Bicyclist-activists-should-note-Texas
I
think activists should note Texas law in reference to their demand for
constitutionally guaranteed equal protection under the law
a.
Texans now must change to the far lane or slow considerably in the
closest lane when passing a police car that has stopped a motorist
while displaying flashing lights
b. Summer or 2005 in Houston,
bicyclists were ticketed for passing cars at intersections because this
violated the one-vehicle-per-lane law
... good idea having
only one vehicle per lane ... don’t forget you can't have a
collisionyou can't have a collision, injury or death without first
having a lane violation. In addition, all court decisions that weigh
'fault' in a collision must first consider who violated the lane right
of the other.
I think it is time for cyclist to sue motorist for
entering their lane on the basis that motor vehicles are afforded more
protection under the law due to their presumed lane 'rights' over
cyclists
Additionally, if a cyclist allows a motor vehicle enter
his or her lane, then the cyclist has given tacit approval to the
endangerment that lane-sharing causes. If, on the other hand, the
cyclist refuses to allow vehicles to enter his or her lane, then the
cyclist is granting themselves equal protection under the law
As
a bicyclist road activist for 20+ years following being hit from behind
by a drunk driver, I can tell you that the public vehemently disagrees
with allowing a cyclist access to equal protection under the law
Over
the years as an activist I had two police cars aggressively tailgate
me. I had a policeman in his private car steer at me. I was called a
SOB by a policeman. My exit from the courthouse was blocked by 10
policemen.
The judge, who lives around the corner from me,
ordered state troopers to hide in the bushes and shoot 2 measured shots
behind me and two in front of me while I rode along an open field. I
rode a mile and a half further and circled up to the strapping
plainclothes policeman who was innocuously standing behind an old car
accompanied by a young boy who was along to fill out the ruse.
I
have been investigated at least 6 or 8 times very thoroughly and have
been followed many times because of my assertive activism.
I
owned a small one-truck house painting business and paid every nickel
of tax owed. I employed more than 30 fellas over the years and never
stiffed anybody out of their money. I paid my suppliers and treated my
customers square and never had one claim made against me.
The
judge refused to make a charge against me for taking the lane as a
bicyclist and defying drivers access. Instead of making a charge and
hearing it out man-to-man in a court of law, he utilized the state
police to discredit me everywhere I went.
Every person I talked
to, once I left, the police employees would approach telling that
person that I was violent and a sexual predator. The police went to my
friends and told them the same.
My customers in my
house-painting business were also informed of the same. My customers
stopped calling and I was put out of business.
The police ran a
scorn on me for three years. They repeatedly ran women at me despite
the fact that I am married and don't date and don't run around and
never have. Nor am I inclined to illegal proclivities that might make
me such an offender. They tried to set me up with a lifetime stain.
The
judge ordered my newspaper stopped. I was written up in the local paper
as a terrorist. The authorities put foul-tasting stuff in my diet coke
whenever I went to restaurants. They screeched tires in front of my
house every third or fourth day for a year and a half. The car or truck
would then race down the neighborhood street endangering anybody on the
road.
The police sent a small-time drug dealer and experienced drunk driver up to me at walmart to imply he was coming to my house
The police sent people to approach me in parking lots
The police entered my property and moved stuff around
The police would sit at nearby tables whenever I went for lunch and had people stare at me and noticeably follow me glaring
My
neighbor and former friend said she would applaud in front of my house
if it burned down ... of course her daughter is a two-time arrested
drunk driver, and I listened to their burdensome woes about having to
pay for a breathalyzer on her car for a whopping six months
The
police tried to set me up with insurance fraud by having a customer
offer a phony deal. They tried to set me up with credit-card fraud by
leaving a 'lost' card next to my van. This despite never having
defrauded anybody in my life.
My friend who used to go to breakfast with me weekends told me, 'you would've lost in court anyway'
This same friend told me later that 'they want you to act better'
This happened in Tom DeLays district which explains why there was no effort to hear the issue out man-to-man in a court of law
And
don't forget ... in 2004, the year of the last presidential election,
26,000 Americans died that one year because of drunk drivers ... which
is more people in a single year than terrorists have killed in any
ten-year period.
ten percent of the people on the roadway are
intoxicated and 120,000 people have died from drunk drivers since our
president was elected, yet the government has Americans believing the
threat is in the middle east
It's absolutely amazing that
a small city of Americans has been killed-off piece at time since year
2000, yet drunk driving is still considered a minor local issue ... but
really no surprise since the president himself has a DUI
It's
time for Americans to pony up equal protection for defenseless
unprotected people on the road ... and I say that with respect for
Texans, because their ain't a one of them who would drive the same way
around memebers of their church as they do around them-aire liberal
cyclists ... and if somebody drove like that around their families
while they wuz walking into the mall, they'd raise a choir to the judge
for proper retribution ... and believe me, if the judge were endangered
equally while walking into the courthouse, it would be considered
outrageous criminal behavior prima facie.