Deadly Weapon

A couple of weeks ago I was out riding with two friends; we were on a two lane country road, traffic was light as it was early Sunday morning.

We were riding single file close to the right hand edge of the road when three vehicles approached from behind; it just so happened that there was an opposing vehicle there at the same time.

The leading car behind us decided to slow and wait for this single car in the opposite lane to pass before swinging wide to overtake us. This was proper behavior, they could have squeezed by without waiting, but this driver decided to take the safer approach.

I was the last in this trio of cyclists, also riding in a safe and courteous manner; I even gave the lead driver behind me a little thank you wave as he went past. The second car did the same, swinging wide to overtake us.

However, the third vehicle was a full size Chevy truck; he just laid on the horn and drove by as fast as he could and as close as he could; he missed us by about a foot. Totally unnecessary as the opposing lane was now clear.

This was intimidation with a deadly weapon, pure and simple; a “How dare you slow me down; I’ll teach you,” attitude.

If I could have spoken with this driver I would have asked, “Where are you going in such a hurry on a Sunday morning that you can’t stand to be delayed for two seconds?” Because I swear this whole maneuver took no longer. I would also have asked him this.

“If you had a loaded gun in your hand and you were mad at someone, would you fire it missing them by twelve inches just to intimidate them?”

I doubt most law abiding citizen would do that, including this driver. But the potential for death or serious injury are the same; I would describe it as ‘Assault with a deadly weapon.’

In fact I would go further and say, given the choice between taking a bullet and taking a hit from a full size Chevy truck, I would rate my chances of survival better if I took the bullet.

What is it about driving a large vehicle that gives one such a sense of entitlement? It seems it is always the driver of a full size truck or SUV that have this attitude; I rarely get the ‘Horn and Buzz’ treatment from anyone in an economy car.

This exact same scenario happened just this week in California; a driver of an SUV threatened a group of cyclists with his vehicle. They were able to take his tag number, flagged down a Sheriff’s Deputy, and reported it; the driver was traced and arrested for... Guess what? Assult with a deadly weapon.

I have to remember that; when I am riding on my own I usually ignore such behavior as it is just my word against another. But in the above instance I was with two friends, I had witnesses. I may be too old to kick ass, at least I can take numbers.

                         

A British view of US auto-mania

A local story of an incident that happened not too far from where I live made it all the way to the UK and was reported in the Guardian.

A woman from Summerville, South Carolina (Left.) was driving her own children and a neighbor kid to school.

As she neared the school she encountered a group of schoolchildren walking in the middle of the road. (There was no sidewalk on that particular street.)

She honked at them but they refused to move; so she drove into them, knocking down a 12 year old, two 13 year olds, and one 14. None were seriously hurt, three were treated on the scene, and one was taken to the hospital.

She told police, “I wanted to knock some sense into them.” (That statement sounds familiar.) When the story ran on my local paper’s website, I posted the following comment:

“This incident that involved children walking in the middle of the road, is exactly the same issue as cyclists on the road that everyone gets their shorts in an uproar over.

Even though kids can be annoying when they won’t move out of your way, you have to deal with it; you can’t go running them down.

They had a perfect right to be on a public street. It has nothing to do with the size of your vehicle, or whether you pay road tax; it is a basic human right to travel from A to B on a public highway.

It doesn’t matter if you are in a car, riding a bicycle, or walking; whoever was there first basically has the right of way.”

This woman made an extremely poor choice; she has been charged with four counts of first-degree assault and battery and could face up to ten years in jail. Would it have hurt her to drop her kids off at that point and let them walk the rest of the way to school?

It always amazes me, the sense of entitlement that car ownership invokes. A person would never push to the front of a line at a theatre or at the supermarket; or scream at people to “Hurry it up,” it would be considered the height of rudeness. Yet it seems perfectly normal for some to honk or yell at anyone impeding their rate of travel on a public street or highway.

The Guardian used this story in part to illustrate America’s obsession with the automobile. While I agree with that premise, the article is filled with extreme exaggerations, like stories of people shooting themselves in the foot to get a handicap parking spot.

It also seems a little strange coming from a British publication, as from what I hear and read the UK is fast approaching “Auto-mania” status itself.

The big difference is that the UK does not have the luxury of the amount of space the US has.

There are tiny villages in Britain where whole communities could quite easily fit in the area occupied by an average US supermarket or strip mall parking lot.

The Guardian points out that in the US, whole city blocks are devoted to car parking. This is true, and how often do you see any retail business parking lot more than half full; such a waste of space. And of course all this wasted space and urban sprawl means greater distances from our homes, to the store, or to our workplace, making automobile ownership a necessity for most people.

If Britain devoted as much space to the automobile as America does the entire country would be paved with concrete and asphalt. The UK should be grateful they did not have the luxury of space to waste; returning to a more sustainable lifestyle will be far easier than it will be for the United States. 

The Guardian also mentions that Americans used to laugh at the Chinese for the way they traveled to work by bicycle in their millions.

Now thanks largely to the outsourcing of our manufacturing jobs to countries like China, they have prospered, and Chinese workers are buying cars for the first time.

Now they are competing for the ever dwindling world oil supply, which will force the price up that the US consumer has to pay.

Other countries like India will be the next to follow and the situation can only get worse. The whole American lifestyle and the way its infrastructure is designed, has always revolved around the automobile and cheap gasoline.

I predict that before very much longer people will find themselves spending their entire salary to pay for, maintain, and fuel their car. They will be working to run a car that they need to get to work. It will no longer be viable for families to own two or more cars.

All of a sudden, people riding bicycles will not look so stupid.

                       

Labels and other BS from Copenhagen

Labels can be useful; for example if I say “Vehicular Cycling,” most regular readers of this page will know exactly what I am talking about. If you don’t this short video explains it.

To me this is defensive riding that works because for the most part, drivers of motor vehicles will go out of their way to avoid hitting you as long as they know you are there.

It is the inattentive or distracted driver who is the most danger, but by riding predictably, signaling intent, and correct positioning on the road, you make even the most inattentive driver aware of your presence.

For example, whatever direction I leave my home I have to travel a busy two-lane highway. The traffic seems to come along in platoons because of traffic lights in both directions.

When the road is clear behind me I ride out in the lane about two or three feet. When I hear a vehicle approach from the rear, I move over to the right to let them pass.

This has the effect of slowing them down and the first car makes a conscious effort to go wide around me. Each car following does the same.

If I stay close to the right edge of the road all the time, a car approaching from the rear will not slow down and will often not deviate from his line of travel.

A driver of a car three or four vehicles back will not even know I am there.  If people want to label this “Vehicular Cycling” that’s okay; it works for me.

However, I prefer not to be labeled a “Vehicular Cyclist.” I didn’t pay a subscription to join a Vehicular Cyclist’s organization. I have not even read John Forester’s book. (He’s the man who coined the term.) 

I am simply a “Cyclist” doing what is necessary to survive while riding my bike on today’s streets and highways.

I have just read an article by Mikael over on Copenhagenize.com titled “Vehicular Cyclists – Cycling’s Secret Sect.” A secret sect… Really. The writer suggests that Vehicular Cyclists:

“Fight tooth and nail against virtually any form of separated bicycle infrastructure because their theory is based up on the premise that bicycles are 'vehicles' and therefore should act as the vehicles in the traffic, using the car lanes just like cars.”

The article then goes on to ridicule Vehicular Cyclists, comparing them to the Flat Earth Society. According to Mikael it is our own fault, the established cyclists in America and the UK, that we don’t have a widespread cycling infrastructure.

What utter bull-shit. I would love it if my local authority was making my city as bike friendly as Portland, Oregon, or Davis, California. But in the mean time I am making do with what I have. The other alternative is to not ride my bike.

There are many people who would ride a bike but are scared to do so I today’s traffic. It is the avid cyclists who take to the road each day, who are showing others that it is possible to survive out there.

Who knows how many others might be encouraged to try cycling just by seeing us pedaling around the city streets. The more cyclists on the road the more cities are likely to facilitate cycling.

I suggest Mikael does not have a clue what it is like to ride a bike in any American city, or in the UK for that matter. Both countries are steeped in the car-culture, and it is not going to change overnight.

The situation is improving, but slowly; I doubt there will be huge improvements nationwide in my lifetime. All we can do in the mean time is keep riding our bikes, while doing whatever is necessary to stay safe.