Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Ugh...

From the Battle Creek Enquirer:
"BICYCLE ACCIDENT: Battle Creek firefighters and LifeCare paramedics on Monday lifted Josh Allwardt, 20, of Ceresco, to an ambulance after he collided with a car while he was riding a bicycle on Capital Avenue Southwest just north of Washington Avenue. A witness, Chris Vaden, said Allwardt was northbound in the bike lane when a northbound car passed him and then attempted a right turn into a driveway. Allwardt flipped over the car and landed on the sidewalk. Battle Creek police said the accident occurred at 12:26 p.m. and identified the driver of the car as Sally Coonfare, 32, of Battle Creek."

Read the first sentence of the article and tell me who is at fault. The article, like most others reporting when a car driver hits a cyclist, is full of bias. Mr. Allwardt was not taken to the hospital because of his own actions, as is implied when stating that "he collided with a car". Mr. Allwardt was taken to the hospital because a driver drove her car into him. Again, a northbound car did not "pass him and then attempt a right turn into a driveway" as the article states. In fact, no car that I'm aware of has ever attempted to make a turn on its own accord. Instead, Ms. Coonfare attempted a turn immediately after she passed a cyclist, and Ms. Coonfare drove her car into Mr. Allwardt. The article should begin by stating that Mr. Allwardt was lifted to a hospital because Ms. Coonfare drove her car into him as he road his bike in accordance with traffic laws. Language matters, and horribly written articles like the one above perpetuate the common attitude that cyclists do not belong on roads and are at fault for all accidents! If the author of the story wants to be a writer, I would suggest the author understand what words actually mean.

Anyhow, yesterday was a pretty easy day. I swam 2K to make up for having to cut short Sunday's swim, and then rode the trainer for 1:15 at an easy pace (should have been 1:30, but I ran out of Lost DVDs to watch and called it a night). I feel good and do not notice any fatigue. I'm looking forward to some upcoming harder riding efforts.

1 comment:

  1. You should sent a letter to the editor of the BC Enquirer. For real, send it.

    ReplyDelete