Edit: to clarify: the message in the ad is actually ironic/satirical, mocking the advice for cyclists to wear high-viz at night.
It uses the same logic but inverts the parts and responsabilities, by suggesting to motorists (not cyclists) to apply bright paint on their cars.
So this ad is not pro or against high-viz, it’s against victim blaming
Cross-posted from: https://mastodon.uno/users/rivoluzioneurbanamobilita/statuses/113544508246569296
Copied from elsewhere in thread:
There is no way for me to get literally anywhere without being downrange. Not in any city in the united states.
You have defined the world as a shooting range, and told me its my fault for being downrange.
I can’t feel one of my legs because of you ‘people’. My back always hurts now. Doctors say it won’t get better. I was on the other side of a ditch, walking on loose dirt and roots when I was hit, because there was a break in the sidewalk. I was wearing bright red. I realky liked that dress, a gift from my first love, and they had to cut it off me-not to mention all the blood. I’m missing teeth. Im never not in pain now. I can’t stand still, there’s no way I can sit comfortably for more than about 90 seconds, sex is a whole fucking production, and It takes about a half hour pillow arranging ritual for me to lay down in a way that won’t make the pain worse tomorrow.
What could I have done better for this not to have been my fault? Believe me, I’ve gone over it in my head. I don’t know why why I did this to myself. I froze for a split second when I realized they weren’t going to stop. They had those really bright lights and I couldn’t see if it was a sedan or a big fuck-off truck. If it was a sedan and I tried to go flat I’d be torn to pieces even if I was fast enough, if it was a killdozer and I tried to roll over it I’d just be crushed like a fly and I would be very lucky if my mangled body didn’t stick in the grille.
I’ve been over it in my head so many times. For a couple months in the hospital, before I was back on solid food and not needing three nurses to help me shit, I couldn’t do anything else. I keep coming back to that split second of hesitation while I was blind, before I, correctly, took my size posture and likely angle the car would be coming from into account. I keep asking myself if I would be okay, or at least less broken, if I’d been faster. If I’d practiced my falls more as a kid.
So tell me. What should I have done? How could I have avoided being downrange?
Fucking tell me coward. Don’t just leave the conversation. Tell me. Tell me why this was justified. Tell me why it was ultimately worth it for me to experience this.