Monday Afternoon Commute - I'm for briefcases, but against briefcase laws

Good afternoon. I lost my wallet a month back and just yesterday found it in my mailbox, since I already paid to replace everything, I'm going to assume it just showed up this weekend. But thanks to whoever returned it.

• So, yeah, riding with headphones is possibly unsafe (depending on if they're on and how loud they are) though I'm unaware of any research on it, but it's not really "hard to beat" as far as examples of bad cycling go. It's not even illegal in DC. But this letter-writer seems to have a very low standard for what is unsafe. 
  • Riding in a construction zone? People seem OK driving in them.
  • Riding a CaBI bike? Totally safe, possibly safer.
  • Riding with a distracting child? People seem OK driving with them - though it's against CaBi rules.
  • Riding with a briefcase in the luggage rack? That's why they have the luggage racks.
  • Riding without a helmet? Maybe less safe, but also not illegal.
  • Riding around cars driven by humans? Well, that doesn't leave much does it

Oddly, Krisinger doesn't mention the one thing that is unsafe and illegal  - riding a bicycle with more persons on it at any one time than the bicycle is equipped to carry. But most of what Krisinger is complaining about is called "riding a bike in the city." No wonder some people get so indignant about cyclists. They think they're maniacs.

• Cyclist victim in hit and run on the Assault of Bicyclists Prevention Act:  "Without this act I have been unable to find a lawyer who is willing and able to pursue civil action," 
• An interview with Chuck Harney, owner of the Bike Rack. 
• I feel like someone did this - biking to every ballpark in one season - last year. 
• DC's cycletracks are swell.
• CaBi party tonight.
• The 2012 CSC is this weekend.

Comments

[contrarian]

Someone in the Post's letter-to-the-editor has it in for cyclists. Every year about this time the Post starts running really, really dumb anti-cyclist letters. It makes me suspect that any anti-cyclist letter that get submitted gets printed.

I'm going to write a note to the Post ombudsman, ombudsman@washpost.com

[Dottie]

Ugh, people are dumb. I'm not even going to click on that Wash Post link.

[Tara]

The letter was your typical pessimistic cranky letter about how cyclists don't follow the rules. But I also feel like the WaPo printed this photo as bait -- surely a photo of a man cycling the wrong way next to a construction zone WITH A BABY STRAPPED TO HIS CHEST was not the only photo of Bikeshare users the paper could find, right?

[5555624]

My frist thought when I saw the picture was that it was staged.

[Bryan]

Is it illegal to talk on a cell phone without a blue-tooth while biking? I had a girl coming at me on the 14th St. bridge one handed while talking on the phone and it was extremely windy. We were both biking so a collision would have been 20+ MPH. If it wasn't illegal it was surely dumb and scary.

[JimT]

Leaving aside the details, do people disagree that riding a bike with a baby less than 4 months old in a Baby Bjorne is a really bad idea? So bad that the rider could easily be in legal jeopardy for child endangerment? As I recall, all the safety literature said that you need to wait until she is 1 year old even for the trailers.

With that mindset, I recall seeing the original picture and thinking that the adult was outrageous, and wondering why the Post said nothing. So when I saw the picture again in letters to the editor, I thought "Good, someone objecting to this terrible picture"

OK: If the Post got alot of letters on that same picture and chose this one, then that was bad selection. But someone had to call attention to this terrible behavior.

Frankly, I fear I must be overlooking something. The infant on the bike is so outrageous that I don't understand why anyone would want to say anything other than "arrest that man". Or revoke that photographer's Pulitzer!

[washcycle]

Bryan, no, it is not illegal. That law should probably change though - IMO.

JimT - Yes, I think it is a really bad idea. I don't know the standard for child endangerment. If someone had written a letter saying "Riding with a child in a baby bjorn like that looks really dangerous." I would have agreed. But that isn't what they wrote.

[oboe]

With that mindset, I recall seeing the original picture and thinking that the adult was outrageous, and wondering why the Post said nothing.

Well, the simple explanation is that the Post said nothing because they wanted to propagate the idea that cyclists are scofflaws who don't even care about the safety of their own children. And that CaBi is a public nuisance.

Was that a stupid and irresponsible thing to do? Of course. Of course, people do stupid and irresponsible things all the time. But outlets like the Post use those photos at their discretion to create a consensus.

[oboe]

By way of an example, if the Post had written a story about DCPS going on recess for the summer, and had chosen a photo of three young black kids dressed in nothing but baggy pants, hoisting 40s, you'd probably hear a lot of folks condemning the Post for being a bunch of crypto-racist assholes.

I wouldn't be surprised if folks forgot to mention that underage drinking is also bad.

[JimT]

I guess I overlooked the stereotype that might be promoted. still have a hard time focussing on that issue.

Unless it is a staged photograph, that man is a maniac and I hope that the childs parents hold him accountable. (Let's hope this is not the father.) Frankly, the photographer had an ethical duty to intervene. That baby can not even support her own head.