[SDCBC] FW: bike safety and good neighbor relations

[Neil Brooks]

--- Serge Issakov <serge at issakov.org> wrote:

> It's unrealistic to expect disciplined jet fighter or race car driver
> focus and attention out of ordinary folks on their way to work.

I've heard this before.  From you?  Maybe.

Analogy: you're down at the archery range (or rifle range).  Somebody's swinging their loaded
weapon around while they're telling a joke to one of their buddies ... or after they've HAD a
couple of frosty beers ... or both.

The arrow (/muzzle of the weapon) is pointing all over creation.  People, I'm guessing, are
freaking out and hitting the deck.  

"How dare you be so careless when you're handling a potentially lethal weapon," they're thinking
... or something like that.

Yeah.  Right.  Exactly.

Secondary infraction: distracted driver.  

If you get a ticket/are involved in an accident, and you were distracted (we have laws, we have
gray areas, we have courts.  We HAVE a process in place for these things), then you get a
secondary ticket.

And I agree: make it hurt.

These are lethal weapons, kids.  Used wisely, they're unlikely to kill.  Used without DUE CARE and
attention, they can easily kill.

I don't buy into all-or-nothing arguments.  There's ZERO risk that we're aiming for "jet fighter
or race car driver focus and attention."  Even making that reference, IMO, is letting hundreds of
thousands of inattentive, and potentially lethal, drivers off the hook.

Neil