For the safety of others, please keep off the highways

Some poor motorist who had to wait 5 seconds has posted her anti-bike
diatribe for your amusement.

Here is the link to the full article; below that is an excerpt:

http://illinoisleader.com/columnists...iew.asp?c=6972

--------------------

MORRISON: Beware of bicycles
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
By Joyce Morrison )

OPINION -- Beware of bicycles - they could be hazardous to your
health.

There are 55 bicycle trails in Illinois.

In fact, within "bicycle distance" of where we live is the Chain of
Rocks bridge. This bridge crosses the Mississippi River, which
connects the Illinois bicycle trail beginning at Pere Marquette State
Park near Grafton, Illinois, to the well-known Katy Trail in Missouri.
The Chain of Rocks Bridge was recently renovated especially for
pedestrians and bicycles and was paid for by we the taxpayers.

With that wonderful recreational provision, why would 4,500 bikers
(mainly from St. Louis) choose to make a 100 mile bike ride on roads
already heavy with tourist traffic that are two lane, curvy, hilly
roads under construction?

That is what Derry Brownfield of the Common Sense Coalition would call
"ignorance gone to seed."

Last Sunday on our way to church, we had the "privilege" of having our
patience tested. We were behind one batch of these bikers going up a
normally busy road with a steep winding hill, blind curves, no road
shoulder. And these bikers were not about to budge out of the way. To
top it off, the road was freshly milled in preparation for a new
surface.

To see these two wheelers peddling up the hill with rear ends stuck in
the air in tight fitting britches is a humorous sight. But it wouldn't
have been funny to have seen one stretched out along the road with
tire marks across him. These Sunday road warriors were literally
risking their lives to prove they had the right.

We were in our car. We had our seat belts on as required by the law -
our insurance and license fees were paid. We had paid fuel tax when we
purchased our gasoline. Now wouldn't you think that would give us a
bit of a priority?

What was that biker's investment that would give him the right to go
down the middle of the highway? Bikers have no license, no vehicle
insurance, no seat belts, no fuel tax. They are not making any
contribution into the local economy in the way of tourism dollars.
They had their own manned rest stops that furnished them with food and
water, and they certainly can't pack home much from the local shops on
the back of their bikes or in those tight britches.

. . .

Bicycles have been around for a long time and brought joy to many. If
used responsibly, a bicycle is a wonderful source of exercise and
recreation. But are we being prepared to be forced to use bicycles for
our major mode of transportation? Could it be this activity is
purposely being placed into an elitist status with no restrictions and
licensing in an effort to lure people into this mental mode?

If you are a biker, please ride responsibly on a trail that has been
provided for your entertainment, and for your own safety and the
safety of others, please keep off the highways.
--------------------


--Brent
bhugh [at] mwsc.edu

There are 55 bicycle trails in Illinois.

And how many roads are there in Illinois?

--

****** OSCAR THE GROUCH IS COOL!!! *******
* (And so is Men At Work! And Pete Rose!) *

I think. Therefore, I am not a conservative!
------ http://www.todayslastword.org -------

"Brent Hugh" wrote in message
om...
Some poor motorist who had to wait 5 seconds has posted her anti-bike
diatribe for your amusement.

Here is the link to the full article; below that is an excerpt:

http://illinoisleader.com/columnists...iew.asp?c=6972

--------------------


Her bio at the end of the article says she's a chapter leader for Concerned
Women of America. I guess they needed something new to be concerned about,
now that the war in Iraq is (cough) over. And what's with the "tight shorts"
fixation? I think we all know the answer to that.

"Won't someone PLEASE think of the children!"

Holy crap, I was going to write that lady in hopes of talking sense, but
further reading of that article reveals a truly warped mind:

"Are these groups really into recreation and exercise, or are they being
mentally trained for the Sustainable Communities where bicycles will be a
way of life? Automobiles are not popular in Sustainable Communities. They
may never be totally outlawed as people would protest too much, but they can
price the middle class out of affording a vehicle. If there is no gasoline,
or it is so expensive you cannot afford it, what good is the car? Only the
rich and elite would own and drive cars in a Sustainable Community.

Smart Growth, which passed in Illinois last year, is the design for
Sustainable Communities. This is where everything we need is stacked
together, and we can ride our bicycles and walk for most of our needs and
use mass transit for any other needed travel."


Jesus, people, get off those bikes before you're all turned into horrible,
environmentally responsible zombies!





"Brent Hugh" wrote in message
om...
Some poor motorist who had to wait 5 seconds has posted her anti-bike
diatribe for your amusement.

Here is the link to the full article; below that is an excerpt:

http://illinoisleader.com/columnists...iew.asp?c=6972

"Brent Hugh" wrote in message
om...
Some poor motorist who had to wait 5 seconds has posted her anti-bike
diatribe for your amusement.

Here is the link to the full article; below that is an excerpt:

http://illinoisleader.com/columnists...iew.asp?c=6972

Bicycles have been around for a long time and brought joy to many. If
used responsibly, a bicycle is a wonderful source of exercise and
recreation. But are we being prepared to be forced to use bicycles for
our major mode of transportation? Could it be this activity is
purposely being placed into an elitist status with no restrictions and
licensing in an effort to lure people into this mental mode?

I thought is was the typical, misinformed, logic-challenged, rant of an
indignant motorist until I got to the last paragraph, which I think reveals
pretty paranoid thoughts. Going to the original article, she raises the
specter of bicycles displacing (via conspiracy) automobile use by the
middle-class. Wacko! What kind of paper is that, anyway?

CWA is a conservative fundamentalist organization, BTW. One of the Denver
papers quoted one of their leaders this morning railing against Bravo (the
cable TV network) for ruining the children of America with their two new gay
TV shows. CWA's website is says the group's intent is to put the bible into
all areas of public policy. Now my question is, how does riding a bicycle on
a publicly-paid for road fit in with that philosophy, since the author saw
fit to ID herself as a CWA member.

Marianne

"The Causey Way" death@tospam wrote in message
...

"Brent Hugh" wrote in message
om...
Some poor motorist who had to wait 5 seconds has posted her anti-bike
diatribe for your amusement.

Here is the link to the full article; below that is an excerpt:

http://illinoisleader.com/columnists...iew.asp?c=6972

--------------------


Her bio at the end of the article says she's a chapter leader for
Concerned
Women of America. I guess they needed something new to be concerned about,
now that the war in Iraq is (cough) over. And what's with the "tight
shorts"
fixation? I think we all know the answer to that.

"Won't someone PLEASE think of the children!"

I want to go in the opposite direction. There should be a law that every
road in the US has at least a 2' sholder to walk, or bike on. In NJ I do a
lot of walking/riding on roads with no sholder at all. Even I you are in a
car-what happens if your car breaks down? Roads with no sholders are
extreamely dangerous.

"Pat" wrote in message
-

That whole diatribe made me want to puke! I didn't see the writer's
credentials as part of the Concerned Women of America. It figures,
though.
The whole article was nothing but elitist drivel typical of the far-right.

Drivel, yes. But this woman is no part of any elite. She lives in
downstate Illinois and in a state of constant resentment of Chicago and
those 'rich, liberal, elite, snotty' urban types from northern Illinois who
(in her mind) add insult to injury by coming downstate on the weekends to
ride their bikes and get in the way.

What the? Don't Republicans ride bikes or is it only for us lower forms
of
life?


No, nobody out there in the corn fields rides bikes (Republicans or
Democrats if there are any)--except maybe the kids who happen to live in
town.

I love the detail that she was on her way to church when the inspiration for
this rant struck her.

In her possible defense, though -- the other slow moving vehicles down there
that tend to obstruct traffic are tractors and combines. And the farmers
driving those will go to some trouble to get as far to the side as possible
and even pull over and stop to let cars around. I would hope bicyclists
would be equally courteous. There's no reason to have a long line of
frustrated drivers stuck behind you when pulling over for a couple of
seconds would save everybody a lot of frustration.

Mark

x-no-archive:yes


I love the detail that she was on her way to church when the inspiration
for
this rant struck her.

In her possible defense, though -- the other slow moving vehicles down
there
that tend to obstruct traffic are tractors and combines. And the farmers
driving those will go to some trouble to get as far to the side as
possible
and even pull over and stop to let cars around. I would hope bicyclists
would be equally courteous. There's no reason to have a long line of
frustrated drivers stuck behind you when pulling over for a couple of
seconds would save everybody a lot of frustration.

Mark

Pardon me if I misread the original post, but I thought it was one of those
sponsored rally-type rides that they were on. She did say that there were
4,500 of them. I just didn't like her snobby idea that all of them would
pull over just for her!

Pat

"Mark Weaver" wrote in message news:

In her possible defense, though -- the other slow moving vehicles down there
that tend to obstruct traffic are tractors and combines. And the farmers
driving those will go to some trouble to get as far to the side as possible
and even pull over and stop to let cars around. I would hope bicyclists
would be equally courteous. There's no reason to have a long line of
frustrated drivers stuck behind you when pulling over for a couple of
seconds would save everybody a lot of frustration.

pulling over every few seconds? How do you propose to get anywhere on a bike, then?