“do we have biased traffic investigation and a lazy newspaper”–probably not. You probably just have a quote that was taken out of context, and a pretty good story if you would have taken the time to read the whole thing. Historically, local police have been supportive of the cycling community. So, do we have a hyper critical reader making equally sweeping generalizations? probably.

After just having spoken to the a TV news reporter this morning about bike safety this morning, I have a lot of respect for those officers who speak to the media on a regular basis. As much as I tried, there were probably 10 things I said that could have been taken out of context or misinterpreted in a 30-second news story. From now on, I’ll take an extra grain of salt with any news story I read or hear.

there are tons of bikers who have no clue, lets face it. but certainly, “majority of the problems” isn’t a fair statement. there are plenty of inattentive or unaware drivers and cyclists to go around. there are also plenty of good drivers and good cyclists that get lumped into the wrong group. We don’t do enough to acknowledge all the folks to do the right thing. enough finger pointing.

Oso

You’re right. I ride my bike enough to know that in the interests of ‘saving time’ I break the law in a way that if I did it in my car or truck, I’d end up in the clink. The problem is not that ‘all’ of any class of vehicle operator is dangerous. The problem is that some bicycle operators–and a bicycle is a vehicle–just don’t see themselves as a problem, regardless of the behaviors them often and clearly demonstrate.

Broad Brush Time: I repair cars that have been in collisions for a living. An overly large proportion of my elderly clients have ‘never been in an accident’, don’t know what hit them (even if they hit something), and wreck their cars because their reaction times and senses are not what they used to be. Unequivocally, almost every one of them is in denial about the cause of the problem–growing old (and I’m getting there myself!). Yesterday on Third Street a VERY elderly gentle man driving a minivan turned north off Mt Washington into the oncoming traffic’s left turn lane–he missed his lane because of poor vision or confusion–and forced stationary traffic to reverse direction and change lanes while he continued his forward motion. Yet, I am sure that, having escaped once again, he will claim that he doesn’t have to give up driving because he’s never been in an accident.

Bike riders who exhibit bad behaviors are like that. They have: near misses–always the other guy’s fault; minor collisions and mishaps–always something happens beyond their control; and occasionally, the serious or fatal accident–we need more bike lanes and fewer cars with stupid drivers who don’t respect bicycles and bicyclists.

I try not to have accidents–whether I’m in a car or on a bike through defensive driving. If I exhibit OFFENSIVE behaviors, I should expect the consequences.