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I want you all to read this article and write whoever you can a start a movement to teach people about how stupid they are in their cars. Spread the news...
Can you fucking believe it... as if it's not enough that you are surrounded by metal... these bastards are now charging people on bikes... this world has gotten crazy! People are crazy!
Even on tree hugger, you always get some wacko commenter who shows up and uses a cyclist victim as an opportunity to say cyclists don't behave so they shouldn't have rights in the comments. I see this shit on every story like this. F##K CARS & the Fuck tards who drive them!!! ARRRRRRGG!!!! Kay needed to vent a little, and really I don't mean all drivers, i know some of you also drive and keep an eye out.
For the record, your choice of transportation does not make you a better or worse person.
There are lots of decent hardworking people that drive SUVs, and there are lots of douchebags that get around by bike.
See e.g.
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/19398654.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/16/local/me-bicycle16
http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/08/14/another-bike-by-shooting-in-chicago-despite-the-handgun-ban/
Here's some more on that accident in Canada.
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/537676
Cyclist who lost leg expected to survive
Nov 15, 2008 11:40 AM
Carmen Chai
Sunny Freeman
Staff Reporters
A cyclist whose leg was severed after an apparent altercation with a cab driver is expected to survive, police said Saturday.
The 35-year-old Toronto man was pinned against a pole after the cab driver allegedly backed into him early Friday morning. The victim's condition has been upgraded to serious. He had surgery yesterday and police say he will undergo more operations this weekend.
"It's gone. His right leg is gone," said Staff Sgt. Keith Haines of Traffic Services.
Police were called to Dovercourt Rd., near Queen St. W. and Ossington Ave., around 2:30 a.m. for a report of a hit-and-run incident. They found the cyclist bleeding heavily from his right leg.
The cyclist was taken to St. Michael's Hospital, where doctors made an unsuccessful attempt to reattach his leg.
Police are waiting to speak to the victim, who isn't coherent. "Once the hospital says he's capable, we'll be getting his side of the story," Haines said.
Detectives canvassed the neighbourhood talking to residents who woke up and heard the argument in the street.
"We're asking people not only what they might have seen, but anything they heard that will help narrow this down," Haines said.
Witnesses reported hearing yelling and an argument in the area, and then hearing a crash, said Traffic Services Sgt. Tim Burrows. Witnesses later saw the cab heading south on Dovercourt.
"Sounds like there was an interaction, and it wasn't a good interaction, and as a result of that the driver backed up. We're not sure if it was intentional," Haines said.
The victim was at the side of the cab, but he somehow ended up wedged between the back of the car and the pole, with his right leg severed, he said.
"Three hours later, we get a 911 call indicating that a cab driver was involved in some sort of altercation. He put himself at the scene."
The cab driver told police the cyclist tried to rob him, but Burrows could not confirm whether the robbery had taken place. "That's what the secondary radio call stated, but we're still trying to determine whether the robbery actually occurred, if that's what led to all this or not," Burrows said.
The cab driver appeared at Traffic Services headquarters to give a statement yesterday. He spoke with investigators, who are still in the process of determining what happened, and if charges will be laid.
Burrows said the cab driver failed to remain at the scene and could face charges. The driver could face additional charges if it is determined to be a case of road rage, Burrows said.
"In a situation like this it's hard to know what charges and who will be charged ... right now the story we have is all over the place," he said.
The cab driver originally called in a driving complaint, then said he was assaulted, and later told police he was robbed. Detectives will conduct forensic work on the Beck taxi, which had damage to its rear trunk, bumper and tail light to try to determine what happened. Detectives will review the transcript of the 911 call.
Yes, as much as it is true that fuck tards exist in all modes of transit, there is a particular kind of fuck tard that results in the 40,000 americans dead on our roads in a year, the automobile fuck tard. To put that in perspective, in a 2 month period more Americans die from automobile related accidents than died in the 9/11 attacks, in fact more American civilians then have died by terrorist attacks of any kind since the 70's. In less than a month and a half more die from cars then all the US soldiers lost in Iraq. But this is considered "normal", just part of every day life, so it is unremarkable. Traffic fatalities are mentioned briefly and quickly forgotten as another delay on the 405.
There a number of ways to bring these numbers down, but Americans have been highly resistant to things like lower speed limits and stricter enforcement, which are viewed as restricting driving freedoms. This needs to change.
There does need to be more public transit and better bike infrastructure, but that doesn't work for everyone.
Sure, it would be nice if everyone lived within cycling distance of their job/family/retail/etc., but that's not always how it works, especially in L.A.
Calling drivers "fucktards" because they need or want to cover more distance faster and more safely that can be done by bike is a pretty "fucktarded" attitude.
It could be argued that limiting one's mode of travel to a single vehicle that maxes out at 15-25mph average speed for most trips is an inherently self-defeating and life limiting approach, especially for someone that wants to get the most out of a city as sprawling as Los Angeles.
Bikes are good AND cars are good. Each have their purpose, and we all need to get along and share the road, rather than being bitter that other people with less time or longer distances to travel choose to do so in a vehicle that meets their needs.
Motorists and cyclists need to unite and go after the city, county and state governments that have let the transit and transportation infrastructure of America's second largest city become so shockingly pathetic.
I'm not saying lets get rid of cars, but we A) need to be less dependent on them and B) need to change the culture of those who would still be driving. I recommend reading the book traffic, and you'll realize in great detail how unqualified most people are to be behind the wheel.
There are countries that still have lots of driving but far less road fatalities because, gasp, things like respecting the speed limit. Most road fatalities are the result of cars traveling over the speed limit, reducing time to react and increasing the severity of any accident. Enforcement and education is also only part of the picture, as the actual landscaping of the road and things like lane width and painted line markings send subconscious cues about how fast to go regardless of the marked speed limit signs.
It's a bit immature I realize, but I said fuck tard, not because I think a lot of these people are bad people, but they become bad people when they get behind a wheel. Inside the car many people psychological go through a dehumanizing change that actually changes who they are. One of the interesting points in the book, is that drivers of convertibles change behavior depending on whether their top is down or up. With the top down, and less of a social shield, they tend to exhibit less signs of road rage, and are less likely to honk their horn and willing to wait longer for a delay before using the horn. SUV drivers are caught speeding more often, and one of the theorized contributing factors is the higher eye line results in a different parallax perspective then the lower view of car, making the driver feel like they are not as moving as fast as they are.
Hell even Disney seemed to realize a something was the matter with our driving culture...
Also as a I note, I've written posts for my blog on encouraging coexistence between cars and bikes that goes both ways, and do not advocate running around tell off all motorists, but in the context of a story like this one, on a forum of fellow cyclists, I get a little more ranty because sometimes it feels good to do so. I'm also especially ranty having just read Traffic, which dropped my confidence in drivers and the engineers who design our roads to an all time low.
Some how I can't see someone backing up TOWARDS his attacker to get away. Especially since the alleged attacker is unarmed and on a bike! It should be interesting to hear the biker's story on this.
The poor guy must have been in unfathomable amount of pain too.
I think he has a far better of a chance of getting justice in Canada than he would be here in the states though.
Oh yeah, interesting video above. Someone at Disney has some good insight.
"Bicycles still have a significantly higher fatality rate per mile travelled than cars."
That's completely orthogonal to the discussion here. The discussion is about how the USA has become a nation of car loving idiots completely oblivious to other road users at best and completely combative to other road users at worst. It's not just cyclists, either. Every single FUCKING DAY I almost get hit by cars on my walk to work because they think no one walks in LA and they never look right when turning right at a signal, stop sign, or pulling out of the driveway.
I thought the discussion was about a cyclist in CANADA who lost his leg after getting into a loud argument with a motorist (and possibly assaulting or attempting to rob the motorist) and found out the hard way why you shouldn't bring a knife to a gun fight.
Orthogonal?
Main Entry: or·thog·o·nal
Pronunciation: ȯr-ˈthä-gə-nəl
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin orthogonius, from Greek orthogōnios, from orth- + gōnia angle — more at -gon
Date: 1612
1 a: intersecting or lying at right angles b: having perpendicular slopes or tangents at the point of intersection 2: having a sum of products or an integral that is zero or sometimes one under specified conditions: as aof real-valued functions : having the integral of the product of each pair of functions over a specific interval equal to zero bof vectors : having the scalar product equal to zero cof a square matrix : having the sum of products of corresponding elements in any two rows or any two columns equal to one if the rows or columns are the same and equal to zero otherwise : having a transpose with which the product equals the identity matrix
3of a linear transformation : having a matrix that is orthogonal : preserving length and distance
4: composed of mutually orthogonal elements 5: statistically independent
— or·thog·o·nal·i·ty -ˌthä-gə-ˈna-lə-tē noun
— or·thog·o·nal·ly -ˈthä-gə-nəl-ē adverb
Its clear that this cabbie was road raging. It looks like he is going to have to find a new line of work that has nothing to do with being allowed to operate a car. He should be banned for life from driving.
I get insane thoughts on the road. When stupid people are bullying me. I never get to the point of brandishing my u-lock ... but the thought often floats in and out of my head.
I learned at a pretty young age that it is stupid to yell at people people in cars or have unnecessary interactions with people. However in the heat of the moment I don't always do the smart thing. I often yell at people on the road when I get pissed off. Way more so than when I am driving. I tend to get way crazier and way more aggressive when I ride I bike, I usually attribute that to the extra blood flow, adrenaline, and endorphins pumping through my brain.
I'm way mellower when I drive. Usually mumbling "fuck wad" or "douchy mc doucherson" at the inconsiderate assholes I share the road with.
As far as road raging drivers go, those people are unhappy for reasons that have nothing to do with driving or being in a car.
But being in a car give them a sense of protection that allows them to express themselves negatively 99.99% the time this has nothing to do with intentionally hurting somebody with the car.
I would say the PRIMARY REASON people get pset at bicyclists is that they don't understand that cyclists have a place on the road.
How many times have you seen some dummy just sitting and waiting behind a bus. They don't scream and shout at the bus for stopping for passengers and blocking a whole lane of traffic. Why? its because thats what busses do, its what they are supposed to do.
When people start to learn that bikes belong in the road there will be less rage and conflict between riders and drivers.
It is a MASSIVE failure on the part of DMV, DOT and MTA that there is such an information gap about the rights of cyclists on the road.
Drivers are just people.
Its a fairly democratic cross section of our society.
In terms of transportation, at least in LA probably the most representative cross section. Drivers are young and old, rich and poor, all ethnicities, all religions. Lots of kind, loving people, travel by car, that doesn't change when they get behind the wheel (as much as I love that cartoon). There are also greedy, self-absorbed, inconsiderate assholes on the road, plenty of them, and I assure you, weather they have cars or not, they are greedy, self-absorbed, and inconsiderate in their daily lives too.
The cartoon as an exaggeration of course, but I believe based on my own experience as a driver, passenger, cyclist, and especially having now read Traffic, which cites numerous studies on the psychology of driving, that many people are fundamentally different behind the wheel. Not necessarily in a road rage sense, but far more often in a detachment from the potential repercussions of seemingly minor acts of carelessness.
"I thought the discussion was about a cyclist in CANADA who lost his leg after getting into a loud argument with a motorist (and possibly assaulting or attempting to rob the motorist) and found out the hard way why you shouldn't bring a knife to a gun fight.
Orthogonal? "
Yeah, what the fuck does comparing general bicycle safety stats to car safety stats have to do with a violent attack on a cyclist?
The book you read, Traffic, did it mention anything in regards to the size of the vehicle and the harmony of vehicles on the road? From my experience and my beliefs. If drivers drove smaller cars, cars with a 1.5 liter engine or smaller, they would be more in tune with traffic and other vehicles on the road. They would be far more aware of bicyclist and pedestrians around them. In doing so they would be less aggressive. I don't have any studies to back me up, but that's what I feel would happen. The only way I see us doing that is if the price of gas went up to $8 dollars a gallon or higher.
The book does mention that compact cars typically get in fewer fatal crashes, however safety is revealed to be a fairly complex in nature in the book.
For example cars have been getting safer for the passengers for years, but the rate of driver and passenger fatality reduction has not slowed as quickly as safety has improved. People who feel safer, use their feeling of safety as an excuse to drive more dangerously, thus negating the benefits of the improved safety. Drivers of new vehicles, of any vehicle type, are more likely to die in crashes then people with older vehicles with less safety features. Part of the reason for this is that people with older vehicles driver safer because they know their car is not as safe. Ironic isn't it.
Well yeah people in bigger cars feel safer than people in smaller cars. So therefore the larger car drivers drive faster. What $8 / gallon and higher would do is encourage drivers to get smaller cars. If everyone has smaller cars, survival goes up in accidents.
Europe does one thing (among many) that I like. They tax the cars based on the weight of the car and the displacement of the engine. What this does is also encourage people to drive smaller cars.
JB...i have never heard of a car apologist in our midst quite as flagrant as you. I don't want to go on a big rant here, but what mode of transportation you choose IS a decision fraught with moral implications, at least if you actually believe in the morality of preserving life both human and not.
I'm not saying this is anything but my pure opinion, but if you choose to drive car rather than taking public transportation/riding, and you don't meet one of the following criteria, you are unnecessarily: polluting the planet, enslaving poor people in other countries, risking the lives of yourself and innocent commuters around you, and generally contributing to traffic and the preservation of an unsustainable and idiotic system foisted upon us by car and oil companies. In other words, you are a fucktard.
VIABLE CAR TRIPS (according to lance)
--------------
1. driver is over 40 or physically infirm in any way.
2. Driver NEEDS (not WANTS) to travel faster than 15-20 mph. I can imagine very few situations where you can even expect this in LA.
3. Driver needs to travel more than 30 miles in a day, all inclusive, and their route is not serviced by any sort of light rail or equivalent.
4. Trip Includes cargo over 60 lbs ie large canines, children, massive grocery loads that can't be broken up.
5. car is full to at least 50% of it's passenger capacity
Obviously all these statistics need to be altered based on elevation and weather, ie i would only expect sane people to ride a couple miles a day in rain or snow, or to carry 30 lbs up 3000 ft of climbing.
I'm glad so many people engaged... the thing is guys... not matter who is a douch bag... the bottom line is... if you hit a dude on a bike with a car... you can kill him; but if you hit a dude in a car with a bike... whatever! There is no argument, no sound logical argument that can be made to justify this. It is a similar situation with guns. If you hit a person with your fist... there is no legitimate defense if they shoot you. None. Unless you are wielding a gun at the guy, there is no defense.
Let's be honest with ourselves... people in cars are oblivious to their surroundings. Some, a few may not be... so what? The majority are. I am a surgeon, and I ride my bike to work 3 or 4 days a week. I also run every morning. And I can tell you that almost everywhere I have been on my bike or by foot, I run into (not literally... phew) some dumb ass who just doesn't realize that you are there. And then they give you that stupid "oops... saaawww-reeee... didn't see you..." smile... fuck that... that asshole could have killed me.
The fact is... anyone who even attempts to debase bikers for anything they do on the road... is only making things worse for poor guys like this. Let's say this rider threw every known profane word at this driver... again... SO WHAT... the fucking driver was in a 2 ton box of steel... that in my book is considered a lethal weapon.
This is a symptom of our fucked up society where individualism, or should I say hyper-individualism is rampant. You want to read more... visit my blog site and see why our world is so fucked:
www.theultimatespaceship.com
If we don't band together and change things as citizens, things will only get worse... because I hate to inform you... but you now are living in an idiocracy... not a democracy.
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