“They Have to Do the Right Thing or Else They’re Going to Get Killed”

Mike Pintek of Pittsburgh radio station KDKA. (Photo: KDKA)

Last year, we posted a piece about a couple of shock jocks in Detroit who thought it was funny to talk about throwing things at bicyclists.

This year, the hateful talk is coming over the airwaves from Pittsburgh.

Streetsblog Network member blog Reimagine an Urban Paradise
has been following the story of a Pittsburgh DJ, Mike Pintek of KDKA,
who made some ugly remarks about being “tempted” to hit people on bikes
with his car. The audio has been taken down, but here’s a partial
transcript of what Pintek said from Reimagine’s author, Lolly:

“There are some bicyclists who are just these arrogant little dorks
that think they can do anything they want because they’re on a bicycle
and ‘we’re being green and environmentally friendly’…

“I have been thoroughly tempted — I haven’t done it ’cause I’m not
going to do it — I’m not that kind of person…but I have been so tempted
to just bump ‘em.

“I have been so tempted to pull up behind them when they’re doing
this — you know spread out across the road — put my car in neutral, jam
the accelerator down, race the engine and scare the living crap out of
them.

“They’ve got to stop being so arrogant about what they’re doing.
They’ve got to obey the rules. They have to do the right thing or else
they’re going to get killed.”

This all is playing out in a city where several bicyclists have been attacked in recent weeks by gangs of kids, as reported by Bike PGH.

Reimagine’s Lolly has this to say about what she thinks the consequences should be for the DJ:

Driver’s licenses are a privilege, not a right and if a person
announces their desire to use their vehicle as a weapon, they should
lose their license. If they use their job to incite others to commit
violence, they should lose that job.

She also notes that in the case of a San Francisco driver who allegedly did target people on bikes and used his vehicle as a weapon, the charges are felony attempted murder.

PGH Is a City and WWVB have more. Apparently Pintek is going to talk about what he said on his show today. We’ll keep an eye on it.

On another note entirely, we’d like to thank the folks at the Top
Online Engineering Degree blog for including Streetsblog.net on their
list of Top 50 Blogs for Civil Engineers to Read.
It’s a terrific list that we’re looking forward to digging into. You
should definitely check it out. And we’re honored to be included.