roachboy

yeah, in the end it doesn't matter what you do and do not understand--it doesn't matter if you like the fact there are bikers or not---99% of drivers seem to be able to navigate the complexity of seeing a bike and not doing anything stupid because their Sovereign Bourgeois Progress is inflected thereby. you have to deal with it, just like people like me have to deal with you.

i'm getting more interested in returning to the question in the op though--so far we see that there are frictions between drivers and cyclists (and runners)--but there's no real exploration of why that is the case. i find it curious that, for example, folk point to bikers "not obeying the rules"---which in all probability you do not entirely adhere to yourself (like speeding or driving while buzzed or without a seatbelt or while talking on your cellphone)---but when it comes to bikes, folk are suddenly Great Upholders of the Sanctity of the Rules. why is that?

for myself, alot of the attitude i've developed comes just from people doing little things that in another space probably would have meant nothing, but which happened in a place that endangered my life in some cases (nearly getting crushed by cars, getting bumped by them while riding, getting doored, hundreds of near misses). trying to get through areas on a weekend night that are full with drunken stupid people can also be a great delight. nothing better than bottles being thrown at you or ultra-erratic driving to perk a boy right up. but most of this follows from being in a vulnerable position.

but it reinforces the broader position i have that the decision in american city planning to open urban spaces up for automobile traffic in the way that happened after world war 2 was a terrible one. there's no reason people should drive into or out of a city for the most part. more public transit=more better. more bikes=more better. think of the amount of dead space created by asphalt lines drawn back and forth across a cityscape. think of the environmental consequences of the traffic. the diminuition of the quality of life caused directly and indirectly by traffic. the expense of maintaining infrastructure. all so the suburbanites can get into and out of the giant mall that is a city.

i'm not advocating a total driving ban--but rather a rethink of the dominant transportation model in urban regions---not just cities, but in the regions that interact with urban centers---abandoning this silly town model, moving toward regional ones.

and i'm not arguing that everyone should ride a bike either. the only reason i do it is that i enjoy it. nothing principled about it really. i'd just rather not be taking my life into my hands when i do it.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite