Photo of the Day, November 6, 2009: Newburyport Night 1
Heroic MBTA Operator and Inspector Honored: Saved Woman's Life
Week Around the Ists, November 1–7
Sunday Happenings
Book It: Book Events November 8–14
Next time you are driving and you feel like nudging a slow cyclist, hold yourself in check, not just because you would be a huge asshole if you did so. You might wind up running over the mayor.
Mayor Menino, whose cycling is not just limited to photo ops, was on his morning bike ride when a driver gave him a thump a while back:
The woman was driving on River Street May 26 when she crested a hill and struck Menino, said Dorothy Joyce, the mayor's spokeswoman. He fell off his bike and suffered a small cut to his ankle, but told the flustered motorist to "just get going, and don't be late for work," Joyce said.
Perhaps cresting a hill is a decent excuse, as one never knows what's over that hill, but that driver had a brush with the law. The incident makes the mayor seem extraordinarily magnanimous, as most cyclists we know would have keyed her car and would have spewed expletives as she headed down the street.
If you are nervous about having your own close encounter with the mayor, brush up on Boston's bike safety laws. And, if you are a cyclist who doesn't want to be hit, you might want to invest in one of the cute blue sweatsuits that the mayor favors.
Official image of Mayor Menino.
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"most cyclists we know would have keyed her car and would have spewed expletives as she headed down the street."
That's probably because most motorists would've kept on driving by without so much as a wave. You get the feeling this one only cared when she realized she'd buzzed the mayor.
So the mayor "told the flustered motorist to 'just get going, and don't be late for work,'"
This gives the message that cars are more important than bikes, the people who drive the cars are more important than those of us who bike, and the roads are not to be shared by human transport other than automobiles. Menino's just done cycling in Boston a huge disservice. Contrast this with what Daley's done for Chicago, bike-wise, after (IIRC) he was hit.
Yes, Pat, most drivers would have kept on driving, like the one that hit me in Oct. 2006.
Drivers need to be taught that bikes belong on the road and if the Mayor's messaging that it's more important for a driver to get to work than for a cyclist to, I dunno, not get fucking creamed in the street, more drivers will drive with entitlement and more bikers will get yelled at, glared at, hit, or killed.
Before anyone gets all "teh bik0rz is MEAN and payz no attenshun to road rulz," I feel that some bikers do the community a similar disservice when they ride on the sidewalk (which encourages drivers to think bikers can and should bike there) or do not bike like traffic (which encourages drivers to hate bikers). It needs to be a partnership: everytime a biker rides well in the street, drivers intuit that we belong there; and everytime a very public official treats biking like it matters, drivers get that message too.
Geez, Menino, thanks for nothing.
"The same laws that apply to motorists apply to cyclists. Obey all traffic control devices and use hand signals to indicate stops and turns."
wow, i'm impressed that the bike safety rules actually say "Do not blast your horn in close proximity to cyclists and look for cyclists when opening doors." i might print this out and flyer cars with it.
sadly, nothing persuades me to be an asshole biker more than asshole drivers. it's a vicious cycle.
You're durn right, HarmyG.