Your daily dose of WaPo cyclist hatred

[mstone]

@Dirt 37423 wrote:

I like the entitled language you chose. Your point about the outcomes (killing VS being late) is very valid, but people are not thinking about outcomes when they behave this way. They’re thinking about how important they are. Your choice of the word “entitled” is perfect. The mindset of the people breaking the law is virtually identical. The point I was trying to make is that we can complain about drivers, pedestrians and cyclists all we want, but ultimately we should be complaining about people.

No, I complain about the larger culture. Equating the mindsets does all of us a disservice. I say this as someone who commuted daily on 495, 95, and 66 for years, and still spends more time behind a wheel than behind a handlebar. I’ve seen a lot of jerk motorists, and I’ve seen a lot of jerk cyclists. But for one of those groups I think to myself, “that asshole is going to get himself killed” and for other group I think, “that asshole is going to kill someone”. I was hit an average of once every 12 to 18 months on the beltway. Rear ended many times, and once a tractor trailer decided to change lanes into me, spinning me across 3 lanes of traffic into a ditch. Totaled one car, and the replacement car would have been totaled if it hadn’t been new. Since I was in a big metal box, the worst that happened was I had a sore neck for a couple of days. If I’d been on a bike, I would not have walked away from any of those accidents. Maybe the other guy’s insurance went up a little, but the worst of them was covered by uninsured motorist.

So no, I don’t think it’s helpful to say that we should complain about both motorists and cyclists. Yes, both groups contain jerks. But one group of jerks is responsible for a societal cost that is so vastly larger than the other that any comparison is ridiculous. I understand that people don’t think about outcomes, neither does my two year old. So what. From a public policy standpoint, we need to focus resources on eliminating the behaviors with the greatest cost to society and changing the culture to acknowledge just how dangerous inattentive drivers are to all of us. Focus on the outcomes, whether people like that or not. It’s a hard road, trying to focus on numbers in a society that’s increasingly anti-science, but it’s a fight worth fighting, and maybe the next generation will benefit.

[Dirt]

@mstone 37424 wrote:

So no, I don’t think it’s helpful to say that we should complain about both motorists and cyclists.

Coolness! I totally respect your view and see your points. I agree with a lot of it and differ with you on them too. Rock on!

[GuyContinental]

@Dirt 37407 wrote:

I was a good bicycle advocate after that and rode behind them for a while talking about bicycle safety. The first guy tried to drop me, but couldn’t. I was with him for almost 10 minutes talking about bicycle safety. I ran out of intelligent things to say about 3 minutes into the one-sided conversation, so I kind of wandered off into horrible tales of people who broke the traffic laws and got squished. The second guy turned off pretty quickly after I started lecturing.

This plus the image of you in all your large human + Fixie pinkness absolutely made my day. Next time something like this happens to me I will absolutely follow your example while loudly calling passes and thanking non-ninja trail users and dare I say, singing my trail safety advice?

[Mikey]

To me there is a time and place for everything (well most things). When commuting on the Custis, it’s fun to engage in a little CAT 6 racing up and down the hills, but when you get to the top of the Rosslyn Hill, It’s like finishing under a caution flag. Find your place in the line of bikes and just keep pace. It’s not worth running into a pedestrian to leap frog one place in line at the Laurel light.

Why can’t cars behave the same way, let them be total A$$holes to each other on the interstates but once they exit onto the surface roads, they just need to line up and finish under caution.

The alternative would be to allow those new HOT lanes for Bikes only. the initial merge would be tough but then clear sailing after that!

[GuyContinental]

I suppose we could have this guy’s commute (he might have some anger issues…):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSiBVTtrS1w

Wow- I’m so so lucky to live/work in locations that keep me largely off the roads and on my nice trails during rush hour.

[donkeybike]

Being yelled at for stopping at a red light reminds me of this week’s incident: My husband (on a bike) belled a cyclist who passed him with no call out, and the guy screamed curses at him. If your temper is that sensitive, you should probably stay off the road period. I tend to say “please call your passes,” but I am most often ignored.

[Dirt]

No-one likes to be corrected or told they’re being impolite or stupid. I make mistakes now and then and it bugs me to be called out about them even when I KNOW the other person is right. I don’t talk back though. I use it to kick myself to not make mistakes. I’m guessing a lot of guys have delicate egos.

It is hard to find the right tone to effectively let them know that they’re behaving unsafely and have it received in a way that they’ll perhaps do something about it next time.

[Riley Casey]

Post of the week award winner.

@Dirt 37407 wrote:

The first was in Falls Church… Dude yelled “WTF???” at me for stopping as he sped out into traffic where an SUV had to slam on the brakes to avoid him.

Second was in Rosslyn. Dude had to slow way down because he couldn’t just blow by me stopped because there were pedestrians around. He called me “Ranger Rick” without the “Ranger” part and I think there might have been another consonant stuck in at the front. it might have been the letter “P”. Truly well thought out discourse. I met each of them a few minutes later and asked if they wanted to repeat what they’d said. I hadn’t heard them correctly. They didn’t. I was a good bicycle advocate after that and rode behind them for a while talking about bicycle safety. The first guy tried to drop me, but couldn’t. I was with him for almost 10 minutes talking about bicycle safety. I ran out of intelligent things to say about 3 minutes into the one-sided conversation, so I kind of wandered off into horrible tales of people who broke the traffic laws and got squished. The second guy turned off pretty quickly after I started lecturing.

[Author]

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