<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">I am both a cyclist (to and from work and on pleasure rides) and a driver (to and from another job at night and much farther away). I ride because I love to. I drive because I am exhausted when I get out of work at 3am after a 12-hour shift and am not ready to ride home. To be fair, I can see both sides of this argument - when I am in the car I frequently see cyclists who break traffic laws, cut out into the driving lane unexpectedly, don't stop at red lights when there is oncoming traffic, don't signal, ride too fast). And I absolutely see drivers who are irresponsible in as many ways, as well (including driving intoxicated) to both other drives and to cyclists. And the road rage (on both sides) is out of control. I don't feel like the solution is to blame and point fingers at each other but for everyone to drive/ride more respectfully and responsibly. EVERYONE. There may just be fewer accidents all around.... (and certainly happier people in the world.)<div><br><div><div>On Aug 14, 2009, at 9:31 AM, Anne Wolfe wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite">So you keep sending. And you keep sending. You don't have to buy their paper to contribute. <br><br>And why not write to the Phoenix and do the same thing? <br><br>Here you're just speaking to cyclists. That's not changing any car driver's minds. <br> <br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/8/14 Peter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:gh3451@yahoo.com">gh3451@yahoo.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;" valign="top"> Done in the past, not printed. Am voting by for the most part not buying their paper anymore. As I recall, someone in their newsroom reads these postings. <div><br></div><div>The Phoenix is the only local that actually gets or cares about this subject.<br> <br>--- On <b>Fri, 8/14/09, Anne Wolfe <i><<a href="mailto:goannego@gmail.com" target="_blank">goannego@gmail.com</a>></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <br>From: Anne Wolfe <<a href="mailto:goannego@gmail.com" target="_blank">goannego@gmail.com</a>><div class="im"><br>Subject: Re: [*BCM*] bad news and good news<br></div>To: "Boston Critical Mass" <<a href="mailto:list@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a>><br> Date: Friday, August 14, 2009, 9:19 AM<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br><br><div>This article was in the editorial/letters section of the Boston Globe. <br><br>Why write here, where the audience you want to hear it most certainly is not? Why not write a letter/article of your own in response and send it to the Globe? <br> <br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/8/14 Peter <span dir="ltr"><<a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=gh3451@yahoo.com" target="_blank">gh3451@yahoo.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-stretch: inherit;" valign="top"> I dare any of these fools to ride w/ me for one night and then criticize. I work a midnight shift in town and I've given up riding in on Friday and Saturday nights. I estimate 40% of those in the cages are over the limit on alcohol and I've had too many near misses and one bad hit too many. When riding the only real defense is a good offense and I make no apologies for it.<div> <br></div><div>If and when ANY of the goddam traffic laws are enforced in this city I'll gladly go along. If this Globe author is observing red lights while driving he is in a distinct minority. The last time I came to a complete stop at a stop sign while driving I was rear-ended hard enough to get whiplash.<br> <div><br></div><div>It's funny how the Globe is criticized for being too liberal when elite snobbism is their real problem. <br><br>--- On <b>Fri, 8/14/09, jb fentner <i><<a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=symboliceon@hotmail.com" target="_blank">symboliceon@hotmail.com</a>></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> <br>From: jb fentner <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=symboliceon@hotmail.com" target="_blank">symboliceon@hotmail.com</a>><br>Subject: Re: [*BCM*] bad news and good news<br>To: "BCM" <<a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=list@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a>><br> Date: Friday, August 14, 2009, 2:32 AM<br><br><div> and, really? licenses for cyclists? i'd be all for it, despite the fact that riding recklessly has saved my ass more times than i can count, but let's look at how the law already states that you can't ride on the sidewalk.. and how many folks are going to tell me to "get off the street" this year.. and how the author of this article clearly doesn't have any awareness of that law. can any of you really imagine one cyclist backing up traffic twenty deep in the longwood medical area? hell no, the traffic congestion there is almost always like that no matter what unless it's, like, sunday morning. i spent years commuting from mission hill to brookline via longwood and the only problems i ever caused were occasionally freaking out drivers by passing them. if anything, during the school year, students who just blatently cross the street without looking for cars or bikes should need licenses for walking as i'm pretty sure they cause more congestion than any of us. <br><br>and the bit about how drivers never do anything stupid? are we KIDDING!? christ, most drivers around here don't even use their turn signals and even when they do there's a very immediate debate going on in my mind of: "do they even know right from left? do they have any idea where they even are right now?"<br> <br>i wanna wash this author's hybrid, make it all shiny with that 'new car smell' and then stab them in the face just to make a point about how it's not the cars any of us have a problem with, it's the fucking assholes who can't handle yet can't stop driving them. <br> <br>i need a cigarette now. <br><br> <br><br><br><br>> Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:53:37 -0400<br>> From: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=dimitrik@gmail.com" target="_blank">dimitrik@gmail.com</a><br>> To: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=list@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br> > Subject: [*BCM*] bad news and good news<br>> <br>> More bike hatred in the boston globe:<br>> <br>> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/13/the_cure_for_road_rage_bike_laws/" target="_blank">http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/08/13/the_cure_for_road_rage_bike_laws/</a><br> > <br>> <br>> On the bright side, Boston will be getting bike sharing in the spring:<br>> <br>> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.montrealgazette.com/Bixi+does+London+Boston/1885134/story.html" target="_blank">http://www.montrealgazette.com/Bixi+does+London+Boston/1885134/story.html</a><br> > <br>> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/vendor_selected.html" target="_blank">http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/08/vendor_selected.html</a><br>> _______________________________________________<br> > Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br>> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=list@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br>> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list" target="_blank">http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list</a><br> > To unsubscribe email <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br><br><hr>Get your vacation photos on your phone! <a rel="nofollow" href="http://windowsliveformobile.com/en-us/photos/default.aspx?&OCID=0809TL-HM" target="_blank">Click here.</a> </div><br>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<br><br><div>_______________________________________________<br>Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br><a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=list@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list" target="_blank">http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list</a><br>To unsubscribe email <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org</a></div> </blockquote></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br> <br>_______________________________________________<br> Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=list@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list" target="_blank">http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list</a><br> To unsubscribe email <a rel="nofollow" href="http://mc/compose?to=list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br> Anne M. Wolfe, LL.M.<br>Mobile: ( 07805) 456901<br> <br>Be well, do good work, and keep in touch. - Garrison Keillor<br> </div><br>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<br><br><div>_______________________________________________<br>Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br><a href="http://mc/compose?to=list@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br> <a href="http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list" target="_blank">http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list</a><br>To unsubscribe email <a href="http://mc/compose?to=list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org" target="_blank">list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org</a></div> </div></div></blockquote></div></td></tr></tbody></table><br> <br>_______________________________________________<br> Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br> <a href="mailto:list@bostoncriticalmass.org">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br> <a href="http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list" target="_blank">http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list</a><br> To unsubscribe email <a href="mailto:list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org">list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Anne M. Wolfe, LL.M.<br>Mobile: ( 07805) 456901<br> <br>Be well, do good work, and keep in touch. - Garrison Keillor<br> _______________________________________________<br>Boston Critical Mass mailing list<br><a href="mailto:list@bostoncriticalmass.org">list@bostoncriticalmass.org</a><br>http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list<br>To unsubscribe email list-unsubscribe@bostoncriticalmass.org<br></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>=