Over the past month dotriderblog has gotten letters in both Boston dailies (sorry if the Monitor is still out there) decrying their reports on scofflaw bike riders being ticketed and the accident rate in Cambridge… Our points being:
If you’re ticketing bicycle riders where are the 50 car driver tickets for each bicycle ticket? As IF folks in their cars are any LESS scofflaw or apt to break the law than any bicyclist… For that matter throw in pedestrians and the cops will be in traffic court for years.
Hey car folks, guess what? Every rider isn’t someone else in a car jamming up traffic! More riders = less drivers! D’uh! One might think some drivers would like that advantage no? I want a back pack sticker reading “If you think I’m a bad rider you should see me drive!…to which one friend said that’s too long just put “Boston Driver” on and that will say it all
The media isn’t doing us any favors through their coverage. How about something about how to be a safer rider? Jeesh the past two weeks drivers have been more scofflaw aggressive and nasty to riders than EVER! Coincidence? Perhaps. It has been a warm September and dotriderblog has been known to be too aggressive (in some circles) related to expressing his opinions of someone’s driving habits. Hence the folks with their windows open hear me and often respond with a series of four letter words. At least the papers ran my letters.
Which brings me to the second half of my post title: Where was the Mayor’s Boston Bikes on this one? HEY! The Globe and Herald didn’t take my letters thinking I’m a kook. The guy from the Globe said it was a great letter when he shredded my assertions based upon the stats I’ve gleaned the past few years as a pseudo bike advocate… HOWEVER wouldn’t it have been nicer if my letter had been displaced by a nice note emphasizing safety and civility when riding signed by the Mayor or his minion? Other bike organizations missed for that matter, although I’ve been led to understand that for one it may well have not been from a lack of effort…
What’s with Cambridge letting police harrassing riders? Let’s get organized and hand out MassBike Share the Road flyers to bikes AND cars at the most jammed up intersections in the area. Where’s that effort? Education is key. City leaders are missing these teaching moments as the media doesn’t seem to be getting the point that riding bikes is with us now and it won’t go away until we have 10 years of $1/gallon gasoline (and it will happen just like it did before). And by the time that happens it may well be too late as a generation of folks have gotten used to the idea that it’s usually faster, cheaper, healthier and less stressful to ride your bike somewhere in town rather than to use your car.
Now that it is obvious to even the hardest case nay sayers that the Hubway bike share system is going to be a success, isn’t it time for the city to ramp up its public relations FOR bicycles? One suspects that we’ll see a new roll-out in this regard in the spring. Let’s hope so.
So as we head into October and the evening ride gets darker, be sure to get all the blinkers and head lights tuned up and ready. Get those light colored close out and be ready. We’ll see you out there one day! Peddle on!
