jnw@uvacs.UUCP (06/06/84)
[Joe Bike V2#3 - Concerning Bike Accidents, Bike Paths, etc.]
Joe Bike is often approached by the tin-horn bikies or lay people and
asked to comment on the safety of riding a bicycle in this day and age,
etc., etc. The same questions come up over and over. Several times this
month alone tin-horns have warned him about how unsafe it is to ride on
Garth road (a fairly heavily travelled secondary state road in this area).
Well, Joe Bike generally informs them politely that they are misinformed
about what is or isn't safe about riding a bike.
It's a universal truth that ALL (I mean every dang one of em') tin-horns
think that the most likely accident to occur is to get hit from behind.
They don't believe that drivers are able to avoid hitting bicyclists.
They think that if you ride on a country road you are just asking for it.
On the other hand, they think that there oughta be bike paths in the
city so that bikies can keep away from those big bad cars. Tsk, Tsk.
Well, let me tell ya how I see it. All the rear end collisions I know
about have been fatal. I know of two. One happened to a guy who was
riding at midnight on a Friday on a major road leading away from one Fred's
Backdoor Lounge. (I ain't kiddin', the guy got plastered on the road by
someone who got plastered at Fred's.) The other happened to a bone doctor
ridin' into the sunset during rush hour on a Va. primary highway. The
woman who hit him never saw him 'cause of windshield glare. Neither o'
these accidents on a small country road, neither of 'em in what Joe Bike
would call normal circumstances.
But I know of numerous (more than two) cases of people who've gotten
sideswiped by turning cars. In almost all these cases the problem
was cyclist visibility. The car driver didn't see that dang bikie so he
just plowed right into 'em. Every bike path Joe Bike ever saw reduces
cyclist visibility remarkably. They're way off to the edge of the road, or
they're separate from the road but parallel (even worse!).
Joe Bike has had some accidents. Not a one of 'em ever involved a car.
Among those accidents, Joe Bike has slipped in sand and got stuck in a
sewer grate. Both of these accidents are a result of lousy bike handling
when faced with hazardous road surfaces. Bike paths fer the most part
provide the most hazardous road surfaces around. They're dirty cause
street sweepers and cars don't keep the trash off 'em, and they're bumpy
cause the public don't wanna spend much money to make 'em in the first
place. Plus joggers (and even horsies) like to use 'em, adding to the
likelihood of runnin' into somethin'.
Don't let them car drivers convince you that you don't have a real
right to be on the road and you need some honky little bike path built to
protect you. Every street is a bicycle street, and don't you forget it.
Whenever you ride way over off the street you give up your right to make a
legal left turn. You give up your right to ride on a good road. You make
Joe Bike feel sad that you don't have enuf gumption to stand up fer yer
rights and make the world a better place to cycle.
And now a couple of quick paragraphs about Big Apple bikies.
Fer you New York City snob sonnofabikies that like to ride full speed
down the sidewalk blowin' a whistle warning people to duck outa the way -
that think ya can't ride on the street 'cause you'll get killed - that
think ya gotta ride around central park 50 million times so you'll get
some exercise, Joe Bike sez so you can dish it out but you can't take it,
huh? If you can't take the manure, stay outa the cow pasture!
Fer you New York City bikies who are upstandin' citizens of bikiedom,
Joe Bike sez keep up the good work. We appreciate what yer doin' down
there in the trenches.
Keep on draftin'
Joe Bike
Charlottesville, Virginia
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