Monday, April 25, 2016

Safety & The Right to Drive Like an Idiot

OK, so I was on my bicycle waiting at a light @ Spring Grove Ave. & Crawford Ave in Cincinnati, OH. There was a car next to me. I signaled a left turn - I heard another car pull up behind him so I signaled again, the light changed - I started to pull out - a car heading S on Spring Grove slammed on his brakes ~ his back end fishtailing & the car behind him slammed into his rear.
I stopped & looked around. The car that had pulled up was a Cincinnati police car. I went my merry way & figured the CPD was already on the scene.
Then it dawned on me - Both cars had every intention of running the red light when one or both of them saw the cop sitting there.
An argument behind banning red light cameras was that it increased the number of rear end collisions (although they reduced T - bone collisions) but here, an unsuspecting police officer caused the rear end collision. Granted, if the cars hadn't stopped, I would not be typing this out now, but I am a loser who rides a bike - not a proud car loan paying American Motorist, so, OK.
But the rear ending problem is still with us & our stalwart legislators like Bill Seitz need to solve this once and for all.
Perhaps requiring police to only use unmarked vehicles (and not pursue suspects). Perhaps disbanding whole police departments since their main purpose is government money grabs and, as our governor has pointed out - they are idiots.
The idea that signs painted lines on the road & blinky lights hanging out in the air should trump the skills and free will of the wetware & it's cyborg 4 wheeled appendages is ridiculous.

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