[*BCM*] Awareness Test

[Tom Revay]

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 at 09:24:34 -0700 (PDT), Jym Dyer <jym at econet.org> wrote:

>  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSQJP40PcGI
>
>  > maybe Mass Bike could buy rights to it for some good
>  > PSA's around here...
>
>  =v= Judging from the discussion on other email lists,
>  the resulting PSA wouldn't say, "Look out for cyclists."
>  It would say, "That thing you didn't notice should be
>  wearing a hideous screaming neon yellow jacket, and so
>  should cyclists, and if they don't, it's their own damn
>  fault if motorists don't see them, because motorists
>  are never to blame for anything, ever."
>     <_Jym_>

Jym is referring to a parallel discussion that is taking place on the
Yak mailing list -- that's a list for Bike Friday folding bike owners.
 Jym owns a BF, as do I, as does MassBike Board Member John Allen.

And it is about a message on the Yak that John wrote, that Jym here
mischaracterizes, so he can talk shite about MassBike.

I don't believe that John is a member of the Boston CM mailing list.
So unless someone tells him, John won't realize that Jym is trashing
all of MassBike based upon a disagreement over a couple guys' opinions
that took place elsewhere.

Ah, Jym, that blackguard swab!  Damn his eyes!

But it's worst than that, friends!  Because when Jym bombastically
charges that John or MassBike* would claim that "motorists are never
to blame for anything, ever," -- well, he's fibbin'!

Or worse.  Yep, ol' =v='s tellin' WMD-size whoppers!

What I read in John's words was this:  the road isn't a chaotic game
of back-and-forth catch.  It has an order to it, and cyclists who ride
as part of that order will put themselves in locations where motorists
are likely to see them.  Thus, the video's analogy isn't correct.

In addition, the public often believes that cycling is a fantastically
dangerous activity in which we cyclists are victims at random, and
there's little we can do to prevent calamities from befalling us.
That's just not true, of course, but John suggested that this video
reinforces this mistaken belief by ignoring the cyclist's ability to
make himself more visible using bright clothing, lights, and so on.
As someone who's tired of being assumed to be a lunatic just because I
cycle in Boston traffic, I can see John's point.

Jym countered that we shouldn't have to dress up like Christmas just
to go down the road on our bikes.

Well, heck -- I agree!  Jym's right on that one.

But this implies that we need to put ourselves in places where
motorists are looking -- and they're looking for other traffic, where
traffic is supposed to be.  And that confirms John's basic point that
the road has an order to it that isn't represented in the video.

So John didn't like the ad.  But you know what else?  I did.  In fact,
I was the guy who posted the ad's link to the MassBike list.  And I
did it before it hit the Yak or CM lists.

If a game of fast-break catch isn't analogous to driving the public
road, one can at least take away from it that distracted driving is a
problem that motorists and bicyclists need to be aware of.  The video
is clever, too, by inviting viewer concentration, and then delivering
the message to "Watch for cyclists."

That's a good message, I think.  So I believe John Allen is
unnecessarily persnickety to dismiss it, even though it has its flaws.

But Jym says that MassBike's ad would tell us that "motorists are
never to blame for anything, ever."

Sorry, but that dog just don't hunt!  And Jym's tellin' a whopper -- a
big, fat, gynormous whopper! -- when he says it does.


-- Tom Revay

*  The only person empowered by the MassBike Board of Directors to
speak on behalf of the organization is the Executive Director, Dave
Watson.  I'm on the Advisory Committed for MassBike, but I don't speak
for MassBike, and neither does John Allen.

I have been affiliated with the organization over the years in various
card-carrying, dues-paying, and volunteering capacities, and I
couldn't imagine that MassBike would ever claim what Jym suggests they
might.  If they did, I'd be the first out the door.

Also, MassBike made a "Share the Road" video PSA in 2002.  They also
came down on Howie Carr when he blabbered,

"They [bicyclists] are the biggest pain...if there is a sidewalk, I
don't care what the law is, ride on the damn sidewalk, OK? You don't
belong on the road. You don't. That's all there is to it. You belong
on the sidewalk."

MassBike's complaints about these idiotic rantings were enough to
compel WRKO to broadcast "Share the Road" ads that went out in 2005.
You can read about this in the a League of American Bicyclists'
newsletter at http://www.bikeleague.org/members/pdfs/123104_enews.pdf
(pdf document).