More tacks popped up on yet another popular bike route, Monday.
A co-worker of the City of Tucson’s bike and pedestrian program manager Ann Chanekca spotted tacks yesterday morning at the bike crossing on University Boulevard and Stone Avenue.
Chanecka said her colleague was running late when she passed by in the morning, but returned on her lunch break to remove them from the area. When she returned, she found four tacks, but said she saw more than that in the morning.
The intersection is popular for both recreational riders heading west for morning rides and commuters who live or work on the west side of Tucson.
The lastest “tacking” occurs as a second media outlet covers the story. Check out KGUN9’s story
On Facebook, Nathan Davis, suggested we track the incidents, so I’ve created a database to help track where and when cyclists have found tacks. Check it out here.
I’m starting to think that the person, or persons that are doing this are now just “getting off” on the media attention. I hope that while Tucson Velo and other cyclist-centric social media continue to post and track these “tackings”, the local news media stops its coverage. Otherwise, in typical American news circus fashion, it will not stop until someone gets killed.
Hopefully this guy realizes that no one is going to stop riding their bike because of this! It makes me want to ride more.
It’s getting enough media coverage now I bet it has spurred the copy-cats. If they think this is going to actually stop ANY cyclist, they’re crazy. (Well, they’re crazy anyway). I hope some cyclists actually catch these d-bags in the act.
Isn’t this an intersection with a light? Shouldn’t it have a CCTV camera? Surveillance state man.
I think these tack incidents are a type of hate crime or delayed road-rage actions. The original Mt. Lemmon tack layer and now the copy cat followers probably don’t have any cyclists in their family or in their limited circle of acquaintances. So it’s easy for these sociopaths to channel their rage at types of people they don’t know.
At any rate, I’m not going to stop riding, either for fitness or to run errands. I have some of the old-style wire tire savers which I’m convinced have helped me against thorns, and might help flick tacks off a tire before they sink in. Also, I’m going back to tire liners, even though they are a little heavier.
I think the attention is just feeding the fire. Catching someone is very unlikely at best and what will happen if they are? Charge them with malicious littering? Letting it die is our best chance; media will/has created copycats.. I’m a road cyclist so yes I understand the danger/cost/risks of crashing etc.. Given that someone can toss tacks from a moving car pretty much unseen, there is ~0% chance of catching them..
It is possible that all the attention will result in citizens being more aware of this issue, paying more attention, and possibly spotting someone doing this. Someone might get hurt (or worse) whether or not the media stops covering this.