Cyclist Rights, Cyclist Wrongs
Matthew Yglesias is all over MyBikeLane, the D.C. iteration of a site that lets cyclists post pictures of vehicles parked in bike lanes. Even though I suspect this is a grand forum for people outraged by vehicles parked in bike lanes to report vehicles parked in bike lanes to other people outraged by vehicles parked in bike lanes, there’s always the chance that public shaming will discourage this dastardly practice.
But over at DCist, a number of commenters have complained that cyclists are whiny and need to get off their high horses. I think there’s something to that; many cyclists want to have it both ways, freely disregarding traffic signals when it suits them, pulling in front of drivers without warning and terrifying pedestrians. Just the other day I was pedaling up 17th Street NW and saw a guy riding south in the northbound side of the street. He nearly hit me, then weaved through cars around me before heading over to the side of the street he should have been on all along.
Of course, he was not wearing a helmet.
There’s a lot of enthusiasm online for making D.C. a more bike-friendly place. May I humbly suggest as an advocate of that position—and someone who’s had to break rules to not get killed by oblivious drivers—that cyclists can lead by example here? Keep up the pressure on bike-lane scofflaws. And don’t be one yourself, if you can possibly avoid it.
Photo by tvol
3 Responses to “Cyclist Rights, Cyclist Wrongs”
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June 24th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Regarding the photo above, the FBI park their cruisers in that bike lane all the time when they have an ample underground parking garage. It’s very annoying, not just because cyclists have to swerve into traffic, but because it’s a classic Federal-homeland-security-paranoia-apparatus vs. local DC bike-friendly traffic regulations, and of course the Feds always prevail in these conflicts.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I agree, it’s ridiculous. I ride home down Calvert Street NW, where there’s ALWAYS some joker in the lane, lights flashing if you’re lucky. I figure moving vans get a pass, but everyone else is blatantly putting cyclists’ lives at risk—as you say, you’ve got to swerve out into traffic and hope for the best. All so some dope doesn’t have to look for a parking spot.
June 24th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
If it’s a news story about bicycling, it *must* be time to start complaining about cyclists running stop signs. Yeesh. What a cliche.