KGUN’s story on TPD enforcement

I also thought TPD was cracking down on more than silly stop signs, like wrong way and sidewalk riders. A couple people in this video were doing that. I also thought TPD was going to stop "motorized morons" for the passing law and other violations that made them dangerous to bicyclists. It's unfortunate that a few people make us all look bad - the majority of us do ride legally and safely. Tucson traffic? Yeah I want to live til I'm an old lady. It's frustrating when I mention things in class like bike safety, and that I'm an instructor, and they all laugh and say, you guys don't know safety. I agree with Erik saying what of the discussion of bike safety. I was happy that the anchor said something about both cars and bikes being bad, until they went into saying, the focus tonight is BIKES!

Yeah I agree. I am regretting that. Now my FB is filled with KGUN9 spam.

Thanks Colby, and BB, we will take a look at those items in our next followup. Here's a link to the Thursday, August 26th 2010 story: http://www.kgun9.com/global/story.asp?s=13053567

Was the motorist filiming while driving? I got about 100 videos of motorist doing stupid things. youtube.com/bodybait Why do think this is a war, I have no weapon?

I guess it wouldn't be a news story if they had nothing negative to point out. TPD is enforcing road laws due to grant money, what happens when the grant money depletes. Back to the same old grind. They should be using the money to educate new riders and youth. Helmets for under privilege kids, lights, reflectors and a and reflective vest for night riders. Damn, that would make a great news story, TPD doing something "Great" for the community. Oh, thats right, not something kgun would cover.

Well done...and nice tone.

I just posted a very long comment on the FB story. Hopefully I managed to keep the tone helpful and non-confrontational...

I don't know if anyone has video of motorist cutting off cyclists, but I know of 'ghost bikes' that mark the aftermath of motorist killing cyclists in town. http://tucsonvelo.com/photos/tucson-ghost-bikes-laos-ligas-and-sanchez/ Finding examples of motorists, cyclists, pedestrians breaking the law isn't really the point - it was the shock-value journalism and lack of good reporting on a topic that is complex and deserving of better reporting.

Hey guys, we're watching your comments with great interest. You're 100% right, our story contained no video of motorists cutting off bikers. We would be very interested in such video if any of you have footage or pictures like that. If you do, send me the video to bpryor@kgun9.com Regards, Brian Pryor Web Producer Assignment Editor KGUN9-TV | KGUN9.com

The written story is here: http://www.kgun9.com/global/story.asp?s=13049512# For some reason I am not seeing a link in your post to that story. The use of words like "butthead" and "moron" are definitely a little jarring in a news article! But much worse is the overall tone. There is something a bit gleeful in their description of the "bicycle suppression" and the capture of bicyclists doing dumb things. Why no discussion of safety? Of the vulnerability of cyclists? It's depressing.

I don't know why everyone is so upset, the dude on the bike was cleanly breaking the law. If he would have hit a pothole his tire could have gone under the car and bye bye bicyclist. In reality, don't we all break the law sometimes? I went for a long ride today and I'm pretty sure I broke some laws. (Allegedly) :D

I can't see the video, but TPD was at the corner of University and 4th ave ticketing for rolling stops last evening. They were at University and Park this morning doing the same. Thought they weren't going to focus on rolling stops. In the meantime, on my commute in to work, numerous cars were driving in the bike lane on Mountain and turning right using the bike lane as a rt. turn lane.

Yikes! The comments on the FB post are toxic. No wounder there are so many car - cyclist incidents in this city.

Hm, this morning on the news they said that the driver did shoot the video and that they 'don't encourage that kind of behavior'... this was said while they continously played the looped footage.

I could not find an email address to use, but lets all tell them how we feel here: http://www.facebook.com/KGUN9OnYourSide You ca find their FB story about the video there and can comment on that thread.

Video is "unavailable" now.

KGUN 9 is for old people to watch news so they slant the news towards that target group (old man was angry at el tour for blocking his entrance to his home a couple of years back). You could show clips of motor vehicles not providing the safe distance required when passing a cyclist all day long but no mention of this in piece nor any other safety precautions. This video is about slamming cyclists as the out of control vehicles on our streets which is a laughable point of view. The video showing of the tailgating cyclists is something you would see in a large city back east and not a common happening here. I am curious to know if the photographer & cyclist had planned that taping seeing how he was driving/filming...There are bad cyclists, joggers, walkers, & drivers every day, every hour on our streets. I do not see cyclists as a daily bad thing on streets of Tucson but rather motorized drivers intolerance of cyclists appears to be more so, at least it is to me.

Extremely lopsided. "what kind of friends are some cyclists?" I can't believe he said that. I like how in depth they go about how dumb the cyclist hanging on the car is and merely mention the driver filming it (equally as stupid). No mention of the 3 foot rule, bicycle injuries/fatalities cause by motorist versus the bicyclists themselves. Didn't TPD come out and say they weren't going to focus on stop signs?

Totally lopsided. Good shots of cyclists doing stupid things, but where are the shots of motorists cutting people off, not obeying the 3-foot law, etc ? KGUN9 isn't my station of choice anyways.