Car wars
Drivers ’lack of road etiquette toward bicyclists defies common sense
Beegeeohoooonnk!!
This was the obnoxious greeting I
was recently pelted with. I’m riding
my bike to school, like a good little
girl, in my own lane, not taking up
any more space than necessary and,
WHAM!
This noise collides with my sys
tem, full force. The car behind me
actually wanted me to move! It pulls
up, not more than 2 feet behind me,
and follows me at that distance until I
was nice enough to move out of its
way.
I didn’t have to move. Legally, I
had every right to be there. I decided
to not take issue with it - to drop it.
But when the car pulled up next to
me at the stoplight, and the women in
the car actually glared at me, it just
went too far!
The glare I was so pretentiously
given might have been cast with
intent - to put me in my place - but it
back-fired, baby!
I instantly went into cat-fight
mode. Settle down, guys.
I’m pissed!
This entire road control obsession
found iR the brain of nearly every
motorist has just become too danger- -
bus. And I’m getting sick of it.
On behalf of safety-lovers every
where, I am screaming equality!
It’s not like I’m forced to ride my
bike and would just pretty, pretty
please love it if you could accommo
date me.
I own my own car, and it’s
adorable. I own my own bicycle, and
it’s very high-tech - the perfect
mountain bike.
Therefore, I choose to use my
bike. It is not a necessity, like it is for
many of the bicyclists on campus.
However, I want to get one thing
straight right now. We, as bicyclists,
have the same claims to the road we
choose to share with you.
Do you hear me? Historically, we
were here first. As technology
increased, sociable road etiquette
decreased.
First, motorists use less intelli
gence on their daily drive than do
bikers.
Motorists command the use
of turn signals, horns, etc.
Bikers must rely on hand signals, ’
yelling, etc.
We understand that you’re not
smart enough to remember little
hand signs.
We understand
that your horn is a tool
of overcompensation. It’s
fine. We’ll patronize
you.
If you, as a motorist,
are too lazy to push
those extremely difficult
pedals to make the little wheels
go round and round, it’s permissi- i
ble. We’re allowing you to be I
slobs.
Stick with your ozone-deplet
ing hate machines.
But don’t ever, not even for a
second, think you can push us
around.
Sure, you’re bigger than we
are. Oafs usually are. But, ah, how
the mighty tumble.
Now, I’m not excusing crazy
bicycling habits. There is no excuse
for psychos to be weaving in and out
of pedestrians, inducing virtual heart
attacks.
And if a bicyclist is not going
to stop at traffic lights, as they are
required to do (just like you dri
vers, sweetie) then they should be
ticketed, fined, impounded - what
ever. Just treat ’em the same as
everyone else.
If anything, we’re helping you
out.
All anyone whines about these
days is the parking problem. And I
agree that there is a definite problem.
But as useful as rallies are, in the
meantime you could be, oh, I don’t
know, actually DOING SOME
THING ABOUT IT!
Those who scream the loudest are
usually heard, so keep yelling. But,
for goodness
Ui
sake, don’t kill those who are actually
helping you.
By riding our bikes to campus
(like you should be doing, you lazy
bums), we are reducing the occupan
cy of parking spaces.
Put two and two together, exer
cise-phobes. Here’s your excuse to
stay out of the Campus Recreation
Center.
But you’re biting the hand that’s
feeding you.
Trying to run us off the road is
merely creating chaos for you.
But I understand you have noth
ing better to do with your lives.
However, there are those of us
who are attempting to remedy life’s
problems: pollution, idiocy, obesity
and the ultimate of all problems -
parking spaces.
So give us a little help.
You still don’t like the way I bike?
Walk.
Shawn Drapal/DN
Jessica Eckstein is a junior communication studies major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist.
Healthy savings
Health care problems can be solved by following Forbes’lead
After the pushing and prodding of
friends and roommates, I finally went
to the doctor for a nagging cough. I
visited the University Health Center,
where they diagnosed a small case of
bronchitis and prescribed some medi
cine for me. And when I paid $ 10 for
about a week’s worth of pills, I was
told I got a good deal.
Isn’t health care in America won
derful?
Inflated Costs
So we’re all unhappy with our
nation’^ health care. Premiums are
huge, deductibles are high, and we
don’t have much choice in doctors
and hospitals. And that’s just for those
pf us who have insurance.
Forty-three million Americans
don’t even have coverage In
California, that dumber grows by
50,000 a month. So we’ve put insured
people on the backbumer and
focused our attention on the unin
sured.
Sixteen states have recently legis
lated mandates to help the uninsured
with health coverage. The number of
people without insurance in those
states is growing eight times faster
than the national average, not because
people don’t want to pay for their
health care but because they can’t.
Medicare sucks and probably will
be gone by the time my hair turns
gray. Medicaid is equally screwed up.
Health care costs are out of control
like Regis Philbin with a little caf
feine.
And we’ve got to do something to
stop it.
Some people are calling for a
“Patients’ Bill of Rights” - more leg
islation that will supposedly give us
more freedoms. More regulation or
even nationalized, government-run
health care could be in our future.
But I hope not.
Automotive People
One of the reasons insurance
costs are skyrocketing is because the
coverage is so expansive. Almost all
insurance plans cover every type of
health problem or visit. That means
everything from checkups to coughs
to cancer. And we think that makes
total sense, that such plans are just
thorough and broad. Ironically, we
don’t have that mentality when it
comes to similar types of insurance.
I pay monthly premiums for car
insurance on my 1992 Volkswagen.
But I don’t expect GEICO to pay
every time I go to Jiffy Lube, have a
part replaced or clean the windshield.
Those things are general upkeep that
I should expect for having a car. And
yet every time I go to the doctor for a
routine checkup or sore throat, I
expect my health plan to help pay the
bill.
Insurance is mainly for upkeep on
our bodies. The majority of health
care costs arise from routine visits
rather than major illness or injury.
Premiums are so high because most
health care visits are minor, and the
insurance companies won’t blink an
eye at covering them. They just raise
rates and smile at their fat wallets.
Ownership and Savings
Plans that solely cover unexpect
ed major disease or catastrophe aren’t
readily available now. And even if a
family budgeted for the routine health
expenses, they wouldn’t be able to
find a plan that would reduce their
rates accordingly.
Insurance companies don’t want
to change because they’re making so
much money. The government isn’t
jumping to act; the officials are pup
pets to their lobbyist friends. The peo
ple who need to get on board for this
to work are the employers. They don’t
want to pay big money for employ
ees’ insurance, so they will support
any measures that keep costs down.
And we need to look no further
than the race for president to find out
H
They took ownership of the money like it
was theirs - because in reality it was.
how to sway the employers toward
this reform. When Steve Forbes
became CEO of Forbes magazine in
1990, he saw serious increases in
health premiums for his workers. His
employees were abusing the system,
like all of us, simply by not treating
the health care money like their own.
Each family seemed to exploit the
system just a little - as long as its
rates weren’t directly raised as a
result. So Forbes instituted a type of
medical savings account, or MSA.
Employees received $1500 each year
for paying routine health expenses.
They could keep the money that they
didn’t use at the end of the year. They
took ownership of the money like it
was theirs - because in reality it was.
Money in Your Pocket
In most health plans, people tend
to take advantage of the insurance
more at the end of the year.
Deductibles are met, and it’s like
money in our pockets, ready to bum.
But Forbes’ plan encouraged just
die opposite. Save the money because
it’s yours. And his plan worked.
Health expenses at the magazine
haven’t increased in seven years.
If we look at Golden Rule
Insurance, one of the few companies
that handles a substantial number of
MSAs, it’s easy to see that these
things can work. Working families
make up three-fourths of new MSA
buyers. Nearly 80 percent are self
employed. And one-tenth of the new
buyers are single parents.
This isn’t one of those high
falutin’ plans conceived to make the
rich get richer. It just makes sense.
So we can either pass a “Patients’
Bill of Rights,” further bloating big
government, or we can follow Steve
Forbes’ lead and call for a “Health
Care Declaration of Independence.”
Put the power to control health
care in the hands of the people, where
it belongs.
Some information for this column
was based on a speech given by Steve
Forbes before the National Managed
Healthcare Congress in Atlanta on
March 30.
J.J. Harder is a senior political science and broadcasting major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist
