Are urban cyclists elite snobs?

http://www.salon.com/2011/12/04/are_urban_bicyclists_just_elite_snobs/singleton/?mobile.html

by mikeklaas • 15 years ago

4 6 15 years ago

The problem is so multi-faceted. Where I live it's not biker-friendly, so the bikers have to make do with narrow roads and insensitive, carless, and ignorant drivers.

OTOH, they are almost universally indignant themselves, routinely disobeying traffic laws, not signalling, making no attempt to give cars room when they can. I don't know how it is in the rest of the country, but around here both sides are adversarial toward each other. It's just an ugly situation, and neither side is right.

bunderbunder• 15 years ago

Same here. Both cars and bicycles are routinely careless and inconsiderate. Seems to me like the only group that's mostly on one side of the story is pedestrians, who are routinely treated poorly, if not endangered outright, by both groups.

(And that "endangered outright" comment does apply to bikes, too. A few years back a woman was killed in my neighborhood by a speeding cyclist who blew a stop sign.)

beej71• 15 years ago

Cyclists in this town almost never stop at stop signs. Then again, neither do cars.

I'd agree with you more, but to say cyclists are "almost universally indignant" does a disservice to the (dare I say it) billions of riders who aren't. I'll agree that the indignant cyclists are universally indignant. :-)

This is one of those cases where most people have common ground with most other people. But where they don't, it's quite apparent.

michaelcampbell2• 15 years ago

I'm defining my universe as what I observe in my area. I have yet to see a cyclist around here that behaves well. Perhaps it's confirmation bias and I will acknowledge that.

jinushaun• 15 years ago

As with a lot of things, the loudest most visible members of a group are usually the worst ambassadors. (See: environmentalists) I'm a cyclist, but stuff like Critical Mass really piss me off because it reinforces all the negative stereotype people have of cyclists.

Matt_Rose• 15 years ago

Anytime the headline is posed in the form of a question, the answer is no

Are urban cyclists elite snobs?

Related Stories