Machination.org

I’ve been trying to get back into cycling, not as an athlete — I’m no athlete — but as a commuter and for recreation.

This morning I found myself relating to issues brought up today in a New York Times’ article about Times Up! tactics and sites like MyBikeLane.com, which are responses to automobiles regularly disrespecting bike lanes.

It appears that MyBikeLane.com is, while New York City specific for now, intended to scale and eventually target other cities as well.

Here in Washington I’ve had similar experiences, albeit in less harried or intense surroundings than what I know exist in Manhattan and the commercial centers of the other boroughs of New York City. It is still unnerving to be forced to quickly pass into the main lane of traffic because of a vehicle sitting idle in the bike lane.

In addition to the idling delivery trucks and ignorant or disrespectful civilians double-parking, cars with diplomatic plates are repeat offenders in this city. They of course, have nothing to fear (except for the occasional bloody biker splattered across their rear window).

One post to MyBikeLane.com reminds us that cyclists can be “just as bad.” I’m probably guilty on this point too: Sometimes I’ve been forced on to the sidewalk by obnoxious drivers (often out-of-towners who don’t understand that bikes have just as much right of way as other vehicles, and in fact are obligated to ride on the street). I’m sure that appears intimidating to pedestrians. And, in general, I’m still getting my “footing” while biking the busy streets of DC.

DC, like New York and many other cities, has a monthly Critical Mass ride that is part activism and part recreation.

Overall CM still seems to be a well-intentioned asynchronous effort at promoting awareness about cyclists’ rights while crossing-over to issues about urban development and environmental sustainability. Sometimes some of the participants, with varying degrees of coherence, draw connections to poverty, corporate globalization and war in their rides.

Tags:   bicycling · bike lanes · DC · traffic · transportation · urban planning · WashingtonNo Comments