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Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

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Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#81

Post by dhimes »

jrockway wrote: post #20
ugh wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be carful with the application of hyperbole. Reflectors don’t work under certain conditions but they do work very often. They are by no means worthless. I could imagine that especially reflectors in the spokes can help increase visibility. … and the total lack of bicycle education in the US. Is there really no road safety education in school? We have pretty extensive road safety education in Germany including…

In the US, bikes are basically considered toys. If you're a kid, you ride one on your sidewalk to enjoy a sunny Saturday afternoon. If you're an adult, you buy one that costs $3000 to impress your friends. You put it on the back of your car, drive it to a fun location, and pedal around for a few hours once a month. It's way too dangerous to even consider thinking about maybe possibly riding it to work or something, b…

In the US, bikes are basically considered toys.

You make excellent points, but in US law they are considered vehicles, and subject to the same rules of stop lights, stop signs, and waiting-in-line as automobiles.

Many, many bicyclists don't understand this, however, and run red lights and stop signs seemingly at will.

This never really bothered me until I had kids and was teaching them how to ride. I would always point out (because I knew they saw) when someone would bike illegally, in hopes that they would learn right from wrong.

As a counter-example, just two days ago a man was bicycling with two young children at a time when parents were dropping kids off at school (so, presumably he was taking them to school). I was driving a car down a road and passed them on my way to take a left turn. As I was waiting for traffic to clear for my turn (here in the US, to make a left turn I have to wait for a break in oncoming traffic), he and the kids came up on my right and started to ride in a pedestrian crosswalk (illegal- they are vehicles, not pedestrians) at that intersection that passed in front of my car. The man came within a few (maybe 10) feet of the front of my car before I made my turn. I only saw him at the last instant (a quick, reflexive check to my right, because I had already ascertained that there were no pedestrians).

I hope I scared him. I hope even more that I scared his kids who undoubtedly saw the event. I hope he had a long talk with his kids afterward.

But the real point I want him to understand is that if some child dies because they learned unsafe bicycling from watching his behavior, he is partly responsible for the child's death. Part of our jobs as adults in society is to demonstrate proper behavior for those in the process of learning it.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#82

Post by noahlt »

points wrote: post #34

Um Why is this hacker news?

It's interesting to many of us here who are interested in building online communities. If a person happened to walk by this man's funeral, they probably wouldn't shout that he was "better off dead". But a person who happens to see this man's obituary online apparently has no qualms about the online equivalent.

As hackers, we build things that are used, ultimately, by fellow human beings. Those things we build can have unintended consequences. This story highlights that fact.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#83

Post by danielnicollet »

Neil Alan Smith and all the other dependable and beneficial members of society who try do good without making waves or deriving fame, power, or wealth from it owe a great deal to that rare kind of journalism! I hope that my own contributions in life can be seen as such positive as Niel's were. It's not that simple to do good and be appreciated in life even for seemingly very minute jobs like that of a dishwasher. Reminds me of the ferryman in Herman Hesse's Siddhartha. Wise, humble, happy.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#84

Post by Tichy »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #61
chopsueyar wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also have my eyes when they put on the stroboscope in clubs. Huh?

I think he means " It also hurts my eyes [...] "

I thought I had written "have to close my eyes" but apparently some part of the text got swallowed somehow.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#85

Post by Tichy »

100k wrote: post #78
Tichy wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder about the blinking things that seem to have become fashionable. I rarely drive cars, but when I did, I always found blinking lights extremely distracting. They make it hard for me to concentrate, to an extent where I wonder if it is still beneficial to the person wearing them. It's fine if a driver notices me, but I want them to still be able to concentrate. People's perceptions may vary here, for example I…

Blinking lights are used because they focus your attention on the changing light. So it is working as intended.

I thought the intention would be to not drive over the cyclist.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#86

Post by rue »

Confusion wrote: post #25
jrockway wrote: post #11

Police said that Mr. Smith was following bicycle safety recommendations such as wearing light-colored clothing, using reflectors and riding in the bicycle lane. This is a common misconception. Reflectors are worthless. Riding in the bike lane exposes you to great danger -- car doors flying open to the right, aggressive motorists passing too closely on the left. If you take the lane, you're out of the "door zone", and…

As for reflectors; they only work when there is a clear path from an illumination source to the reflector and back to your eye. Sometimes that happens, but more often than not, it doesn't. Firstly, reflectors are designed to deflect light into as many directions as possible. A small beam in becomes a wide beam out. And they succeed marvelously at that. Secondly, any reflector worn by any cyclist or pedestrian will re…

Reflectors are better than nothing, just. An actual light source is so much better it is not funny.

LEDs are cheap, plentiful and actually safe.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#87

Post by jfb »

_delirium wrote: post #17
jbm wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You said it. Quote: Dayhoff, his boss at Crab Shack, read the story on the Times website and found himself outraged by unsympathetic comments posted by some readers. "I just can't get over some of those people reacting the way they did," he said. "This guy was a human being. He might not have meant something to somebody else, but he was like family to us. He meant something to us." -- Meanwhile: -- Jeff Lackey, who l…

Not really making a political statement either way, but I've been very surprised at how much small gestures can mean in some situations, and how relative status is. About 5 years ago, some fellow grad students and I had a fairly recent Guatemalan immigrant serving as the janitor in our part of the building. It was basically awkward all around: the janitors normally came in late-ish to vacuum and empty trash cans and…

I like this story a lot. People are people, and it's always nice to be reminded.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#88

Post by Zak »

chopsueyar wrote: post #50
Psyonic wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A co-worker at my last job said she even had people go so far as to throw stuff out their windows at her as they passed while she was cycling... ever happened to you?

In one lf Lance Armstrong's books, he mentions that happening while practicing in Texas, IIRC. He obtained the license plate number, and the driver was convicted of assult. Also, if you are intentionally run off the road by a vehicle, it can be considered assault with a deadly weapon.

Unfortunately, it's likely that he was taken more seriously by law enforcement because he's Lance Armstrong. If I called the police with a similar complaint, I'd put the odds at less than 50% that it would lead to criminal charges.

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#89

Post by kgo »

jrockway wrote: post #11

Police said that Mr. Smith was following bicycle safety recommendations such as wearing light-colored clothing, using reflectors and riding in the bicycle lane. This is a common misconception. Reflectors are worthless. Riding in the bike lane exposes you to great danger -- car doors flying open to the right, aggressive motorists passing too closely on the left. If you take the lane, you're out of the "door zone", and…

You know, I've heard that bike lanes are more dangerous for years, and many of the arguments are convincing. But the trouble is, 98% of drivers won't realize there's a method to your madness. Riding in the main lane when there's a perfectly good bike lane will just reinforce the preconceptions that bikers ride with lawless abandon, ignore common courtesy, etc...

If bike lanes really are that dangerous, we need to get rid of them.

[Of course I don't want to start a drivers vs. bikers thread. I'm sure the reality is that 95%+ of both drivers and bikers are just fine. It's just that other five percent that we actually remember.]

Re: Shocked by online comments, reporter writes profile of hit-and-run victim

#90

Post by metamemetics »

viraptor wrote: post #60
sliverstorm wrote: post #13

The comment on the article reveals completely the lack of intelligence and elitism of the commenter. It may be wonderful to think that the people who man lower-end jobs are somehow less deserving than you, and somehow should be executed. But without those people filling those low-end jobs, our world would fall apart. No matter what you think of them, you need them, whether you realize it or not. And on the other hand…

Or the commenter was simply a troll. You get them on almost every news site now. Commenting on every article with something that will most likely cause others to argue / start a flamewar. I'm not sure if that needed a response at all. People not used to internet commenters sometimes give in too easily and start feeding the trolls... it only wastes your time and gives someone more chance to have "fun".

This is the most obvious answer. Taking it too seriously and upvoting articles like this will only ensure /b/tards find out about it and initiate an even bigger trolling.
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