Lessons can be learned from cyclist's death

The article on the front page of the Monday Wildcat should have been changed from "International student killed on bicycle" to "International student murdered by careless motorist." The killing of my friend Mathias Moher illustrates the dire situation cyclists face each day.

Mathias was a real athlete, a young man dreaming of Olympic glory in the triathlon. Elite cyclists, like Mathias, spend 4-6 hours training each day, riding upwards of 500 miles a week. Maybe it's because bicycle racing isn't a mainstream sport like it is in Europe, I don't know, but we get no respect while out training.

Understandably, people on bicycles are seen by most of us as an inconvenience to our driving. This is true as it takes extra time to pass a cyclist with courtesy - all of three seconds. At least a few times each day, I'm yelled at and told to, "Get the hell out of the road!"

Mathias was killed on Avra Valley Road, and if you are familiar with this particular road, you know it's an arrow-straight desert highway through the middle of nowhere. There are huge 6-foot shoulders, in which Mathias was riding. How then did the driver "veer into the bike lane" and hit him at more than 60 mph? He was no doubt wearing the bright fluorescent yellow colors of his German team, and because of the flat and straight nature of the road, she should have been able to see him from at least half a mile away. Obviously she wasn't paying attention.

I would like to ask all of you to be more conscientious while driving. Here are a few suggestions that will go a long way to improve car/bike relations.

Give cyclists at least five feet when passing - not only is it considerate, it is the law in Arizona. Try to imagine what it's like to get buzzed by an SUV going more than 60 mph only inches away.

When approaching to pass on a narrow road, if there is a car in the oncoming lane, just wait a few extra seconds to pass. Take it easy, and enjoy the scenery.

Keep in mind, cyclists are not trying to be "in the way" or purposely slow you down. Please don't beep or try to scare a cyclist as punishment for impeding your progress - this can have deadly consequences.

Cody Harple
undeclared freshman

Dale column blatantly attacks Islam

I have a cousin at the UA, and I am an avid reader of the Wildcat. Let me say first that I was quite saddened to read the blatant attack on Muslims and Islam, not because an individual wrote such an article; he was simply exercising his freedom of expression. But a newspaper with such integrity as the Wildcat should not allow such an article to be published, one which clearly misquoted the Quran and misrepresented the faith of Islam, and more so because the person writing the article is not only a political science major, but a member of the Wildcat staff, who should know better.

The reason that we see footage only of people in Middle Eastern countries burning American flags and chanting anti-American slogans is because that is the only image the biased American media presents to the public here at large, and those protesting are certainly not in the tens of thousands, but are in a minority.

In stating with "certainty and conviction" that Islam is a threat to the safety of America, Mr. Dale has implied that he is an expert in interpreting the Quran, when all he has done through his selective badgering is taken verses from the Quran out of context, and worse still, quoted a verse which is nowhere to be found in the Quran ("The last hour would not come till the Muslims.".....).

Clearly Mr. Dale has failed to understand the fact that Islam does not allow for the subjugation of women. We only have to look into our recent past and see that Muslim countries such as Pakistan and Turkey have had women prime ministers.

With regards to the Christians and Jews, they are referred to in the Quran as the people of the book, i.e. those believing in the one God, and we only have to look back in history and see that Jews and Christians were treated with the utmost of respect and justice under Muslim rule.

In conclusion, I would like to say this, that the words of St. Augustine are being violated time and again by the U.S. government, the most recent of which we have seen in the calculated annihilation of the Afghan people. It is violated moreover in turning a blind eye to the open and unrestricted violation of human rights as perpetrated by the Israeli government against the Palestinians. Perhaps it is the foreign policy after all that has led to the loathing of our country.

Tahir Hafeez, M.D.
Tucsonan