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Old 02-13-2014, 08:05 AM
 
Location: Village of Patchogue, NY
1,144 posts, read 2,984,283 times
Reputation: 616

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This is a repost from reddit, but thought it was relevant to post here.
It's a letter from the county legislator, Thomas Barraga, saying LI should be free of bicycles and motorcycles.
Basically saying LI is car land, so it's your fault if you get hit by one and get seriously hurt.

Who is this *******?

Long Island Legislator writes a big **** you to injured cyclist and their kid. - Imgur

Since the photo was taken with a potato... it's written out for easier reading below:


Thank you for your recent letter concerning bicycle safety and bicycle lanes. Let me at the outset express the hope that your mother will have a complete recovery from her accident in September while riding a bicycle in West Islip.
I have lived in West Islip most of my life and my personal feeling is that no one who lives in our hamlet or for that matter in Suffolk County should ever ride a bicycle or a motorcycle. I cannot tell you how many constituents over the years have told me they are taking up bicycling for pleasure and exercise. I have told them not to do so but they usually do not listen -- 90 percent of those people eventually were hit by an automobile many like your mother with serious physical injuries.
I have heard the suggestion of bicycle lanes and additional signage but unfortunately this would do little to solve the problem. Suffolk County is a suburban automobile community -- drivers expect to see other drivers on the road not bicyclists and motorcyclists. Even in those areas outside of Suffolk County where a portion of the road is for bicyclists -- they still get hit by motorists. Signage has limited effects -- there are currently 135 signs between Montauk Highway and Sunrise Highway on Higbie Lane and Udall Road -- most of them are ignored by drivers.
Reality at time can be difficult for some to come to grips with but giving false hope would be inappropriate.
Very Truly Yours, Thomas F Barraga County Legislator
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Old 02-13-2014, 08:18 AM
 
Location: Long Island
9,531 posts, read 15,838,163 times
Reputation: 5948
You're taking your life into your own hands when you ride outside a cage. So many people (drivers) are oblivious [or too distracted] and it will never change so long as our license requirements are so loose.
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Old 02-13-2014, 08:37 AM
 
852 posts, read 1,438,841 times
Reputation: 1040
Barraga sounds like a real ass
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Old 02-13-2014, 09:03 AM
 
2,622 posts, read 3,399,823 times
Reputation: 3199
Default My advice to all who read this (about Bicycle Riding)

As a personal practice that I had evolved into (wherever in the world I have lived or live now), I take it upon myself to never (or virtually never) ride a bike in traffic (i.e., where motor vehicles of whatever type move about) but instead stay on the pedestrian sidewalks or pathways built for pedestrian use . . . and, on those pedestrian-intended sidewalks or pathways, I only ride at a regular rate and speed if and only if the desired or intended route of my bike ride is clear of other pedestrians and, if not clear, I pedal at a slower or slow rate or even walk the bike if need be. I take it upon myself to ride a bicycle at a regular and higher rate of speed only if I am in an enclosed and safe area that is meant to have no motor vehicles and is otherwise free of regular pedestrian presence which can interfere or obstruct with my biking (e.g., such as, if I were out in Long Island, in an enclosed park area such as Sunken Meadow State Park or some nature preserve . . . or even in a shopping center or mall parking lot late at night or in the early hours when it is relatively if not wholly empty of traffic or pedestrians).

The point is: I am not going to trust our fellow humans to always be engaged in the best and safest driving habits and practices. You are playing "Russian roulette" with your very lives to be riding bicycles in the same roadways that motor vehicles regularly use -- even with using so-called "bike paths" built to share the roads with motor vehicles. And your self-incurred accident or your own fatality might not even be attributable to the error or carelessness or simple unavoidable mishap or slipup of some motor vehicle driver(s) out on the same road (whether a car or truck or van or an intercity or interstate bus or a moving van or whatever); it may be that your own bike blew a tire or you went over a slick part of the road or over a rougher road while you were riding and, as a result, you fell or were thrown off of your bike and then you may have still survived this mishap if you were on a sidewalk or in an empty shopping center parking lot but, having fallen or been thrown off your bike on the open roadway where motor vehicles move about, you then got hit by or run over by one or more motor vehicles. You see, my fellow humans, you are taking a great, great risk with the one and only life you have. You may say "Well, that has never happen to me in all the years I have been riding a bike thus far". Well, it only takes one single time to die, one single event and that one time will be your last moment of life. Or you may be seriously injured or permanently disabled or physically or neurologically challenged for the remainder of your natural life.

My advice to all who read this: Don't be so very, very eager to temp "The Grim Reaper" (i.e., death). He may be only be too, too pleased to oblige you. Our human capacity to remain alive and well (or simply to remain alive at all) is so very very very fragile. There are so many, many ways that we can lose our lives just through natural means and occurrences alone; why add unnatural occurrences and means to this list of possibilities by being an unnecessary risk taker or to be careless? Do you value your own lives so little or the lives and well-being of those who love and value you or depend upon you? That is your choice (of course) but, if you cause a calamity or fatality to yourself as a bike rider by a motor vehicle, don't you think that is going to have an impact on the psychological well-being of that motorist for their entire life? And then you might seriously injure or kill one or more drivers or their passengers who are trying to avoid hurting you with their motor vehicle. Are you willing to live with that in your conscience (if you yourself even live after this calamity . . . instead of being killed yourself in the process)?

Think about it, my dear fellow humans!

Last edited by UsAll; 02-13-2014 at 10:02 AM..
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Old 02-13-2014, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Inis Fada
16,966 posts, read 34,636,857 times
Reputation: 7722
A friend was killed by a distracted driving accident while she walked along the side of a neighborhood road. Do we not walk anywhere, either?
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Old 02-13-2014, 09:53 AM
 
796 posts, read 1,750,345 times
Reputation: 425
Now, if you ever decide to wash your bicycle on the street...
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Old 02-13-2014, 09:57 AM
 
2,622 posts, read 3,399,823 times
Reputation: 3199
Quote:
Originally Posted by OhBeeHave View Post
A friend was killed by a distracted driving accident while she walked along the side of a neighborhood road. Do we not walk anywhere, either?

We have no choice but to walk in some places if we have no motor vehicle at our avail and if no pedestrian walkway is provided for us on certain roads or routes. But the best (and advised by experts) practice is that, if you must walk along the side of a roadway without a pedestrian sidewalk, ALWAYS aim to walk against traffic (i.e., to walk with all and any oncoming traffic facing you, not behind you). That way, if you take it upon yourself to always stay alert, you can see any oncoming traffic at all times. Or, if you are walking on such a non-pedestrian road even while facing ongoing traffic but it is a winding road where you can't always see oncoming traffic coming around a bend or over a hill or up from a hill, then stay as far into the sideway of the road as you can (even if you have to walk on the other side of a metal barrier on the side of the road or walk deeper in the grass or woodlands alongside the road). I was thinking, for instance, of a road such as Vanderbilt Motor Parkway going through Dix Hills, Suffolk County, NY (e.g., Vanderbilt Motor Parkway between Commack Road and Deer Park Ave.). That is an example of such a road. And I once had to walk that very road (Vanderbilt Motor Parkway) from the Dix Hills Park area all the way eastbound to Commack Road to then walk north on Commack Road to Jericho Turnpike (which was likely 4-5 miles of walking -- and then walking back that same way as well) . . . because my car was in repair and I had to do some shopping and yet had no car to use. And, at that, it was early- to late-evening and it was snowy outside and I had a folding shopping cart with me. I walked along the side of the road facing any oncoming traffic and tried to stay as far off and away from the traffic road as I could (even if having to walk in the woodlands along the roads . . . because Vanderbilt Motor Parkway often goes up and down and has many twists and turns [i.e, blind spots] for the pedestrian as well as for any drivers . . . so one may well not see or hear any oncoming motor vehicles coming around the bend or over the hill or up the hill).

So there is such a thing as "safe or safer walking" in such circumstances.

Last edited by UsAll; 02-13-2014 at 10:24 AM..
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Old 02-13-2014, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Ossining, NY
562 posts, read 1,055,250 times
Reputation: 301
I was hit by a turning car when riding my bicycle—thrown into the intersection of of Islip's Main Street and Rt. 111—and now I'm fearful of riding on major streets. (My bike was destroyed, but I somehow only managed to get a side bruise from my hip to my upper arm, thank goodness.)

The guy who hit me was 18 and only had his license for a few days. I pretty much now follow what UsAll does or go out of my way by side streets if I do need to ride my bike somewhere.
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Old 02-13-2014, 10:32 AM
 
Location: Inis Fada
16,966 posts, read 34,636,857 times
Reputation: 7722
Quote:
Originally Posted by UsAll View Post
We have no choice but to walk in some places if we have no motor vehicle at our avail and if no pedestrian walkway is provided for us on certain roads or routes. But the best (and advised by experts) practice is that, if you must walk along the side of a roadway without a pedestrian sidewalk, ALWAYS aim to walk against traffic (i.e., to walk with all and any oncoming traffic facing you, not behind you). That way, if you take it upon yourself to always stay alert, you can see any oncoming traffic at all times. Or, if you are walking on such a non-pedestrian road even while facing ongoing traffic but it is a winding road where you can't always see oncoming traffic coming around a bend or over a hill or up from a hill, then stay as far into the sideway of the road as you can (even if you have to walk on the other side of a metal barrier on the side of the road or walk deeper in the grass or woodlands alongside the road). I was thinking, for instance, of a road such as Vanderbilt Motor Parkway going through Dix Hills, Suffolk County, NY (e.g., Vanderbilt Motor Parkway between Commack Road and Deer Park Ave.). That is an example of such a road. And I once had to walk that very road (Vanderbilt Motor Parkway) from the Dix Hills Park area all the way eastbound to Commack Road to then walk north on Commack Road to Jericho Turnpike (which was likely 4-5 miles of walking -- and then walking back that same way as well) . . . because my car was in repair and I had to do some shopping and yet had no car to use. And, at that, it was early- to late-evening and it was snowy outside and I had a folding shopping cart with me. I walked along the side of the road facing any oncoming traffic and tried to stay as far off and away from the traffic road as I could (even if having to walk in the woodlands along the roads . . . because Vanderbilt Motor Parkway often goes up and down and has many twists and turns [i.e, blind spots] for the pedestrian as well as for any drivers . . . so one may well not see or hear any oncoming motor vehicles coming around the bend or over the hill or up the hill).

So there is such a thing as "safe or safer walking" in such circumstances.

She wasn't walking on a busy road such as those you've listed. Be grateful you're here to talk about it, and that you didn't leave behind two children. The tragedy behind her passing was that she fought for sidewalks...the strret on which she was killed has none.
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Old 02-13-2014, 10:34 AM
 
2,045 posts, read 1,882,174 times
Reputation: 1646
To be fair he did say Suffolk not LI. I cant disagree either. For gods sake you people dont even have sidewalks on most of your streets.
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