Hot Cyclist Pic

Sorry, as you can see the post title was a trick. I just want more people to vote for the CAPTCHA contest.

The CAPTCHA contest poll was overshadowed somewhat by the post on the Ottawa cyclists, and although my stats show plenty of visits, few seem to be voting on a favourite CAPTCHA.

Remember, $5 of cold hard Canadian Tire money hangs in the balance, so if you haven't already done so, go vote now!

Thanks for putting up with me and my deceitful nature,

R A N T W I C K

5 Ottawa Cyclists Mown Down - So Don't Ride A Bike Unless You Are Insane.

A group of 5 cyclists were run over in our nation's capitol over the weekend. Tragedies like this happen from time to time, all over the world. What I want to comment upon is the news coverage I saw last night on CTV.

News clip #1

Half of the coverage is about how dangerous it is to ride your bike. As bad as this single incident is, cycling is not a dangerous activity.

News Clip #2

This time there is at least some focus on car speed. But what burns is the "despite there being a bike lane" reference. Bike lanes rarely make cyclists more safe. Follow these links to see what I mean:

http://www.wright.edu/~jeffrey.hiles/essays/listening/home.html
http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/bikelanes.html
http://www.labreform.org/miseducation.html


Many thanks to ChipSeal for providing me with these links. He also wrote some stuff in an email to me that I am confident he would be OK with me posting in public:

In the USA, we have about 800 people on bicycles killed every year, and naturally the majority of them happen in the warmer months when there are more cyclists out. Given that, we ought to expect at least two bicycle deaths a day, on average. And they all make the news because it is unusual. The 43,000 (117 a day) deaths of motorists is so common it rarely makes news unless there is a celebrity or scandal involved. Kids are no longer allowed outside to play because of hysteria over child abductions, which are extremely rare. Every year we are warned to avoid receiving fruit in Halloween excursions for fear of razor-blade sabotage..... an event that has never (That is; Not even once.) been officially recorded by any law enforcement agency in the whole of the United States. These are media generated hysteria! We are losing freedoms because of irresponsible media outlets breathless headlines to garner a bigger audience. Just turn them off and you will be a lot happier!

I thought that was pretty well said. Thanks again ChipSeal.

Stuff like this is awful. Please use it as a reason to keep riding safely. Do not let it make you ride fearfully or not at all. That would be a terrible shame.

R A N T W I C K

PS - I tried to find out how the cyclists were doing here.
PPS - Ocotber 2011 Driver Pleads Not Guilty here.

CAPTCHA Contest: Cast Your Vote!

As promised, I have collected and assembled the CAPTCHAs received from the entrants in my first (and last, I think) CAPTCHA contest. I have put them in alphabetical order, and left out who they belong to in the hopes that we will all vote for the CAPTCHA, not the person. Of course, if you must know who owns what, you can check the comments on the entry page.

Please vote only once, whether you are an entrant or not. Please also note that voting will conclude in about 8 days, so get your vote in now!

Here are the contenders. Vote for one!

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The entrant with the winning CAPTCHA will receive $5 in Canadian Tire money! In the event of a tie, I will have to split up the jackpot! There are two entrants that got the same CAPTCHA. If it win, they will each receive $5 in Canadian Tire money. FYI, Canadian Tire is a long established store chain in Canada. It is much like a Wal Mart, without the evil. I will post on who won when the poll has closed, even though you'll be able to tell by visiting this page.

Have a fun week. I'll be back on Wednesday, barring incident or laziness or incident of laziness!

R A N T W I C K