Reply to Please don't ride your bike on busy streets after dark

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just this evening I saw a cyclist wearing his black work suit while speeding past a stop sign.  “Idaho stop” I guess. I’m a very careful driver but it infuriates me when cyclists don’t take easy yet important steps to improve visibility and safety. Everyone should do their part. Why is that so hard for some cyclists to understand? [/quote]

Cyclists are adamantly opposed to any requirements whatsoever being imposed on them. Rules are for other people. [/quote]

Drivers are adamantly opposed to speed governor bring installed on their cars.  Rules are for other people.[/quote]

I’m not opposed at all. It would mean absolute end to speeding tickets. I don’t speed, so I don’t get speeding tickets. And since I don’t speed, a governor wouldn’t change my driving at all.

And it’s time for bikes to be registered, tagged, and inspected.  Do you oppose this? [/quote]

I am a NP but oppose this because what freaking difference does it make?  CARS are licensed and tagged and run red lights and speed and kill people all day long with zero repercussions.  What would licensing and tagging do?  It would not prevent any deaths or make the streets safer.  [/quote]

Exaggerations aside ("kill people all day long", seriously?), most drivers are not charged because they are not at fault.  Yes, sometimes they are, but at least in my city, almost all recent pedestrian deaths are a result of the pedestrian taking unsafe actions (crossing in the middle of the road at night seems to be the most common reason). I know you are going to try to argue that the law somehow favors drivers, but that isn't going to prevent deaths.  We need to put into place safety measures that reduce conflict between cars, cyclists and pedestrians, and part of that include recognizing that all parties engage in unsafe behaviors. The failure of cyclists to accept any blame for their own actions causes deaths.  [/quote]

Curious what city this is because this is not true in DC.  Pedestrians are overwhelmingly being killed by careless drivers in crosswalks.  [/quote]

Traffic fatalities are down 30 percent this year. Just 26 people killed. Let's put a denominator on that: That's out of probably billions of trips. [/quote]

This is a complete non sequitor.  The number of fatalities should not influence whether or not drivers are held accountable for killing pedestrians in crosswalks.  If one person were murdered by a person using a gun in the US each year should we not convict the person who murdered him/ her?[/quote]

The number of pedestrians killed in crosswalks is similar to the number of people killed by lightning strike, which is not that far off the number of Washingtonians who are eaten by sharks. But every incident is investigated by the police. Do you think there's instances where the police are like "eh, we probably don't need to bother with this one?"[/quote]

Within an hour of Alison Hart being killed, in a crosswalk, the DC police put out a statement saying that she "was unable to stop" before the truck hit and killed her.  She was in a crosswalk, no mention of why the driver hit her or any actions taken by the driver.  That is not an investigation, that is victim blaming.  So yes, I think it is quite frequent that DC police do not investigate why a driver has killed a pedestrian in a crosswalk.  Putting a statement out within an hour that ascribes actions to one party is not an investigation.  [/quote]

You sound like a conspiracy theorist. It seems a little ridiculous to think the police would try to sweep something that got so much attention under the rug. Besides, if the victim's family feels wronged by the police, they can always sue and the courts and the city's insurers will guarantee a through investigation. [/quote]

You seem not at all familiar with the relevant legal standards. [/quote]
DP. Are you saying that the totality of MPDs investigation was to do nothing then issue a press release after an hour? Do you have an specific knowledge of what their investigation did not do that they should have done in that specific case? Is there a standard procedure or protocol for accident investigations that you believe MPD is not following? I’d love to understand whether you actually have an idea what you are talking about or whether you are just making sh*t up and spouting conspiracy theories out your *ss. [/quote]

Here is a study that was done with a NJ police department to try to ID and reduce bias in reporting that might subtly blame the victim.  The department took part in it which would indicate they were willing to at least confront if they were biased.  It isn't some vast conspiracy to say that cops might report in a way that blames the victim- it isn't necessarily deliberate, just a consequence of having windshield bias from spending more time in cars then on foot.  Not everything has to be done on purpose to have happened.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198222001294#![/quote]

Studies like these remind me why I left academia. This belongs at the bottom of a bird cage.  [/quote]

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