You cant take a picture of this. It's already gone ([info]cimmorene) wrote in [info]childfree,
@ 2004-09-05 12:24:00
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I was almost run over by a 4 year old on a motorcycle
has anyone seen those little mini motorcycles, or pocket bikes that are made for kids? They go about 15 miles an hour and IMO are not fit gor ANYONE, really.

I walked over to the corner store to get a frozen pizza for lunch and there was a littel bratlet riding one of those around at top speed on the sidewalk and in the parking lot of the store.

I swear he was AIMING for pedestrians! He was riding around poeple who were walking by, probably just trying ot get attention, but where was the kids father? On a payphone, not paying a bit of attention to this kid or what he was doing until the kid comes skidding to a stop next to him and nearly slams his little bike into a brick wall.

The kicker on all this? No helmet. If adults have to have a license and wear helmets to ride motorcycles, would it not be common sense that if you have a mini version of this deathtrap for your child that you would AT LEAST put a helmet on them?

I mean, cmon! Its not law, but its reccomended that you wear a helpet while riding a bicycle, so if you have your child on something that goes 15 mph, I would THINK that you would want them to have a helmet on for that, too.

*grumble*

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[info]atalantapendrag
2004-09-05 10:50 am UTC (link)
In many cities, wearing a helmet on a bicycle is the law.

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[info]asukasan
2004-09-05 11:43 am UTC (link)
Where I live, wearing a helmet is a requirement until you're 16.

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[info]ishtar79
2004-09-05 12:18 pm UTC (link)
Those kid bikes are possibly the stupidest thing in existence. They should be illegal.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:22 pm UTC (link)
In most places they're not street legal, and motorized vehicles aren't allowed on a sidewalk. They're ALREADY illegal except when used on a track, which is what they were built for.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:36 pm UTC (link)
Oh and they weren't made for kids originally. Racing the silly things is an adult sport. It's terrifying to watch considering how fast they go and how close they are to the ground.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:38 pm UTC (link)
http://www.pocketbike.ch/Index/imaphoto/images2/ursesai1.html

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 01:48 pm UTC (link)
motorcycles are not deathtraps.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:22 pm UTC (link)
These are the mini ones, in which your skull is like 18 inches off the ground.

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 02:24 pm UTC (link)
i know of the pocket rocket.

motorcycles are not death traps. small motorcycles no less so.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:30 pm UTC (link)
They aren't street legal. They aren't sidewalk legal. My take on it is they were intended for racing on tracks, not driving on the street where they put your head at the same level as an SUV's bumper. And certainly they weren't intended to be driven by young children with no driver safety training and no helmet.

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 02:32 pm UTC (link)
I'm not arguing with you about legality or intention. I'm trying to tell you that motorcycles are not deathtraps.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:33 pm UTC (link)
Motorcycles driven by young non-helmeted children in traffic are not safe. No way, no how. They drive like complete idiots, we're talking 40 miles an hour, and they most certainly can die. It's happened already.

Don't get hung up on a word.

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 02:34 pm UTC (link)
cars driven by young non-seatbelted children in traffic are not saife, either. that doesn't mean all cars are deathtraps.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:36 pm UTC (link)
Yep, hung up on a word, and not even my word.

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 02:37 pm UTC (link)
"fag"
"dyke"
"wop"
"kyke"
"nigger"

ignorant words have power.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:39 pm UTC (link)
Yes, of course these two things are exactly the same. Enjoy your strawman.

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 02:43 pm UTC (link)
calling an analogy a straw man fallacy does not make it so.

and even if it did, attacking the logic by which i come to the conclusion doesn't change the conclusion: motorcycles are not deathtraps.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:56 pm UTC (link)
When you have to paste dictionary entries every third word, particularly entries you seem not to have read, you've already lost it. Clearly this is a strawman fallacy.

A loaded word for dangerous equipment (whether dangerous of itself, or periolous as your definition #2 has it, because of misuse) is completely different from a racial or gender slur; they are not analogous in the slightest. However much titillating shock value those slurs may have for you, there is not much of a comparison between human beings and their tools.

You understood my meaning quite well (keeping in mind that I never used the silly word "deathtrap" and that I am merely saying this situation is dangerous, while you keep parroting the same phrase in defence of a large class of machines which is not even being discussed).

I'm sorry that the word "deathtrap" which the original poster used got under your skin so badly (and that you then extended that meaning to apply to ALL motorcycles everywhere, which she did not: she was talking about a pocket bike operated by a preschooler). I'm a little confused why you're the defend-all-motorcycles-everywhere-in-every-context crusader in the first place. Most bikers I've met have had distinct opinions on which bikes were decent and which should never have been made, and who should be riding and who shouldn't.

Do you feel you're a persecuted minority as a biker, then, like your
"fag" "dyke" "wop" "kyke" "nigger" example? Or are you not even a biker at all, and just like to shit-stir for no reason whatever?

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 03:11 pm UTC (link)
You're making this into something that it's not.

the original poster said:
If adults have to have a license and wear helmets to ride motorcycles, would it not be common sense that if you have a mini version of this deathtrap

I have issue with calling motorcycles deathtraps. I never meant to argue that the situation in question was dangerous, or that the mini motorcycles should be ridden on sidewalks or irresponsibly. My only contention was that motorcycles are not inherently dangerous, and using a loaded word that describes them as such is unfair and ignorant.

Most bikers I've met have had distinct opinions on which bikes were decent and which should never have been made, and who should be riding and who shouldn't.

most bikers I've met HAVE had their opinions about which bikes were decent and which bikes were shit -- but i've never met a single one that blamed the motorcycle for operator error.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 03:22 pm UTC (link)
It looks to me as if you deliberately misread the original post, then, in order to make a point about ordinary motorcycles which was clearly never intended.

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 03:25 pm UTC (link)
It's pretty clear to me that the OP said that a motorcycle is a death trap, and a pocket rocket is "a mini version of this deathtrap".

If that's not what she meant, I'll apologize if she'll make the statement clearer.

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[info]nesmith
2004-09-05 06:38 pm UTC (link)
In the phrase "mini version of this deathtrap," the "this" refers to motorcycles in general (the "mini version" is the pocket rocket, which is a "mini version" of a normal motorcycle). That's what the syntax indicates, whether or not that's what the OP intended.

And you and [info]psiphre have been wanking quite spectacularly. *applauds*

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[info]left_andleaving
2004-09-05 06:39 pm UTC (link)
why is this such a big deal to you? what point, exactly, are you trying to make?

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 06:43 pm UTC (link)
that motorcycles are not deathtraps.

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[info]left_andleaving
2004-09-05 07:15 pm UTC (link)
wow, you are an idiot.

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[info]cimmorene
2004-09-05 07:36 pm UTC (link)
wow. I come bavck to find that this has turned into a flame war over ONE WORD. jeebus. that person obviously has waaaay too much time on their hands

And ya know what, IMO motorcycles ARE deathtraps, but I only feel that way because I knew 4 popele who have been splattered across highways on them., so what do I know?

Once again, its just MY opinion.

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[info]left_andleaving
2004-09-05 08:03 pm UTC (link)
well, I love how this poster keeps stating the same thing over and over, yet doesn't really have an argument. just keeps repeating the same phrase over and over. I wonder why they're getting so worked up over it?

but they also have a really lame, uber-patriotic icon, so I'm not suprised that there's no intelligence coming from this person

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[info]cimmorene
2004-09-05 09:22 pm UTC (link)
who knows, mebbe they will get banned and we can all go back to our regularly scheduled programming

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[info]left_andleaving
2004-09-05 09:48 pm UTC (link)
but banning is not a deathtrap! ;-)

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[info]psiphre
2004-09-05 08:08 pm UTC (link)
wow, you're a bitch.

we could go around like this all day, but what would be the point?

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[info]left_andleaving
2004-09-05 08:20 pm UTC (link)
exactly, because you have yet to make your point.

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[info]dyfferent
2004-09-05 02:32 pm UTC (link)
http://www.buyscooteronline.com/boreem-47cc-gas-pocket-bike-801070.html

And more like this than like that 'lectric thing. I've actually seen the sport on Eurosport--it's hair-raising.

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