Oh, And Screw The Fish

A couple weeks ago, Sue Lani Madsen wrote a column in the Spokesman Review in which she thought cyclists would be much safer if they wore bright green.

Today, as if in the "both sides do it" spirit that now permeates the media, her column takes on vehicle drivers.

According to the Washington State Department of Health, “… motor vehicle crashes are the second leading cause of unintentional injury death (after poisonings), and the leading cause of major trauma. Motor vehicle injuries are largely preventable and are mainly due to human behavior rather than poor road design, vehicle issues, or weather.”

She then continues by ranting about specific human behaviors and kind of finishes with this.

Painted bike lanes don’t protect bicyclists, painted crosswalks don’t protect pedestrians, double yellow lines don’t protect drivers. A driver has the responsibility to drive according to road conditions. It doesn’t matter if poor conditions are a result of road design, icy weather or heavy traffic. It doesn’t matter if the traffic is on two wheels, four wheels or on foot. The root of the problem is human behavior.

I'm guessing she would like an improvement in human behavior because all she does essentially is complain about it.

Which is as effective as this.

Then she closes with something that has nothing to do with poor driving behavior.

But those petitioning for highway safety improvements on U.S. 195 and Route 26 are not wrong to want better roads. Upgrades to support increasing traffic already are planned, although funding is two to ten years out. State Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, has suggested changing budget priorities. He has requested that $113 million budgeted for fish passage projects be shifted to upgrading highway safety sooner rather than later. The fish can wait.

It must be nice to have a gig where you get paid to complain. The Spokesman Review sets a low bar for printing this tripe.