In article <
[email protected]>, Ron Hardin <
[email protected]> writes:
> It's not heretical. Bicyclists of the activist sort and their youthful friends are
> self-righteous morons.
>
> Drivers can be self-righteous morons too.
Most of the drivers I encounter are timid, trepidacious scared-y cats who think cyclists ahead of
them are suddenly going to dart across their paths and cause them (the drivers) to hit someone.
I frequently find myself having to soothe and allay their fears, by shoulder checking, making eye
contact with them when they feel as if they're "stuck" behind me, and moving a little curbward when
I can, to invite them to pass me. I think a fearful driver is more dangerous than an aggressive one.
I prefer to keep the dangerous drivers up ahead of me, where I can keep an eye on 'em. They want to
get past me, so they don't have to worry about me. So, I let 'em go, and we're both happily on our
merry ways.
We're all human beans, and we can all get along quite nicely if only a little effort is made. I
guess outlier incidents stick out and attract attention. But I'm often impressed by how well the
system works, when nothing goes wrong, nobody gets hurt, and ppl get to where they're going without
incident -- the norm. For a bunch of morons, I think we generally do pretty good. But the outlier
incidents still indicate room for improvement.
Two recent incidents poignantly stick in my mind right now. The first one was where an elderly lady
on crutches was wending her way across the street, and I stopped for her. No big deal. We trade
smiles. But she said, "Sorry about that." As if she felt she was impinging on me, when she had a
perfect right to safely cross the street, and I was fully respecting her right.
"Sorry 'bout that." pfffft. What is the world coming to, when pedestrians feel compelled to
apologize for crossing the god damned street? A lot of car drivers might've just shot past her,
given her the scare of a lifetime, never heard her, and then quickly forgotten her. Provided they
didn't run her over, of course.
The other incident is a recent, local news item, where an out of control (moron-piloted?) SUV
crashed into the Queensborough Bridge's sidewalk, and launched a passing-by pedestrian over the
edge, and down to the Fraser River flats, to his death. That shouldn't have happened. The "moron"
cycling advocates will see that it doesn't happen again.
Of course we're all morons. Hell, we allow daytime television to exist. But sometimes we do good,
too. Maybe there's redemption for us. I hope so. I'd like to find that little ol' lady on crutches
again, and give her a jar of my excess blackberry jelly. Streets & city traffic have become such
depersonalized zones. That needs remedying, and I think that would be the first progressive step
toward fixing transportation issues, so that *people* - not vehicles - are the important thing.
Whadda moronic concept, eh? Talk about heresy!
cheers, Tom
--
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