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RE: This Will Change
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Jess Austin
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Feb 01, 2007 05:01 PST
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hi Matt,
Thanks for responding in a constructive manner. Rereading my post, I
think I may have been a bit confrontational. Obviously anyone at a
Critical Mass deserves the benefit of the doubt with respect to whatever
they did there. It's not profound to note that different people have
different memories, and they probably had different understandings to
begin with. I wasn't around, so I won't accomplish anything trying to
figure out what happened and what didn't happen. You and any others who
were part of building CM to 70 riders are to be congratulated.
I still plan on moving forward with this. I hope it will be different
than both the ride you describe and the ones I've heard about from other
sources. Reasonable people can disagree about the best way to interact
with drivers, and my ideal CM is perhaps a bit more free-form than the
ones I've heard about here. Cyclists in a CM aren't asserting any
rights that they don't also have when riding alone.
Frankly, after commuting here for 2 months I don't concur with the whole
aloha driving thing. Perhaps the fact that 5 pedestrians were killed in
the first 2.5 weeks of 2007 undercuts that as well. Poor drivers who
kill people in the street don't do so out of insufficient aloha, but
rather from inattention and lack of skill. The more bikes we get on the
street, the more attention and skill we demand from a currently
distracted and incompetent driving population, even if some of that
population feel inconvenienced. I'm out there every day, riding within
my rights and within the law, and I like to think that even a driver who
isn't happy with my being there is at least getting used to it. Maybe
that driver will be more likely to notice the next child or older person
who isn't exactly where a driver would want them either.
I'm not a local, and I know I won't ever be. However, I can't live and
work here without caring about the community. Honolulu is not a great
place to bike, and hopefully we can do something about that. I hope to
see you at the next ride.
cheers,
Jess
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