EastBayDave
Needs a job
Posts: 2245
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posted September 03, 2002 10:52 AM
 Edited By: redelk on 4 Sep 2002 08:06
AGAIN, negative press about riders
Page 4 of the "Local" section of the "Daily Review" (In the Obituaries section?) today is once again printing a negative stereotyping story on sport riders. This time writer Justin Jouvenal is concentrating his spewing of misinformation on the Alice's area riders of the West Bay, specifically mentioning highways 35, 84, & 9.
Titled: Bay Area bikers find high-speed 'nirvana,' death
If you get a chance, either click on the link below & read the story, or pick up the "Daily Review" newspaper today (in other Bay Area comunities it is The Oakland Tribune, The Contra Costa Times, Fremont Argus, Tri-Valley Herald, etc.) This article is full of more of the typical (press) negative stereotyping of sport riders with such idiocy as the following quotes:
"James" from Palo Alto says:
"Every time I go out, I nearly wipe."
"I'm living on my ninth life."
"It gets my heart pounding."
CHP Officer Kevin Gualtieri says:
"I've seen crash scenes where riders have gone off the road & embedded their teeth in a Redwood tree." (ebd-with a full face helmet? Hmmm....)
"To me -it's like a war zone up there."
La Honda Fire Department Chief Larry Whitney says:
"These crashes are a young mans disease." (ebd- how I wish....)
Justin Jouvenal goes on to say things like: (ebd-you Buell guys will like this...)
"Many of these riders are also on sleek "sports bikes" the speedy kind similar to those used in motorcycle racing, instead of slower "cruisers," such as Harley Davidson's
Add more meaningless drivel like:
"Increasingly, police & bikers say a small number of young motorcyclists are pushing their skills & equipment to the edge, - often with disastrous results."
And:
"Some riders aren't just content to whip around the "twisties", or curvy roads- they want to race, which creates an added danger of accidents. The speed fetish has been part of the mountain road culture for decades."
Jouvenal also quotes the following statistic:
The Santa Cruz Mountains has become an internationally known spot for motorcycling, bit it has also become dangerous. The CHP reports 98 motorcycle collisions & 3 fatalities since 2000'.
He fails to mention the four riders who have died in "hit-&-run" accidents in the Bay Area in the last 60 days.
Every rider should be concerned about the increasingly frequent spewing of this junk by local journalists such as Justin Jouvenal, & do something about it. All should pick up a copy of today's article, or link to it & read it, & write &/or call the Editor of The Daily Review to complain about such negative sensationalism about sport riders.
We should all be concentrating on forcing them to tell the truth instead, as well as where the real danger lies, around town & on the freeways. Where motorists mow down riders in increasingly frequent numbers, typically without stopping. It's called again, Felony Hit & Run (which the CHP seems to do NOTHING about, ever!)
I for one am plain fed up with the double standard these morons spew for any cager to read & be influenced negatively about bikers...
The Daily Review Main Line: 510-783-6111
Read the entire story here:
http://www.dailyreviewonline.com/Stories/0,1413,88%257E10975%257E834931,00.html?search=filter#top
Thanks,
EBD
____________
Enjoy the ride!
02' ZRX1200
00' ZX12R sold
  
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EastBayDave
Needs a job
Posts: 2245
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posted September 03, 2002 10:53 AM
My response to the Editor sent today...
To whom it may concern,
I am a daily reader/subscriber, & I am writing to voice my concerns over Justin Juvenal's story titled: "Bay Area bikers find high-speed 'nirvana,' death." I as well as many riders in the Bay Area am very concerned about the negative stereotyping & sensationalism Justin spews regarding "sport" motorcycle riders. Many of us are veterans of many years of riding (40+), & do not ride as he describes, & do not appreciate the negative press that effects so many average car drivers.
We have for decades fought negative press (typically about "Hell's Angles" types), & have strived to separate us from that stereotype. All we are trying to do is ride our motorcycles for fun, transportation, & to try to enjoy the thing that differs us from the average car driver. Your writer Justin is sensationalizing what in our view is a very small problem among the vast majority of riders in the area, & simply giving folks another reason to hate us, & this is not acceptable.
Many of the statistics Justin quotes are just plain average problems (not a huge one compaired to say- drunk driving) & ignore the real problem: the "hit & runs" that happen all the time. My information is four deaths in just the last couple months, three in the last three weeks. If a child is hit by a hit & run driver, it's big on the 11 o'clock news; & the CHP goes all out to find the culprit. A biker is killed? No big deal; frequently the case is never solved. People just plain don't care regardless of the mode of transportation.
We would like to see something more constructive; showing accurate facts in the statistics, as well as the more serious crimes, the hit & run accidents that leave families without fathers, brothers, cousins, mothers, & sisters, etc. as happened in San Francisco just last month! The small problem of a few young speeding sport riders is not worth hurting all riders in the long run.
Thank you,
(joe blow rider you will never respond to...) j/k
____________
Enjoy the ride!
02' ZRX1200
00' ZX12R sold
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted September 03, 2002 12:26 PM
yep, it's pretty annoying. this isnt likely to b a popular opinion, but fact is they (the sportbike haters) do have a point. we dont buy these things fer puttin around in. our chosen pastime is a dangerous one, and a number of us r downright irresponsible about it. certainly it is a minority, but we all know the minority inevitably provides the image for the whole group. i'm not convinced the minority is all that small however. seems our little online community here is fairly responsible, but i also frequent a local board predominantly inhabited by younger, less experienced riders. they are CONSTANTLY crashing, and it is almost always rider error while bein an idiot. fortunately it seems most of the people here, and bikers in general, do a fairly good job of telling these squids what we think of their habits and i think that's about all we can do. went on a 35+ bike ride just a week ago where 1 idiot on a full repli-racer duc decided to pretend the rest of the group, riding in formation, were pilons [sp]. several riders shook their heads but noone says anything once we're stopped at the destination. i did, and he couldnt seem to believe that anywould would take offence at his riding style. (did i already post all this?) hopefully he will think twice next time he's about to do something thats likely to end up in a crash.
anyhow, i'm a bit off track. i figure the best way to fight this kind of bad publicity is the counter it with good publicity. someone sent a letter to the editor here recently complaining about the dangerous bikers and their loud exhausts. a few locals got together & invited a photographer & writer from the paper to meet with them & get the facts straight. they actually did. i suspect that will ahve a bigger impact than any number of complaints we send in (altho the complaints SHOULD work as motivation to be more factual next time). problem is, it takes time & effort to get a counter article like that written. and frankly i doubt most papers would agree to it.
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12RPilot
Pro
Posts: 1094
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posted September 03, 2002 03:10 PM
I fired a preemptive shot. As soon as my buddy's sister was promoted to features editor I told her that I wanted input before they trashed sportbikes in the newspaper. She said that if they were to publish anything, I would get interviewed and photographed. Might help to have a pic of an old fart in full leathers to counter the young squid image.
____________
If you aren't an AMA member, you're part of the problem.
NESBA #209
http://www.bikepics.com/members/12rpilot/04zx10r/
 
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bagster
Zone Head
Posts: 630
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posted September 04, 2002 07:48 AM
Good job Dave!
Its great that you are doing something about the negative garbage they are dumping on the public.
sadly,I will be surprised if you get more than the standard "thank you for your letter, and, we will look into it" reply. 
just a few weeks back we had a 16yr old girl turn left in front of a cop on his bike, killing him.
of course there was major sympathy for the policeman but there was no outrage against the poor girl who "accidentally" killed him.
sure, she has to live with that horror for the rest of her life and i feel sad for her in that way, but the public will not rally to support "bikers against people who shouldn't be driving".
regardless of age, vision acuity, mental state,safe driving skills or lack thereof, america is dominated by the almighty cager and the mentality that accompanies it.
Anyone see that show on TLC a few weeks back that had the 4 women in Great Britan trying to get their drivers licences? can you say yikes!!!!
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