opinion article on motorcycle safety in local paper

http://www.wetaskiwintimes.com/ArticleD ... ?e=1677734

Please take a look at it and post back what you think of it.

I personally have written to complain about the article and point our some blantant errors.

 

Thats kinda like blaming a robbery victim for not doing all that they could and more for being robbed isnt it??

 

its pretty obvious that Jerold LeBlanc knows nothing about motorcyclists and their culture. It seems to me that he wrote this article because someone on a bike cut him off in traffic and on his way to "work".
This entire story is ridiculous.
You know what I think, I think there are still enough bad columnists out there that give writers a bad reputation, how about that Mr. LeBlanc

Josh W

 

Go back and read it more carefully; yes it seems he was given some reason and felt the need for a rant.

However: He's talking about "A minority of riders " and the following gives you a clue as to his point of view: "Almost a decade into the new millennium, and while we have come a long way, baby, there are still enough bad riders out there who give motorcyclists the bad reputation a lot of riders would rather shed for once and for all."

I have to agree with him. He's talking about a minority of riders, like those idiots who race through traffic and pull wheelies on the freeway wearing nothing but shorts and flip-flops. He's pointing out the fact that they give the rest of us a bad name, and he's right.

He could very well be a motorcyclist himself; he's not talking about ALL motorcyclists, only those who are making the rest of us look bad.

 

Yes bigfitz I agree with you, some of his points are well taken. I, however , feel his response is typical of the un-educated public's mentality...
I did send a response to his article, at the risk of boring this thread...here is my response...

 

Only if you don't understand the intent behind the Share the Road campaign. Mr. LeBlanc's article is almost pure drivel based mostly on emotions rather than facts.

I give it two thumbs down.

 

Typical journalist. He won't recognize an accurate statement even if he makes it himself. Facts must be found to support the preconcieved conclusion.

 

I still think he's a motorcyclist himself, and just a lousy writer.

 

A while ago my brother and I were pulling up a carpet prior to installing a new floor and we found that the floor under the carpet was lined with old newspapers from the 60's. I spent some time reading those newspapers and I was amazed by the amount of actual information in the articles. The majority of articles were basically reports of events without interpretation which I found to make the paper far more interesting. I remember reading one article on a store clerk would was stabbed and the article still had no mention of any of the poitical issues you would expect to hear in a article on a stabbing, it was basically just a presentation of the case and what the police were doing.

I don't know if the media finds it has more commercial value by protraying sensationalized and opionated news but I know that it has significantly reduced the quality, education levels and enjoyability of the media.

 

Very one sided article. As riders we go the extra way to ensure our own safety, we look twice, pay attention to the road and know that at any minute our lives could be drastically changed. But, to say that it is soley our responsibility is childish and dangerously ignorant. Speaking as one who has recently crashed (last week end, read wasn't my time) I was paying attention, the driver in the car infront of me obviously wasn't, when she suddenly stopped, and had I been in a car I would have had to hit her, instead of avoiding the collision, and taking the brunt of the damage.safety is everyones responsibility, not just he riders. We do what we can to be as safe as possible, but we can't be responsible for the inattention of cagers.

 

Well, my two penneth is that there wasn't any news that day so he decided to make some up!

There aren't any real facts - apart from his accident statistics - which were probably obtained from asking around in the office. In fact, the whole article was probably knocked up in a few minutes just by asking for individuals opinions!

 

Guys, it said "EDITORIAL" at the outset, it wasn't meant to be "journalistic reporting." It means it's one fool's opinion, nothing more.

 

Umm, Jerold is an idiot, a Class A unadulterated fool, loser, and jerk all rolled up into one big, stupid, loud-mouthed problem.

Second sentence in the article, missing the word "be" (it should read "can be deadly"). Too busy missing the big picture, ignoring common sense, and spouting off idiocy to attend to basic proof-reading?

A decade into the new millennium, we still have clueless journalists, un-thinking auto, boat, jet-ski, heavy equipment, and fork-lift operators, cashiers that ring up products incorrectly, waiters that are rude or unable to re-fill your water glass in a timely manner, police officers who harass minorities, mothers who do or don't breast-feed in public, government officials that lie to the public, previous felons who commit more crimes, etc. etc.

Should we paint all the other people who are members of the above groups----basically, meaning almost everyone in society----as no good, "can't ever learn" members of whatever "same" or affiliated group that they can be shoe-horned into?

And it's incredibly difficult to turn on a radio, TV, or read a newspaper without hearing about a crash involving cars, SUV's, pickup trucks, or, gosh darnit, pedestrians, too. In fact, I'm pretty amazed at listening to the local traffic reports around my city, because almost every day there's a rush-hour traffic jam caused by someone who ROLLED OVER THEIR VEHICLE.

I mean, I understand about high centers-of-gravity and all, but you've got to work pretty darned hard at being dumb enough to roll over your vehicle.....

Sounds like motorcycle deaths are way down in Edmonton, given that there's only been 1 thru the first 8 months of 2009, compared to 7 last year. Why, that's almost a 75% reduction. Math wasn't your strong subject either, was it J?

I'll ignore for a moment the rather inconclusive and semi-incoherent nature of the above paragraph, because.........

You really come clean here, don't you? You reveal and remove all doubt that you're pretty clueless not only about the reality of motorcycles, motorcycling, traffic issues, and the like, but you're also pretty simple when it comes to things like logic, life, and common sense, too----aren't you?

Didn't you say earlier that:

But didn't you just want to "place pressure" on good motorcyclists to "share the responsibility" with the bad ones? Isn't that what you said just a few hundred words earlier?


So which is it?:

"share the responsibility" (but Oh My God, definitely not with any "motorists operating a car, truck or 18-wheeler".

or

"the onus should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the motorcyclists"



Which is it Mr. J? Do you even know? Did you even think about these things before you wrote the article? Or, perhaps backing up a step or two, do you even think, at all? Are you capable of thinking? Is your mind in a perpetual fog of some sort, and just spits out random words and non-linear, non-logical words, thoughts, and sentences?

Are you really a person, or some type of experimental web-bot?

Some kind of failed, experimental web-bot?


I've got an idea for your next article, bud:

"Safety In Reading Alberta Editorials", by Jerold LeBlanc, means "realizing you're reading the thoughts and words of a person with the mental acuity and clarity of an un-disciplind, spoiled 6-year old".


Kinda like a "surgeon general's" warning on cigarettes.......

 

Very flawed thinking, and misdirected at the very least! 7 deaths on motorcycles in an entire year. Think about that. Even one death is too many and is a horrific loss, but think about that. I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and more people than that die in a week and probably in a day in Illinois in car accidents. As I said, I do not want to deminish the loss of any rider in the least, but the statistic of how many passengers are killed in passenger car collisions in this country is STAGGERING! And as was pointed out earlier, how many of those wrecks mentioned in the article were really the fault of the motorcyclist? I don't know what newspaper he is reading, or radio or t.v. station he is listening to or watching, but I listen to talk radio all day long and ALL I hear about is how many lane closures there are on the expressways (HA! Expressway, in Chicago? That's a laugh!) due to accidents. So what about the responsibility of all auto drivers for the irresponsible drivers? When there are SO many more accidents on a daily basis in the U.S. involving autos? There are several gravel quarries surrounding my work. Several times a year there are rolled over trucks or severe accidents involving them. So what about their responsibility? So ONLY motorcyclists are irresponsible riders that have to the "onus" put on them? Not the irresponsible driver in California the other day that ran from the police and killed FIVE CHILDREN? No, no, not them, it's just the motorcyclists that a passenger vehicle driver can kill with a split second of distraction. What about all of the accidents that are caused by careless drivers talking on the cell phone, putting on makeup, reading a paper? Oh no, no, no, it's the motorcyclists' fault! O.k., I started out calm, but I'm starting to get mad now, I'd better stop.

 

I'm pretty sure that sharing the road is a rule of the road and therefor imploring motorists to share the roads is putting the onus to obey the rules squarely on the shoulders of who it should be. All motorists.

Re-read his article. It is full of run-on sentences and disjointed or incomplete thoughts. Perhaps Fitz is right, perhaps he is a rider who fell one time to many and knocked a few marbles lose.

 

Some motorcyclist may give others bad reps, but isnt it the same way for any other machine on the road? Some cage drivers give other cage drivers bad reps as well. Who cares what this guy says.

 

I don't think any of us here, who know the facts, care one ioda what this ,um...(be nice mad...be nice..) ah.. sphincter-reflex thinks about bikes or anything else for that matter. However....(*stepping up to soapbox...)when ever someone disseminates misinformation that perpetuates a state of ignorance due to that misinformation...we should...nay..we are required as the "good and responsible motorcycle drivers" to make our own promulgation to set the record straight , raise our collective voice as one , and say 'No longer will we stand idly by and listen to the tapestry of dis-information that seeks to besmear our public reputation and debase the general attitude towards all bikers because of a few loose radicals...and bad editorialists!'

8O


(*stepping off soapbox) didn't mean to get so carried away. LOL
But seriously...If it bothers you (forum members) that this is so misinformed and off base....write a response to the paper. Let this yahoo know how far off base he really is...
Maybe it's a result of getting older...but I don't let stuff let this just slide by any more. Sure, I probably won't change anything by responding, but at least I feel better when I take it to the source... 8)

 

very we wrote article Behemain.....a few typos but otherwise well writeen and exactly the kind of message i would like to have seen portrayed to him. Thank you

 

Wow!! I agree that there are some nuts that race thru traffic, heck I've been passed at 75 mph by a two wheeled unicycle. I run my bike (rarely) but only on open road void of traffic ( a benefit of living in rural Florida). All in all I run safe and carefully. I believe the majority do the same. The autor neglected to address the growing number of cell phone babies texting, dialing and yacking while driving. The amount of distractions available to drivers is growing and no one seems to be seeing the danger it palces ALL motorists both 4 & 2 wheelers. It is just a reality that us 2 wheelers are more vunerable to their carelessness which results many times in our deaths. Bill was as safe and careful as they come. It only takes the glare of the morning sun or a second of distraction to cause tragic results. No matter how much we campaign to educate the masses we still need to be aware that it only takes one putz to change everything.