Down with the Ferrari Fund!

Even as the price of oil is dropping there hasn't been much relief at the pump. I took these photos on my ride to work this week.

One of the amazing things about all this is that top oil executives continue to receive ginormous bonuses even as most Americans are reorganizing their traveling habits to accomodate the rising cost to fill up!

Two British Petroleum executives have been put on notice of investigation because of receiving bonuses of L100,000 or US $162,400.  The shareholders have a right to be disgusted and in an uproar!

So how can you fight back? Well, we know that these executives will probably continue to receive these bonuses but you can hurt them just a little if you follow a little advice that I read in the latest issue of Bicycling magazine.

If only 5% of the population would use an alternate form of transportation for the 2 mile radius from their home we would save 5.8 millions gallons of gas. Pish, posh my husband said, that's not even a drop in the bucket! Well, buck up folks! Can you imagine what 

could happen if it was MORE then 5%?

5.8 gallons of gas @ $4.00 gallon=$23.2 millions of dollars

Surely that would cut someone's bonus money!

So gear up folks! Ride to work, walk to the store, skate for fun! Let's cut 

someone's Ferrari fund!

Danger danger danger!!!

Many times I hear from people how dangerous it is to ride my bike. After witnessing a very stupid cyclist yesterday who will probably be a statistic if he keeps on riding, I decided to do a little research. I know the photo below is a little blurry but I'll explain.

This is what I consider to be the most dangerous section of my ride. As you can see the road narrows from having very large shoulders to basically none as you cross the bridge. I will not cross the bridge if there are cars coming in my lane. It's asking for trouble. In this photo is the bus that I ride usually one way, mostly home (today was the exception cause it was so nice I decided to ride home!) The idiot in question not only rode across the bridge when there was traffic but did it against the cars and when the bus was crossing! Poor bus driver slowed almost to a stop to avoid from hitting him! Like I said....his biking lifespan will be short lived if he keeps this up!


As a result of being a witness to this stupidity curiosity made me look up 
some statistics that I will share with you.

• An average of 115 persons die each day in motor vehicle crashes in the United States -- one every 13 minutes. According to the World Health Organization about 3000 people die in crashes each day worldwide.
• 537 people in plane crashes on average (obviously a whole bunch can die at once!)
• 4008 people on motorcycles died in 2008 
• Approx. 600-700 cyclists died every year on average between 2000-2004. 
• 89% of these fatalities were male (hummmmmm)
• The greater the concentration of cyclists in an area on a regular basis the less likely for a crash regardless of helmet use.
• Riding the wrong way (aka dumb bell I saw yesterday), and riding on sidewalks is more dangerous then on the road
• Most deaths occur at night

http://bicycleuniverse.info/transpo/almanac-safety.html

So...the bottom line is this....

I'm less likely to die on my bike then in my car or on a motorcycle. 

Especially since I'm female, 

ride during the day,

and stay on my side of the road minding my P's and Q's

and keeping an eye on those pesky cars!

 

Because the last statistic is this:

• Cars are responsible for 90% of all car/cycle accidents