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The Seemingly Little Things Count. |
Current rating: 0 |
by andrea antulov
Email: volutna (nospam) aol.com (unverified!) |
28 Nov 2002
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The connection between assault an bicycles safety law enforcement. |
While at a local gas station in Champaign I noticed bicycles strewn about the entry. Only one of the four had any reflectors and those were covered with duct tape. Why would anyone cover a reflector with duct tape? To move swiftly without being seen at night?
There are federal, state and local ordinances requiring front and back lights, reflectors and reflector tape on bicycles traveling city streets at night. Are local law officials enforcing the laws on the books? Are local business selling bicycles and gear required to inform customers of the federal, state and local laws for driving bicycles at night? What the fines?
Within the last few weeks there have been at least three cars in accidents with bicycles on campus requiring an ambulance. A Bicycle shares the road with cars yet no license is required to drive, display the owners identity or verify the true ownership of the bicycle.
Almost 30 woman have been assaulted (some sexually) in the campus area since the beginning of last semester. The figure almost triples when you add the number from the areas of Champaign-Urbana surrounding the campus. Many were approached from behind and did not hear anyone approaching. Could it be they were marked as prey from an invisible bicycle searching in the dark?
Andrea Antulov |
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A Couple Of Things |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 1
29 Nov 2002
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#1 There has been no reporting on the recent string of attacks on women which indicate that the perpetrators have used bicycles. I'm not saying this couldn't have happened, just that it doesn't seem to have been reported in either the DI or N-G.
#2 Contrary to your questioning about whether the police are enforcing the laws on the books that regulate use of bicycles, particularly after dark with respect to proper lighting, local police forces actually enforce these rules quite frequently. The problem is that these laws are often enforced selectively against African-American males, at least according to what I've noted in reports published in the papers about arrests and what can be heard on police frequencies on scanners. Maybe there needs to be a more equitable enforcement of these laws against ALL offenders, no matter what their race. But I'm sure the typical bike rider is NOT committing a crime beyond poor lighting (in a few cases.) |
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Don't Scapegoat Bikes |
by Joe Futrelle
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Dec 2002
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"Within the last few weeks there have been at least three cars in accidents with bicycles on campus requiring an ambulance."
Perhaps the cars were at fault; you don't give any information one way or the other.
"A Bicycle shares the road with cars yet no license is required to drive, display the owners identity or verify the true ownership of the bicycle."
One way to solve the problem that cars and bicycles share the road is to provide more bike paths.
I also find the speculation about bikes and sexual assault to be inappropriate. Without facts, this amounts to scapegoating of bicycles and bicyclists. |
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Why Obey The Law? |
by andrea antulov
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Dec 2002
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The typical bike rider without reflectors or lights front and back at night is commiting a crime. Look it up.
From what data does one find whether or not these laws are being enforced? Stand on any busy corner at rush hour on Campus and start counting, you will hit 25 within a half an hour. Or go to the police station for official press releases, the newspapers do not report all crimes that occur.
The logic that the laws should not be enforced because some police in the past have been shown to practice racial profiling escapes me. Should laws regarding murder, rape and robbery not be enforced because police might be practicing racial profiling? Are UI students unfairly profiled to recieve only warnings when working people get tickets? The answer is yes. Regardless profiling is a separate issue.
While walking alone at night I keep alert to my surrounding as I have been told to do and that includes speculation of whether a bicyle might come out no where. It would be easier and campus better lighted if more folks would obey a simple safety law.
If your kid was bicycling around without lights or reflectors would you want to know? Would it matter to you who was at fault on the way to the emergency room? Would it matter to you if you were held financial accountable if your minor teenager was ticketed? How would you feel hitting someone on a bike completely devoid of lights or reflectors and being charged with vehicle manslaughter? Exactly how long would it take to install bikepaths on every street, within this century? |
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Huh? |
by Joe Futrelle
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
04 Dec 2002
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"The typical bike rider without reflectors or lights front and back at night is commiting a crime. Look it up."
No one is suggesting otherwise, and no one is suggesting that there be less enforcement. ML suggested enforcing the laws against all offenders, regardless of race.
"Are UI students unfairly profiled to recieve only warnings when working people get tickets? The answer is yes."
What data is this based on?
"Exactly how long would it take to install bikepaths on every street, within this century?"
I don't know exactly. Bike paths don't have to be installed on every street, because bike paths can run in places where there aren't streets, as is currently the case several places on campus, such as the path that runs from Lincoln to Wright between Iowa and Nevada. The tone of your comment seems cynical, as if it is unrealistic to imagine that we would build that many bike paths. Well, why is that unrealistic? Not because of the technical feasibility of that approach, certainly, but rather because we prioritize cars over bikes when we make urban planning decisions.
For instance, try riding your bike to the North Prospect shopping complex. My wife used to do that, but stopped when she was struck by a truck in a parking lot and had to go to the emergency room. She had every kind of safety device a bike can have, including lights, reflectors, helmets, everything, but the driver wasn't expecting a bike to be anywhere near that parking lot and just wasn't looking. A network of bike paths could make that area much more bike-accessible, but neither the city or the businesses are interested, presumably because people in big, dangerous-to-bikes cars spend more money than people on bikes. |
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Not So Typical |
by An anonymous bicycler
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
16 Dec 2002
Modified: 09:11:01 AM |
"The typical bike rider without reflectors or lights front and back at night is commiting a crime. Look it up."
But the typical bike rider is NOT committing a crime. The majority of people I see on bikes do not have the reflectors or lights covered up. I would say that the bike riders you saw were NOT typical, rather exceptions.
"It would be easier and campus better lighted if more folks would obey a simple safety law."
a) bike lights will hardly make campus better lighted and
b) most folks do obey a simple safety law.
"Exactly how long would it take to install bikepaths on every street, within this century?"
I don't know, but within this century (which is the next 98 yrs) we could put down several strategic "arterial" bike lanes across this tri-city area (I include Savoy) that
a) do not coincide with streets, thereby increasing safety for BOTH bikers and drivers by reducing the contact that each has with the other
b) increase the ability for those who do not have cars, (for whatever reason, financial, legal, or philosophical) to be able to travel in this town. Yes, the bus is available, but you must pay almost $1 for a one-way ride. Not very economically feasible if you work low-wage jobs or if you work more than one job and need to travel more than once in a day. In addition, some campus routes are soooo full that riders cannot fit on the bus.
c) increases safety. It is much safer to travel by bike than by foot after dark. You are faster and less able to be "marked as prey from an invisible bicycle searching in the dark", if that is your concern
d) inceases the sense of community. In your car, you are closed off, locked away from the people and events around you. Looking through the glass of a windshield is like looking through the glass screen of your tv...without participation.
e) reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Why waste money on gas driving a few blocks to the store? We bemoan the lack of activity of our obese youth and adults...how about acting on that and actually working your body to receive your daily goods
Don't think like a driver, think like a biker. We don't need to use the streets as a template.
Just some thoughts...
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