"This is Called 'Car Punching'"

=v= There was a letter to the "Mr. Roadshow" column in the
_San_Jose_Mercury_News_ last week from Jane Phipps, a motorist
who pulled into the shoulder because she had "an urgent need
to attend to," and said her car was banged on by a cyclist:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12431993

There are followup letters today. Check out the first one:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12480108

| This is about the incident on Foothill Expressway when a woman
| pulled over to the shoulder to make an emergency phone call
| and a bicyclist rode past and slammed his hand twice against
| her car, creating two dents. This is called "car punching" and
| is a term used by some bikers for intentionally denting cars
| when the driver does something that is dangerous for bicycles.
| ...
| Jim Bodwin
| Cupertino

=v= I have never heard the phrase "car punching." Have you?
Has anyone, aside from the one cyclist Jim Bodwin of Cupertino
has an anecdote about? Gary Richards made sure to highlight
it in the column headline, so now all his readers will think
it's a common phrase and practice.

=v= Also, I smell a rat. The original correspondent only
mentioned "an urgent need to attend to" and yet Jim Bodwin of
Cupertino somehow knows that it was "an emergency phone call."
(The word "emergency" is very relevant because it's what the
California Vehicle Code requires for pulling over into the
shoulder.) Two letters down, correspondent Derek Lindsey of
Santa Clara somehow has also somehow thought to promote the
"urgent" need to an "emergency," and oh so very conveniently
asks Richards to "expound on what an emergency actually is."

=v= Richards replies:

| I define an emergency as an immediate safety issue or an
| urgent matter of great importance. Phipps received an urgent
| message from her husband, who was in New York for an important
| meeting.

Right. It was an IMPORTANT meeting, so the URGENT matter is
nearly just exactly the same thing as an EMERGENCY. Heck, if
it's good enough for Mr. Roadshow, surely the CVC is applicable,
right? Yak away, motorists! Don't mind little old us, you need
to pull over into the shoulder for EMERGENCY phone calls from
the other side of the country, where IMPORTANT things happen!
_Jym_

Right. It was an IMPORTANT meeting, so the URGENT matter is
nearly just exactly the same thing as an EMERGENCY. Heck, if
it's good enough for Mr. Roadshow, surely the CVC is applicable,
right? Yak away, motorists! Don't mind little old us, you need
to pull over into the shoulder for EMERGENCY phone calls from
the other side of the country, where IMPORTANT things happen!
_Jym_

Jym: Whatever you do, please tread relatively lightly on Gary Richards
(Mr. Roadshow). For someone writing a car column, he's surprisingly
bike-friendly most of the time. No problem pointing out the errors of
his ways when they happen, but do so as if it's likely a
misunderstanding on his part and not hostility towards cyclists.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


"Jym Dyer" wrote in message
...
=v= There was a letter to the "Mr. Roadshow" column in the
_San_Jose_Mercury_News_ last week from Jane Phipps, a motorist
who pulled into the shoulder because she had "an urgent need
to attend to," and said her car was banged on by a cyclist:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12431993

There are followup letters today. Check out the first one:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12480108

| This is about the incident on Foothill Expressway when a woman
| pulled over to the shoulder to make an emergency phone call
| and a bicyclist rode past and slammed his hand twice against
| her car, creating two dents. This is called "car punching" and
| is a term used by some bikers for intentionally denting cars
| when the driver does something that is dangerous for bicycles.
| ...
| Jim Bodwin
| Cupertino

=v= I have never heard the phrase "car punching." Have you?
Has anyone, aside from the one cyclist Jim Bodwin of Cupertino
has an anecdote about? Gary Richards made sure to highlight
it in the column headline, so now all his readers will think
it's a common phrase and practice.

=v= Also, I smell a rat. The original correspondent only
mentioned "an urgent need to attend to" and yet Jim Bodwin of
Cupertino somehow knows that it was "an emergency phone call."
(The word "emergency" is very relevant because it's what the
California Vehicle Code requires for pulling over into the
shoulder.) Two letters down, correspondent Derek Lindsey of
Santa Clara somehow has also somehow thought to promote the
"urgent" need to an "emergency," and oh so very conveniently
asks Richards to "expound on what an emergency actually is."

=v= Richards replies:

| I define an emergency as an immediate safety issue or an
| urgent matter of great importance. Phipps received an urgent
| message from her husband, who was in New York for an important
| meeting.

Right. It was an IMPORTANT meeting, so the URGENT matter is
nearly just exactly the same thing as an EMERGENCY. Heck, if
it's good enough for Mr. Roadshow, surely the CVC is applicable,
right? Yak away, motorists! Don't mind little old us, you need
to pull over into the shoulder for EMERGENCY phone calls from
the other side of the country, where IMPORTANT things happen!
_Jym_

"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote in message
...

Jym: Whatever you do, please tread relatively lightly on Gary Richards
(Mr. Roadshow). For someone writing a car column, he's surprisingly
bike-friendly most of the time. No problem pointing out the errors of his
ways when they happen, but do so as if it's likely a misunderstanding on
his part and not hostility towards cyclists.

Let's remember that bicyclists have bad traffic days MOST days. It's no
wonder that they grow more and more tired of drivers since a significant
number of them purposely threaten bicyclists to the point where simply
stupid drivers who are closely passing are often accused of taking passes at
the cyclists.

"Tom Kunich" cyclintom@yahoo. com wrote in message
m...
"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote in message
...

Jym: Whatever you do, please tread relatively lightly on Gary
Richards (Mr. Roadshow). For someone writing a car column, he's
surprisingly bike-friendly most of the time. No problem pointing out
the errors of his ways when they happen, but do so as if it's likely
a misunderstanding on his part and not hostility towards cyclists.

Let's remember that bicyclists have bad traffic days MOST days. It's
no wonder that they grow more and more tired of drivers since a
significant number of them purposely threaten bicyclists to the point
where simply stupid drivers who are closely passing are often accused
of taking passes at the cyclists.

All too true, but we have to be cognizant of PR and who to beat up on
and who not to. Gary Richards does not come across as a bad guy
(providing you can get past his ever-present Prius lovefest), and has
been sympathetic to cyclists in general. Let's not change that.

We do, however, need to get more from some of those who claim to be
members of our fraternity and serve in influential places. Roberta
Gonzales, weather person at channel 5, for example. Cyclist in general,
triathlete specifically, talks about cycling from time to time, and
shows her on her bike in her promo spots. But when she does the weather,
it's always about your morning commute in your *CAR*. Why is that? I've
emailed and received no response. But really, the commute weather is
even more relevant to those cycling than those in cars.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote in message
...

All too true, but we have to be cognizant of PR and who to beat up on and
who not to. Gary Richards does not come across as a bad guy (providing you
can get past his ever-present Prius lovefest), and has been sympathetic to
cyclists in general. Let's not change that.

I agree but it is difficult to make a good impression when you have quite a
few cyclists acting like nuts when some old lady passes especially close
because she's TRYING to miss them.

We do, however, need to get more from some of those who claim to be
members of our fraternity and serve in influential places. Roberta
Gonzales, weather person at channel 5, for example. Cyclist in general,
triathlete specifically, talks about cycling from time to time, and shows
her on her bike in her promo spots. But when she does the weather, it's
always about your morning commute in your *CAR*. Why is that? I've emailed
and received no response. But really, the commute weather is even more
relevant to those cycling than those in cars.

I notice that the weather in general is being reported more actively and
less accurately all the time.

"Mike Jacoubowsky" writes:


All too true, but we have to be cognizant of PR and who to beat up on
and who not to. Gary Richards does not come across as a bad guy
(providing you can get past his ever-present Prius lovefest), and has
been sympathetic to cyclists in general. Let's not change that.

FYI, here's a copy of the email I sent him about it (it does not
mention the driver nor the "car punching"). The subject line is,
"Technical error in your answer to a motorist parked on a shoulder":

In an article about a bicyclist/driver conflict, you indicated
that an eight foot shoulder is wide enough for a parked car and a
bicycle. It isn't - bicyclists need enough clearance to clear a
car door that opens unexpectedly.

As an example, quite a few years ago, while riding a bicycle home
from work, there was an isolated parked car about 50 feet ahead of
me, with no driver visible. Suddenly the driver sat up,
simultaneously kicking the car door open to its full extent. I
couldn't see why - I presume it was unintentional - but the foot
pushing the door was very obvious.

Drivers need to be educated about the safe distance a bicyclist
needs when passing a parked vehicle - people do not leave what may
seem like a lot of clearance to block traffic. It is to avoid the
need for plastic surgery to fix the damage when someone throws a
car door open without checking, which happens far too often.



--
My real name backwards: nemuaZ lliB

Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

... But when she does
the weather, it's always about your morning commute in your CAR. Why
is that?

I can't believe you asked that. Think for a minute, There are hundreds
of thousands of people who commute by car and perhaps a couple of
thousand people who commute by bicycle. Where do you think the
programming, and more importantly, the advertising dollars are going to
be spent.

--
Cliff

"CJ" wrote in message
...
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

... But when she does
the weather, it's always about your morning commute in your CAR. Why
is that?

I can't believe you asked that. Think for a minute, There are hundreds
of thousands of people who commute by car and perhaps a couple of
thousand people who commute by bicycle. Where do you think the
programming, and more importantly, the advertising dollars are going to
be spent.

Cliff, come on. You understand what Mike was getting at. Even though she
rides a bicycle it doesn't seem to her as a commute vehicle so she doesn't
mention it on her appearances.

"CJ" wrote in message
...
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

... But when she does
the weather, it's always about your morning commute in your CAR. Why
is that?

I can't believe you asked that. Think for a minute, There are hundreds
of thousands of people who commute by car and perhaps a couple of
thousand people who commute by bicycle. Where do you think the
programming, and more importantly, the advertising dollars are going
to
be spent.

--
Cliff

Cliff: Consider that Channel 5 was running all sorts of stuff about May
being bike-to-work month. It's a natural tie-in, and I don't think
you're going to be offending the car drivers doing so. In fact, one
could point out that, the more people there are who ride to work, the
less-congested the highways will be, and in fact we'd have lower gas
prices too. Reduce demand and good things happen all around.

I don't understand why everything has to be put in a car-bike
confrontation mindset. A properly-designed transportation system makes
it easier for everybody to get around, whether for some reason they have
to drive or they can ride or walk or take public transportation.

But getting back to the specifics, just what exactly would the car
drivers find so offensive about Roberta mentioning that cyclists had
better be prepared for a wet commute and slick streets? Do you really
think that car drivers are going to change channels because of that?
It's not as if she's telling people to get out of their cars and ride
their bikes.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

Tom Kunich wrote:

"CJ" wrote in message
...
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

... But when she does
the weather, it's always about your morning commute in your CAR.
Why is that?

I can't believe you asked that. Think for a minute, There are
hundreds of thousands of people who commute by car and perhaps a
couple of thousand people who commute by bicycle. Where do you
think the programming, and more importantly, the advertising
dollars are going to be spent.

Cliff, come on. You understand what Mike was getting at. Even though
she rides a bicycle it doesn't seem to her as a commute vehicle so
she doesn't mention it on her appearances.

Thank you for making my point.

"Even though she rides a bicycle it doesn't seem to her as a commute
vehicle so she doesn't mention it on her appearances."

More importently, it doesn't seem to station management and advertisers
(think $$$$) as a commute vechicle. I really don't think Ms.Gonzales
has a whole lot of leeway in what she can and cannot say on the air.

--
Cliff