Monday, December 20, 2010

Cyclists Throwing Magnets

I saw an article on Gizmodo about a magnet that a cyclists are supposed to throw on your vehicle if they think you`re a bad driver. The concept is pretty straightforward - the cyclist prints a few of these and attach a magnet strip to each, then throw them at vehicles. Personally, I'm against this idea for numerous reasons.

I'll start by saying that I have no problem with cyclists, but I think there needs to be greater enforcement of traffic rules for them. Helmet laws are rarely enforced, and when is the last time you've seen an officer pull over someone riding a bike on the sidewalk? Since the number of cyclists has increased substantially along with fuel costs and unemployment, there needs to be more strict rules and regulations by police, in my opinion.

Another cyclist without a helmet

Too often, I'll see cyclists taking up a lot of room on the streets, and making it very awkward for drivers to be on the road with them. If someone actually threw one of these on my car, I would be pissed off. They claim it does no damage to the paint, but they are incorrect.  If there is dirt on the back of the magnet, or on the vehicle, the magnet will cause little scratches. I would buy a bunch of cheap bike locks, follow the person who threw this at my car, and lock their bike up when they're not looking.

What would you do?