Comment 71203

By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted November 10, 2011 at 10:59:05

First of all, cyclists can and do get tickets. It's happened to me and a good number of people I know.

The practical realities of cars and bikes are totally different. Cars are faster, but bikes are more nimble - able to start, stop and manoeuvre much faster. Bikes also have much less of a profile, and are far less dangerous to people, vehicles and pedestrians in a collision. Many practices which would be totally unsafe in a car or even with a motorcycle can be on a bicycle - such as sharing a lane with parked cars. That being said, the current 'wild west' approach clearly isn't working, especially with the growing influx of new cyclists.

As for driving and power, it may not be a central motivation of all drivers, but it certainly is to some. Any serious amount of cycling will confirm this, as will most driving. Some have a raging aversion to being passed, others simply love revving their engines, or just never want to hit the brakes. I'll admit, I feel it too - the capacity to travel at 150km/h makes it all too tempting to hate whoever's preventing you from doing so, even if you know intellectually that "they have every right". Unlike cycling, driving doesn't involve much personal energy expenditure, so it's far easier for stress to accumulate. Beyond this, I've seen far too much honking, screaming and threatening to ever doubt that people's ego and sense of power doesn't play a large role.

"Today, the notion of progress in a single line without goal or limit seems perhaps the most parochial notion of a very parochial century." — Lewis Mumford

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