Bicycle Austin forum

RedFalcon

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Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 233

Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

Here we go again.   http://kxan.com/2017/10/10/woman-in-her … th-austin/

Does anyone have the latest body count for the Austin roads for the year?  I can't keep up.

This one appears to have involved two idiots racing their cars.  I get a little shaken up when these deaths occur along roads on which I sometimes ride.   This particular section is along the route my daughter rides to get to her WIC appointments.  She rides it pulling my two year old grand daughter in a trailer.  The last time she went to WIC I insisted she take the bus instead, even though that means transferring in front of the ghetto HEB at North Lamar and Rundberg.   Even in the middle of the day that corner looks like Silk Road has opened an opium outlet mall.

And my favorite part of reading these news stories is the choice of ad that runs along side the article.   I have noticed they are often for cars.
I guess we don't all see the same ads, and they change them anyway, but the ad next to this story makes me sick.   It shows a caricature of  football player in an aggressive stance next to a car, also shown to be fairly aggressive.  So, the message seems to be 'drive a Charles Maund Toyota and you can be as tough as a pro ball player.'   Great message.

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Re: Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

Thanks, Red, I was about to post this earlier but you beat me to it.  Here's the Statesman's article:

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/hap … 1cgo3vzwM/

About the ads, ain't that the truth.  As a side note, when the Simpsons was new, I had friends over every Sunday to watch it, and the commercials were invariably for automobiles and fast food.  As they came on, we'd all chant, "Cars and meat!  Cars and meat!"

dougmc

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Registered: 2008-06-01

Posts: 631

Re: Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

Does anyone have the latest body count for the Austin roads for the year?  I can't keep up.

I guess this is #52?  This one was #51 -- https://www.austintexas.gov/news/traffic-fatality-49-2

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Re: Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

Thanks, dougmc.  About that crash, APD says the cyclist turned west onto W. 5th, going the wrong way!?  If going the wrong way, why wouldn't he just take the sidewalk?  Here are a couple of other articles:

http://kxan.com/2017/09/29/bicyclist-hi … eek-later/
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/cra … hmeEVMY4H/

RedFalcon

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 233

Re: Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

I wrote to Charles Maund Toyota about their ad and its placement next to a story about a pedestrian fatality.  Here's the response:

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will get with the marketing department to see what steps we need to take in order to avoid advertisements by inappropriate news stories."

Bangs head on wall.   The news story was entirely appropriate.  A woman was killed by a reckless driver and the media reported it.  What was inappropriate was the ad that ran next to the story.  Still, I got a response, so that's more than I usually get from these kinds of things.

Oh, KXAN reported on today's pedestrian fatality (#53, right?) and ran the same ad next to that story.  So, just in case you missed it.  And, if you miss checking this one out, don't worry, we'll have another pedestrian killed in a few days, I'm sure. 

53 dead and it's only October.  I think we're on track to set beat last years count.   Go Austin Go!

Darron

Member

Registered: 2014-05-22

Posts: 131

Re: Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

Here's the response:

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will get with the marketing department to see what steps we need to take in order to avoid advertisements by inappropriate news stories."

Bangs head on wall.   The news story was entirely appropriate.

I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that he just misspoke and meant they wanted to avoid advertising inappropriately on news stories.  I'm sure a dealership wants to avoid advertising next to any news story about a traffic accident/fatality.  Now personal injury lawyer advertisements on the other hand... ;)

Darron

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Re: Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

I can speak to this, since I run the same kinds of ads.  KXAN uses Google Adsense, which means that they just put some code on the website and then Google picks and delivers the ads.  Google tries to deliver ads that are "relevant", so if Google sees that the page is about motor vehicles (somehow), they're more likely to deliver car ads.  Of course, car ads are the predominant form of advertising in every medium, so often those ads are delivered regardless of the content of the page.  ("Are you an American?  Well then, car ads are certainly relevant to you!)

The ads here at the top of Bicycle Austin are sometimes for cars, too, as well as other things I might not be excited about.  I have the ability to block certain advertisers, but first I have to see a certain advertiser on the site and *then* add them to my block filter.  I've never bothered to do so.  On my site about saving electricity, I've gotten a lot of complaints from readers when the ads are about bogus energy-saving devices, so I put a disclaimer under each ad that says, "Google picks the ads, not me."

RedFalcon

Member

Registered: 2013-10-10

Posts: 233

Re: Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

No, I get it.  I don't blame Charles Maund for having an ad to sell their products or KXAN for running it.  I have a business too, and I have no control over what my ads get placed next to.  And, ok,  I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt that he meant the ad placement was inappropriate, not the story.   But what I was trying to convey to them was that the ad itself is obnoxious, and that when it shows up next to a story about a pedestrian fatality it becomes glaringly obnoxious. 

If I sold chainsaws I might have an ad showing some big burly guy in a plaid shirt chopping down trees to build a log cabin in the woods.  If it happened to run next to story about an awful chainsaw accident, then that would be unfortunate, but nothing more than that.  If I ran an ad for my chainsaws featuring a guy in a threatening pose and a hockey mask, then that would be obnoxious.  And if it ran next to a story about a chainsaw murder it would be glaringly obnoxious.

The news story suggested the woman was killed because the drivers were racing.  The ad shows a car with tires burning rubber next to a football player running forward with the ball, arm outstretched to knock other players out of the way.  Glaringly obnoxious when placed next to this story.

MichaelBluejay

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From: Austin, TX

Registered: 2008-05-26

Posts: 1,466

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Re: Hit-and-run driver kills ped in her 60s near Rundberg 10.10.17

Okay, I see.  Sorry I misunderstood.

I'm reminded of a 1985 ad for American cars showing a (stereotypical) Japanese car salesman literally getting bombed.  Amazing what they could get away with just a short time ago.