Re: Reckless, Aggressive Drivers: Homegrown Terrorists

Bill Z. wrote:
> Eric Vey <junker@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
> 
>> Bill Z. wrote:
>>> Eric Vey <junker@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:
>>>
>>>> Jack May wrote:
>>>>> Are you totally blind ????   Bikes run red lights and stop signs so
>>>>> often that it is the number one complaint of drivers when the
>>>>> subject comes up
>>>>>
>>>> I must be blind. I've never seen even one. I have heard the
>>>> complaints, too, but I have never seen one.
>>> You can't be serious.  Try visiting the Bay Area, particular San
>>> Francisco or any place with a large university.  You'll see bicyclists
>>> running stop signs and red lights all the time.  Of course, you'll see
>>> drivers doing the same thing.
>>>
>> No, I am serious. We don't have bicycle couriers here and I have never
>> seen a Critical Mass except on You-Tube.
> 
> You must not have universities either. While walking across the street
> today, some college age guy on a bike cut me off as he ran a stop
> sign.  I had the right of way as a pedestrian in a crosswalk.  Once,
> while about to cross an arterial after the light had changed, some
> teenager riding a bike too fast for conditions shot off the sidewalk,
> running a red light, and I had to try a maximum performance stop to
> avoid a collision even though I was barely moving.
> 
>> I personally know two people that were driving and were "T-boned" by a
>> red light running cars. One died. I don't know any bicycle rider that
>> was killed running a light. I suppose if I surfed the 'net long
>> enough, I could find one, but most people on bicycles get killed here
>> while riding the wrong way on the sidewalk on their way to or from
>> work.
> 
> Oh, it happens.
> 
>> This is why I keep telling you not to extend your view of NoCal to the
>> rest of the country. The laws are different and people are different.
> 
> Rather, you are simply a loon.  I might add that, being near a major
> uiversity (Stanford) with students from all over the U.S., the sample
> of college-age bicyclists (ones using bicycles for trans****tation) are
> pretty much representative of the U.S. as a whole.  Trying to pass it
> of as "NoCal" is incredibly stupid of you.
> 

I'm trying to figure out which is more offensive:
1. That you relate problems you have living near a major university, a 
problem that is easy solved; or
2. That you look into the telescope backwards, and then, when people 
don't see the world the way you do, you call them names.

I may be "a loon", but I know when I am arguing with a contrarian and I 
know that is a fool's game.