Editorial: Just because we choose not to drive a car does not make us any less human

I had planned on running an editorial on a different topic, but reading some of the commentary on several recent incidents involving cars and two-wheeled vehicles along with nearly getting run over by cars while crossing the street last week has me more than a little upset at the callous attitude so many drivers exhibit. The most recent incident, shown in the video below, records one of the most unnervingly unsympathetic and completely sociopathic people I have ever seen. Shortly after swerving to cause a motorcycle carrying a passenger to crash, this driver has the gall to stand there and declare, "I don't care" when he is questioned about what he just did. Such disregard for human life is not just a little scary, it is downright run-for-the-hills alarming. Then, to make matters worse, the comments from other people start to pile on and, protected by the anonymity of the Internet, we get to really see what people think of those of us who choose not to get around everywhere surrounded by the metal crash structure of a car.

My own experience this past week has not been significantly better. On one occasion, while crossing at a signal controlled intersection, within the boundaries of the clearly marked crosswalk with a clearly visible walk signal, my dog and I were nearly run down by a livery driver who thought it was entirely appropriate to enter the crosswalk as soon as I had cleared the space he wanted to occupy, barely missing us by inches. Naturally, such a close encounter is going to startle a pedestrian and I immediately spun around to confront the driver of the large black SUV, who threw his hands in the air in exasperation as if he were confounded by why I was upset. Setting aside the fact that he was in clear violation of the law, which requires that drivers refrain from entering a crosswalk until pedestrians have cleared it completely, his lack of any semblance of guilt for the maneuver, compounded by his clear lack of giving a shit for my safety, sent me into a rage, causing an expletive laden diatribe to pour forth from my mouth. The SUV screeched off and I was left upon the side of the road seething in an adrenaline fueled state of anger.

Stories like this are all too common among the cycling community as well. There are countless stories of drivers intentionally making efforts to intimidate riders who are following their legal right to use entire traffic lanes. Some drivers go so far as to knock the rider over, force them off the road, or otherwise cause them bodily harm. When such incidents are reported in the media, the commentary that follows usually devolves into a cesspool of shameless victim blaming with many people voicing the sentiment that the cyclists "got what they deserved" for taking up the whole lane.

I believe this mentality towards anyone not ensconced in the confines of a car seems stem from a few key areas: ignorance, unfairness, and lack of education.

The ignorance comes in many flavors. It could be ignorance of the laws. It could be ignorance of the experience of others. It could just be plain and simple ignorance because of lack of exposure. Whatever, the cause, ignorance can be a tremendously dangerous fuel for dangerous and destructive behaviors. One of the greatest areas of ignorance for many Americans is simply an ignorance of perspective through the eyes of another road user. Most Americans will never ride a motorcycle during their lifetime and most stopped riding bicycles when they became old enough to drive. Since our culture is so dominated by driving, most Americans hardly spend time as pedestrians anymore, aside from the walk from the car door across the parking lot to enter the fast food join where their dinner awaits. Not understanding how the world view is different through the eyes of a pedestrian, cyclist, or motorcyclist leads to a lack of understanding of what is perceived as dangerous. Driving in a car, passing a pedestrian or cyclist with less than a foot of space may seem totally safe to a driver, but is a shockingly close call to someone without any kind of physical protection.

One of the most common arguments against the idea of letting motorcyclists lane split is that it is "unfair" for drivers to have to sit in traffic while motorcyclists get to zoom ahead. A common myth levied against cyclists using traffic lanes is how "unfair" it is that cyclists are allowed on the roads but do not have to pay registration and taxes to help pay for those roads. Both of these try to appeal to a sense of "fairness" that taps into the absurdly selfish belief that road use is somehow a zero sum game. If someone else is getting some kind of advantage, then it must be taking away from you in some way. We have turned road use into a kind of sick reality TV competition where the winner gets a crap prize accompanied by their 15 minutes of Internet fame. This attitude is also what leads to some of the more epic road rage incidents as one entitled person takes out their frustration on another in some misguided belief that this will somehow result in them being happier, but only ends up with them in jail.

As for the lack of education, it is a topic that I often revisit. Our driver education system is so pathetic as to be laughable. Not only do we fail to instill in drivers the rules of how to safely operate two ton weapons on the road, we fail to do any semblance of follow-up to make sure that they remain safe in their operation. Just as we license doctors and require them to re-qualify for their license every few years, drivers should be required to update their qualifications from time to time to ensure that they understand how rules have changed or evolved. On top of that, our driver education testing is atrociously inconsistent and lacking in interactions with other road users that it should be no surprise that most drivers simply have no idea what the laws are that pertain to motorcyclists, cyclists, or pedestrians. Testing criteria should be standardized and much more comprehensive and the standards much more stringent to ensure that the pilot of a two-ton box of metal is fully able to comprehend how serious the task of driving really is. Triggers for automatic failure should include reaching for a phone, hitting anything of any kind, and any moving violation that would normally result in a traffic citation. Of course, these standards are going to be the most difficult to change as legislation to alter driving requirements is often met with opposition that rivals the wrath of Zeus himself. There are certainly many advanced driver education options throughout the country and bless the hearts of those who invest the time and money to take those for their own, and everyone's, sake.

At the end of the day, regardless of how utterly ridiculous the current situation might be, what really needs to happen is that everyone needs to learn a bit of respect for everyone else. Just because someone has made the decision to not drive a car does not make them any less of a person. Do not judge them for their choice and instead, focus on your own.

Choose to be respectful of the rights of all road users.
Choose to educate yourself about the rules of the road and follow them as best as you can.
Choose to leave a little earlier so that you are not in a rush and cause chaos along the way.
Choose to allow a greater margin for error anytime you are behind the wheel.

Most importantly, choose to be aware of your surroundings and realize that your actions have an impact on your environment and take responsibility when you make a mistake. There is no faster way to diffuse a situation than to be genuinely apologetic, own your mistake, and communicate that to the other party.

As for the driver above, who exhibits such an abhorrent disregard for human life, I hope that he is punished to the fullest extent of the law for his actions. At a very minimum, I hope such a driver has his driving privileges revoked for the remainder of his life.

News: Volvo and Jaguar-Land Rover introduce car safety tech to protect cyclists

It warms my heart when I see automakers doing things to make cycling safer. As cars and bikes continue to increasingly share space on public roads, the addition of new technologies to allow the two modes of transport to coexist. Many of these technologies simply focus around awareness, making drivers more aware of the presence of bikes in their immediate vicinity or cyclists more aware of upcoming cars. Primarily, Volvo and Jaguar-Land Rover have created new tech that they hope to incorporate into future cars to help drivers and cyclists to be safer together.

Volvo's approach is a two-way communication system that requires both technology in their cars as well as technology in cyclist's helmets. By allowing the helmets to communicate with the cars, it is possible to make drivers aware of the presence of a cyclist, helping to reduce accidents that result from drivers failing to notice a cyclist in their blind spot. Additionally, since the communication happens in both directions, the helmet will also warn the cyclist of the presence of a nearby car. The technology relies on Volvo's cloud network that links their vehicles in order to feed the data to the cars or apps which the smart helmets would be linked to, so it is likely that some kind of subscription may be required. And while this technology sounds like it has great potential, the relatively small number of new Volvo cars on the road today in the US means that we will likely see limited effectiveness of this technology unless other manufacturers also begin to adopt it.

Jaguar and Land Rover, however, are taking a totally different approach. Instead of relying on a two-way communication system, JLR's setup, known as Bike Sense, uses the various sensors already in the car for various existing safety tech and adds a layer of notifications on top specific to cyclists. For instance, if a cyclist is nearby, the car will notify the driver by playing the sound of a bike bell through the audio system. If a cyclist is detected in the blind spot, the car will use the air bladder in the shoulder bolsters to tap the driver on the side that the bike is approaching from. In addition to audio and physical cues, visual cues are incorporated as well using a series of LED lights hidden in the pillars and upper door panels that change color as a a cyclist approaches. And in a stroke of absolute genius, JLR has also incorporated door handles that vibrate if a cyclist is approaching, helping to reduce incidences of dooring. Best of all, the tech is calibrated to work with not only bicycles, but can apply to motorbikes as well.

While this kind of technology is still fairly rare, it is great to see that the automakers are recognizing the importance of their 2-wheeled compatriots on the larger transportation landscape. This kind of technology investment, especially as cars become increasingly aluminum intensive, and thus more costly to repair, should help cyclists be better protected, but should also help car owners to protect their investment as well. Plus, the added bonus of making our roads safer for everyone is a reality that cannot be ignored. As an avid cyclist, I am excited to see how this kind of technology continues to develop and hope that the increased awareness by drivers can lead to even bigger systemic changes in the future.

Click past the jump to read more about these exciting new safety technologies.

Editorial: An Open Letter to the Motorcycling Community

Fellow motorcyclists,

Last week, a video of an altercation in New York City between a group on motorcycles, affiliated with a Hollywood Stuntz event, and a family in a Range Rover emerged on the Internet. The video showed a bunch of squidly riders swarming around the black SUV, one of them intentionally brake-checking the driver. When a slight bump occurred, the reaction from bikers was to mob the SUV and physically assault the vehicle and threaten the driver and his family, causing the driver to panic and attempt to escape the situation, resulting in at least one serious injury. To further fan the flames, additional footage was revealed prior to the incident showing the motorcyclists all over the road, riding recklessly, and violating countless laws. Add to that the ultimate outcome of the altercation with the Range Rover, which includes assaulting the driver, and it is clear that these squids are nothing more than the undesirable dregs of our community.

Such deplorable behavior from bikers, whether we like them or not, sullies the good name of those of us who are responsible motorcyclists. The fact that there has not been a unified refutation of these individuals from the motorcycling community at large is almost equally disheartening. Instead of condemning the actions of these delinquents, our tepid response simply allows us to be implicated as tacitly accepting such irresponsibility. Why would those of us who ride responsibly want to have any association with people who risk not only their own lives, but the lives of others, especially the life of a child?

As motorcyclists, we want other motorists to respect us. We fight for our right to safely share the roads. We fight to get motoring laws changed to improve our safety. However, when we fail to speak out against behavior that makes us all look like thugs and criminals, we set those actions back and create more enemies who will fight against our common cause.  If our goal is to make the roads safer and more enjoyable for all road users, we must be willing to not only to answer a call to arms when something bad happens to one of our own; we must also be prepared to leap to action when elements within our community commit transgressions that no sane person would stand for.

If our goal is truly to fight for our rights as motorcyclists, we must recognize that criminal behavior is not only undesirable, but intolerable. While it may seem like nothing more than words, distancing ourselves from those people who commit such atrocities, who demonstrate such a cavalier attitude towards their own safety and the safety of others, helps other motorists to distinguish between those of us who are responsible riders that take everyone's safety into consideration and those selfish clowns who believe that they somehow are above the law.

Let us draw a line in the sand at this incident and stop enduring those who sully our good name. Let us no longer stand idly by when members of our community commit reckless acts against other motorists. Let us vocally castigate and physically cast out those who believe that their egotistical self-gratification is more important than the safety of others around them.

Please pass this letter to our fellow motorcyclists and encourage them to be more active in voicing their derision for the riders in this incident. If we wish to recruit more people to help our motorcycling cause, we must show that we are amenable to condemning the actions of those among us who create chaos.

Sincerely,

East Brother

Editorial: Share the Road (Part 2)

As someone who spreads his transportation time between a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, and his own two feet, I have become increasingly sensitive to the idea of sharing the road. Our current society places the greatest value on motor vehicle transportation, cars in particular, but that does not mean we that drivers should assume they have exclusive rights to the roads. Motorists, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians are all a part of the transportation make-up of every major city and should all be given due respect and consideration. Unlike many European cities, which have taken measures to dramatically improve the interaction between the various groups using the roads, many US cities are only just starting this process and tempers often flare as compromises are made to meet everyone's needs.

However, every group has to take responsibility for making the road conditions better for all road users.

In this two-part editorial, I want to look at ways to help everyone be better road users and to help drive improved conditions that will hopefully help reduce incidences of road rage, accidents, and make the roads a more pleasant place for everyone.

Today, we will look at motorcyclists and car drivers, considered the top of the US road usage hierarchy. To read about pedestrians and bicyclists, see Part 1 of this editorial.

Editorial: Share the Road (Part 1)

As someone who spreads his transportation time between a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, and his own two feet, I have become increasingly sensitive to the idea of sharing the road. Our current society places the greatest value on motor vehicle transportation, cars in particular, but that does not mean we that drivers should assume they have exclusive rights to the roads. Motorists, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians are all a part of the transportation make-up of every major city and should all be given due respect and consideration. Unlike many European cities, which have taken measures to dramatically improve the interaction between the various groups using the roads, many US cities are only just starting this process and tempers often flare as compromises are made to meet everyone's needs. However, every group has to take responsibility for making the road conditions better for all road users.

In this two-part editorial, I want to look at ways to help everyone be better road users and to help drive improved conditions that will hopefully help reduce incidences of road rage, accidents, and make the roads a more pleasant place for everyone.

Today, we will start at the bottom of the perceived road usage hierarchy by looking at pedestrians and cyclists. In next week's follow-up, I will conclude with a look at motorcyclists and car drivers.