[Macomb-Cycling] [S-Smith7 at wiu.edu: cyclist hit in Macomb this weekend]

[Michael Coplan]

Let's not condemn Macomb drivers or the Macomb City Police too quickly. I
commute thru the city of Macomb 3 to 4 days a week and find most drivers to
be courteous and go out of their way to be polite. While one officer may not
have realized what his duties were, I suspect most would have responded
correctly without any prompting.
I do hope the city of Macomb takes this incident to heart and takes a
serious look at marked bike lanes. Most university towns I have visited are
much more proactive at promoting biking as a viable means of transportation.
If the City and University could cooperate on bike lanes,similar to the way
they have cooperated on local bus service, they could go a long way toward
promoting bike safety.
We also need to ask ourselves "what can we as cyclist do to promote safety
and good relations between ourselves and local motorists"? If we look at
this incident as a chance to learn and work together we can all benefit.
Let's also give thanks no one was seriously injured.
Mike Coplan
Bike commuter

On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 6:02 PM, Jeffrey R. Calhoun <jeff at outfitters.com>
wrote:

> REPLIES TO THIS EMAIL WILL GO TO THE WHOLE LIST
> -----------------------------------------------
> The chief of police (Michael Galloway) was contacted late today
> via Alderman Dave Dorsett (former local bicycle shop owner).  The
> Chief has assigned a Lieutenant to look into this matter.
> We should expect a response tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.
>
> -jeff
>
>
> On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 05:04:20PM -0700, Maggie Rosol wrote:
> > REPLIES TO THIS EMAIL WILL GO TO THE WHOLE LIST
> > -----------------------------------------------
>
> > Jeff,
> >
> > Keep us posted of the facts, since I would gladly write a letter of
> concern to the Macomb Police Department.
> >
> > Maggie
> >
> >
> > --- On Mon, 6/30/08, Jeffrey R. Calhoun <jeff at outfitters.com> wrote:
> >
> > From: Jeffrey R. Calhoun <jeff at outfitters.com>
> > Subject: [Macomb-Cycling] [S-Smith7 at wiu.edu: cyclist hit in Macomb this
> weekend]
> > To: cycling at macomb.com
> > Date: Monday, June 30, 2008, 10:25 AM
> >
> > REPLIES TO THIS EMAIL WILL GO TO THE WHOLE LIST
> > -----------------------------------------------
>  > This email came in this morning to the bike club website email address.
> > I thought you should all be aware of it.  Note - I responded to and
> thanked
> > Scott for the email and have placed a call in to the Macomb Police
> > Department to see if I can get more details.  I will try to keep you all
> > updated as I find more info.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > -jeff
> >
> > ----- Forwarded message from Scott Smith <S-Smith7 at wiu.edu> -----
> >
> > Delivery-Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:04:05 -0500
> > Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:02:58 -0500 (CDT)
> > From: Scott Smith <S-Smith7 at wiu.edu>
> > To: mabc at macomb.com
> >
> > Normally I support our law enforcement personnel but the story I heard
> from the
> > cyclist who was hit makes me angry. Basically the cyclist was stopped at
> a 4 way
> > stop waiting her turn to proceed through the intersection when she was
> bump from
> > behind by a car. Thankfully the car was not traveling fast enough to
> injure the
> > cyclist but injury was mainly avoided because she was able to get off the
> bike
> > before it went under the vehicle. The bike was damaged (frame and wheels
> were
> > bent) and could not be ridden from the scene. What make me angry is that
> the
> > Macomb police did not want to write up the incident. The cyclist had to
> insist
> > upon the police doing their job. To make matters worse, MPD apologized to
> the
> > car driver for having to write him a ticket for hitting a bicyclist. As a
> > cyclist myself, this is not an attitude I want from local law
> enforcement.
> > There will be more and more cyclists around with gas prices rising and
> maybe
> > the officers need a session or two to become famil!
> >  iarized with the cycling world a bit. A TREK bike is not some trinket
> that can
> > be replace everyday. Giving prominent Macomb citizens a by just because
> it was a
> > bicyclist they hit is not right either. Just thought the bicyclists of
> Macomb
> > should be aware.
> >
> > ----- End forwarded message -----
> >
> > --
> > Jeffrey R. Calhoun                     McDonough Telephone Cooperative
> > jeff at mdtc.net                          Infobahn Outfitters
> > jeff at outfitters.com                    P.O. Box 248
>
>  > _______________________________________________
> > Cycling mailing list
> > Cycling at macomb.com
> > http://mailman.outfitters.com/mailman/listinfo/cycling
>
>
> --
> Jeffrey R. Calhoun                     McDonough Telephone Cooperative
> jeff at mdtc.net                          Infobahn Outfitters
> jeff at outfitters.com                    P.O. Box 248
> (309) 836-3706                         Macomb, IL 61455
> _______________________________________________
> Cycling mailing list
> Cycling at macomb.com
> http://mailman.outfitters.com/mailman/listinfo/cycling
>
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