In my last post, I promised to whine about bicyclists in the “near future”. Well… why not in the very next post? So here we go! Why would someone who bicycles bitch about other bicyclists? (Why would motorists complain about irresponsible drivers? Are you sensing a theme?)
As I previously wrote, I like the “Idaho Stop” and believe it should be adopted on a nationwide scale. Arguments against this law come from several viewpoints, one of which is that drivers could never predict the behavior of bicyclists. This is a silly argument at best; you certainly may depend upon the road etiquette of law-abiding, conscientious cyclists. But there are those other idiots out there that give all bicyclists a black eye. Let’s meet a few of them.
“Cruiser Chrissy” is on her way to the local coffee house to meet with her friends. It’s easier to find parking downtown by the espresso shop with a bike than with a car, and she’s so much more environmentally conscious by riding her bike. The trouble with Chrissy is that she’s got her ear-buds in and music blaring, so she’s not going to hear any traffic noise from the street as cars pull up from behind.
Another problem Chrissy has is that she doesn’t like riding in the street because the drivers are “rude” to bicyclists. So she rides on the sidewalk… going full-tilt… which is not only rude to pedestrians, it puts them at danger on what should be their turf. To top it off, when Chrissy comes to an intersection (that conveniently has the handicapped access ramps) she simply bombs through from one corner to the next without ever slowing down, checking to see if the light is green in her direction… OR LOOKING FOR TRAFFIC. Someday she will either be hit by a car, or come very close to getting creamed… and will wonder why the driver wasn’t paying closer attention!
Conrad the Commuter is on his way to work in the early morning hours. The sun is up, which apparently means that he is no longer “invisible” other people sharing the road as they, too, drive to their jobs. Conrad is dressed for work, although he wears a helmet and has flashing lights facing front and rear for “safety”. As Conrad approaches an intersection controlled by a traffic light (which for him is currently red), he can be observed constantly looking left and then right, left, right… all the while never slowing down to come to a stop.
With near-surgical skill, Conrad suddenly jumps on the pedals and cuts his way through the cross traffic as he finds a slight (and somehow navigable) break in traffic in both directions. Off he pedals to greet his busy day while anyone who just witnessed his display of idiocy is currently seething with animosity towards bicyclists. (This wasn’t even close to what is intended with the Idaho Stop laws.)
Ron the Roadie is out with a small pack of his buddies riding along a popular road for cyclists. They’re all decked out in the kit of their local cycling club, and the bikes they’re riding are all upscale carbon-fiber machines that don’t come cheap! Drivers see a couple of things they don’t understand in this scenario.
First of all, the “kit”. It’s the cycling clothing that bikers wear, but it pertains more to a team design. So when you see cyclists with shorts and jerseys that seem to match (or without any question DO match), that’s a cycling kit. Then there’s “everybody else” who are still wearing spandex-like shorts and (usually) colorful cycling jerseys, but don’t quite fit into that “ultra-cool” category of wearing matching-everything. Non-cyclists, pay attention here. Bikers aren’t trying to be self-righteous assbags when they wear this stuff! They wear it because it’s comfortable, functional and doesn’t cause personal injury when you’re putting in a lot of miles on the saddle. The thought of trying to put in a fifty mile ride wearing a pair of blue jeans makes my butt chafe just thinking about it.
The second thing drivers notice is that these guys are riding two or three abreast, and that there’s no room to get around them. This point is aggravated when the bicyclists are aware that there is a car behind them (which is obviously faster) and would like to pass, and the cyclists still won’t make an effort to get into a single file pace line so the traffic may pass. At some point the car will go around the gaggle of bikers, displaying a gesture of frustration or a honk on the horn, which is met with equally rude gesturing and yelling. (Idaho allows for two cyclists riding abreast, unless there is traffic behind them.)
These three examples of cycling faux pas are good examples of why drivers hate bicyclists. Additionally, I think drivers have a rightto be pissed off at these idiots. I have personally seen examples of these three scenarios from both the seat of a car and from the seat of our tandem, and these actions infuriate me. Why? Because it goes against the cause of establishing equal rights and respect for the bicycling segment of our population.
When you’re driving down the road, and a car blows right through a red light in front of you, what happens? You get angry toward that idiot, blow the horn, flip ‘em off, and then shortly forget about the incident entirely. Yet when a bicycle does the same thing (or something equally as stupid), you mentally file the action away for all time and eternity, and all cyclists become the enemy. Do you doubt this? The three examples I previously listed were things that I have SEEN, and I still vividly remember them all! I’ve witnessed many more bone-headed stunts that motorists have pulled, and yet none of them really stand out in my memory like the biker blunders.
Two points need to be made here. First, not ALL cyclists are pinheads. The few that you see behaving like idiots are not the majority (just like the bad drivers ). Motorists need to be a little more forgiving. But the bigger point is for the cyclists. YOU are the ambassadors of your sport, lifestyle or choice of transportation. You are extremely visible, and people will remember every stupid stunt you pull. So when it comes to stupid stunts – knock it off! There is plenty of room for everybody on the roads, when we are all civil toward one another and actually respect and obey the laws.
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