:Cyclostat

This is my reply to BostonBiker’s post about the Ted Bomb. Where the author was riding legally,  got honked at and somehow defused a car bomb, so to speak.

I’m going to deviate from the original lesson (You can humanize yourself too) and contribute to the discussion is a more nihilistic way. I’m sorry, but that’s just where I am. I wish I could say that I’m happy about the way things are, and that I could take this event as indicative of a changing climate, but I don’t. Perhaps BB’s post speaks more to the author’s verbal skills, and ability to form personal connections.

It’s mostly because of a poster named Ryan:

“Nicely handled. I can relate to both sides (biker vs. cage driver) and I can say that I am always conscious of bikers and try to give them as much room as possible HOWEVER a large number (I could say majority) of bicyclists that I see on the road ride like assholes. Acting like a car when it suits them best (riding in the middle of the lane @ 10 mph) but as soon as “car rules” become an inconvenience, they revert back to “pedestrian” and run red lets, cut through the middle of the line of stopped cars, go up on sidewalks, blow through crosswalks, etc. As much as I can relate and understand the danger that biclyclists encounter on a day to day basis, THE BIKERS are the ones that need to be more conscientous of the dangers and ride accordingly (defensively). Had the author dropped his bike in the middle of the road and come over to my window with his U-Lock in his hand (making me feel threatened), this story would have had a very different ending, and it would not have been a good one for the biker.”

Ryan is not a biker, he rides a scooter, or some other silly version of a non-car, as he clarifies later. Here is my response to his comment:

Ryan, I’m just going to say it. I’m a cyclist and I break the rules on the road because cyclists live in a transportation anarchy. Cyclists get in trouble for both following the rules and breaking them, it’s just that the former is on the road and the latter is mostly text-based. Personally, I prefer anonymous, internet based fist shaking to Ted situations.

And it seems that most accidents are the drivers fault anyway:
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/who-causes-cyclists-deaths/?scp=1&sq=cyclist%20deaths&st=cse

The Ted situation is sort of the “damned if you do” situation: had the author weaved through traffic, and ran a few red lights, Ted would have been miles behind (Or so I would assume, please let me know if this is correct). I’m not saying it’s right, but personally I don’t care, so I’d say the author is a better person than I am.

Anyways. I’d rather be illegal, fast, and alive than live legally and take my chances on the latter two.

5 Comments