New Crop of Bicycle Commuters
Whether it's been gas prices, global warming, or falling behind on the car payment, more people are riding bicycles during my daily commute. I ride my bike to work because I want to be the change I want to see in the world. More cyclists is what I want and I like what I see.
I'd like it even better if this new crop of bicycle commuters would
- Ride on the street instead of the sidewalk.
- Take the ear buds out.
- Stay on the right side of the road.
Once I tried to admonish a cyclist for running red lights. It didn't go so well and I'm sorry I had confronted him. He's still riding, but I fear this tactic could stop others from riding. I don't call out cyclists running red lights anymore.
Still, we want to socialize the ideas that lead to safe and courteous cycling. How best to do this?
I had written not long ago about "Sowing Flowers". Perhaps the best way to set the tone is to set an example. Be the change you want to see in the world.
One of the places I've found this works best is at a stop light. When I'm in front of another cyclist, they usually will not come around me to run a red light. When they are in front and run the light, they often notice that I haven't followed. It's a simple message: there are people on bikes who stop at red lights.
So we begin another school year and the training of a new crop of bicycle commuters. What sort of teachers will they find?
Labels: bike-commuting, courteous
posted by Jett @ 9:22 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
I too have been seeing more and more commuters! Yes they often are on the sidewalk, going the wrong direction and running red lights. I just shake my head at the last ones. If the oppertunity presents I've tried to give helpful advice. I too when I started out didn't know 'how' to commute properly. Finding info online has had a tremendous affect on my commuting abilities. I wish the AJC would do an article about how to commute safely- a very clear, consise article with pictures. Instead of the 'more commuters, more accidents' story they did awhile back. I think this would go a long way in teaching people how to ride safely and to teach drivers that the law allows us on the road!
The thing with AJC is they have to sell papers. An article about how to commute safely needs to be placed in the context of something that's going on. The Critical Mass made for some good opportunities to discuss this and the Courteous Mass has been somewhat revived. I know a writer who has been looking for an angle to present a cycling story for some time. We keep batting ideas back and forth, but still haven't gotten anything that we think will engage the typical newspaper reader.
The Wikipedia article on Vehicular Cycling is excellent. Also, the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign has a course called Confident City Cycling. These are both excellent ways to learn the safest and most courteous way to operate a bicycle.
I'm still looking for newspaper story angle. Let me know if you come up with something that might hook a reader.
This morning on Ponce de Leon at the Krispy Kreme store, a woman with a cellphone in her left ear rides on the sidewalk, on the wrong side of the road all while running a red light.
I need to mount a video camera on my helmet with a voice-activated "on" switch so we can play the game "How many things can you find wrong in this picture?"
Hey Jett...I have a possible “hook” for your AJC story: It’s you.
Really.
Your blog is terrifically positive, your riding has progressed in stages over the last few years, and your “recreational commuting” idea is quirky and engaging.
This writer you know should meet you for a commute to your work. For this, you could reinvigorate last year’s “bike train” from Candler Park and even make it coincide with an ABC coffee day at Thumb’s Up. (The next one’s a week from Thursday, Sept. 4.) If I didn’t teach at 8 a.m. Thursday, I would even have come to be part of the train.
This writer could do a little feature on you, your biking, and your general ’tude about it all...as well as directing folks to your biking blog here...it’s a thought, anyway.
Hope to see you on a weekend soon.
Barry
I would like to get the morning Bike Trains going again and the Commuter Breakfasts at Thumbs Up are a lot of fun. I should try stirring up a group to make the ride.
It would also be a chance to plug ABC's membership drive (they're trying to reach 1000 members).
Although I like the story and have discussed it on a few occasions with the writer, he hasn't been able to sell the story to his editor. The Critical Mass was an angle they were interested in, but the CM I chose to participate in had more interesting stories once the police got involved.
What we need is a mildly subversive secret society. Maybe if we rode around under the cover of darkness putting flyers on the windshields of SUVs, painted our own bike lanes, or started up some other wild fleeting rumpus. Stepping outside of the establishment is an ironic way to try to become part of the establishment, but it has a certain cachet that would attract the young at heart.
Gosh, that does sound rather like Critical Mass. No wonder that ride is so much fun.
Sorry I missed the ride tonight. The opportunity to ride opened up for me just a little too late.
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