Here’s some grim reading. A cyclist in Los Angeles who decided to stand-up to a bus driver who wouldn’t accept his rightful place on the road ended up having himself a very bad day:
Eventually an LAPD patrol car pulls up and two cops jump out. The cyclist naively expects to hear “What’s going on here?” but is instead greeted by “Hands behind your back!”
The immediate presumption that it’s the loony in the bike helmet causing the problem here—to the point that he needs to be restrained—is a bit disturbing.
The cyclist’s wife who is just arriving on the scene yells at the cops, “Hey, he’s the one who called you!” which apparently sounded like “Hey, put me in handcuffs too!” because Officer Hayhurst promptly placed her in handcuffs and placed her face against the wall.
Nice work boys.
Two and a half hours after the beginning of this incident, Supervisor Mike Dunn stands on the sidewalk explaining in his most earnest manner, “But you have to understand, that’s how they are trained to drive. They are told to honk at road hazards!”
Sounds like he’s got it clear: bike equals road hazard. The only trouble is, he’s completely wrong: a bicycle is traffic, just like any other vehicle.
I’m not quite sure what all this achieved, but it’s an interesting insight into how some people view cyclists.
What we need is a Rodney King bicycle style cyclists riot. Then we’d get some respect.
Posted by Surly Dave | 26 September 2007, 10:23 pmCareful what you say SD! Those News Corp journos could be watching, waiting to take you out of context.
From where I sit, I’m not sure that we exactly need a riot…
Posted by Treadly and Me | 27 September 2007, 2:00 pma bit like the Secretary of Transportation in the US, same attitude, sadly it filters down, and is endemic in too many groups -check this out for a prime example
Posted by Rob | 27 September 2007, 8:48 pmYeah, Mary Peters couldn’t be more wrong. But her pathetically ill-informed views add to the perception that cyclists are freeloading and should get out of the way of the “paying” road users. This is utter crap, but it’s a hard perception to break and has just made harder (in the US at least) by the Secretary of Transportation’s twisted logic.
Posted by Treadly and Me | 28 September 2007, 12:02 pm