Please Don't Hate the Bikers

I was reading an article the other day about a local biker who was ticketed for running a stop sign. Interestingly, they didn’t state whether she was on a bicycle or a motorcycle…they only referred to her as a “cyclist”. People assumed they meant “bicyclist” so a bunch of folks piped in with comments about the article. Apparently, there are a lot of drivers who are not very happy to share the roads with bicyclists. I was a little surprised at how they take such a strong us-against-them attitude. Drivers get bent out of shape when they see bikers run stop signs, and some are under the impression that we bikers don’t pay taxes to maintain the roads…although most bikers also own and drive cars, so that argument doesn’t hold much water. Bikers need to be very cautious on busy streets and at intersections, because there are always drivers who don’t watch carefully for bikers. In a bike vs. car collision, you know who’s at a distinct disadvantage, and unfortunately, there are probably a fair amount of drivers who don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for the bikers. In their opinion, we’re taking up valuable space on “their street”. Maybe with the surge in gas prices this year causing a larger number of people to use bicycles for transportation, we’ll start to get a little more sympathy from drivers…but I’ll still be cautious just to be on the safe side!