Happy New Year

Hopefully everyone had a great Holiday Season over the last few weeks, and also a safe one. The holidays can be an unsafe time as cyclists flock to the roads to keep people with loved ones from spending time with them. As most cyclists have no one that cares about them, they use the time to clog the streets by going 25 MPH under the speed limit and try and keep you from getting to the house of a friend or family member to celebrate the holidays. Hopefully everyone was able to stay safe.

I know updates were few the last half of last year and I apologize. As many non-cyclists know life can sometimes get busy with work, family, etc. Hopefully we will start the year off right with more updates. Thanks to everyone who bought a bumper sticker to give as a gift. We made sure everyone got them in time to stuff those stockings with.

Let's make 2014 a great year and let's get cyclists off the roads and make the streets safer for everyone.

Make Sure You Support this Bill

Here in Georgia a bill has been making the rounds in the state legislature. HB 689 does something cyclists loathe, makes the streets safer for everyone. The worst part? Without your support this bill may never go up for a vote. The cycling lobby is spending money to make sure it never sees the floor, but you can stop them by calling your local representatives and letting them know not only vote on it, but pass it into law. 

This bill would do a few important things. First it would make cyclists register their bikes and get tags, and I would assume therefore pay taxes. Cyclists claim they want to share the road and live by the same rules as people in motorized vehicles. This should be a no brainer and widely supported by cyclists. Of course it’s not. And not hard to figure out why. When you frequently run red lights, mow down pedestrians, and break traffic laws why would you want to make it is easier to ID you and your vehicle? Cyclists have lobbied hard and successfully for decade to make sure they can ride anonymously. Not something they will give up easily.

It will also do something things that make it harder for them to slow traffic to a crawl and take millions of dollars out of our economy each day. Cyclists would no longer be able to clog the whole lane by riding multiple bikes deep and two across, and would also limit what roads they can ride on. Of course cyclists hate this. If cyclists couldn’t tie up traffic they wouldn’t ride. 

These are great rules that any sane person would whole heartedly support and cyclists are doing everything in their power to keep this bill form going to vote. The good news is you can stop them. Just get on the phone and tell your local state representative to support HB 689.

Here is what to do.

1. Visit http://openstates.org/ga/legislators/?chamber=lower and type in your address.
2. Get the email address of your State Representative.
3. Send them an email. Speak your heart or use the form letter below.

[Name of your Representative],

I live in [your town here] and am writing to you to ask to please get behind HB 689, which among other things would force cyclists to register their bikes. Like many Americans I am tired of being stuck behind cyclists riding  20 and 30 MPH under the speed limit and traveling slowly in large groups. I am a hard working Georgian with a family and getting around town is hard enough without cyclists slowing traffic to a crawl. There are plenty of places for cyclists to ride without tying up the rest of us. While HB 689 doesn't get us where we need to be, it's a good start.

As someone who follows the subject, I know the cycling lobby is a powerful one, and I know they are doing everything in their power to make sure this never sees the floor. I hope you will support the side of hard working Americans who would like to get to work on time or get home to their families sooner, instead of spending hours each year stuck behind slow cyclists who have no place to go.

Thank you.

[Your Name]

If you don’t live in Georgia find out what your state is doing and get behind it as well. Ordinary Americans are getting fed up with cyclists. Let’s stand up for ourselves against this menace and be heard. 

To be fair here is a cycling group’s view point. Basically they say all the great things this bill will do, and then whine about it while bragging about how they’ve already bought off the state senate.

http://www.georgiabikes.org/index.php/blog/322-hb-689-anti-cycling-legislation

Don’t let them win, write the e-mail or make a call. Let those you vote for know your vote won’t be coming next election without supporting this bill.

Links:

http://www.georgiabikes.org/index.php/blog/322-hb-689-anti-cycling-legislation

http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20132014/HB/689

Another Old Man Attacked By Cyclist

Old people can be kind of like cyclists sometimes. They move slowly and they can keep you from getting where you need to be. The big difference of course is that old people aren’t doing it for kicks, they move slow because that what happens when you get old, not because they get a boner from keeping people from getting to work on time. That being said you would think if anyone had an appreciation for the sloth-like elderly it would be cyclists. Yet just a month after a San Francisco cyclist walked away with no jail time after killing an elderly man, a cyclist in Washington shoved a 70 year old man into the street because he felt like riding on the sidewalk. 

Even better, there was a bike lane available. When getting onto an empty sidewalk means cars could safely pass a cyclist at a reasonable speed, they are quick to point out that it is illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk. But when there is a bike lane available, they will quickly move to the sidewalk or into the car lanes to inconvenience others. Never forget that cycling is about one thing, being a nuisance to others. When they can’t find any cars on the road to slow down they will move to the sidewalks to pester pedestrians. 

The worst part, looks like he will get away with it. Even though a witness got a picture of him, it doesn’t appear he has been caught. The man who was hurt hit his head, but otherwise had only minor injuries.  

Link: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Police-search-for-cyclist-who-shoved-pedestrian-into-traffic-220907661.html

Piece of Shit Cyclist Killer Gets No Jail Time

You will remember that about a year ago a cyclists in SanFrancisco plowed through a red light an killed an elderly man. Afterwards he posted online about how he was more concerned with the damage to his helmet, than the fact he had taken a life. 

Unbelievably, this man will serve no jail time. Chris Bucchere pled guilty and received 3 years of probation and 1000 hours of community service. Absolutely amazing. Some people often come here and think the blog is hyperbole. That cyclists are annoying yeah, but they aren’t really all that unsafe, right?

Cyclists do not stop at red lights or stop signs. It’s one thing for an idiot cyclist to get himself killed by plowing through a traffic signal and hitting a car. But when an elderly man waits for his turn to cross an intersection, he does so feeling safe that he won’t be run down by a vehicle that just blows through the stop light. If you live in an area that has even a moderate cycling population, make sure you are looking out for these nuts. They will kill you, and they will walk away with no jail time. As long as we keep letting this scum walk free, they will keep killing pedestrians. 

I actually threw up when I read this man walked away. The prosecutor whined that he didn’t think the judge would award jail time anyway. And sadly, he is probably right. In communities like San Francisco cyclists enjoy even more “freedom” than they normally do, which as we all know, is quite a bit of leeway. Cyclists continue to control the political system in many areas, and in areas like San Francisco they can even manipulate the judicial system enough to let killers walk free, as long as they ride a bike. It really is frightening.

The saddest part, this judge, this prosecutor, and even Bucchere, the killer himself, won’t lose an ounce of sleep, except over his helmet of course. 

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/23/bicyclist-chris-bucchere-manslaughter_n_3640947.html

Scumbag Cyclist Faking Accidents in Canada

We are very familiar with cyclists purposefully causing and inventing accidents in order to gain sympathy for their cause. Here is another one caught red hand-handed. Marko Jurisevic has had 9 cycling accidents, among others, in the past 17 years.

He was caught on surveillance faking injuries he suffered from an accident, carrying his walker and throwing it into the back of a truck.

Never forget this is very common for cyclists, and take any accident you hear about from a cyclist, or read about involving cyclist with a grain of salt. While not always the case, there is an excellent chance the cyclist faked the accident. Make sure you give the benefit of the doubt to those who are involved in these accidents.

Once again, I beg of you, do not get road rage and hurt cyclists. I understand that when some douche bag is going 35 MPH under the speed limit and making you late for work, or keeping you from getting home to your family, it can be very tempting to take matters into your own hands. This is what they want. Cyclists ride their bikes on busy, high speed, high traffic roads, they are not afraid to be injured, or even die, for their pitiful cause of wreaking havoc on our roadways. They will go so far as to make the accidents themselves, injuries and all. Always be careful and alert, you never know when a cyclist will try and fake an accident, either to clean you out in court, but more importantly to get political capital to make new laws that give cyclists even more power to make our roads even more dangerous.

Links http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/05/14/bc-cyclist-lawsuit-dismissed.html

Atlanta Cyclists Riding on Capitol

Today Atlanta cyclists are riding on the Gold Dome in Georgia. Their goal? To raise awareness of cycling. Newsflash: when your goal is to create havoc every where you go and cause every one else on the roads to slow down to a crawl in an attempt to get around you... every one is well aware of you.

Here we ago again, cyclists trying to use politics and legislation to push their agenda and make the roads less safe for everyone. In this event local politicians come from around the state to hear cyclists ask for bike lanes they won't use, laws that make it impossible to pass them when they are driving 35 MPH under the speed limit, and overall increase chaos on our roads.

I live in the Atlanta area, and like in most metro areas cyclists are a huge problem. We waste millions on bike lanes they refuse to use. And in return we get cyclists riding in large groups, plowing though stops signs and red lights while slowing traffic to a crawl.

Make sure to let your local politicians know that cycling on roads, specifically high traffic, high speed roads, is something that has to stop and makes the roads safer for all of us.

Link: http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/21792497/group-rides-to-gold-dome-to-improve-conditions-for-cyclists

Wasington Politcian Wrong About Cyclists, or Is He?

A Washington state lawmaker got into a tiff with a bike store owner over cyclists trying to get out of paying the same taxes all other vehicles pay to use the roads. While arguing for taxing cyclists for using roads, Ed Orcutt made a pretty idiotic comment that cyclists pollute by breathing heavier. This is pretty stupid.

A couple of points here though. Getting cyclists to pay taxes is something more politicians need to get on board with, and despite these moronic comments, I commend this guy for taking this stand. Despite tax revenues being down for most state and local governments, and our public infrastructure crumbling before our eyes, cyclists want to avoid paying taxes for their death traps, depsite claiming to want equality on the roads.

But more importantly he is almost right here. While cyclists' breath does not add to pollution, they do increase gas usage by causing all other vehicles on the road to expend more gas by having to slow down to pass them. We've covered this before.

So yes, this guy is an idiot. But he also is right about a couple of things. Cyclists need to pay taxes if they want to use the roads, and they absolutely do increase pollution by increasing gas usage. Let's get them off the roads and make everyone happy. No taxes for cyclists, less gas and pollution.

http://news.yahoo.com/washington-state-lawmaker-backpedals-saying-cyclists-pollute-breathing-034008925.html