sinister but I can’t come up with a clear mental image of what exactly is going on.

Lead fishing weights stimulate the auto glass industry.

Hey, it’s snowing! I knew it would as soon as I took off my Continental Spike Claw snow tires.

[Mykeru]

@acc 1774 wrote:

I am glad you are ok and came out of this misadventure in one piece.

Well, luckily it was a glancing blow to the bike, which then took me out, but considering, it could have been a lot worse, like this idiot trying to explain what happened to a cop with my head flat on the pavement.

I am sorry you weren’t supported in your cycling, that stinks on so many levels.

Yes, well, it was that kind of relationship, but, as I said, I still have the bike.

Please let us know of any new soreness or injuries surface over the next two days. As a former nurse I can tell you it may not hit you for 48 hours. But you already know that I am sure.

Hmmn, a former nurse…well, I do feel a bit of soreness right — well, that probably won’t work

Most of all, keep fighting the good fight and look into that RPG thing, maybe a small caliber machine gun mounted turret-style would work.

I have a vintage M1 carbine I take camping, but right now I think I’ll stick with the 6 oz. fishing weights.

[Mykeru]

@CCrew 1769 wrote:

I have a Trek that I can say the same thing about. I hear there’s a 12 step program for it… I’d never make the first 10 days!

“We admitted we were powerless over upgrading and our lives became unmanageable”?

[Mykeru]

Robert,

I agree. And it’s odd the thread was locked or that it even got slightly contentious because the only point I was making — myself having administered forums, comments and way-back-when mIRC channels, it that trying to apply vague standards like “offensiveness” is a huge can of worms. Especially when everyone who ever dealt with this sort of thing knows whatever standards are adopted, or not adopted, are never equitably applied.

Frankly, vague policies like that should be the third rail of forums. They quite literally cause far more problems, hurt feelings, anger, and generate tons of hypocrisy, over and above whatever problem with language or attitude they are ostensibly addressing.

[Mykeru]

@eminva 1762 wrote:

Wow, very sorry to hear this. I hope you are okay. We all dread this encounter and I wouldn’t criticize anything you did.

Love your bike!

Liz

Nice to know I handled it within the tolerance levels of my Scottish-Italian heritage. I was sure someone was going to inflict me with Internet Omniscience.

Love my bike too, that’s six years of modification, including all Shimano gear sets, including an extra-large third chainring so I can power downhill.

You see, way back when I was married, my then wife wouldn’t let me buy a high-end bike. So I told her I was going to buy a mid-line bike and then, when anything broke or wore out, I would replace it with the best parts. Grady at Papillon Bikes refers to it as “The Giant with no stock parts left”.

Of course, my then wife would complain when parts wore out. She would say “Can’t you bike more carefully”, as if that would prevent parts wearing out when I was biking 100 miles a week. It was either her or the bike. I obviously still have the bike.

And where I moved on Columbia Pike, its now only 50 miles a week to commute. Irony abounds.

[Mykeru]

@CCrew 1757 wrote:

Yikes. Glad you’re ok. That’s the most important of all. And far from condemning you, I think you handled it fine. Classic case about drivers thinking surrounding themselves in a ton or so of steel makes them superior.

I’m sure that one can do an entire psychological study of the American psyche related to cars. From doing it in the back seat, to status, to the psychology of tailgaters and people who cause congestion by obsessive lane changing. In fact, I’m sure someone has.

[Mykeru]

@acc 1756 wrote:

I think maybe it’s time to mount an RPG on your bike.
Seriously, I am so sorry this happened to you. I hope over the next few days your body doesn’t come up with new injuries.
I don’t trust motorists. Been hit in a crosswalk by an idiot who stared at me the entire time he glided into me. Then left the scene. Hope you’re ok.

ann

Ann…Well, he just didn’t see you…

Isn’t it appalling how that excuse actually flies? After Alice Swanson was killed in a right hook by a garbage truck, the truck driver was able to say “Well, I didn’t see her” and that was good enough.

Me, I’m not at all injured. I’m pretty resilient and I wear body armor on my arms.

One day a couple months ago I was out shopping. On my bike with my Bob Ibex trailer when a guy outside REI in Bailey’s Crossroads saw the Six-Six-One guards I wear and said “That’s a good idea”, then lifted up his arm to show his elbow. It looked like someone took a spoon to the skin and scooped it out. The arm guards not only protect me in a fall, but when herded into a stationary object by some idiot, I’ve been able to use them to slide along and recover nicely, rather than putting out my arms and breaking them, or hitting handlebar-first, which never ends well.

[Mykeru]

Greg,

Unfortunately, and I know we have to go through process and all, after a point I’ve decided that any interaction with the police, over biking or otherwise, isn’t in my best interests.

Way back when Alice Swanson was run over in Dupont Circle, I took a video camera to document abuse of the bike lanes. The police didn’t care about cars using the bike lanes, or delivery trucks unloading kegs right in the bike lane. What they were concerned about, of course, was having me present ID for the suspicious activity of videotaping in public. That’s one of about a dozen Terry Stops I’ve gotten for taking pictures.

At the same time, one cyclist who asked what I was doing told me that once they were hit by a car and, while they are laying in hospital, the police dropped by to write them a citation for failure to yield.

A lot of my failure to report (and remember, I have nothing, like a license, to report) has to do with my perception of the role of the police these days: When swat teams show up evict people in foreclosure you can pretty much figure out “protect and serve” isn’t on their list of priorities like, oh, traffic revenue and kicking hippies is.

So, unless it’s absolutely, positively necessary, I don’t talk to the police. Ever. They aren’t there to help me.

[Mykeru]

Tim,

When I hit the ground I landed on my elbow, but I wear Six-Six-One elbow/forearm guards. Experience there.

My bike is anything but fragile. The other day I was carry a box of hunting boots (for camping) on the back when one of the bungees snapped and the cord and hook swung into the back wheel. And then got chewed up and spat out. Over the years I’ve taken my stock Giant Warp DS2 and modified it so it’s basically tough as a mountain bike, fast as a road bike and suitable for pretty much all terrain.

The thing in question:

I agree that getting off the bike gets less honks and dirty looks, but at the same time, it makes me even more vulnerable. I’m not sure which is better. It’s like this: My biking clothes tend, like the bike, to be all black and grey and a lot of florescent yellow. The thing is, that works if drivers are merely inattentive. If they are actually trying to kill me, then camouflage might be a better option.

[Mykeru]

@Mark Blacknell 1709 wrote:

Dude. Mykeru. Invoking a misplaced First Amendment defense and North Korea in the first half dozen posts here? Not encouraging. Just chill and check out the environment before going wild on it, yeah?

1. How many posts do I have to have here before I’m entitled to an opinion and can construct and argument to express it?

2. What should those posts looks like? Should I just agree with everyone, or can I fill space by reprinting my shopping list?

3. Although it’s my “first dozen posts here”, can I transfer some credits for it being my god-knows-how-many-posts, including Pine and Usenet, since 1994?

[Mykeru]

I don’t buy the “bad apple” argument.

I just heard, from a woman in my apartment, all-chirpy like, that she “hates bicyclists”. When I asked why, what she said had nothing to do with the bad behavior of cyclists. What she said boils down to this: The road is for cars and anything else on it confuses her.

Which means regardless of how well cyclists behave, she’s going to be hating us for simply being there.

Aside from that, if you buy into the “bad apple argument” then 99.99% of cyclist could obey the laws and bike in only the most meek and submissive manner and there will still be “bad apples”, .01%, that motorists could point to, no doubt doing a rolling stop through a stop sign and failing to use their turn signals as they do so.

[Mykeru]

@bkclmbkyk 1682 wrote:

It can be a pain in something I guess I can’t say to keep on top of it, but if you start early and enforce it, you’ll end up with a cleaner, nicer forum in the long run, if a little less colorful than it might otherwise be. Good luck!

No, what you end up with, after “offensiveness” expands to include things those with power to define it disagree with, is an echo chamber.

Look, my point is this: It’s easy to casually decide you are going to drop the ban hammer on “offensive” speech. Thinking how that cashes in in the real world takes a little more work. Fairly enforcing even unambiguous standards is, sadly, beyond most people’s capability.

This is why the First Amendment of the Constitution has always been interpreted to protect offensive speech, not obscene speech lacking social, artistic or empirical value, but offensive speech. Because protecting speech that doesn’t include things you find disagreeable, contentious, even repugnant, is hardly free.

And yes, those who are hovering over their send button to opine some “love it or leave it, make your own forum” observation, let me counter your polemics with with this: Why not move to to some Saudi or North Korean forum, where they serve their heavy-handed tyranny without the sugar coating of hypocrisy?

[Mykeru]

@WillStewart 1663 wrote:

Freedom of speech is a valuable right, though we have to recognize that each forum sets its own rules for behavior; if one doesn’t like the rules at one forum, they are free to start one of their own.

I support the administrator’s call for restraint from cursing and believe we can state our positions without being offensive. Nasty tones are not conducive to constructive conversation, the latter requiring modest thought and energy to maintain.

Thanks to Joe for investing his time and energy into this valuable collaborative communications environment.

I don’t slight Joe for his investment of time.

I’m simply pointing out, from personal experience — including running and administering forums — that sweeping talk about “offensiveness” is inherently ambiguous, tend to stifle discussion and, perhaps most importantly, is almost never equitably enforced.

Short version: That kind of caveat never ends well.

And what’s a “nasty tone”? Because, and I’m not being facetious here, I read your tone as somewhat nasty.

[Author]

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