Today's news feeds are filled with all kinds of stories from riders who need your prayers to US insurance companies having to return MILLIONS of dollars back to riders in the state of Massachusetts.
But of all of the stories that caught my eye this morning - the one letter to the editor asking for bicycles to become licensed again and one from a gent about freedom made me excited.
Why? Because now I don't feel alone - there are others out there who think like me!
I like divergent ideas - I like finding out what other people think and even when I do not agree with them, I respect their right to their opinion. But sometimes it is nice to find out that your way of thinking mirrors that of others and today would be one of those days.
You see - like the gent who writes in to the St Catherine Standard, I am sick and tired of sharing WALKWAYS with bicycles. Unless they measure 24" or smaller, and are operated by those who are too young to be on bike paths, the laws of this country pretty clearly state that they do not belong on SIDEWALKS.
Of late, here in Grande Prairie, I have witnessed so many who ride bicycles that do not know the rules of the road. They ride the wrong way down the road, they ride through crosswalks instead of dismounting and walking across the crosswalk, they ride on sidewalks and generally have no concept of the carnage they leave behind. It has been frustrating to watch and calls to bylaw do one no good because there is no way to identify the offenders.
One of our neighbor ladies uses a walker since her hip surgery, she is supposed to walk every day to help strengthen her hip and leg. The other day I heard this god awful scream and went to investigate and here is this poor 70 year old (+_) gal who had had three riders have to go around her. They scared the crap out of her and almost ran her over because they were riding really hard, obviously misjudged their speed and hers. You could see the tire tracks of two of the bikes on my lawn. Poor gal, she was shaking like a leaf.
I find it maddening that this kind of thing happens on my street as our lovely city just finished knocking down all of our mature trees, narrowing our road way up and adding bicycle paths...for what purpose? Sadly I see very few people using the bike path - the side walk - well they use it all the time. I stopped one bicyclist and asked him to use the bike path and he told me that he didn't see any need to. When I expressed to him that he was breaking the law - he said tough, call a cop, he'd ride his bike anywhere he felt.
Now I know this mentality is not shared by all who ride bicycles, but here in Grande Prairie it is shared by far more than you might think. IT IS TIME TO GET BICYCLES INSURED< REGISTERED AND LICENSED along with their riders... that's my humble opinion.
Then there is the article from a man named Mike Jensen about the Freedom to Choose...
If you read his article it makes so much sense - at least to me, that it is scary in it's implications.
He explains: Government exists for just two purposes: (1) to provide its citizens with the freedom to live their lives as they so choose, and (2) to protect us from those, both foreign and domestic, who would try to take away that freedom. Once government steps outside of those two purposes, it is itself taking away that freedom.
I would love for you to read his article and then give me your honest feed back on his statements.
As always, your feed back is appreciated. Please make sure we know who you are though because unless I know who you are I will not post anonymous comments - too often they are rude and adversarial instead of enlightening and about creating dialogue. Sharing is one thing, abuse - totally another.
In other news:
In Ontario a bicycle cop was hit by a riderless motorcycle
Motorcyclists in Caledon Ontario are gearing up to fight their community's discriminatory MOTORCYCLE noise bylaw.
A rider in Ontario is without his bike for a week after getting caught doing 96 over the speed limit!
Also in Ontario a mom is asking for prayers for her son...
In BC a motorcyclist survives a crash with a deer and an SUV - watch the video report
Also in BC, the parents of a murdered teenage girl are asking for help
In the US there are a lot of happy motorcyclists getting refunds from their insurance companies.
If you are riding today - PLEASE be extra careful - your loved ones depend on you to make good decisions out there...
Belt Drive Betty
Ride & Editor
The Busted Knuckle Chronicles
www.bustedknucklenews.com
www.beltdrivebetty.com
But of all of the stories that caught my eye this morning - the one letter to the editor asking for bicycles to become licensed again and one from a gent about freedom made me excited.
Why? Because now I don't feel alone - there are others out there who think like me!
I like divergent ideas - I like finding out what other people think and even when I do not agree with them, I respect their right to their opinion. But sometimes it is nice to find out that your way of thinking mirrors that of others and today would be one of those days.
You see - like the gent who writes in to the St Catherine Standard, I am sick and tired of sharing WALKWAYS with bicycles. Unless they measure 24" or smaller, and are operated by those who are too young to be on bike paths, the laws of this country pretty clearly state that they do not belong on SIDEWALKS.
Of late, here in Grande Prairie, I have witnessed so many who ride bicycles that do not know the rules of the road. They ride the wrong way down the road, they ride through crosswalks instead of dismounting and walking across the crosswalk, they ride on sidewalks and generally have no concept of the carnage they leave behind. It has been frustrating to watch and calls to bylaw do one no good because there is no way to identify the offenders.
One of our neighbor ladies uses a walker since her hip surgery, she is supposed to walk every day to help strengthen her hip and leg. The other day I heard this god awful scream and went to investigate and here is this poor 70 year old (+_) gal who had had three riders have to go around her. They scared the crap out of her and almost ran her over because they were riding really hard, obviously misjudged their speed and hers. You could see the tire tracks of two of the bikes on my lawn. Poor gal, she was shaking like a leaf.
I find it maddening that this kind of thing happens on my street as our lovely city just finished knocking down all of our mature trees, narrowing our road way up and adding bicycle paths...for what purpose? Sadly I see very few people using the bike path - the side walk - well they use it all the time. I stopped one bicyclist and asked him to use the bike path and he told me that he didn't see any need to. When I expressed to him that he was breaking the law - he said tough, call a cop, he'd ride his bike anywhere he felt.
Now I know this mentality is not shared by all who ride bicycles, but here in Grande Prairie it is shared by far more than you might think. IT IS TIME TO GET BICYCLES INSURED< REGISTERED AND LICENSED along with their riders... that's my humble opinion.
Then there is the article from a man named Mike Jensen about the Freedom to Choose...
If you read his article it makes so much sense - at least to me, that it is scary in it's implications.
He explains: Government exists for just two purposes: (1) to provide its citizens with the freedom to live their lives as they so choose, and (2) to protect us from those, both foreign and domestic, who would try to take away that freedom. Once government steps outside of those two purposes, it is itself taking away that freedom.
I would love for you to read his article and then give me your honest feed back on his statements.
As always, your feed back is appreciated. Please make sure we know who you are though because unless I know who you are I will not post anonymous comments - too often they are rude and adversarial instead of enlightening and about creating dialogue. Sharing is one thing, abuse - totally another.
In other news:
In Ontario a bicycle cop was hit by a riderless motorcycle
Motorcyclists in Caledon Ontario are gearing up to fight their community's discriminatory MOTORCYCLE noise bylaw.
A rider in Ontario is without his bike for a week after getting caught doing 96 over the speed limit!
Also in Ontario a mom is asking for prayers for her son...
In BC a motorcyclist survives a crash with a deer and an SUV - watch the video report
Also in BC, the parents of a murdered teenage girl are asking for help
In the US there are a lot of happy motorcyclists getting refunds from their insurance companies.
If you are riding today - PLEASE be extra careful - your loved ones depend on you to make good decisions out there...
Belt Drive Betty
Ride & Editor
The Busted Knuckle Chronicles
www.bustedknucklenews.com
www.beltdrivebetty.com
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