In my recent rant about the poorly designed bike lanes in Elizabeth Street, I argued that due to the bad design of those lanes cyclists should not be obliged to use them.
So I can't tell you how pleased was I this evening when riding down there I rolled up behind two gendarmes on bikes—both out in the general traffic lane and totally ignoring what laughingly passes for a bike lane. They were certainly well clear of the door zone.
I'll take that as vindication. After all, if it's good enough for the whallopers…
And I would note in passing that it's the first time I've ever seen pretty slow-moving riders take the lane and get docile respect from motorists.
(Of course it wouldn't have anything to do with the word POLICE emblazoned across the back of their shirts, would it?)
Comments
Where do you reckon we could get those shirts? If we made them up ourselves with a picture of Sting on the front, they'd have to let us off as sad 80's music fans instead of charging us with impersonation!
Ha! It had occurred to me that having such a shirt might be the ultimate safety accessory, although I'm not sure that I'd fool anyone.
However the 80's music cover story has some merit. And with very little effort some of the ol' songs could be adapted to get a good positive message out there. For example, "Don't
standdrive so close to me", "Everybreathlane you take", and so on. But I'm not sure what could be done with "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"…