genejockey 

This moment, right here, where he comes within inches of two girls who are lawfully within the crosswalk, while he unlawfully runs a red light. One of the girls had to be snatched back out of the way. Each time he breaks the law by running a red light, rolling through the crosswalk against the light, he's gambling with other people's lives that he knows where they're going to be, that they won't stop, or speed up, or change direction in a fraction of a second. And if he miscalculates, he'll run someone down, someone who was following the law, taking their turn to cross the street, whereas he just doesn't want to wait like everyone else does.

Who TF is he that he thinks he gets to do this? Was he raised by wolves that he thinks this is okay?

jack pot 

"Who TF is he that he thinks he gets to do this?" ........... the people he works for have told him that the people who hired the messenger co. expect the dispatch to get there yesterday so the guy has to ride like heck or get fired and that my friends is the code of bike delivery so maybe the blame should be on all those lazy behinds that demand that the messenger deliver at lite speed.
__________________

livedarklions

Endangering kids and old people is about as bad as cycling misdeeds get. That's a crime right there. Good catch on the screen grab.

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/260.10

genejockey 

Did somebody hold a gun to his head to take the job? Should I similarly feel bad for people who choose other jobs where they routinely break the law and put others at risk?

livedarklions

BS. He was just following orders?

Reflector Guy

The luddites that still rely on bike messengers? They will all die off soon enough.... The rest of the world moved to faxes and emails stating 40 years ago.

WhyFi

We're just a half-step away from Godwinning this!

jack pot 

well i aint sayN the guy is riding right but >>>>>>>>>>Milgram’s research “In particular, acting under orders caused participants to perceive a distance from outcomes that they themselves caused,” said study co-author Patrick Haggard, a cognitive neuroscientist at University College London, in an email. In other words, people actually feel disconnected from their actions when they comply with orders, even though they’re the ones committing the act.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology, described this distance as people experiencing their actions more as “passive movements than fully voluntary actions” when they follow orders. .............................................blamelessness is now aspirational in ameriCa

genejockey 

I think it's pushing a bit to apply Milgram here, though you could argue that there is a subculture that glorifies the lawlessness and dehumanizes those the riders put at risk - calling them "cagers" and "meat pylons". So maybe it's more like the Stanford Prison study? But in any case, the rider chose the job, and chooses to ride like this

jack pot 

Jawohl

Kedosto

Wrong. The “I was just following orders” defense has never relieved one from responsibility. Ever. And it’s probably one of the most despicable lies ever told.

I have no doubt that the messenger companies pressure their employees to deliver as quickly as possible, but breaking the law and endangering others is entirely on the rider.

jack pot 

just because everything you say is mostly right doesn't mean that the NYC bike squid is TOTALLY wrong. the NYC streets are a fur ball of auto & moto & bike & pedestrian law breaking and a constant situational awareness is required to even walk down or across any street much less 5th Ave so i see the guy as a bit player in the "every man for himself" NYC game, no more or less deserving of scorn than the next jay walker or sign ignorer

genejockey 

But then, certainly not deserving of glorification. I mean, the last time I was in New York, the taxi driver bringing me into Manhattan from JFK was speeding, drove on the sidewalk, etc., but I didn't make a YouTube video of it, about how 'fast and fluid' his driving was.

livedarklions

You understand that the Nuremberg principle is that following illegal orders is not a defense, right?

No one's telling that jerk to ride like that.

Kedosto

Wrong again. The guy IS totally wrong. Whatever else might be going on doesn’t have bearing on his responsibility to operate in a safe, legal manner. First it was the “just following orders” defense and now you’re trying the “everyone else is breaking a law” defense. You’re 0/2.

jack pot 

yeah but not too many people were ever interested in watching (videoing) me Steamrollering through Washington Square at 3 mph or walking my bike across 5th Ave

jack pot 

all you guys are righter than me so i aint defending the squid anymore but don't blame me if you get elbowed out of the Cubby Hole or some other biker cyclist hangout

livedarklions

Again, BS. He's a hell of a lot worse than a jay walker. I'll remind you that the quote that set you off was in response to a photo of this guy coming within about an inch of taking out a couple kids.

And yeah, the jay walker isn't being lionized in a video and on this thread's OP.

Look, if someone takes a job as a hit man, are they really blameless because they're just doing what the job entails? Even if I bought your premise that this job requires this behavior, that just makes the guy guilty for knowingly doing the job.

livedarklions

Godwin himself has said the law doesn't apply if someone actually is espousing Nazism (not that anyone here was).

He literally was saying the guy wasn't guilty because he was just doing what he was told.
BTW, I'm pretty sure What'shisface Schickelgruber was the one Nazi who definitely never claimed he was just following orders.

Reflector Guy

So you've never even been to New York City, not even once?

Rage

Not even once…

LarrySellerz

KJ43

Not sure of the context here - are you really here just to troll?

Great riding and while I don't agree that it is ever ok to touch a car unless it is in self defense, it is an older vid of his with him in Mexico City. Again, my question is about his mountain biking vids recently.

njkayaker

A lot of people ride in NYC. Few of them ride the way you are talking about.

Kapusta

There is indeed a “flow” to NYC traffic.

That guy is not part of that flow. He is just blowing through it and messing it up for others.