Local politican consultant and bull shit artist humorist Harold Cook writes a news satire site, Letters from Texas, commenting mostly on happenings at the Capitol and City Hall. In his Sunday news round up, he poked fun at the road worthliness of the Smart Car and the interactions between drivers and cyclists:
Local man killed in traffic accident involving bicycle, Smart Car
An Austin man was killed today when a Smart Car collided with a bicycle on Lamar Blvd.
Police say Nathan Winters, 23, was pronounced dead on the scene following the accident. The bicycle rider, however, escaped with only minor injuries and was treated at the scene and released.
Winters’ family said that in addition to Winters being the proud owner of the Smart Car, he was an active member in Greenpeace, PETA, Earth First, NORML, and the Travis County Libertarian Party.
While the motor vehicle was a total loss, the bicycle will only require minor cosmetic repairs, police said.
This piece initially caught a fellow bike blogger off guard since we’ve been having quite a few bike/car accidents lately (not to mention stories of firefighters shooting cyclists because they weren’t being safe.) When you’ve had too much of our Governor vetoing Safe Passing Bills, head on over to Letters from Texas for a little levity.
on Jul 27th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I believe the proper term is “Stand-up philosopher”.
Yeah, he got me, but only because I think it’s entirely within the realm of realism to survive an impact with one of those smart cars. I mean really, have you seen one of those things? I don’t even really need to park it, you just toss it in your back pocket and walk away…
on Jul 27th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Yeah, I like a car I can wear.
on Jul 27th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I wrote that piece in the first place because I saw two Smart Cars in a row earlier that day while out running errands, and thought that if they ran into something, whatever they hit might not notice.
on Jul 27th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
They do weigh 1600 lbs, plus perhaps 200 lbs of driver, etc. They’re small, but they’re not *that* small.