Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Perils! Monstrous Perils of Going Green!


This is your town, k. Best make sure this kind of rage doesn't translate to scooter riding.


Thanks to the Economist, I finally have a tiny bit of faith in the innocent bystander. I support more vigilante justice.:


"Bicycle-boosters are thrilled with the sudden popularity of their humble machine. “Ridership is just skyrocketing,” says Elizabeth Preston of the League of American Bicyclists, a Washington, DC, advocacy group (even cyclists have lobbyists these days). Performance Bicycles, a retailer with shops in 15 states, says bicycle sales in June were the highest ever recorded.
But cycling’s popularity has a downside. The people of Portland, for instance, have been entertained over the past few days by a series of altercations between bicyclists and motorists. In one, a motorist and cyclist came to blows after the motorist berated the pedal-pusher for ignoring a stop sign. The enraged cyclist used his bike to batter the motorist’s car until a bystander punched him."


j

2 comments:

smear said...

hm. i am impressed by people in LA who are brave enough to ride bikes alongside these idiot drivers. i'm scared enough of other drivers when i'm in my car, on a bike i'd fear for my life.

but there were always those bike riders in nyc (and everywhere) who are sanctimonious about it, fixie snobs who participate in things like critical mass and bike rallys and think they're awesome & saying "fuck you" to the system by making it harder for working-class folks to drive home. i'm happy to see some of those snobs get a little smack in the face. i know it's good that they are not driving, but do they have to make a big scene out of it? annoying. slap!
but usually i'm on the biker's side.
*L

smear said...

I hear that, be aware and responsible- as in not texting and riding-(saw that today). And yes I ride. There have been several run ins between cyclists and cars, sometimes ending in fisticuffs or a u-lock upside the head. The usual.

It’s leaps more hospitable to cyclists here than say nyc. Portland has bike boxes at intersections and lots of bikes lanes that, get this, folks actually observe. Portland certainly has its share of asshole cyclists, but probably every city would, if it had cyclists.

Cycling in nyc was bad, really just ridiculous. Lots of anger directed at you, and lots of “get the truck off the road”, just general contempt. Healthy stuff. I took to riding my bike to work near the flatiron blgd- from crown heights or somewhere else in brookyln. The last stretch of park ave south by union square was often unnerving.

rant It freaks me out how many drivers are on the cell phone, not headsets, actually holding the phone. (I haven’t held a phone since ’03) jk. Makes those of us on scooters, foot and bikes nervous. I've seen people miss turns or wildly to steer, shift and drive with a handheld. Earpiece. * K