Playing In Traffic

I saw my next door neighbor this afternoon while he was walking back from Trader Joe’s. He’s a pretty faithful bike commuter — more faithful than I — but he’s off the bike for a while until the collar bone he broke when the hit-and-run driver nailed him in Cambridge heals. He asked how it was out on the roads, and I had to admit the weather’s great but there are a lot of amateurs out there this week.

I know I should be all happy that so many people are on 2 wheels this week, and the part of me that considers the long term implications and political efficacy of everyday actions understands that (hopefully) all of these bike commuters will eventually result in some nice infrastructure improvements. But I swear my commute has been 10 minutes longer each way this week because of all the bikes out there. And one of the down-sides of participating in a non-regulated mode of transportation is that there is a definite free-for-all aura about the whole rules of the road thing.

For instance; Why does it seem that whenever I stop at a red light I have five people pull in front of me (if they don’t just run it without looking)? Do they think that road space is a kind of stadium seating deal, and they’ve got to get there first? I posted about this before. Would you do this if you were in a car?

And… Is it so hard to ride a straight line? Or maybe just stay within a 3 foot wide corridor?

Or… If you get up to a particular speed, can you maybe keep riding that speed? And if you do slow down, and I pass you, can you try not to take it as a personal affront which requires you pass me and slow up again?

Also… if you’re on a bike path and want to pass the group of high school kids that are blocking half the path, can you at least seem to try to make an effort to get by them before all the people in the other lane get there, and you cause a head-on-collision? And if you see someone you know on that path, can you pull off to the side to talk with them instead of blocking the whole lane? That’s the function of roller-bladers and oblivious high school students.

Finally, I’ll admit I feel a low-grade level of frustration when I’m behind a line of bikes that’s moving slower than I’d like. But there’s a large part of me that’s happy to see that many cyclists out there. When I’m driving I get behind slow cars all the time. I know how to deal with that frustration. But when the slow car decides to weave all over the lane, blow through stop signs, or just stop in traffic, that’s when I get angry. And I guess that attitude carries over to the bike.

Filed under: bike week