# ABC 7: Watch out for drunken, law breaking cyclists



## MrHappyMedium (Apr 20, 2007)

I normally reside on the MTBR boards, but just wanted to give everyone here a heads up. Looks like the media, in talking to a messenger, citing Critical Mass conflicts and infallible CHP Statistics determined cyclists are the real danger on roads; not cars.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=i_team&id=5329449

I replied to the blog and I also sent the 'investigative' reporter an invitation to ride with me on my commute.

Be safe on your commutes guys/gals. This story didn't improve driver/rider relations.


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

How many of the cyclists in the CHP database were children?


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## SilasCL (Jun 14, 2004)

Besides the fact that children were undoubtedly included, most of these people aren't what we consider 'cyclists'. I walked home from the gym late on tuesday night and lots of poor restaurant workers were riding home. They have no lights, pay no attention to traffic laws, and undoubtedly have a beer or two in them.

I would imagine that a survey of RBR participants and their accidents with cars would have a different result.


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## MrHappyMedium (Apr 20, 2007)

Agreed, I think the article did a poor job of differentiating those that ride bikes from one and other. We all know there are huge differences, but the general public sees us the same way. 

The piece's main representation of cyclists was a messenger. I'd like to see the percentage of riders in the BA that would identify themselves as messengers. I'm guessing it's somewhere around 1-2%. It's sensationalism. He'll be the best interview because he's sure to admit to breaking laws. That sells TV time and website ad space. (Yes, I know I'm helping this...)​
I wrote the author and asked him to ride with me on one of my commutes. He responded back and declined. He said he commutes by bike. Interesting. I asked him why not add his experiences in as well. We'll see what he says.


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## MrHappyMedium (Apr 20, 2007)

MrHappyMedium said:


> I wrote the author and asked him to ride with me on one of my commutes. He responded back and declined. He said he commutes by bike. Interesting. I asked him why not add his experiences in as well. We'll see what he says.


Response:
Good ideas for follow ups...


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

I'll bet the data is a lot more interesting and revealing than the generalizations derived from it by the reporter. I'd like to see it broken down by time, for example. I seriously doubt that many of the cyclists on my morning commute are under the influence of alcohol. I would also imagine that if you were to look at collusion data for car-car collusions, you would see similar things, such as cars breaking traffic rules.


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## singlespeed.org (Feb 14, 2006)

An interesting note - the data is from the CHP. Does that mean it is only from areas CHP is responsible for? That throws out all of the incidents in the cities.


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## singlespeed.org (Feb 14, 2006)

Ok, after thinking some more about this - I am not sure we should so much be in an uproar with the media, but should reflect on whether the article has some truth to it.

Yes, the article and TV spot did make it sound like it was always the rider's fault, where there data had it as a slight majority. Yes there could be some question as to whether the percentage given is correct. 

But I don't think we could question whether cyclists are to blame for accidents in a large portion of the time. Just from my experience seeing other riders, there is a fair amount of flaunting of the laws in the bicycling community. And it is very likely this correlates to accidents with cyclists which were the cyclist's fault.

So are we doing the right thing in questioning the messenger? Or should we instead be working towards correcting the areas where we may be putting ourselves in danger?


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