BIKE: Today's AAS Rant

[Herb Stark]

My Dad died two years ago at 86.  I had to curtail his driving for the last
two years of his life.  His drivers license here in Texas still has two
years to go before it expires.  I could not believe that at 78 years of age
the State of Texas in its wisdom renewed his license for 10 years.  At 57 I
only got 3.

Herb <Grinning>
 
BMW K1200LT "Das Tier"
WizWheelz "TerrorTrike" His and Hers
Home of the Texas BMW Blueberry Blast
www.texasblueberryfarm.com 
 
 


Herb Stark


Stark Outdoor Advertising
2038 Centenary Circle
Longview TX 75601

903-736-7591

www.herbstark.com  www.starkoutdoor.com


-----Original Message-----
From: forum-bicycleaustin.info-bounces
[mailto:forum-bicycleaustin.info-bounces] On Behalf
Of rcbaker
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 12:19 AM
To: forum
Subject: Re: BIKE: Today's AAS Rant

Stuart, I certainly hope you aren't suggesting that the RealEstatesman would
sink to reporting the lives and deaths of the rich and the poor differently,
as is the norm for newspapers practically everywhere else.

Probably they did want to make a point that driving while cell yakking is as
dangerous as it it is known to be from the various studies, and so they
played that angle. If an editorial suggesting that conclusion appears
shortly, then you know that's probably the case.

In fact, road dangers seem to be highly politicized, with the legal
presumption that there are no such things as dangerous roads, just because
when the road was built thirty years ago, it met AASHTO code for cars and
trucks. The reality is that the roads are becoming more dangerous due to
increasing congestion at high speeds combined with commuting drivers largely
focused on trip speed. 

If you look in the DPS accident statistics, they are focused primarily on
alcohol as the one identifiable cause of traffic accidents, with the rest
being an unsolved mystery. I think the bureaucracies benefit from arrest and
removal of drunk drivers, while they do not benefit from slowing or calming
the traffic on congested roads or in rebuilding them to safer standards.
Capital Metro likewise never saves the lives of passengers who might
otherwise die in car wrecks, etc. 

There are no such thing as problems due to diminished abilities of elderly
drivers, due to the political clout of the AARP probably (like a certain
confused driver I know who was reported to the police driving lost in
Pflugerville after hitting somebody). You can go perhaps five or six years
without getting your license renewed even after the age of ninety. Teenagers
driving fast with their peers are likewise quite dangerous, but nobody knows
a way to handle that one.

-- Roger in Texas, where roads are the pure distilled essence of politics


 

On 13 Mar 2004 at 21:11, Stuart Werbner wrote:

> The point I was attempting to make was this:
> 
> If a young, white, up-and-comer living in the fast lane, so to speak, 
> dies in a crash, then the local media is likely to investigate the 
> individual and the circumstances.
> 
> If it is some poor minority (or maybe just plain poor) that is reduced 
> to trying to save some legwork by crossing a freeway on foot, then 
> little or no attention is paid by the local media.
> 
> Simple as that.
> 
> My prediction is that we will have some more laws restricting cell 
> phone usage in motor vehicles as a result before we have even one more 
> safe crossing of even one local highway installed.
> 
>      __o
>    _`\<,_
>   (*)/ (*)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Stuart Werbner
> Annuit Coeptis
> 
_______________________________________________
Get on or off this list here:
http://lists.bicycleaustin.info/listinfo.cgi/forum-bicycleaustin.info