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Just have to keep living life
Feb. 2nd, 2011 04:13 pmThere are some days where I want to get a big piece of coroplast, and write, in large, black letters: "Drivers of Phoenix: Stop threatening, hurting, and killing my friends and me!" Just to do SOMETHING about the situation.
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scrottie was hit by a car last night. Not just hit - the car aimed at him, and drove off without pausing to stop. His left leg is bruised, his bike is damaged, but he will heal. Thank goodness.
Drivers have mowed down bicyclists in other cities before, and when it happens, it's news. There have been incidents in Seattle and San Francisco over the past year or so. Around here, it isn't really news. Few people can be bothered to care for long.
There's a billboard up in central Phoenix, that features a rearview mirror picture of a girl sitting in the back seat of a car. She's holding a sign that says, "Let's get ice cream after you paralyze us." Apparently it's a national advertising campaign. I wish they'd make one with a bicyclist on it, because somehow people seem to forget that bicyclists are humans, too, when they get behind the wheel, here.
As I rode up toscrottie's house last night, to see how he was doing (how could I not?), my mind kept cycling between two things: I'm out here by choice, even though it sucks to ride through heavy winds with a head cold. But I'm not doing it because I enjoy the risk; I endure the risk.
For a long time, I've thought about making a video about myself, in case I'm ever killed in a bike accident. A morbid thought, I know, and of course I hope nothing like that ever happens, ever. But personally, if such a thing does happen, I do not want my death to be in vain; if anything good could come out of such a horrifying situation, it would have to do with improved safety and improved opportunities for other vulnerable road users.
Which brings me to another point. People need to wake up and pay more attention to transportation in this country. The House Republican Study Committee, in the words of Transportation for America, is calling for "completely eliminating the main federal transit program, zero[ing] out Amtrak, cut[ting] all funding for the metro system in the nation’s capital and slash[ing] $2.5 billion in high-speed rail grants." TfA has a form letter you can send (if you agree with it), and another organization, People for Bikes, also has a modifiable form letter that you can send in to your representatives to urge them to support bike-related programs. People for Bikes is also trying to drive up their membership numbers so they are more effective as a lobbying organization, so just signing their pledge helps.
So there you have it. Hopefully, this is enough of a rant that I can now get back to work on other things, like my dissertation.
scrottie was hit by a car last night. Not just hit - the car aimed at him, and drove off without pausing to stop. His left leg is bruised, his bike is damaged, but he will heal. Thank goodness.Drivers have mowed down bicyclists in other cities before, and when it happens, it's news. There have been incidents in Seattle and San Francisco over the past year or so. Around here, it isn't really news. Few people can be bothered to care for long.
There's a billboard up in central Phoenix, that features a rearview mirror picture of a girl sitting in the back seat of a car. She's holding a sign that says, "Let's get ice cream after you paralyze us." Apparently it's a national advertising campaign. I wish they'd make one with a bicyclist on it, because somehow people seem to forget that bicyclists are humans, too, when they get behind the wheel, here.
As I rode up to
scrottie's house last night, to see how he was doing (how could I not?), my mind kept cycling between two things: I'm out here by choice, even though it sucks to ride through heavy winds with a head cold. But I'm not doing it because I enjoy the risk; I endure the risk.For a long time, I've thought about making a video about myself, in case I'm ever killed in a bike accident. A morbid thought, I know, and of course I hope nothing like that ever happens, ever. But personally, if such a thing does happen, I do not want my death to be in vain; if anything good could come out of such a horrifying situation, it would have to do with improved safety and improved opportunities for other vulnerable road users.
Which brings me to another point. People need to wake up and pay more attention to transportation in this country. The House Republican Study Committee, in the words of Transportation for America, is calling for "completely eliminating the main federal transit program, zero[ing] out Amtrak, cut[ting] all funding for the metro system in the nation’s capital and slash[ing] $2.5 billion in high-speed rail grants." TfA has a form letter you can send (if you agree with it), and another organization, People for Bikes, also has a modifiable form letter that you can send in to your representatives to urge them to support bike-related programs. People for Bikes is also trying to drive up their membership numbers so they are more effective as a lobbying organization, so just signing their pledge helps.
So there you have it. Hopefully, this is enough of a rant that I can now get back to work on other things, like my dissertation.
