Here’s the link:
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2010/06/09/commentary/488212.txt
As if the targets on our backs as we ride werent already big enough. This newspaper sucks for the most part anyway, but hearing your opinions would help.
that’s crap. he even looks like a d-bag
WOW, I was typing the exact same thing…
"Feeling themselves superior to their countrymen in health and environmental consciousness, many bicyclists flout road rules. Last year, The Boston Globe reported: “On any hour of any day … bicyclists routinely run red lights, ride the wrong way on one-way streets, zip along sidewalks, and cut off pedestrians crossing streets legally — even though bike riders are supposed to obey the same traffic laws as motorists. Sometimes, a bicyclist will do all of these things in one two-wheeled swoop. The city seems unable to stop it.”
I love this quote…it assumes that automobiles aren’t guilty of the same actions as some irresponsible cyclists…those cyclists that are ignoring these rules of the road on their bikes would probably be ignoring the same rules in their 2 ton cars.
Don’t know all the details, but watching the news this AM, another cyclist was killed (hit and run) in San Diego this morning. And then you see aholes like this trying to pump up their pathetic careers with this shit writing.
Oh good it’s my local paper.
Reading through it I’m not even quite sure what his point is other then general “I’m angry at people”.
+1… The writer is a…Lay Who, Lay Zer!
Honestly, I thought everyone on here was being sarcastic and it was in satire, with the writer using irony like ‘anti-obesity extremism’ and ‘Big Bicycle’ as a way to make fun of those who oppose the expansion of cycling.
If that was actually serious that’s ridiculous.
Although, if people are going to get upset, at least natural selection will hopefully take effect. The NASCAR lovers die on their couches while we cyclists inherit the Earth.
You’re dead on the money about drivers doing the same things. With the possible exception of driving on the sidewalks… Not that it hasn’t happened, I just suspect it’s infrequent.
I do think there’s a bit more arrogance on the drivers’ side of this equation. I haven’t heard too many cyclists demanding that motor vehicles be banned from the roads.
Curious to a point. I live in Chicago, and bike messengers absolutely skew this perception of bicyclists to the extreme. When someone makes a statement like this author, they are typically thinking of big city bike messengers. Does this behavior exist among cyclists in smaller cities?
I will say, however, that the rest of us are typically guilty of perpetuating this stereotype. I went on a group ride last weekend for the first time in a while, and was appalled to see that the group blocked an entire lane for most of the ride. Even when riding in single file, it was 3 or 4 feet over. Every single motorist that got stuck behind the peleton (about 30 riders) went home that night ranting about the @(#*&%^ cyclists that flagrantly abused the rules of the road and told all of their friends, coworkers, posted on facebook, etc. The group was pretty good about traffic lights so that was good to see.
Writing an article like this is just plain wrong and douschlike, but until we stop perpetuating this stereotype this opinion will be the majority, and cyclists will continue to get run over.