More so-called advocacy...
I expect this kind of crap from a motorist's organization, or some local yahoo whose only practical cycling skill is the ability to balance one. But the SAFE bicycle advocacy group seems to exist to promote motoring interests, not cycling. I tried to find some further information on SAFE, but apparently they're not a big web presence. If anyone in Florida has better info, please feel free to post it in comments, or e-mail it to me and I'll post it.
This 'advocacy' group wants cyclists to be restricted to a bike lane and prohibited from riding two abreast.
This has very little to do with making conditions better for cyclists. It has everything to do with making driving more convenient (i.e. FASTER) since motorists wouldn't have to slow down for all those pesky cyclists.
It seems to me that there are already packs of motor vehicles out there, slowing down more 'important' drivers. Why not force them to drive single file in the right hand lane - on a divided, 4-lane roadway, of course - since that would be so much safer for EVERYONE on the roadway?
The newspaper calls this a "fair, sensible request". Tug your forelocks and bow down to your betters, you pesky cyclists, and be thankful that Uncle Toms like the SAFE advocacy group are looking out for your interests!
Bicycle Safety
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 3 2007
ISSUE: A bike group peddles a law that would stop pack riding in bike lanes.
(T)he push to make Florida more bicycle-friendly won a big victory last year, when the Legislature passed a law requiring motorists to give bicyclists a full five feet of space when passing them on any public road. Those noble causes are getting run over, though, by the road-hogging habits of so-called pack riders, who are giving all cyclists a bad name.
You've seen them: The helmeted riders who move in packs, sometimes 20 and 50 at a time, going at their own pace, chatting along the way, taking up an entire lane of traffic, ignoring traffic signals and showing no concern for the line of cars behind them that have to fight oncoming traffic just to get by.
...As Jim Smith, chairman of the SAFE bike advocacy group, aptly put it, "Taking the road when there's a designated 5-foot bike lane is like declaring war."
Now SAFE is firing its own salvo at the boorish behavior, advocating for a state law requiring cyclists to ride in designated bike lanes where they exist and prohibiting them from riding side-by-side in those lanes. It's a fair request, and considering its source and the added safety it would bring to the state's roads, the Legislature should take it up without delay.
Sharing the road takes cooperation, and sometimes it takes legislative action to enforce it.
BOTTOM LINE: A fair, sensible request.
This 'advocacy' group wants cyclists to be restricted to a bike lane and prohibited from riding two abreast.
This has very little to do with making conditions better for cyclists. It has everything to do with making driving more convenient (i.e. FASTER) since motorists wouldn't have to slow down for all those pesky cyclists.
It seems to me that there are already packs of motor vehicles out there, slowing down more 'important' drivers. Why not force them to drive single file in the right hand lane - on a divided, 4-lane roadway, of course - since that would be so much safer for EVERYONE on the roadway?
The newspaper calls this a "fair, sensible request". Tug your forelocks and bow down to your betters, you pesky cyclists, and be thankful that Uncle Toms like the SAFE advocacy group are looking out for your interests!
Bicycle Safety
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 3 2007
ISSUE: A bike group peddles a law that would stop pack riding in bike lanes.
(T)he push to make Florida more bicycle-friendly won a big victory last year, when the Legislature passed a law requiring motorists to give bicyclists a full five feet of space when passing them on any public road. Those noble causes are getting run over, though, by the road-hogging habits of so-called pack riders, who are giving all cyclists a bad name.
You've seen them: The helmeted riders who move in packs, sometimes 20 and 50 at a time, going at their own pace, chatting along the way, taking up an entire lane of traffic, ignoring traffic signals and showing no concern for the line of cars behind them that have to fight oncoming traffic just to get by.
...As Jim Smith, chairman of the SAFE bike advocacy group, aptly put it, "Taking the road when there's a designated 5-foot bike lane is like declaring war."
Now SAFE is firing its own salvo at the boorish behavior, advocating for a state law requiring cyclists to ride in designated bike lanes where they exist and prohibiting them from riding side-by-side in those lanes. It's a fair request, and considering its source and the added safety it would bring to the state's roads, the Legislature should take it up without delay.
Sharing the road takes cooperation, and sometimes it takes legislative action to enforce it.
BOTTOM LINE: A fair, sensible request.
Labels: bicycle advocacy, bicycling + advocacy
posted by Ed W at 8:26 PM
2 Comments:
I see where this is going. After the mandatory side-path law, they will want parade permits for 50 or more vehicles, read that bicycles, on the road.
If that happens, like in NYC, I say call their BLUFF. Sue for a consent decree to enforce the SAME parade permit laws on motor vehicles too.
Motorists' convenience over cyclists' safety. Actually, the real bad guys are the civil engineers who CONDITIONED the cagers to RECKLESSLY speed to save all of ten SECONDS just to catch the red.
If you do much driving in Tulsa, it becomes very painfully OBVIOUS the greens are timed for 25, NOT 40, the posted speed limit on most Tulsa streets, 45 and 50 on Riverside Drive.
Shouldn't the design slow down traffic between intersections, and compensate for increased flow at the intersections, instead of causing a HUGE backup of vehicles waiting for the green?
The generally accepted roadway designs are SLAUGHTERING 43,000 motorists every year. One fully-loaded 747 burning and crashing every two days for the full year.
Shouldn't organizations like AASHTO and related organizations be held CRIMINALLY responsible for pre-meditated MURDER?
Like the tobacco companies, they KNOW the designs are FATALLY flawed, and yet, they are still allowed to continue their MURDEROUS ways.
Any legal eagles out there want to help me take on the hegemony of a CONSPIRACY to kill Americans?
Come this spring when WNR and the big rides start up again, OBC should really do a HUGE push to increase membership.
Hand out a set of legislative initiatives to protect and promote cyclists' interests and a plead for MONEY, masquerading as a survey.
I get these propaganda ALL the time from special interest mafia groups like the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservency all the time.
Let's play HARDBALL this year, people.
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