My Fan Club
I have a fan club. Well, the fan club is actually a hate club and it has only one member. Having waited till 8:30 PM to avoid traffic, I was riding my bike back from the grocery store at 9:15 PM. Most of the ride is on this service road (see picture below).
As you can see by the footprint of the blue sedan, the road is barely 8 feet wide. This is the southbound lane and has over twelve driveways entering or leaving it, making the already dangerous sidewalk riding even more scary. In the northbound lane on my return journey, Xtracycle fully laden with grocery bags, I had stopped at the traffic light. From the traffic turning left across the intersection from me, a car while turning into Southside Blvd, rolled down their window and yelled, "Use the sidewalk. I see you every time …". I wasn’t even in his direction of traffic.
I have repeatedly managed to anger somebody while just riding my bike. I have been promoted from a ‘murderer’ status to that of a ‘serial killer’!
Having done recent discussions on Carbon Trace and Commute Orlando about harassment to bicyclists, I have come to the following conclusions:
Perpetrators are neighborhood specific:
Increased acceptance to bicyclists occur in neighborhoods where more bicyclists ride. Most people in these neighborhoods own bicycles and use them for errands. Most of such neighborhoods are in the tightly knit urban core. Pedal into suburbia and you might as well participate in a one-man-pro-abortion-parade at the Vatican. You will not be welcome.
Suburban local roads, manufactured with 92% funding from income, state and property tax [According to the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA)] is paid by everyone, bicyclist or not. Do I hear anyone say ‘Socialist’! When you live in the ugliest mass produced homes ever made surrounded by grass, plants and trees mostly not native to the state, you get to drive a car everywhere and claim the road as your birth-right. Numerous Home Owners Associations probably send out weekly news letters updating residents on the trendy thing to yell at bicyclists. When the same person moves into a walkable neighborhood, social indications prompt them to behave better with bicyclists.
To ride your bike, you need to learn to live a low quality of life:
Most of the veterans suggest that upon harassment, waving (with all five fingers) is the best policy. Others suggest a no-reaction policy. Some suggest getting a video camera at all times.
Some descendents of Ninjas (or of David Webb) suggest learning to memorize the license tag number of the perpetrator’s car while they have honked, startled you, yelled at you, thrown things at you and cut you off while you try to re-gain balance in the dust left behind by the speeding vehicle. These persistent advocates go on to recommend calling law enforcement every time a harassment occurs. If I was to follow this, I would be the frequent-caller-numero-uno at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They may give me my own personal 1-800 number, outsourced to Bangalore and the whole nine yards.
Therefore, to ride my bike, bike-lane or not, I am required to either be a re-incarnation of Mahatma Gandhi or buy expensive equipment. I am to be a martyr while promoting for bicycles as transportation. These methods reduce the quality of life. There is nothing remotely close to good quality, even O.K. quality in being harassed once every two mile trip I take. The way I see it, following the advice of these veterans hasn’t really changed anything for years. Isn’t this the classic definition of insanity.
I enjoy living close to work. Only if I could ride in my spread out neighborhood like this guy: http://amsterdamize.com/2009/07/05/55-km-to-amsterdam/
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July 10th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Freddotu has a fanclub too… http://vimeo.com/4320924
In all seriousness, I would not be comfortable riding on the road and traffic conditions in your photo. I avoid roads like that.
I lived in the burbs for years. I didn’t face the level of harassment you describe, but I certainly got more than I do in town. I am much happier living in the core, it is far more pleasant.
There was a time when I was so fed up with the hateful BS that I was ready to give up cycling. Becoming a more assertive rider saved my sanity. For one thing, just having the mindless mistakes stop took one level of stress away from my riding. I have noticed a decrease in harassment. But more than anything, it made the remaining incidents easier to shrug off.
I don’t know what your solution is. It sounds miserable. I would probably be inclined to move. I have a low tolerance for subjecting myself to bad energy. But bicyclists should be afforded respect on every road. We should not have to avoid certain roads do to incivility. We should not have our travels shit upon by small-minded selfish a-holes every where we go. But solving problems requires being proactive and very few advocates are trying to solve these problems.
Video cameras are cheap. Documenting abuse is probably your best first step toward finding a solution. Did you email George Martin? He forwarded my email to one of his friends in the Jax PD and sent him to read the harassment thread on CO.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:44 am
Keri,
I am strongly considering moving to the urban core. I will have to purchase a motor vehicle to commute to work. It is not the distance but the time taken by bicycle commuting that will affect my dog.
I have been assertive for over a year now. I dont think there is any more optimism left in me. I know that I am riding for myself, not them but the constant stimulus is not easily ignored.
That road is the only connection to the nearest grocery store (1.3 miles). All other stores are over 5 miles away. I always control the lane on that road and tried it a few times during rush hour (the hour the picture was taken)! That was a hoot! Bikejax is currently working with the FDOT to put up some signage on the service road that says “bicycles may take full lane”.
I have not emailed George Martin yet. I plan to get to it sometime this weekend.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
BMUFL signs are a good start.
It would be nice to see a slap-down by a police sting operation, too. That requires a PD that understands the law and the needs of bicycle drivers, and is willing to place some priority on it.
What you have to deal with there is a serious issue. You have the worst of the worst with your location, but it highlights the absurd inequity of our system from the infrastructure to the culture.