The other day Kari was riding to work on her bicycle and got yelled at by a police man for not stopping at a 3 way stop sign where Kari was on the top of the T intersection and there were no cars coming. This and the fact that someone(a biker) at her work scolded her and told her she should stop at all stop signs touched a nerve with me and I decided I needed to rant.
Now I get it. The law is she has to stop. I am not arguing that. She didn't get a ticket but if the police man wanted to give her a ticket they could have. Here are some issues I have with this. First is the laws need to be updated. Why is it that a bike is treated as a car? A pedestrian doesn't follow the same laws as a car? A person on a horse doesn't? There are so many different laws for different ways of commuting that why is it a bicycle is treated as a car. I don't think they are very similar vehicles. It be like treating a sailboat like a motor boat. Of course they don't do this they always give the sailboat the right away. Bikes have been around way longer than cars. I think you will find that most laws for driving came about because of cars and how much more dangerous they are then bikes So argument one is that the laws need to be updated such that a bike is not treated like a car. I don't know exactly what that entails but I am sure some smart people can come up with some good ideas.
Second argument: When you drive your car you speed, you roll through stops, etc etc. I do the same when I bike..ok well I speed when I can on my bike but the point is that I don't always follow the laws whether it be in a car or a bike. When you break the law in a bike you are so much less likely to do any harm to someone else besides yourself. I know this sounds like some republican personal responsibility statement but..... If you break the law in a car you could do serious harm if not kill many people. I think that some states have actually lowered the fine for DUI on a bike as compared to a car because they realize that being on a bike is better than being in a car when drunk. Now its not perfect but its less harmful. Now I know there is the odd case where someone might swerve to avoid a crazy cyclist and get in an accident but that is so rare. Just look at what they driver did in the Tour de France this year. Choice between getting in an accident or hitting some cyclists...the driver chose the cyclists.
Third Argument: This is kind of a combination of the first two arguments. This can be called the lack of respect argument or the cars are out to get me argument. I call this The Immortal Class argument. Anyone who wants to read an interesting book about biking should pick that one up. Its a quick read. The basic principal of the book is that everything in a car is controlled solely by the driver. They can control the temperature(weather), the radio, the seat, the steering wheel, speed, etc etc. So when they loose control of something it makes them angry(and in extreme cases lead to road rage). When a biker is in front of them making them loose control of there speed it frustrates them and makes them angry. They think WTF that biker should be on the shoulder or on the sidewalk. Who let this stupid biker on the road anyway? I'm going to squeeze right by this biker and get back to being in control. So that leads to bikers being seen as a negative or an unequal. Hence the lack of respect.
Fourth argument: This is the holy than though argument. I don't always subscribe to this argument but I am going to lay it out just so its there. By biking to work one is doing a lot of good. They are becoming healthier saving everyone money in health care in the long term. By biking one is not burning fossil fuels and hence making the city and the environment a nicer place to be. They are one less car on the road(but one more biker) So the argument goes that if one is doing all this good shouldn't they be given a little extra rights. They have HOV lanes for carpooling. Why don't bikers have HOV lanes as they are doing even more good. They have bike lanes but not everywhere. I don't always subscribe to this argument but it does go back to the argument that a bike should have different rules to follow than a car.
There are tons of great car drivers and cyclists who are idiots. Hell Ive been an idiot on both before. I just don't think it makes sense that police are wasting there time with cyclists and that cyclists are treated like cars. I've been treated so differently because I'm biking than I ever have as a driver. Ive been yelled at. I've had cigarettes, beer cans, and whatever else someone can find thrown at me for biking in the bike lane. Ive been hit by school buses while biking in the bike lane. There needs to be more education and enforcement of bs like that. On the opposite side I have had people yell and scream at me when Ive driving my bike like a car. So I can't win. Ride in the bike lane get yelled at. Ride in the street get yelled at. Something has to change.
Ok I'm done ranting. If you want to watch something funny about the general subject check this out
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