Jessica McFall’s op-ed in today’s News-Leader calls for mutual respect between car drivers and bicycle riders. Hard to disagree with that. But I have a far different experience on Springfield’s roads than she describes:
Recently while riding my bicycle home from work, someone threw a handful of loose change at me from their window, hitting me in the back. Needless to say, it hurt. I am fortunate that it didn’t cause me injury. That isn’t all. I have heard of many occasions from other cyclists that items have been thrown at them from moving vehicles, causing an accident.
I’m sure if you ask any cyclist they will tell you that on Springfield streets, it is rare to ride your bike without someone shouting at you from their vehicle to “get on the sidewalk,” other pointless phrases or needless expletives. If I am not mistaken, the sidewalks are reserved for pedestrians and the roads are reserved for vehicles and bicycles.
Well, for me it is rare to suffer this abuse. Why the difference?
My survey — still ongoing — is my attempt to discover what’s going on.
I certainly do not want to minimize the impact of these harsh experiences for other bicyclists. I simply want to understand why they do not happen to me in the sort of frequency this op-ed suggests.
Comments 13
Gender and ethnicity of the cyclist have a lot to do with the frequency and level of abuse. A motorist who did not like me controlling the lane told me to go back to India as “we” don’t ride bicycles in the United States. That was followed by a threat to beat me up. I don’t remember any of my fairer-skinned friends facing that level of abuse while controlling the lane on the same stretch of road.
The sophistication and intellectual level of the motorist may not be much of a factor since this guy was dressed in dress clothes and tie and drove a nice car. I have received similar or worse abuse from less savvily dressed motorists.
Now that I have moved to a more bicycle friendly part of town, the level of abuse is minimal. I do ride my bike to work twice a week and it takes me along the same road. That stretch of road is now widened. Therefore I don’t step on as many toes.
It is difficult to infer a theory based on one person’s experience. There isn’t simply enough statistical data to support that. Also, rarely do people who have pleasant experiences come forward to talk about it. It is usually the ones who face the harsh side of a motorist that rant. That skews the inference of media’s research when they call for public’s stories.
Posted 25 Jun 2010 at 7:02 am ¶This disparity concerns me. Especially since it seems to me that I’m inviting scorn by rolling on this with rear baskets:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3552230129_5ba761b0ed.jpg
While wearing a stickered out:
http://www.i-volution2008.com/images/helmets/809_gloss/809_gloss_1.jpg
More often than not, I’m loudly singing “Walking on Sunshine.” I’m interested to hear the results of the survey and if it indeed points to women being bullied which is unacceptable. If you have to be a crazy looking tall guy – no offense Andy, I’m right there too
) – it hurts the chances to get more people riding.
Posted 25 Jun 2010 at 9:06 am ¶I am not sure a person can truly understand when and why these incidents happen. My incident of being hit with the full soda can last year was the only time I’ve ever been assaulted. I think it’s more about certain people just being mean and angry and when a cyclist happens to be in the way, they get the brunt of the anger taken out on them. I’ve had lots of close passing cars, honks and some verbal but the physical stuff is hard to get past. I am not ashamed to say it has made me think twice about commuting on my bike.
Posted 25 Jun 2010 at 9:18 am ¶There was a study about this in NYC, I think by Trans-Alt??? I’m thinking the more ‘kit’ the cyclist was dressed the more flack they caught … wearing a helmet seemed to draw more harassment than other headgear (or none). Also, women seemed to NOT be harassed as much. I’m thinking that Matt Lauer of the Today Show road one day wearing a longish, blond wig to try to look like a female and thought motorists gave him more room. Maybe gals are more comfortable in the big city because there are people everywhere. Here it’s possible to ride in some pretty secluded areas???
Posted 25 Jun 2010 at 12:31 pm ¶Do people get to see the results to date if they take the survey? I’ve held off because I’m a Springfield furriner.
I also notice that iPhones are bad for grammar and even worse for punctuation.
Posted 25 Jun 2010 at 5:24 pm ¶Andy, reading the survey (and your blog for the last several months) has made me want to bike in Springfield again. I’ll just have to fly 1,500 miles to get there! I’d be curious to see what it’s like to bike there now compared to my experience during my time at (S)MSU. The street design of Springfield is so different from Providence, I’m very curious to see what it’s like getting around there by bike. I’m pretty sure that my cycling style has changed since then as well. When do you plan on closing the survey and publishing the results?
Posted 25 Jun 2010 at 8:02 pm ¶Coy I would believe the “kit” and “woman” theory most of the time. Although, my assault came on a non-busy road, I am a woman and I don’t wear “bike” clothes! Sometimes I’m afraid it’s just random violence.
Posted 25 Jun 2010 at 9:34 pm ¶I certainly think gender, age, ethnicity and attire (which sometimes plays into perceived sexuality/gender identity) have a huge role in the vehicular backlash.
Posted 25 Jun 2010 at 10:16 pm ¶Yes! I’ll send the raw data to anyone who is interested.
Posted 26 Jun 2010 at 5:19 pm ¶Today I rode to Wekiva Springs with 2 other women. The 45 mile round trip doubled my incivility encounters for the year. Not a single one of the uncivil motorists had difficulty passing or was the least bit affected by our presence. People who live in the sprawl zone are just mean. I think it’s anger over the meaningless and stressful lives they’ve constructed for themselves, spending hours in their cars every day.
I spend most of my time here in the urban core where exceptionally courteous people outnumber jerks about 50:1. I guess it’s good to go up there from time to time and get a dose of how much work we need to do.
Posted 27 Jun 2010 at 7:00 pm ¶Keri… I suspect I may find the same thing in my data from the survey re: the sprawl zone. Let’s call it an initial hypothesis. I’m going to end the survey tomorrow and begin compiling the results.
Posted 27 Jun 2010 at 9:05 pm ¶I noticed the survey didn’t ask about specific routes. Is it possible that street and time of day play a part in the abuse received? I’ve only had issues on some streets during rush hour, particularly in the morning as people are going to work.
Posted 28 Jun 2010 at 11:49 am ¶Matthew… For the sake of brevity, I went with those route descriptions instead with the hopes of being able to cross check with the areas where respondents live.
Posted 28 Jun 2010 at 12:02 pm ¶