Free online screening of Line of Sight – good until 11PM 8/23

The article says that the filmmaker is an outspoken opponent of bike advocacy. So it appears that this is anti-bike propaganda, which I had already suspected. I won’t be supporting this guy in his anti-bike campaign or help to promote his movie.

Even worse, if this is the same filmmaker from the clip posted in another thread, I have to wonder if some of those reckless cyclists actually killed bystanders. From the brief clips I saw, that was very possible. (Crashing into a pedestrian in a crosswalk while riding at full speed is extremely dangerous. That’s what I saw in the other clip.) If so, then this is a snuff film, another reason for me not to watch or promote it.

Another reason why this sort of stuff upsets me: I used to work down the street from a bike messenger service downtown. At least I assumed it was a bike messenger business. I would frequently see a dozen or so cyclists with messenger bags hanging around in one spot. They would also race down the sidewalk at full speed in the middle of the day. I was nearly hit a dozen times or so, while I was strolling about on the sidewalk during lunch hour. The sidewalks were very busy and crowded with pedestrians at those times. And yet, these guys (they were always guys) would scream down the sidewalk at 20+ mph, barely missing me by an inch or two.

Even if they didn’t strike anyone, I can imagine that some people with heart conditions could have a sudden attack. My heart went racing every time it happened to me and I don’t have any heart conditions. This was years before I started cycling as an adult. So based on all of those experiences, I had quite a negative view toward bike messengers.

It’s been a while since I’ve had one of these near misses, and I can’t honestly say how typical those guys were of the overall D.C. bike messenger community. So I don’t have the boiling anger about the situation any longer. But I still occasionally see some guys swerving through busy intersections, in between moving cars traveling in all directions. They are almost always riding with a messenger bag and they have that “messenger” look: pants ending toward the top of the calf, mostly dark colored clothing, a scruffier look than most cyclists I see in the area, older bikes, etc. I admit that my perception of this messenger look may be flawed, but I don’t think I’m too far off-base.

Apologies to any bike messengers or former bike messengers on the forum, but all of those near-misses nearly caused my life to flash before my eyes a few times. That is, until I realized what had happened. Then the anger set in.

I’ve read in the W. Post and elsewhere that the bike messenger world is dying out, because of the trend toward email and cellphone communication these days. Many courts have moved to electronic filing, further decreasing the need for bike messengers, especially in D.C. I don’t know if the messengers will disappear completely but they will become very rare at some point.

***
I prefer to watch cyclists like Danny MacAskill. He films amazing and artistic videos of his stunts on the bike, but in isolated areas. He is very impressive without being reckless.

The film is available on youtube now. A solid film about what not to do on a bike.