Read Seeing Green on the tragic deaths of two bikers last Thursday.
“Since then it appears that the issue was not as clear; maybe he was not going the wrong way at all. Mea culpa on this level. Certainly one respondent to my comment on OTBKB did not agree with me:
in any case the point being made by transportation alternatives, that we need more protected bike lanes, remains valid. and chandru, while i agree that there are many cyclists out there who endanger themselves with their riding habits, your “no-helmet” stance will always make you vulnerable to such accusations. regardless of whether the driver or the cyclist was “at fault”, one of them is dead. he was someone’s son, someone’s brother, many people’s friend, and he was only 26 years old. that is deserving of outrage.
In defense, firstly, I did not mean to minimize the tradegy of the accident, but an objective look at the cause requires you to not assume the vehicle was automatically at fault.
As one who cycles a lot and grew up cycling in India (if you can cycle there, you can cycle anywhere,) my point, which got lost, is that if (as I often do) you travel the wrong way on a street, it’s your responsibility to watch out for traffic that has the right of way. I often stop completely if I see a vehicle which, in my judgment, is not going to be respectful of my space. While my comment may seem intemperate, it was also a response to the many comments (say, on streetsblog)which suggest that any accident is always the vehicle’s fault. Many cyclists commenting there also exhibit a level of entitlement (especially towards pedestrians) which I am sure makes it easier for them to see slights in every vehicular move. Many also talk about doing 15-20mph on Manhattan streets; this is close to being suicidal by anyone. Bikes just do not have the stopping power and margin of safety that makes them safe at this speed in traffic, bike lane or no.
Fostering a us-vs-them attitude does no one any good.”
Seeing Green’s statement that “I often stop completely if I see a vehicle which, in my judgment, is not going to be respectful of my space” reminds me of an experience I had a few years ago, riding South on one of the two-way, north-south avenues in Bay Ridge. I had the right of way, but saw a car (despite the “stop” sign) edging out from the next, westbound side street. Since I didn’t know what the driver planned to do, I pulled out of traffic and stopped and watched. She kept edging out until a car traveling North (in the opposite direction from me) hit her car. The offending driver’s first words to the driver who hit her were, “I didn’t see you. I was watching her!” (pointing to me on my bike, which had been motionless throughout)