Monday Morning Commute - Skulls are skulls

Happy New Month!

• WABA coverage of the Douglass Bridge ride. "Discussions centered around the traffic circle (to be built on the southeast side of the bridge) and the traffic oval (to be built on the northwest side) and access to the bridge from Anacostia via Howard Rd. & Firth Sterling Rd." And DDOT's Mike Goodno lists the issues discussed in greater detail including bike lanes on South Capital Street, connnections to the ART, continuation of the Suitland Parkway trail etc...
• A good reason to not ride naked - "The seat on this bike was 153.5 degrees."
• Susan Paisner writes to the Post to ask where are all the bike helmets for Capital Bikeshare riders? "heads are heads, skulls are skulls, and brain injuries can maim and kill, regardless of how they take place." Right. So where are the helmets all these pedestrians and motorists should be wearing?
• A profile of Bikes for the World, where the bikes come from and where they go. "The Arlington County nonprofit group takes thousands of unwanted bikes in suburban Washington — where things go from coveted to clutter in an instant — and sends them overseas to people who need them."
• Cyclist assaulted for no apparant reason. "1200 block of Wilson Boulevard. Arlington. On July 22 at 7 pm, a man was riding his bicycle when a car drove up beside him. The car ran him off the road and a passenger in the backseat reached out and pushed the victim over. The vehicle was a black sedan."

Comments

[SJE]

re: "Skulls are Skulls"

People seem to think that cycling is an inherently hazardous activity, requiring helmets. This applies even to my wife, who will point out the number of accidents I have had. (and I wear a helmet).
Of course, she has had several serious and long term injuries while driving a car, dancing, or playing video games. Yes, less blood, but still injuries.

[Catherine]

I wonder if the cyclist assaulter reads the Ballston Patch?

http://ballston.patch.com/blog_posts/bikers-and-why-you-irk-me#

[SJE]

Damn Catherine, I had missed the little screed at the Ballston patch.

[Catherine]

The comments have been VERY cleaned up, too. Just today, getting a link to that "article" to comment here, I went back to look at them, and after most reasonable people had left the argument, the anti-cyclists started posting YouTube videos of cyclists being hit by cars and in one instance, KILLED, with the anti-cyclists saying that "we need more of this".

I emailed the "editor" of the Ballston Patch (who, by most accounts had been unresponsive to issues with the article and comments other than to say that the views of the author in no way reflect Patch etc etc) about the videos and comments, pointed out that they were against Patch's Terms of Use (as is the "article", actually) and sent her a link to the Arlington County Police report. I also CC'd the editor of ALL of Patch (not just the Ballston one), and anyone else on the board who had their emails publicized.

That seemed to have worked. The YouTube videos and comments about them, which had been up since July 16th were taken down in an hour. I haven't gotten an email back from anyone at Patch, however.

[Ron Alford]

Catherine: Don't take it out on B - his postings were facetious (look at his previous comments). Now, the people agreeing with those comments...