So here is a little something for everyone who drives a car to think about. Driving your car is not a right, George Washington didn’t suffer the indignity of wooden teeth so you can ply your SUV through the streets of Boston. God didn’t send Jebus down to die for your right to be uppity in your Prius. And It sure as hell doesn’t say anywhere in any of our founding documents that you get the right to life liberty and the pursuit of a Honda.
It’s a privilege, one you need to EARN. You have to pass a test, have to get a license, mostly because cars are big, heavy, and dangerous. It is pretty damn easy to hurt yourself or someone else with one. If at some point you fail to live up to the fairly simple set of rules set forth by the powers that be, you shouldn’t be allowed to continue to operate said vehicle.
So that is why, when the plain clothes Cambridge police officer, pulled across two lanes (and the bike lane) in Harvard square nearly hitting me and two of my friends, I was very disappointed to hear my least favorite excuse come out of his face when I confronted him about it.
“I didn’t see you.”
No shit d-bag, I mean I gave you enough credit to assume that you wouldn’t have tried to run three people over if you had seen me, that’s not the point. The point is ITS YOUR JOB TO SEE ME. If you can’t be bothered to look before changing TWO lanes (and a bike lane) perhaps you are not up to the task of driving. There could have been a puppy in that lane, or a bus load of nuns, or a child, or hell even another car. Your a cop for Pete’s sake, I expect more from you than the average person.
From this point forward, the phrase,
“I didn’t see you”
shall be replaced by
“I am a moron and I no longer deserve the right to operate my multi-toned vehicle, please punch me in the face, because I am an idiot.”
If you are not looking, you shouldn’t be driving. You are going to get yourself or someone else killed.
Got the following from MassBike, Seems the republicans are not happy enough ruining health care and environmental legislation they also need to attack biking…jerks.
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ACTION ALERT
Funding for Biking and Walking Under Attack!
Transportation Enhancements (TE) is the primary source of federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects, and it is under attack again. We expect Senator Coburn (R-OK) to offer two amendments to strike funding to TE in the transportation appropriations bill being debated on the Senate floor TOMORROW (9/16/09). The two Coburn amendments are S. Amendment 2370 and S. Amendment 2371.
The Transportation Enhancements program has provided between one-half and three-quarters of all Federal funding invested in bicycling and walking improvements in the last 20 years. More than $250 million is at stake in fiscal year 2010 – if Coburn’s amendments are successful it will affect hundreds of trail projects, sidewalks, bicyclist education programs, bike rack on bus programs, and roadway improvements for bicyclists.
S. Amendment 2370 will prohibit funding for Transportation Enhancements if the Highway Trust Fund does not contain amounts sufficient to cover unfunded highway authorizations (and the Fund is bankrupt).
S. Amendment 2371 will allow states to opt out of the 10% set aside rule that require states to spend at least 10% of their surface transportation funding on Transportation Enhancements.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: We expect the amendments to be offered and voted on during Senate floor debate tomorrow, Wednesday, September 16. Please call Senator Kerry’s office immediately at (202) 224-2742 and urge him to vote NO on S. Amendment 2370 and S. Amendment 2371 to the FY10 transportation appropriations bill.
I read David Filipov’s newest article at the Globe with some amount of disgust this morning. For those who have yet to glance upon this masterwork of investigative journalism let me serve up some tasty snippets.
Boston has launched a high-profile campaign to become a friendlier city for cyclists. Now the question is whether bicyclists will become friendlier to Boston. On any hour of any day, Boston bicyclists routinely run red lights, ride the wrong way on one-way streets, zip along sidewalks, and cut off pedestrians crossing streets legally – even though bike riders are supposed to obey the same traffic laws as motorists. Sometimes, a bicyclist will do all of these things in one two-wheeled swoop. The city seems unable to stop it.
(emphasis mine)
Ahh yes, Boston cyclists scourge of the streets. I don’t actually disagree with the authors claims of wrong doing by cyclists. In fact I am just as annoyed and pissed off when I see cyclists running red lights (news flash, running red lights doesn’t make you faster…being faster makes you faster), mostly because I then have to pass their stupid asses as I take off after waiting at the red light, but also because I see them regularly muck up traffic, almost get run over, or fail to yield to pedestrians. In short the same numskulls who run red lights on their bikes, are the same people I worry about when in cars. So why might you ask was I so disgusted with this article?
In short the article is guilty of two things. One, it insinuated that only cyclists are breaking the law, and two, it tries very hard to neglect that different user groups produce different consequences when they break the law.
So to the first point, ‘only cyclists are bad’, lets take a look at some of the crack statistics work that the author did.
At that particular intersection, 12 out of 28 cyclists were observed ignoring the red light over the course of 45 minutes. Some cruised right through; others paused and then went forward. A dozen more rode along the narrow sidewalk, weaving their ways among joggers, people walking to work, and students toting instruments toward the Berklee College of Music. Four more cyclists rode the wrong way on Newbury Street, dodging oncoming vehicles.
…
On Wednesday, over the course of 40 minutes, 20 cyclists ran the light at Charles and Beacon streets; only one did not. Monday morning, over the course of 35 minutes at Copley Square, 12 cyclists sailed through red lights (five waited for green). Monday, during a half-hour at lunch time, 10 out of 23 cyclists ran the red light on Tremont Street at the beginning of Beacon Street, where tourists commingled with hurried business people. Ten more rode the wrong way on Tremont. Dozens more took the sidewalk, scattering walkers.
Nice, random sampling times, no methodology, no sampling of other user groups, tiny samples, in short these numbers mean nothing. They also fail to capture the entire picture. How many pedestrians walked out against the signal, how many cars failed to yield, how many cars failed to use turn signals, how many were speeding? I feel that a detailed multi-user group study of any intersection would show that every user group in Boston has a problem, and that problem is that they simply don’t give a fuck about anyone else.
If you are a pedestrian and you want to be “over there” and the little walk man isn’t showing what do you do? You look both ways (sometimes), if no one is coming (or often even if they are, cause ‘hey fuck it’ they will stop) and you step out into the street. You don’t care if you force the cyclist to move into heavy traffic to avoid you, you also don’t care if a bunch of cars have to suddenly stop to let you cross when you have absolutely no business being in the road at that time.
If you are a cyclist and you want to go through a red light, well ‘hey fuck it’, off you go. You have no regard for the fact that you might get run over, that you might hold up traffic, that you might strike a pedestrian that is crossing the street, that you might hit another cyclist that is following the law, that you might then cause a headache for the cyclists behind you who then have to deal with you when the light does turn green.
If you are a motorist and you feel like getting from point A to point B as fast as possible and you don’t feel like signaling, checking your mirrors, obeying the speed limit, looking before you open your door, yielding to pedestrians, giving cyclists room on the road, well ‘hey fuck it’ it’s your car and you will do what you want.
In short no user group is any more or less lawful than any other. They each break different laws in different frequency, but they are ALL breaking the law with great regularity and mostly because of the “hey fuck it” attitude that so many have in this city.
That brings me to point two. The consequences for different user groups breaking the law are not the same. When a car decides to run a red light, it carries a much greater risk than when a bike does. Similarly the danger to pedestrians who cross against the light are predominantly to themselves, with cyclists a close second, most motorists will not be physically harmed if they strike a pedestrian. All of these actions are illegal, and stupid, but the risk vs reward for each is different. If you are going to write an entire article about how unruly cyclists are, well then you should have lots of facts about how this behavior is dangerous to the public. Statistics showing the hundreds of deaths caused each year by cyclists running red lights, and the carnage caused by sidewalk riding. Don’t get me wrong, I think running red lights and riding on the side walk are stupid and shouldn’t be done, but in all honestly they don’t pose a major threat to public safety. However literally thousands of people are killed each year by or in cars. When a 4000 pound box of metal and glass gets going fast and doesn’t signal it’s turns, people die.
Publishing an entire article about one user group without putting it in context is disingenuous, and dishonest. There is already a strong pubic opinion that you “have to be crazy to ride a bike in Boston” or “bike riders are assholes.” Which is a horrible thing, biking in Boston can be a fun and relaxing activity. Bikers are not crazy, and biking doesn’t have to be a war of US v Them. The car lifestyle has brought us a lot of things, but the most obvious is obesity, congestion, pollution, sprawl , global warming, wars for oil, and as of late an economic crisis. People could do a fair amount of good by simply leaving the car in the driveway and taking the bike out for a spin.
This article was a simple attempt to get some ad revenue for the Globe, shallow sensational journalism lacking context or good research. But the fact still remains: Cyclists break the law, a lot. What can we do about that? The article itself, and the user comments are long on “this is the problem” and lacking completely the “this is the solution.” The solution seems to be two fold.
Education: You need to know what the laws are. This goes for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. You should have a deep understanding of what exactly you are supposed to be doing out there (check out MassBike’s website for a good run down of cycling laws if you are rusty, they just passed some new laws so it might be time for a refresher).
Attitude: Boston must put aside it’s “hey fuck it” (or even worse “hey fuck you”) attitude. What really keeps us all safe and happy out there is not the law, but the social trust. That little white line, or that little red/green/yellow light, isn’t what keeps you from getting run over by that truck. The trust you put into that truck driver to treat that light like it means something, or stay on one side of that white line is what keeps you safe. When you break the law what you are really doing is breaking the social trust that someone else put in you. You are saying to them “everything is chaotic you can’t count on anything” and that makes them mad, afraid and unsafe. If you are a cyclist you count on cars coming to a stop at red lights, otherwise you would never cross an intersection (imagine if cars ran reds with the frequency that bikes do). The entire system is based from the ground up on trust of strangers. Every time a cyclist runs a red light they are eroding that trust.
If each use group continues to erode the trust (by doing all the things mentioned above and more) then eventually the streets will be nothing more than a war zone, and whoever is fastest and toughest will get around, and everyone else will be road kill. Not a happy scenario, but also far from a likely one if some simple things are changed. But hey, at least we can count on the Boston Globe to provide us with poorly thought out, and poorly researched articles so that we can scape goat one group while ignoring the bigger problem. Thanks Boston Globe.
So this video is shooting around the bike webs as fast as anything ever does.
I have several things to say about this video.
1. Violence is never an answer to anything, it only causes more problems.
2. Be careful who you get into a screaming match with, you never know who will pull out a weapon, just because you are in a car/on a bike/on foot, doesn’t mean that the other person wont have a knife/U-lock/gun/etc.
3. This video has enough missing information that you really can’t tell who is at fault, or what is going on.
4. As violent as this looks, I don’t really think the man on foot was too badly hurt.
5. Agree or disagree with his actions, the biker seemed to be defending himself, as he only hit the man on foot until he backed off, not continuing the attack or attempting to harm him too badly.
6. Again, lets all try to be nice to each other out there, violence never solves anything.
What do you think?
EDIT: From the youtube comments:
1. seems this whole thing started when the biker and pedestrian collided, from the video it is almost impossible to tell who is at fault there, but it doesn’t look like they collided with any kind of speed because everyone is still standing when the video starts.
2. seems the guy was hurt badly, goes to show, don’t hit people with heavy chunks of metal, it isn’t nice and potentially will get you thrown in jail
3. seems the bike guy gave the walking guy many verbal warnings to back off, and go away before the video starts, goes to show you, don’t pick fights with random people in public you never know when they will haul off and go crazy on you.
They’re typically rarely [overtly, at least] proud of their daughters’ accomplishments. But they managed to skip the “parent stupid” phase where everything their children did was endearing and adorable. Maybe our faults were pretty blatant from the beginning. Maybe they didn’t want to be “those parents.” Maybe they just kept their excitement to themselves. Who knows.
And while I inherited most of their stoicism, when it comes to the things I love, I inevitably cave into the stupid.
Because despite the dings all over my top tube, the dirt caked on parts of my bike, and my rear white tire that’s turning into a dark gray from all the brake dust, I still think my bike is hot shit. And despite the fair number of douchebags on high end bicycles, I still love bike people.
Which is why I’ll get up early on Saturday morning – earlier than I get up for work during the week – to go on a quick ride before the rest of life wakes up to start the day. And happily, I wasn’t alone; I ran into my fair share of cyclists, legit and kitted out, riding things much more expensive than the tractorino between my legs.
And I even got my fair share of the cyclist nod. That coveted acknowledgement of belonging in an exclusively special group of cyclists-bordering-on-insanity-because-no-one-should-be-riding-this-early-on-a-weekend-morning. I mean, let’s ignore the fact that it was sometimes coupled with a quizzical look of confusion ["wtf is this girl doing?"]; we’re not going to sweat the details here. The important point being that it happened [right?].
The best part being the pack of roadies I passed on the way home, obviously mid-training ride, and the sunglassed glances pointed in my direction. Baileyworks on my back, fender on my back tire, an earlier version of myself would have blushed in embarrassment. But being bike stupid, I smiled instead, half tempted to blow them a kiss.
Later on in the day, shuffling through pictures taken earlier in the week, I came across one taken of my bike locked up in front of the grocery store. The front wheel turned towards the rack, it looked almost coquettish in the early evening light. I thought it was the cutest thing, ever.
Nothing will ruin your day faster than falling off your bike. Be it from being hit by a car, being knocked off by a pedestrian, or simply doing something silly and paying the price. As I painfully type this out with a sprained right wrist I can tell you that the silly mistakes hurt the most.
Pain is one thing, but pain you can blame on someone else seems to hurt a little less. Pain that is your own stupid fault…well lets say it hurts a little more. Rain + metal plates + turning too hard = sprained wrist (dumb). Guess that will teach me.
Now I get to practice the art of riding around real slow and cautious till my hand heals. The pain will eventually go away, but the sting of how stupid I was will last forever.
I know for sure there is a bike lane some place in Boston (I am thinking Harvard or Central square) that would beat this one hands down. Do you know one? I love bike lanes, but some times you have to wonder why they are put down where they are. Clearly some of them were planned out by people who either did it at the last moment, or did it without thinking about how cyclists really use the road.
Slate V Editor Andy Bowers documents what he claims is the stupidest bike lane in America. Got another contender?
Many people know about ghost bikes. They are put up to honor a fallen cyclist, most often killed by a car or truck. They are stark reminders of the dangers cyclists face on a daily basis. When I ride past them I am reminded of the fragile nature of life, and it reminds me to be extra careful.
This however is not cool. Appropriating memorials in my opinion is not a good form of advertising. The stunt is part (or so DKNY claims) of a promotion to encourage alternative forms of transport including bicycles. The problem is the only thing on the bike is a DKNY url, and why would you put up something that reminds people of getting hit by cars to encourage transportation? I don’t know I think this is a failed attempt at culture jacking, and a pretty lame one at that. What do you think?
