In the New York Post, Nicole Gelinas warns us that arrogant bikers are a public health menace:
But in the past month, one man has died and one woman is near death because of something the city hasn’t seen in half a decade: deathly injury by a reckless bicyclist. …
Tarlov is reportedly near death because, one of the park’s racing cyclists allegedly hit her as she crossed the street.
A witness told The Post that cyclist Jason Marshall was “speeding. It didn’t look like he tried to stop. He was yelling for her to get out of the way.”
Last month, Irving Schacter (a cyclist himself) died in a similar fashion, also in the park. Either a 17-year-old cyclist or a pedicab driver, or both, failed to realize that sometimes the safe speed is zero.
I’ve noted this before, but it’s worth repeating: speed doesn’t kill, speed differential kills. Which is to say, bicycles are, by their very nature, dangerous. They’re too slow for streets and too fast for sidewalks, causing frustration (and inspiring risky lane changes/tailgating) in drivers and turning bicycles into two-wheeled death machines for pedestrians. The physics of bicycling (the difficulty of stopping/starting, the effort needed to go an extra block in order to obey one-way signs) inspires risky, illegal behavior (blowing through stop lights and signs, going the wrong way down one-way streets, etc.) that the riders then justify to themselves and others because, hey, they’re saving the world or something.
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As I hope this woman recovers,this would not be news if it weren't for a CBS exec's wife getting hit by a cyclist.
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ReplyDeleteMs. Tarlov died from her injuries. Her husband is a VP with CBS. The cyclist who hit her posts online about how rapidly he can ride through the park.
More information is available online.
Well, the loonies are in town this week, so everybody be careful please. That includes you cyclists!
ReplyDeleteI liked the last part of the article.
ReplyDelete*One of the most bizarre aspects of city living is the pedestrian who not only chooses to jaywalk, but crosses the street at a diagonal and does so as slowly as possible, staring you down when you come upon him as he struts and swaggers across the road. Every single one of these jackaninnies deserves to get hit by a car and buried in a potter’s field. While we’re banning bikes, we might as well ban jackaninnies too.
To see just how ignorant and disrespectful most a--holes on bicycles are just come to Salisbury and follow all of the seagulls painted on our roads this weekend. They bring this event to our communities every year to the dismay of the folks that live along these routes and are put in situations that are dangerous returning to their homes or traveling. The problems stem MOSTLY because these arrogant individuals on two wheels refuse to follow traffic and local law enforcement sees fit just to turn a blind eye on such actions. I am one resident that thinks the organizers need to find a new route for these events that would take them out of our neighborhoods. If the roads were wider and could handle the bicycles on the shoulders like Nanticoke Rd. it might nort be such a burden. So send them to Nanticoke instead of through the current route.
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