The title of this post is the same tagline used by local station WTLV channel 12 as a teaser more than a few times during tonights Monday evening NBC primetime shows.
It has become common place for local and national news organizations to rely on the culture of fear to entice viewers or readers because actual journalism is just too darn hard. But tonights teaser of "Why you shouldn't ride you bike at night" was way over the line.
Even through I never watch this stations news, (this post is a perfect example of why) I tune in and wait thru the drivel they call news so I can learn exactly why it is I shouldn't ride my bike at night. About midway through the half-hour broadcast the news anchors give a 5 second brief on how Florida Highway Patrol is looking into (not to be confused with investigating) a Collier County Sheriff officer hitting of a cyclist last week and then proceeded to show the dash cam video from that accident. They also made sure to point out the cyclist had been drinking.
So, basically what I learned from WTLV is that I shouldn't ride my bike at night for fear that I will get drunk and run over by the police. Thank a deity that we have WTLV to keep us safe.
What WTLV fails to point out however is that the cyclist is not a cyclist, but is in fact a pedestrian. Once a person ceases riding a bike and starts walking a bike they become a pedestrian. What they also fail to ask is why the officer "didn't see the cyclist until it was too late." It is a nice wide 4 lane road with a wide median. The officer is in the righthand lane and the pedestrian is approaching the side of the road from the left. The person walking the bike is also moving at what looks like a normal walking pace. If the officer had been paying attention to the road, it only seems natural that he/she would have had to see something in the distance, a glint of reflection of metal or some kind of movement in the shadows of headlight as he/she approached the person. You can also see in the video that there is traffic passing in the opposite direction. At some point that passing traffic headlights would have silhouetted the person crossing the road. Maybe the officer didn't see any of this because he/she wasn't paying attention to the road. Go back watch the video again. This time pay attention to the the nose of the car. Do you see any sign that officer made any attempt to break? Does the the front of the car dive downward in that telltale sign of hard breaking? I don't see it.
I'm not saying the "cyclist" wasn't in the wrong in this situation. What I am saying is that WTLV should be ashamed for using video like this and the tagline "why you shouldn't ride your bike at night" together. There is not a good reason why someone should not ride a properly lighted bike at night. I think they are doing a disservice to cyclists, pedestrians and the community at large. I also hope that in the future when accidents like this happen in our region WTLV and all other Jacksonville news agents will ask questions and check facts prior to airing.
9 comments:
Interesting post, thanks for reflecting on this issue. I've never heard someone say "Thank a deity" before. I'm totally stealing that.
Well I think that automobiles should not be driving at night for fear that they cannot see pedastrians crossing roadways. It is obvious that the people of WTLV have no business reporting on bicycle safety since they cannot tell the difference between a pedastrian and a cyclist. Also IMHO all roadways should have their speed limits cut in half. Another opinion is that all officers should have their laptops removed from there consoles. Most likly that officer was busy watching their computer screen instead of driving.
Ah, good-ol' "Tabloid 12" strikes again! But then again, what do you expect from the Kings & Queens of local soap-opera "news" anchors, like the Deegan-Hicken adulterous love triangle nightmare? Take it back a few decades, and there was that awesome WEEK-LONG series (during 'sweeps week' of course!) dedicated to *gasp* "SATAN WORSHIP". Yeah, they went through all the trouble of showing the flaming graffiti on the walls of the Public School #4 building in 5-points Riverside, claiming that "Satanists" performed their deviant rituals there, COMPLETELY failing to take viewers into the very next room where graffiti of various Saints decorated the walls. Bang-up reporting as always, unless of course the story is Dan Hicken pulling into his driveway and finding Tim Deegan's car there!
I have been riding my bike in J'ville at night for almost 30 years now, sans helmet, reflectors, and lights only when harassed by the Po-po, and have had one rule that has always kept me safe: "Ride Aggressively, assuming that the vehicle drivers are either blind, drunk, and/or morons." Aggressive riding means always being prepared to bail at a second's notice. I have been clipped MANY times, tossed, bumped, assaulted, screamed at, had things thrown at me from fast-moving vehicles, and have been repeatedly cut off by clueless or arrogant drivers who assumed that they had the right of way in violation of the law and my rights, despite the contrary, but here I remain. In that same 30ish years period of time, I have seen far too many "bike memorials" go up around this 'burg, one for a fellow night-rider nicknamed "Crazy Mary", who is still sorely missed. I think bike riders should automatically qualify for concealed weapons permits, so that we can defend ourselves from the daily barrage of a**holes trying to kill us on the road with vehicular homicide, some of them intentionally so.
I have been biking in J'ville and OP for years now. I leave my house at 4:30 in the morning and get home around 6:30pm. So in the Winter I ride almost exclusively in the dark. If you have the lights, you are riding in the legal position (in the road...not skirting the edge), you got your lights on, and you pay attention to cars pulling out and in of driveways and cross roads then you are perfectly safe. More so in my opinion. During the blaze of summer, the sun can actually blind the cars, levying you more invisible than at night.
@Dacius -- I do the same. This winter is my first winter riding so it was a little intimadating at first but after I seen that the cars was actually making an effort not to hit me I figued I was as safe as I would be during the daylight hours. However as usual you get the mailbox on wheels harrasing you by blowing their horns and yelling at you. I wish there was a law against harrasing cyclist.
How foolish scoop! Before making any statement news medium must analyze the fact/news from every point of view then publish it. But instead of providing right information at right time most of the cases they mislead people.
Since they cannot tell the difference between a pedastrian and a cyclist. Also IMHO all roadways should have their speed limits cut in half. Another opinion is that all officers should have their laptops removed from there consoles
Sacramento Taxi
If you can't see a cyclist at night how are you even going to see a pedestrian you shouldn't be driving at night period
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