People for Bikes hops on the "blame the cyclists" bandwagon

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Permalink Reply by Anne on October 4, 2013 at 3:54pm

This is the most concise and sensible paragraph ever! I'm going to steal it!

Charlie Short 11.5 said:

I think this is a great article. The factors listed are those that can't simply be changed with more money. Perception is king when it comes to safety. Unsafe, and quite specifically, unpredictable cycling is a major factor in how people (motorists, peds, cyclists) feel about cycling. If people don't think cycling is safe, they won't ride, and if folks aren't riding, then the environment will continue to feel less safe for cyclists, and then even more people won't ride.

For those of us that ride everywhere everyday, we cannot simply wait for others to be safe before we do. Safety is the responsibility of every road user.

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Permalink Reply by Anne on October 4, 2013 at 3:57pm

lol yes I am more vocal at vehicle operators be it bike or cars, but completely silent for jaywalkers.

Oddly I"ve never felt the need to duck into any bushes, call me fearless? stupid? (just don't call me late for dinner!)

h' 1.0 said:

I appreciate Anne's willingness to make some noise out of concern for others.

I yell at drivers to slow down all the time (more often when on foot than on the bike.)

Might have to learn to disappear into a store or some bushes after doing so though...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/driver-accused-of-killing-detroi...)

Will G - 10mi said:

Anne, out of curiosity, do you yell at people crossing against the signal on foot as well?

Anne said:

As an ex-light runner, I am unashamed to yell at cyclists running lights now.

At Linden and Sheridan, just south of Bahai Temple, I lost my sh*t as half a dozen riders during the North Shore stopped, then blew, the light there.

The gorilla in the room is US

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Permalink Reply by Anne on October 4, 2013 at 5:38pm

yes, those proverbial elephants leave a disproportionate amount to sH*t behind.

I would still prefer to see a reduction in all traffic deaths. If it really did cost $500 to get a drivers' license, and you really could lose your license or be jailed for reckless driving then maybe, just maybe we will live in a better place.

h' 1.0 said:

I don't particularly like seeing those sort of things either, but coming at it from another direction-- if you look at the cyclist fatalities one by one in Chicagoland, maybe one tenth of them can be attributed to reckless behavior of the cyclist.  I certainly wish they had not made the tragic choices that they did, but the proverbial elephant takes up much more than 10% of the proverbial room.

Anne said:

Well, of course the cyclists made sure there was no cross traffic before running the red, so no injuries. I'm sure the dozen or so cars stopped at the light had the same thoughts as I did.

There was an occasion this summer at that same intersection where I was stopped going southbound, and, if you are familiar with that intersection, traffic with the green coming eastbound down Linden have little if no visibility to southbound Sheridan traffic (it's uphill right there). Another cyclist blew past me without warning at about 18mph - had a car been crossing he would have been smashed.

h' 1.0 said:

That's terrible. Do you know how many were injured?

Anne said:

As an ex-light runner, I am unashamed to yell at cyclists running lights now.

At Linden and Sheridan, just south of Bahai Temple, I lost my sh*t as half a dozen riders during the North Shore stopped, then blew, the light there.

The gorilla in the room is US

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Permalink Reply by Reba 4.0 mi on October 6, 2013 at 12:41pm

Funny, I didn't read this article in this way at all. One of the major differences between cycling in the US and cycling in "other places", as pointed out by People For Bikes, is our culture of driving and road use.

In the US,

Drivers are accustomed to the following:

• driving over the speed limit without getting caught
• using cellphones while driving without it being illegal (or without getting caught when it is)
• bikes riding erratically
• cyclists being pissed off at them for being on the road (sometimes acting aggressively)
• not having to share the road
• rules of the road changing, being skewed toward cyclists' interests

Cyclists are accustomed to the following:

• not having to stop at stop signs or red lights when they can make it through
• drivers driving erratically, agressively, and irresponsibly
• pedestrians acting erratically, and irresponsibly
• drivers being pissed off at them for being on the road - anywhere on the road
• having to defend themselves in any and every encounter with drivers or pedestrians
• rules of the road being for cars and legislation is skewed by drivers' interests

The money that People for Bikes reports spending has been to "help build and improve better bike lanes, paths, trails, and parks." And they've worked on a campaign to highlight safety issues, they say. 

Looking at the bullet points above, it's easy to see how our culture is divided and will remain so without some sort of bridge-building. We can do all the grandstanding we want about how "I don't have to cow-tow" to anyone, and "It's my right to..." do this and do that as cyclists. The bald truth of it is that this is much bigger than how you or I ride from day to day (in one sense) and it's all about how you and I ride day to day (in another sense). As a sociologist (non-practicing), one of the greatest differences between Europeans and Americans is our sense of community/lack thereof (broadly speaking): in short, the rules of the road ain't just about you - they're about the compromises we make with each other, whether you, individually want to make them or not.

I still drive (rarely now) and believe me, every time I encounter a rider who rides the way I try to I can't help but think that they're making it easier for drivers to accept the inevitable shift toward a bike-culture for urban areas like Chicago.

This personal responsibility theme rubs people the wrong way, I get that. But yeah, let's get bike safety taught in every school in CPS. I can be responsible for some part of that.

*I'm not affiliated with People for Bikes in any way, I just saw a lot of truth and hope in this article

echo said:

Completely agree. I was very disappointed in this article and their focus on "personal responsibility." 

Is helping people on bikes be 'better' at biking (predictable, etc) a BAD thing? No. Having people follow traffic rules (when they make sense) isn't bad. And I think people get caught up in that.

But the problem is when resources (time, energy, attention, FUNDING) are allocated to such individual-level (victim blaming) programs without also addressing the more community- or culturally-wide problems. 

It also reinforces everyone else's attitudes that cyclists are to blame for their lack of safety. So then people who drive, etc get to go on believe that THEY don't have to change their behavior. 

To make communities better for cycling and walking, and not just driving, it's all a piece of the big puzzle...but this whole personal responsibility ideology is a much smaller piece than, say, make sure people in CARS don't blow red lights, or don't speed, or don't door cyclists. That will do more for keeping cyclists safe than telling cyclists how to "be better." 

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Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on October 6, 2013 at 2:38pm

Thoughtful post, thanks.

I'll offer that I was a "vehicular cyclist" for years-- obeyed all lights, waved and signaled to drivers, etc.-- and all it got me was screamed at, buzzed, things thrown on me and at me from cars...  At some point my focus shifted to finding a better balance between getting to where I needed to go, not endangering others, and increasing the chances that I'd die of something other than cycling.

I wholheartedly disagree with the idea that there's anything acceptable about making one individual out on the road responsible for what another individual out on the road who happened to be using the same mode of travel did, or was perceived to have done, or "almost" did.... but entertaining that concept as acceptable for a moment, how many cyclists will have to practice vehicular cycling before "all of us" are no longer to blame for the perils we face every day? 100%? 80%?

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Permalink Reply by Reba 4.0 mi on October 6, 2013 at 3:11pm

Oh I agree with you h'.

I argue, probably not so obviously, that cyclists who ride the way I try to ride help add to the wave of positive change. That doesn't mean that cyclists who ride the way I try to avoid add to driver's/pedestrians' resistance to the inevitable change. It's not a zero sum game. 

I do hold myself responsible for doing what I can to create cycling safety in my community. Let's get classes and awareness campaigns out there for our kids - nip salmoning and bad/aggressive driving in the bud.

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