XPost: or.general, or.politics
From: dhomuth1@comcast.net
On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 23:12:47 +0200, Corky K wrote:
>Suddenly, Don Homuth , blurted out the following:
>
>>I have not (yet, anyway) come across a bicyclist talking on the cell
>>phone while pedaling down the road.
>
>Really? I have seen that quite often. Funny actually. Much, much more
dangerous
>than driving and talking.
Well, perhaps you live in a quite different area from me. I would
notice, since I tend to give bicycles a wide berth, and I have seen
not even one thus far.
(I understand that the new cell phone Borg-like implants might be
changing that. Like the jogger who came down my street this Spring
talking loudly and gesticulating wildly as she strode. I thought she
was maybe from the Ha Ha Hotel across the river -- but no, just
another unconscious cell phone user.)
As to "more dangerous," I dunno.
Two years ago, I heard a siren and lights, saw the cop stopped at the
intersection in front of me, and so I stopped to let him into traffic.
I wondered momentarily why he didn't go.
Then the Jeep coming from behind slammed into my truck and knocked it
down the block and into the two right hand lanes.
Later, when the cop visited me in the ER, he allowed as how he could
see what was about to happen, and that the Jeep driver was on the
phone. Never even slowed down.
(A really Bad Idea to do that sort of thing in front of a cop, seems
as how! The negotiations with the insurance company were entirely pro
forma.)
Still and all, the Danger Factor doing that on a bicycle isn't as
great. The sum mass of a bicycle and rider isn't capable of doing
quite as much damage. I'd much rather have had a bicycle hit the
pickup than the Jeep.
The real danger is the dysfunctional neuron net of the individuals
involved. Car or bicycle -- either way.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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