Should, bicyclists wear helmets? In my opinion, yes. But that's a
choice. Should the city dictact what you do while piloting a moving
vehical? That's open to question.

I don't believe a helmet is a panacea for all bike/car/ped accidents.
You need to ride with some intelligence & responsibility. But I DO want
to protect what little intelligence I have encased in my skull. So I
wear a helmet.

As far as Traffic Laws go, should the city ticket bicycles for running
lights? Sure, but ticket cars & peds for doing the same. Ticket
bicycles for driving erratically? Fine. Tickets cars, trucks and peds
for driving or parking in bike lanes and forcing riders out into
traffic.

Something that never seems to get discussed is the timing of Traffic
light. Traffic lights are timed for cars travelling at a certain speed,
not for pedestrians & bicycles. Most of the time when I'm out riding or
walking it seems impossible to cross HALF a large intersection in the
city without seeing the lights change. That only encourages people &
bikes to race across city streets, even against traffic. Yes, that's
illegal, but the City planners need to look at EVERY kind traffic when
they're designing intersections.

All you can ask for is a level playing field. If the City recognizes
bikes as traffic & treats them with the same respect they give cars,
trucks and pedestrians, we'll all be better off.



wrote:
NYC XYZ wrote:
A news item the last two days has been how the City is planning another
200 miles of bike lanes. For some reason, the liberals can't resist
throwing in the tidbit about some study finding that ~97% of bike
fatalities in the City involve riders not wearing a helmet. WTF???

Anyway, there's a spokesman from the Rebel Alliance on a segment of
Brian Lehrer's show "On the Line." It should be podcasted by tomorrow
if you miss it today.


http://www.wnyc.org/

Wait a minute! You live in NYC, ride a 'bent and are NOT a liberal?!?
Don't burst my bubble like that. I enjoy my stereotyped world.

;-)

Joseph