Editorial

I don’t often put out fundraising pleas to this blog, but this is a cause worthy of all the attention I can muster.  As fellow Oklahomans, you know all to well the severe impact that diabetes is having on our community.  As of 2010, more than 10% of the Oklahoma population had been diagnosed with some form of diabetes, far greater than the national average.  That doesn’t even begin to count the large numbers people who have the disease but remain undiagnosed.   Diabetes is, without a doubt, one of the largest health problems affecting our state.

[caption id=“attachment_1204” align=“alignright” width=“200” caption=“OKC Mayor Mick Cornett”][/caption]

Mick Cornett, Republican Mayor of Oklahoma City along with Eugene A. Conti, Jr., Secretary of Transportation, N.C. and Steve Heminger, Exec. Dir., Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission have written an editorial in The Hill urging the House to reconsider many of the controversial measures in the current transportation bill including the removal of funding for both walking and bicycling initiatives.  After thanking the House for restoring funding to public transportation and asking for an effective bridge repair plan, the editorial goes on to ask the House to restore both Safe Routes to School and Transportation Enhancement funding:

[flickr id=“1326490541” thumbnail=“medium” overlay=“true” size=“medium_640” group="" align=“none”]

So I started the day furious and frustrated. The car free experiment for this month fell apart today and it fell apart for completely unnecessary reasons. When I left work last night, I found that both of my tires were deflated. I assumed this was some moron’s idea of a “harmless” prank. I filled the tires and successfully made my way home.  However, this morning as I prepared to head to work, I found both tires flat again which means that this pathetic excuse for a human being actually punctured both tires with something that created a slow leak, probably a thumb tack.  It was too late for me to have time to replace the tubes and make it to work on time.  After swearing and fruitlessly shaking my fist I climbed in my car and with heavy heart, drove to work.  I was sooooo close . . .  One day left and I would have done it.   Instead of a feeling of triumph and because of some small-minded imbecile with delusions of adequacy, here I am fighting with stop and go traffic and I can feel my blood pressure is rising.  “DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO MERGE????” A headache is coming on.  I can feel that throbbing starting at the back of my head.  This is just awful . . . And just like that I had an epiphany . . .

Picture By: thinredjellies

So the other day, I got in an argument with a driver who honked at me for an extended period of time and then buzzed me. In the huge pantheon of silly, pointless things to do, arguing with motorists has got to be at the top of the list. Getting into shouting matches just reinforces the stereotype of bicyclists as loudmouthed jerks. Even though I know I was in the right and just trying to be safe, it ruined my day.  By the time I got to work, I was angry, frustrated and just mad at the world generally.

This letter from Brandon Neal letter appealing for justice in the recent Debra Miller crash near Stillwater appeared in this morning’s Oklahoman:

I’m a cyclist who is alive today for a number of reasons; among them are taking reasonable care on the road and good luck. This month, Debra Miller of Stillwater died — as did my friends Jim Socia and Michael Argall before her — killed by a driver who failed to notice her on the road. In the case of my friends, the drivers weren’t charged with a crime. I fear the driver in Miller’s case will likewise go uncharged.  We can’t trust our district attorneys to prosecute these cases unless we make it clear that the case has priority above all the others that a DA’s office handles each month. All too often, we’re left with a dead friend or relative and the tacit endorsement of the sun as a mitigating circumstance, of alcohol or drugs as the only impairment worth pursuing, and that the death of a person in the road is not the responsibility of the person in control of or failing to control a vehicle. Prosecuting the driver in Miller’s case would provide a clear message to motorists that they’re responsible for everything that happens around them when behind the wheel. No distraction — sun, text messaging or anything else — is a viable excuse for ending someone’s life.

[Read More]