Readers Videotape: Will No One Give The Red Light At 19th & Rittenhouse A Little Love?
From our old buddy Michael McGettigan at Trophy Bikes:
This video show three lawless, brain-dead, hell-bound, hipster, tree-hugging, menacing bicyclists blatantly and cruelly running the three stop signs where 19th meets Rittenhouse Square.
It also shows umpteen motorists doing the exact same thing, only inside three tons of metal, glass and plastic.
But hey, what does reality have to do with the DiCicco/Kenney anti-bike bills anyway?
McGettigan sent this video to The Clog last week, so some of you might already be familiar with this clip and McGettigan’s cute narration (he sounds exactly like the guys on You Bet Your Garden). But it illustrates a pretty salient point in all of these bike arguments we’ve been having lately: If City Hall wants to go ahead and start enforcing all of these bike laws already on the books — much less create new ones — they’d also better start enforcing all of these other needledick laws (you know, like the one against the Philly Roll) as well.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
You may also notice that the consensus of the comments on The Clog was this:
Everyone agrees that ALL the laws needs to be enforced, and that EVERYONE needs to be more civil. Cars need to stop at red lights, pedestrians need to stop jaywalking, and these laws needs to be enforced.
The video did nothing more than show that the sky is blue; Virtually no one in this city, maybe even this country, comes to a full-stop at a stop sign. It sucks, and it does need to stop as well. The other problem is that a 4-way stop sign, in my opinion, would be a better determination since it would perfectly illustrate the need for it.
No one group should be targeted for enforcement of a law (trust me, as a skateboarder, that’s been a large portion of what I and my friends have dealt with) for a long period of time, it should be universally enforced. But sometimes, yes, you do need to crack down on certain aspects that become a serious problem.
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Larry, the issue isn’t so much that the video shows that the sky is blue, as you say, which is surprising to no one. But, to extend your metaphor, it puts in perspective some of the recent newspaper articles that seem to be arguing that the sky is some other color and that bicycles are the biggest threat to safety on our streets (I know, I shouldn’t be taking Stu Bykofsky seriously, but I can’t help it – he’s got a big platform to spew his bullshit from). That being said, your point stands about universal enforcement. I just think the video gives some perspective to what the serious problems that need cracking down are.
December 3rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Yeah well, try driving a car on the sidewalk and see what happens.
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Drive on the sidewalk? Hell, up here they PARK on the sidewalk!