My heart bleeds for the poor motor vehicle operators

The other day on CBC radio I heard a whole lot of people on a call-in show bitching about how many cyclists flout the rules of the road. It was, I believe, a response to this video:



...or perhaps not this video exactly, but something like it that I was unable to find.

Fair point: cyclists roll through stop signs.

But let's take a moment to observe some unmistakable truths. In not one of these instances does a cyclist put themselves or anyone else in harm's way. In not one of these instances does a cyclist interrupt or inhibit in any way the natural flow of traffic as it would have occurred without them being on the road at all. No pedestrians had to break their stride or break into a run to cross the street, and no vehicle had to stop where they wouldn't otherwise have stopped.

There was one example where a cyclist tailed a car through the intersection, which maybe caused the vehicle to his right to have to wait 0.5 seconds longer before they could proceed. Which is less time than they would have waited had the cyclist pulled to a complete stop and started up again.

I have often had the occasion to drive through the UBC grounds, and I can tell you that it is generally not a vehicle-friendly place. Not only cyclists but pedestrians often behave as though the entire campus was an open promenade - people cross any street anywhere, crosswalk or not, often in the safety of great numbers. So if you want to park a camera anywhere in the city with the intention of observing the progress of vehicles being hampered, the UBC campus is a great place to do it.

I mention again, though, that this is not what happens in the video. Take one: cyclist rolls through the stop sign, never once delaying even for a second anyone's natural progression through the intersection. Take two: repeat.

The dirty, ugly truth is that cyclists do it because they know they can get away with it.

Not just that they will probably not get a ticket, but that they are almost always able to judge all the variables accurately as they approach the intersection. They can hear as well as see, so they have an advantage over someone in a car. There is no carriage to create blind spots in the cyclist's field of vision. The speed and mobility of a bicycle are also helpful in reducing those parts of a cyclist's field of perception that may be blinded by bushes, parked cars, construction zones. You can fill in those blanks more effectively if you're able to move around a little faster than a pedestrian can.

Finally, cyclists know that if they need to they can take that narrow, economical little implement they're riding on and neatly thread whatever needle they choose.

If a cyclist is paying attention, and if the intersection has few obstructions or blocked sight lines, there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to roll through a stop sign with zero risk to anyone. And cyclists pretty much universally pay attention. They're actively engaged with their immediate environment - it would be hard not to.

I pledge no allegiance to urban bikers who wear MP3 players. They are idiots. If there is going to be a ticket given for something...

Well, I'm not going to say that the law shouldn't apply to cyclists. If the police want to mount an aggressive enforcement campaign, I can offer no criticism. Save that they could better use their time and resources doing almost anything else - if what they want is harm reduction.

Yesterday as I was biking up Yukon on my way home from work, a driver paused at an intersection where I had right of way. She checked both ways, made what I believed was eye contact with me, and then proceeded to pull out anyway and nearly boned me head on. I had to swerve across the (thankfully empty) street.

I bike to work every day. Something like this happens about once a week. I feel like the odds are fair that one of these times I won't be able to react quickly enough.

The truth of it is that there are armies of car, truck and bus drivers who behave as though they have no earthly idea that there is traffic on the road which looks like pedestrian but behaves like vehicle. Every once in a while one of them does some real damage. Most of the time it's just enough to call a fear of God to the cyclist's mind. And the real fuck of it: sometimes it seems like the driver is doing it on purpose.

Exhibit Ugh: doesn't this guy, who is running for mayor of Canada's somethingest city, seem to take a teensy bit of pleasure in the subject at hand?



I caution you: align yourself carefully. Seat yourself in the anthropologist's chair: is there anything in the video of that UBC intersection that is evidence of something other than humanity's industriousness, acuity and overall good judgment?

Now turn that objective eye on yourself: are you the kind of person who believes that bikes belong on the road, or aren't you?