The Economist weighs in:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2013/11/cycling-v-cars?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/americanrightofway
________________________________
From: Robin <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2013 2:46 PM
Subject: [Bikies] BikeSnobNYC responds to "Is It O.K. to Kill Cyclists?" OpEd
(EXPLICIT CONTENT WARNING)
If you haven't read the original
<http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/opinion/sunday/is-it-ok-to-kill-cyclists.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&smid=tw-share&;>
I love Snobs response. Sorry brass bell clangers and letter of the law freaks:
"And as far as obeying the law on your bicycle, here's my approach, and it's
based on both respect and common sense:
--When I'm in little fantasy bubble realms like gentrified Brooklyn where
there's an actual infrastructure designed to incorporate cars and bicycles and
pedestrians, and where it actually makes sense to follow the law because the
people who laid out the infrastructure actually realizes that cars and bikes
are completely different, I'm more than happy to be a good little boy scout;
--When I'm in Midtown or some other place where I'm "sharing the road" (that's
cute) and thousands of two-ton 350 horsepower motor vehicles are bearing down
on me because they're driven by people whose only priority is getting to the
Midtown Tunnel or the 59th Street bridge as quickly as possible, you can be
damn well sure I'll do whatever the hell I need to do in order to get a head
start on these homicidal mutherfuckers, and that includes running the light if
I deem it safer to do so;
--When I'm in the city, I do not ride on the sidewalk. However, if I'm in some
suburban or exurban area on one of those heavy traffic routes with no shoulder
that feeds into an Interstate, and there's a sidewalk, and nobody has actually
walked on that sidewalk since 1963 because they're all in their cars speeding
to the mall, and I feel like I need to use the sidewalk to cross that
Interstate, you're goddamn right I'm going to do it no matter what the law
says. I'm going to "obey the letter of the law" in that situation to prove I
"deserve respect?" Fuck that.
In other words, I'll use bicycle infrastructure responsibly if you give it to
me, but screw you if you think I'm going to pretend it's there when it's not.
And if you think I don't "deserve" the infrastructure I don't have, then you're
in denial of both physics and common human decency. The writer of this op-ed,
like most Americans, has been brainwashed into believing that "drivers and
cyclists share the same rights and responsibilities," as if these vehicles are
even remotely the same. Cars and bikes aren't even apples and oranges; they're
20-foot tall genetically-modified elephant/shark hybrids and oranges. Sure,
technically you can eat both of them, but the similarities end there. But the
reason people are willing to buy into the "drivers and cyclists share the same
rights and responsibilities" bullshit is that it's all part of the American
take on "equality," which is that it's perfectly fine to hold somebody down and
fuck them, even if
you've got 100 pounds on them, because technically they're free to fuck you
back. (But of course if they do actually manage to fuck you back, you charge
them with rape.)"
R.
Break something new every day!
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