Did anyone notice the posts to the Portland forum on OregonLive.com in response to the Albright/TriMet lawsuit? I clicked on them just out of curiousity. Wow. They reveal the dark underbelly of how some Portlanders feel about cyclists. I’m not posting these to get cyclists all pissed off, I just think its useful to know how “the other side” feels about us.
Here are some selected comments from that forum:
“if he (the driver) had aided his passenger they could have thrown the bike and perhaps the rider off the bridge, to the betterment of all who use the streets.”
“why didn’t the driver simply run the guy over when he had the opportunity?”
“If the moron on the bike wants to argue with a 3000 pound car, you know who will ultimately lose. Yes the driver may get in trouble but the bicyclist may very well be DEAD!!! If he has no respect for his own life, why should I??”
“They get theirs in the end, then their slow learning buddies scream and put flowers out for them.”
He should be charged with many counts of kidnapping as he held all of those people against their will.
“He (the cyclist) should be charged with multiple counts of attempted assault as by stopping and holding the bus he was threatening all on the bus. Not to mention the laws against terrorism.”
“Gravel doesn’t make the bike lane unusable. It just makes the rider pay better attention to what they are doing. He was riding illegally out of convenience for himself. Then he gets pissed because traffic didn’t bow down to him. He got exactly what he deserved.”
“If I had been driving the bus…the city would have one less idiot bike maniac on the road. I say mow them all down if they want to pull such stunts.”
Geez. I feel like I need to take a shower after reading all those.