Eight million dollar bike injury

[j_b]

Some friendly advice: Obey traffic laws like the rest of us, and don't run over/into obstacles and expect the rest of us to pick up the bill.

 

you, picking up the bill? how much is your area paying in taxes per dollar of subsidy?

 

License tabs and mandatory liability insurance for road cyclists.

 

aren't welfare queens like you sufficiently subsidized by people from the big city?

[prole]

Isn't satire supposed to be funny?

 

Not necessarily.

 

You should try doing it funny on occasion...instead of just using it as a license to act like a cunt.

[Hugh Conway]

then I realize there is a huge difference between trolling people, and just being a fucking asshole most of the time.

 

not much of one

[jon]

Won't it be some ironic shit when those Chinese, who we long made fun of for riding bikes all around, will have the best transportation system in the world because of their investment into high speed trains and renewable energy, using all the money we gave them with our $260 billion trade deficit and providing us with all this credit to buy their crap to fill the need to CONSUME, and people here will still be arguing over their entitlement to drive their car everywhere with $8/gallon gas with complete disregard for anyone else.

[Jim]

I saw a car recently with two bumper stickers:

 

1) No one cares that you telemark (?)

2) One more car

[murraysovereign]

This isn't Canada, where the government never weans its litter.

 

Specifics may be different, but the basics of road funding aren't markedly different on either side of the border. The majority of the costs are paid for by all taxpayers, regardless of how they get around, and the majority of the construction and maintenance costs are due to the physical demands of cars and trucks, not bikes. That's the basic situation in both countries, unless roads in the US are entirely paid for solely by direct user fees - is that what you're saying?

[prole]

Bikes vs Cars - who pays? "People who don't drive much -- including most true bike zealots -- significantly subsidize those who drive a lot. And in any kilometre-by-kilometre comparison of city residents who travel exclusively by one mode or the other, drivers tend to pay less than their real costs, while riders pay more."

 

This isn't Canada--where the government never weans its litter.

 

And shouldn't you post some Canadian atrocity photos so you can make a point about the slippery road to serfdom?

[Hugh Conway]

Won't it be some ironic shit when those Chinese, who we long made fun of for riding bikes all around, will have the best transportation system in the world because of their investment into high speed trains and renewable energy, using all the money we gave them with our $260 billion trade deficit and providing us with all this credit to buy their crap to fill the need to CONSUME, and people here will still be arguing over their entitlement to drive their car everywhere with $8/gallon gas with complete disregard for anyone else.

 

As ironic of them dieing from western dieseases thanks to a massive apetite for western junk food?

[prole]

Reminds me of Jay_B's post: It's not about our shitty health care, we're just better at dying than Europeans!

[JBC]

Some friendly advice: Obey traffic laws like the rest of us, and don't run over/into obstacles and expect the rest of us to pick up the bill.

 

License tabs and mandatory liability insurance for road cyclists.

 

 

Not sure I would use 'the rest of us' for an example of obeying laws based on the auto driver behavior I observe daily.

[JBC]

License tabs and mandatory liability insurance for road cyclists.

 

License tabs and mandatory rescue insurance for climbers.

[Hugh Conway]

Some friendly advice: Obey traffic laws like the rest of us, and don't run over/into obstacles and expect the rest of us to pick up the bill.

 

License tabs and mandatory liability insurance for road cyclists.

 

 

Not sure I would use 'the rest of us' for an example of obeying laws based on the auto driver behavior I observe daily.

 

By better he meant, as usual, turning it into an industry with lots of administrators and other mucky-muckys. 5% of GDP to healthcare administration! GO USA!

[billcoe]

Won't it be some ironic shit when those Chinese, who we long made fun of for riding bikes all around, will have the best transportation system in the world because of their investment into high speed trains and renewable energy, using all the money we gave them with our $260 billion trade deficit and providing us with all this credit to buy their crap to fill the need to CONSUME, and people here will still be arguing over their entitlement to drive their car everywhere with $8/gallon gas with complete disregard for anyone else.

 

Last time I was in China, there were less bicyclists than here where I live. Cars baby - cars. They have has some spectacular, as in multiple days, gridlock though. They lead the world in gridlock I'd suppose:-)

 

To all you dicks being rude pricks to FW, hey, if you have to resort to name calling - your point is weak and isn't worth a shit.

 

Jim, I can relate to the dude. Saw a fella endo during the last "bridge pedal". They close all the bridges to cars and 13,000-15,000 bikes all go for a morning cruise over them. Good times for sure for 99.9% of us. See, in this instance they'd replaced ALL of the damn grates but 2 with bike friendly grates, and with wall to wall folks, well, some kids bike tire went in and he went for the ride. He got lucky, probably only a broken scapula and bike which can be replaced. We have responsibility in that.

 

Fairweather, would you trade the 8 mil for a wheel chair? Me either. - there isn't a price on your health when you get right down to it, but lots of kids are risking a lot more for a lot less in Asscrackistan right at this instance. Ain't no million dollar payday when it goes bad for them. But then again, they're not lawyers.

 

Regards to all, even you filthy mouth bastards.

 

[billcoe]

damn - son of a bitch...this filthy mouth thing must be contagious!

 

Hola fuckheads!

[j_b]

guess who came to defend FW who thinks user group fees should be levied?

[j_b]

License tabs and mandatory liability insurance for road cyclists.

 

License tabs and mandatory rescue insurance for climbers.

 

That has been pointed out to 'them' before. Usually they ignore the point like everything else that isn't on Fox.

[billcoe]

guess who came to defend FW who thinks user group fees should be levied?

 

Can I have multiple guess's?

[mattp]

Maybe I missed it, but I see nothing in the news media that indicates that Mr. Gendler was violating traffic laws. Mr. Fairweather argues here that bicyclists should obey traffic laws and purchase insurance like everybody else, and I'll have to admit that when I see some young cyclist who seems to think he's invincible and is flipping off drivers (usually it is a "he"), I tend to agree. But this may have little to do with Mr. Gendler's case.

 

For those who think that the tort laws (this is the 1,000 year old tradition that has led to the so-called proliferation of "slip and fall" lawsuits or the "McDonalds coffee bonanza"), I would ask: what is the alternative? Would you prefer that the State of Washington had the 1" crack authority that roamed around the State, looking for cracks in paving surfaces that might prove unsave for cyclists? Those who pursue a political response to verdicts in a case like Mr. Gendler's lawsuit are in almost every case against "State intervention" and vociferously oppose regulatory "imposition" in areas such as workplace safety, handicapped access, or anything else that might actually have assured a safe urban environment for citizens like Mr Gendler to pursue the safe earning of a living, safe journey about the community as a handicapped individual or, in the case of Mr. Gendler, a safe opportunity to ride his bike on public streets.

 

So: if large liability awards are no good, what is the alternative? The safe biking police? Or do you just think that people who ride bikes are idiots and shouldn't expect anybody to look out for their welfare? Fairweather?

[Fairweather]

So: if large liability awards are no good, what is the alternative? The safe biking police? Or do you just think that people who ride bikes are idiots and shouldn't expect anybody to look out for their welfare? Fairweather?

 

The safe biking police? Yes. The same police who enforce behavior for the drivers of automobiles.

 

Who should look out for the welfare of cyclists? Given their inherently vulnerable position on the road, I would think they would self-assume at least as large a degree of risk as the driver of a car--and try to mitigate that risk via their equipment and/or behavior. The fragile wheelsets and skinny tires they ride on would be a good place to start, as would their attitude toward speed.

[mattp]

I'm with you. The POLICE should be enforcing any laws that apply to bicycles just as they should enforce auto traffic laws.

 

And the cyclists? Of course they should be held accountable and legally accountable for looking out for their own safety.

 

Do you have any information that would suggest that Mr. Gendler failed to operate his bicycle in a responsible manner? Is it your position that he was operating his bike in a way that demonstrated a disrespect for traffic laws or that he was riding on what you may assume to be "unsafe" skinny tires?

[Fairweather]

License tabs and mandatory liability insurance for road cyclists.

 

License tabs and mandatory rescue insurance for climbers.

 

Mountains aren't "infrastructure". And in any event, we are forced to register and pay a fee these days, no?

[Fairweather]

I'm with you. The POLICE should be enforcing any laws that apply to bicycles just as they should enforce auto traffic laws.

 

And the cyclists? Of course they should be held accountable and legally accountable for looking out for their own safety.

 

Do you have any information that would suggest that Mr. Gendler failed to operate his bicycle in a responsible manner? Is it your position that cyclists should not be able to expect a safe riding environment if they ride on whatever might in light of this incident be defined as "skinny" tires?

 

Yes. Riding a typical road bike on city streets with a 700x23 tire is, I believe, unsafe. The DOT, I presume, has no position on whether or not this is appropriate--since cyclists who ride on public streets don't have to submit to any equipment safety standards. But they should.

[mattp]

I'm with you. The POLICE should be enforcing any laws that apply to bicycles just as they should enforce auto traffic laws.

 

And the cyclists? Of course they should be held accountable and legally accountable for looking out for their own safety.

 

Do you have any information that would suggest that Mr. Gendler failed to operate his bicycle in a responsible manner? Is it your position that cyclists should not be able to expect a safe riding environment if they ride on whatever might in light of this incident be defined as "skinny" tires?

 

Yes. Riding a typical road bike on city streets with a 700x23 tire is, I believe, unsafe. The DOT, I presume, has no position on whether or not this is appropriate--since cyclists who ride on public streets don't have to submit to any equipment safety standards. But they should.

 

OK then. I simply disagree. I believe that someone riding a "typical road bike" on a city street should be able to expect that the street was safe for riding a bicycle - the same as I expect that the same road is safe for operating my inherently dangerous automobile.

 

[Fairweather]

OK then. I simply disagree. I believe that someone riding a "typical road bike" on a city street should be able to expect that the street was safe for riding a bicycle . . .

 

Fair enough. We disagree for sure.

 

I retired my road bike years ago. The rare occasions that I ride on roads these days find me on my mountain bike. I like being able to get up onto the shoulder if I see/hear trouble coming from behind, and I don't have to worry (as much) about road obstacles/grates/etc.

 

Another little anecdote: My dad has an old 1940's era bicycle in his garage that once belonged to my grandfather. Hanging from the back of the seat is a small, rusty Washington State bicycle license plate.

Edited October 28, 2010 by Fairweather

[mattp]

So your position is, then, that the "typical road bike" is patently unsafe?

 

And, on a separate note: do you have information to indicate that Mr. Gendler was operating a "typical road bike?" Would someone having been on a mountain bike as you espouse have avoided the accident that befell him?

 

Edit to add: You added your "ancedtoe" about your father's bicycle license. I agree to the extent that you argue that cyclists should be expected to fulfill licensing requirements if they expect public infrastructure and law enforcement to apply to them but I have frequently understood you to argue that law enforcement and "Public" infrastructure were too broadly applied in our society. Shouldn't somebody be able to ride their bike to work outside your demand for POLICE and LICENSE authority?

Edited October 28, 2010 by mattp