
Bicyclists… Stop doing this.
Today, as I was getting end of day shipping items out to the UPS bay, Matt, our driver, showed up a tad early and seeing me, he told me about an experience with a bicyclist he’d just had that day.
Matt had been parked in the bike lane, making his deliveries, and as he was getting into his truck to leave, an older White Male bicyclist started yelling at Matt to “GET OUT OF THE BIKE LANE!”
Matt knows that I am a bicycle advocate and was an avid bike commuter before moving to the Portland area. I love to talk to people about bicycles and share my hard earned knowledge about bike equity with them.
Part of me suspects that Matt thought I’d chime in and say that he shouldn’t have been in the bike lane etc. Because, you know, all bicyclists are alike. But that’s not actually true and it’s something I want to discuss with you today.
I do not know when or where the idea of harassing people parked in bike lanes came about but it is a terrible idea and I’ll tell you why.
The furthest edge of a roadway, which is were advocates advocate for bike lanes to be built, are multi use spaces and always have been. In most, if not all cities, there are ordinances which allow for the loading and unloading of merchandise and passengers in the space closest to the curb or edge of the road, if no curb exists. And in most, if not all states, there is a statute which will read the same way.
This is public, mixed use space, and it belongs to no one group of people. This is also the space where bike lanes should NOT be built but I could go hoarse shouting about this one, not because I’m wrong and y’all are so “reasonably” correct, but rather because y’all have been educated, erroneously, that you should be as far to the right as possible.
Sometimes YOU are the more swiftly moving vehicle and that means that you need to NOT be in the furthest right hand lane but rather in the left adjacent lane.
Matt told me that he was there for all of 90 seconds (not an exaggeration, Matt’s been doing this job for decades and is one of their most senior drivers. He knows how long it takes him to make a stop.) and that this particular cyclist made it a point to stand there and scream at him about how he didn’t need to be in the bike lane. etc etc.
What clearly failed to occur to the bicyclist was that he could simply change lanes and pass the UPS truck and go merrily on his way. Instead he willfully chose to verbally abuse a person safely, legally, and professionally doing their job.
This was classic White Male privilege being exercised by the bicyclist and before you get your lycra in a knot, I’m going to tell you why and you are going to read it.
A brief quote by Margaret Atwood.
“’Why do men feel threatened by women?’ I asked a male friend of mine.“’ They are afraid women will laugh at them’, he said, ‘undercut their world view.’
“Then I asked some women students, ‘Why do women feel threatened by men?’ ”’They are afraid of being killed,’ they said.” WikiQuotes
Women challenging men in public spaces will get them injured or killed.
I’m not saying that there aren’t women who won’t yell at men in two ton death machines, because I’m sure that there are women out there who will. What I am saying is that the majority of women know, either by experience or instinct, that they are more vulnerable than men, especially if they are on a bicycle. It’s the number one concern for women and it’s why there are so few women bicycle commuters as compared to men. That and men really like to dominate bicycle spaces because that’s just what men like to do.
Moreover, I know about female vulnerability on bicycles from observation, reading, and personal experience.
Women cannot simply put on their strap on penises and be given the same social respect as men. (I am speaking specifically about cis men and women here and more specifically White cis men and women.)
You will not see any member of a marginalized group doing what Cis White men would do and do without a second thought.
Women, especially if they do not know the man they are confronting, are in an incredibly vulnerable position and will rarely confront a man in anger.
I myself have tried to reason with people, to talk to them about their bad driving and why it’s important that they view me as a human being. Even though I was kind and respectful to them, this did not stop them from screaming expletives at me, call me “CUNT!” and then later falsify a police report stating that I’d spit on them. (I hadn’t)
This almost destroyed my life.
This is what marginalized people know they could face, because when a Cis White man tells the police that someone has done something to them, even without any evidence to prove their claim, the Police, being majority Cis White men, believe them.
When you harass a person who is going about their day, not only are you being unreasonable and ugly, you are also giving bicyclists a bad look. And since Cis White men get away with things that no marginalized person could ever hope to get away with, you are encouraging this behavior in other, most often younger, cyclists.
You will NOT die if you check that the lane next to you is clear before merging left and going on about your way. And yes, I’ve had men scream at me that they could DIE! if they did anything so reasonable as operate their bicycle responsibly.
You do not need to tell me about statistics and how men are the most likely to die. You see, I know all of those statistics and I also know that men are the least likely to seek instruction on safe cycling practices from certified instructors. And I also know that there are more of them on bikes than any other category of person. So odds are that if a bicyclist is struck, they’re most likely a male. There are just that many of you and not so many of us.
Male behavior in bicycling is not acceptable behavior.
It is not acceptable when you tell us to smile and wave at those assaulting us and it is not acceptable when you tell us to verbally abuse people lawfully parked in a bike lane. Nor is it acceptable behavior to view each cyclist you encounter on the street as a potential racing opponent. All these are recorded, documented, and written about behaviors prominently exhibited by men on bicycles. Women and Black people are just trying to go on about their day without drawing unwanted attention to themselves.
Men also like to ride uncomfortably close to other bicycle commuters. Probably because they all believe that every bike ride is a contender for the tour de france. These men ride as though inside each one of them is a Lance Armstrong just waiting to be discovered. None of which is reality and all you are actually doing is making the rest of us feel uncomfortable.
More importantly, marginalized folks do not live in your sphere of privilege and you are encouraging behavior that can get us killed.
Matt, being a veteran driver, told the guy that he hoped he had a nice day, got into his truck and went on his way.
Which is exactly how the bicyclist should have behaved. Period.
If nothing else, read up on your local ordinances and state statutes. I guarantee that you will be surprised to find that all those people are not illegally parked in your bike lane. And that you are the one who is being the asshole.
