Opinionated Blogger Friday: Things That Make You Go, "#@*%!"

Bicycle commuting is wonderful, and on a beautiful spring day, when everyone in a car is stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, you know you've made the best decision ever. But every now and then, biking opens you up to some very particular indignities, like:

• The Right Hook (when a car passes you and makes a right turn directly in front of/into you, when waiting for about .75 seconds for you to pass the intersection would have been safer)
• Getting a faceful of hot cigarette ash from a driver who can't be bothered to use their ashtray
• Traffic lights that won't change for something as small as a bicycle. The worst are the ones where the "Don't Walk" sign starts to flash on the street you want to cross, and you think the light will change in a couple seconds, but then the pedestrian light goes back to "Walk." 
• Drivers who scream obscenities at you as they pass for no good reason
• Drivers who throw stuff at you
• Cyclists who ride on the sidewalk and nearly hit you at cross streets
• Cyclists who ride the wrong way on busy roads
• Cyclists who blow through red lights/stop signs and almost hit you
• Bike Ninjas
• Your main route being resurfaced in chip-seal
• Dogs on those retractable leashes
• F***ing Canada Geese
• Drivers who will run you off the road so they can stop you and ask you for directions
• NJ Transit's ever-changing bike-on-train policies
• Helmet hair
• Wearing out the seats of your pants
• Muddy streaks up the back of your pants and shirt front hitting a wet spot with no fenders
• Hail
• People who refer to you as a "Lance Armstrong Wannabee"
• Racing snobs
• Having to change a flat in your nice clothes
• Hills

Opinionated Blogger Friday: The Politics of Cycling

In an ideal world, the act of riding a bicycle to work would be nothing more than the the simple act of riding a bicycle to work. In the imperfect world we have to work with, even common-sense transportation attracts some heavy ideological baggage.

The current feeling is that riding a bike other than for recreation or for sport is a strictly Liberal pursuit.  Reasons for this include, but aren't limited to:

• It's seen as a pro-environmental action (never mind that, to my thinking, conservation of natural resources should be considered a conservative value, that's another argument entirely). 
• It's seen as a rejection of major automotive and petroleum interests, as sending an anti-corporate message with your commute.
• It can be seen as an anti-materialistic action, favoring simplicity over comfort and consumption.
• Bicycle advocates push for "big government" action, such as putting in bike lanes and bike racks.
• Poor people do it. 

Now, most of these things do lend themselves pretty well to a stereotypically left-leaning viewpoint. But quite a few bicycle commuters don't actually worry too much about most of these things, they just think riding a bike is the best way to get where they're going. And even if they do subscribe to some or all of the above concepts, a lot of cyclists might have other ideals which put them on the Right side of the aisle. Pigeonholing someone politically simply based on how they get from one place to another is, if you ask me, a bit stupid. 

If you ask me, once you take the environmentalism and advocacy aspects of bicycle commuting away, you're left with a very different story. 

• Bicycles require very little in the way of infrastructure compared to other forms of transportation, and put much less strain on publicly-owned infrastructure than motor vehicles, causing less government money to be spent on upkeep. 
• Bicycles do not require special licensing or training, traditionally your family teaches you to ride a bike.
• Able-bodied people of any age, race or gender can ride a bicycle. Bikes are available which will work for most types individuals with special needs. 
• Bicycles can be easily be modified to suit your personal needs, taste and riding style. 
• Bicycles are available at a wide range of prices. If you're poor, you can still own a working bicycle, if you're wealthy, you can own a really nice bicycle, or lots of bicycles. 
• It's fairly easy to repair your own bicycle, with tools you can buy readily just about anywhere. 
• If you crash your bicycle, you are likely to injure yourself, but pose little threat to others compared to a car, bus or airplane. 
• While many bicycle parts and frames are made overseas, some are made domestically, and operating a bicycle doesn't require a steady supply of fuel from a foreign country. 
• Bicycle commuting promotes physical fitness and helps prevent some of the diseases which would otherwise place a strain on the public health system. 
• How fast or slow you ride is entirely dependent on you. There are no government programs to make you a faster rider, no corporation is going to make you a better commuter. Nobody can pedal your bicycle but you. 

That's right. Bicycles are Libertarians. 

Opinionated Blogger Friday: The Courteous Cyclist Movement

Design by Sarah Becan

For the last hundred years or so, throughout much of the world, cycling for transportation has been a pretty normal thing. You had somewhere to go, you didn't feel like walking, you either didn't own a car or didn't want to use it, so you rode a bike. No big deal.

However, in America and a lot of other industrialized nations, the automobile quickly took over as King of the Road, and it wasn't until the end of the 20th Century that bicycles started to recover a significant place in the transportation hierarchy. More people have started to commute by bike for economical, environmental or health reasons, or because they're finding it's actually quicker and involves less hassle than driving in many circumstances.

As a result though, the bikes have become more common and more noticeable, and cities and towns are adding bike-specific infrastructure such as bike lanes and bike corrals. Most people view these changes as either good news or not terribly interesting, but a small and vocal minority have a negative reaction. Some complain that encouraging more cyclists will make the streets more dangerous for pedestrians. They say they worry about cyclists running rampant and knocking down little old ladies. Drivers complain about being inconvenienced by scofflaw cyclists, and by having precious road space given over to bike lanes, and bike racks taking up potential parking space.

When faced with this animosity, many bike commuters will instinctively respond with "but that's not me!" and go out of their way to quickly identify themselves as one of "the nice ones." Transportation groups issue flyers and put up web sites making sure cyclists follow the rules of the road and be polite (such as NYC's "Don't Be a Jerk" campaign).

While being a courteous rider is a good thing (although I would argue being a predictable and visible rider is a lot more important), I'm starting to feel like this kind of thing is missing the point.

Let's look at New York City, as an example. Over the last decade, the number of cyclists has increased by something like 250%. Meanwhile, the number of pedestrians killed by cyclists over a five year period was...three. I believe more people die by tripping and falling because they're looking at their phone rather than where they're going. Meanwhile, in the same city in six months more than 7,000 pedestrians and cyclists were hit by cars, with 79 fatalities.

As for bike lanes, looking at NYC again (it's a good case study, because the city has been launching a lot of initiatives to make it more bike-friendly, so we can see the changes, plus, it's the only major city I regularly hang out in), the increased number bike lanes has resulted in fewer bike/car collisions, fewer bike/pedestrian collisions and even fewer car/car collisions (drivers instinctively slow down a bit on narrower streets, bike lanes take up room and make drivers more attentive, therefore, safer), meanwhile in areas where bicycle parking is abundant, local businesses do better. It seems like people who are driving by at 40 mph and who can't find a parking space tend to stop for coffee less than those who are cruising along at 12 mph and can lock up anywhere.

Other studies have shown that, while there are indeed city cyclists out there who flaunt traffic laws, MOST cyclists stop for red lights, ride with the flow of traffic, yield to pedestrians and keep off the sidewalks. It's just that, due to our natural cognitive biases, we only notice the ones who are being jerks, while tuning out all the normal, polite riders.

In short, while good manners are admirable both on and off the bike, and I certainly pride myself personally on being a civil and community-minded commuter, everything I've seen and read makes me think that it's not us pedal-powered road users who have the courtesy problem.