Reformed Bicyclist
Take it from me: though I was once an uncaring sinner, I have now seen the light and mended my ways, and I urge you to do the same.
I speak, of course, in spiritual and eternal terms. But I also speak as a bicycle rider to other bicycle riders. In my impetuous days of youth, I zig-zagged through traffic, careened down sidewalks, ran red lights, and routinely went the wrong way.
But I realize now, in my more mature adult years, that reckless bicycling not only endangers myself, but sets back the cause of a more bike-friendly Philadelphia. After all, isn’t the typical attitude towards bicyclists one of disdain by both cars and pedestrians? Cars hate being cut off by and having to watch for errant bicyclists, and pedestrians resent when they have to share space with and avoid being swiped by bicyclists gone mad.
Having been chastened by more than one fellow bicyclist to remember that, by law, I am to obey the same laws as cars – stop at red lights, go the right way, don’t use sidewalks – I have decided to become a model, law-abiding citizen. And I urge you, if you get around on two wheels, to do the same. If we can all be more well-behaved, we just might get more traction from our fellow citizens on four wheels and on two legs to support our efforts to make Philadelphia more bike-friendly.
Comments
However, I choose not to join you in obeying the letter of the law, that bikes behave as cars in every way possible. We have talked about it before, but to rehash, I think treating bikes as cars works badly for both bikes and cars because bikes are not cars.
So, at 4-way stops, I prepare to stop and do so if there is a driver waiting the other way. But if we arrive close to the same time, I take a little more liberty than when driving in going ahead through the intersection because it's harder for me to stop and start than it is for a car, and drivers more often than not will sit and wait until I go anyway for fear of hitting me.
I stop at red lights. Then, if no one is coming, I move right on through, just as a pedestrian would. Bikes are much more like pedestrians than they are like cars in this situation.
I almost never go the wrong way on a street and I almost never ride on a sidewalk. When I do it is never for more than a block and never when it actually gets in the way of someone else, and always when there is no convenient alternative.
I hope that by doing so I am able to both take advantage of the unique advantages that a bicycle has in an urban situation while remaining courteous to fellow commuters of all stripes. At times I err, and when I do it is more often on the side of discourtesy, but I hope that others will have the same forbearance with me that I hope I have toward them.
Unfortunately, I think in the case of the relationship between cars and bikes, just as large a hurdle as reckless cycling is the prejudice of motorists toward believing that streets are for automobiles and no one else. As biking numbers have grown in Philadelphia, that prejudice has eroded, and I find that the streets are significantly friendlier than they were a year and a half ago. But it still can be found, within the city particularly during the commuter rush, and in abundance outside the city limits.
There is likely nothing more effectual bikers can do for their cause than to be more courteous and responsible. But I do not believe that is the only obstacle toward their reasonable interests.
All of that said, I don't have much to complain about as a cyclist. Roads are becoming smoother all the time, and there are very few places I have been within the city where I think it is unsafe to ride. Philly is a pretty darn nice place to ride, and that's why I continue to choose to do so.