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Old–Yankee.Com » Death to Bicyclists! « |
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Death to Bicyclists!At their own hands, of course. Have you heard the refrain “Share the Road” (and seen the bumper stickers)? I try to share, whether I’m driving my car or riding my bicycle. Have you also heard the screech of brakes as a motorist tries to avoid a cyclist or another vehicle after the cyclist has violated the rules of the road and caused, or nearly caused, a traffic accident? So have I, yesterday as a matter of fact. I was, as they say, minding my own business, driving home from an appointment. When a traffic light turned red, I stopped and so did the cars in the lanes beside me. When the light turned green again, we started. Then, a bicyclist ran the red light and entered the intersection from our left. He crossed the two empty lanes on our left and then drove in front of our moving vehicles. We all slammed on our brakes and took a few months of life off our tires. Meanwhile, the cyclist paid no attention and kept on pumping toward the horizon. Perhaps he thinks that the laws don’t apply to him, but I have news for him: the law of natural selection does apply! But for the drivers’ quick reflexes, he would have gotten to know Darwin personally and been able to show the old guy whatever was in his backpack. Nothing would have been said if one of us had driven over him, he was so clearly in the wrong, and there would be one less traffic hazard in Los Angeles. Is it stupidity or arrogance when bicyclists weave in and out between moving vehicles without signaling, blow through stop signs like they don’t exist, drive up on sidewalks forcing people walking to jump for safety, and zip across roads in crosswalks as if they were pedestrians? (They are only pedestrians when they are walking their bikes.) But still there is the whine “Share the Road.” Sharing means that both sides give up a little something. And it means sharing the laws that make up the rules of the road, too. Another incident is worth relating. I was driving down a narrow, wooded country road in New England a few years back when I came up behind a line of cyclists all decked out in their colored jerseys. Just as I was passing the group, the two-wheeled moron in the lead decided to play Tour de France and pulled out to the left so that the others could pass him on the inside. At the instant he chose to do that maneuver, a car was going by us in the other direction and, seeing the situation, the other driver had pulled as far to the right as he could; I saw dust from the shoulder flying up from his right wheels. When I jerked left to avoid the dope, the outside mirrors of the two cars hit, shattering the glass in both of them. I checked my rear-view mirror to see if the other driver wanted to stop and discuss the situation, but he just kept going, so I did the same. If his motivation was like mine, it was to get as far away from those yellow-shirted idiots as quickly as possible to avoid the temptation to knock them all down and drive over them a couple of times, to make the world a safer place. There ought to be an IQ test before bicyclists can drive on the public ways, and tests on the law, too. It goes without saying that there a lot of bad and rude motor vehicle drivers out on the roads; some steps ought to be taken to weed them out, too. But bicycles are so vulnerable. They will always lose out in any accident with a car, the way a car always loses out to a train. For a cyclist, good manners and obeying the law means living longer, even more so than for cars and trucks. So, all you motorists, the next time you see a bicyclist acting stupidly on the road and winding up bloody and mangled on the road, be sure to document the situation and send it in so the cyclist can get his or her Darwin Award. It’s the least you can do.
July 19, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Last Updated — March 23, 2008 |