San Francisco Time / UTC Time


2006-12-16

Steam... pouring... from...ears... can't stop... rage building...

This article over at bicycle fixation got me mad mad mad. I thought I'd post one of my own jack-ass driver deterents; though I'm certainly not the only one who's got one (though I rarely see them on other people's bikes for some strange reason.) These are a valuable way of making your presence known to those who would endanger your life. I use the bell for other bicyclists and peds, and the loud-as-a-truck-horn (well, it's that loud) for cars/trucks/SUV's. I even mounted a Minoura Besso Mount on my Albatross bars so that I could get the trigger button underneath my thumb without having to take my hand off the grips... makes it easier to "act like a car", just like all the bicycle advocates tell me to do. >8P±

Seriously, everything you CAN do to make yourself safer out there, do it. This guy was an experienced cyclist. Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe his attention lapsed for a second, but that's all it takes when you ride on the street; the motor vehicle drivers prove over and over that they just don't care. Really, it only takes only one car to turn you into a statistic and leave nothing behind but sad angry people. Tragic, and a huge loss, especially for those who knew and loved him. RIP Mike Wilberding .

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

welp, I'm not sure there was *anything* he could have done, though.
That accident happened a few miles from my house. One of the driver's other three tickets was for going 70-ish on Old Church Road... where many of us ride. She was going to kill one of us; it happened to be Matt.
Julia Rietz is now saying that she was misunderstood aout her comment about the unreasonable expectation of seeing a cyclist... now *that* is something we want to get publicity. Otherwise it's "Kill a highway worker - fines and jail. Everybody else is fair game!!"