From: rfriedel@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Ronald J Friedel)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.soc
Subject: Do we have any rights?
Date: 7 Oct 1992 16:24:17 GMT
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4
Originator: rfriedel@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

I would like to make a comment about the cycling community and how
people in authority will not stick up for our rights.

Many years ago John Forester said that cyclists are the "ni**ers"
of the road.  That is, they are second class citizens who have all
the responsibilities of citizenship but a reduced set of rights. 
John got in trouble for saying this but it is, in most cases, true. 

(There may be a few communities which are bicycle enlightened.  We
were at the Mid West Tandem Rally at Des Moines, IA last month. 
The mayor and the police chief both ride bikes with the mayor being
very active in the local bike club.  I would hope that the law
enforcement infrastructure in Des Moines would be a little more
aware of the rights of cyclists.  I don't really know if this is
true.)

We, as cyclists, are not the only road users that are treated as
second class citizens.  I will tell you two cases, one involving a
pedestrian and the other a motorcyclist.  Lastly, I will tell you
how I was treated as a cyclist involved in an incident with a car. 
(These are not accidents; they are the result of careless driving.)

Yesterday, Sept. 6, a 70 year old disabled man was pushing his
wheelchair across a street in Milwaukee.  He was crossing a street,
apparently in the crosswalk, that was controlled by a stop sign. 
(He was walking parallel to the main arterial.)  A truck hit him
and he is in serious to critical condition at this time.  I don't
know if the truck was turning from the main street or if it ran the
stop sign.  The truck driver, so far, has not been cited.  The case
remains under investigation.  This incident happened in the
afternoon.  The disabled guy was apparently pushing his wheelchair
because some construction had blocked the sidewalk in the area. 
The crosswalk itself was not under construction.

A more celebrated case happened five years or so ago in which a
truck driver running a red light, hit and killed a motorcycle
policeman while the policeman was waiting to make a left turn.  The
policeman was stopped in the lane beyond the crosswalk waiting for
oncoming traffic to clear so that he could make the turn.  In this
case the truck driver was cited with, I believe, involuntary
manslaughter.  I also believe that the truck driver was only cited
because a policeman was killed.  The truck driver took the case to
a jury trial which he ultimately lost.  He tried to use the defense
that he was blinded by the sun or some such excuse.  The time of
day and year made this an invalid defense.

I was involved in a case of careless driving where a van driver
passed me on the left and then made an instant right turn.  I
suffered a concussion and so didn't have the chance to discuss the
incident with the van driver or the police.  The "accident" report
from the police said that the van driver was the proximate cause of
the accident.  There were at least two witnesses to the incident. 
My wife asked the police if the van driver would be cited.  They
said no, "because we did not witness the accident."  This is a real
bogus excuse.

I always heard that the basic traffic law says that a driver of a
vehicle must be in full control at all times.  That is why I say
that these are not accidents because at least 95% of accidents are
preventible.

Any comments?

Ron Friedel
-- 
Ron Friedel
GeoSciences  UW-Milwaukee
rfriedel@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

Xref: sparky rec.bicycles.soc:556 rec.motorcycles:35751 ba.motorcycles:551