Racism, sexism, classism – there’s a heap of outdated and offensive attitudes still floating around out there and this weekend I came face-to-face with an ugly one close to my heart: Bikeism.
I knew it existed of course, just didn’t know it had a name. You come across the “bikes shouldn’t be on the road†mantra sooner or later but this incident was very close to home both figuratively & literally.
I had just run an errand and was cruising along, happy in my world (as I usually am on two wheels). Braking with my left hand I indicated my right turn to the approaching car. He stopped in the middle of the road, right indicator flashing, but as he made no move to turn into the driveways opposite (and was sitting stationary) I gingerly turned into my street in front of his vehicle. I say “gingerly†because as he hadn’t turned I half expected him to take-off again and I was conscious of a head-on collision.
At this stage I’d already filed him under “unskilled/overcautious/but ultimately not that dangerous†when the lady in the passenger seat throws up her arms in disgust.
At that point I’ve moved on from “frustrated†to “pissed offâ€,  so despite promising myself not to confront motorists (because ultimately it serves no purpose) I u-turn and pedal back to see what I did to upset her so.
They have now exited the car, 20m up the road from where they stopped (to wrongly give way to me). “What did I do wrong?†I ask. “Why did you throw up your arms at me? I signalled my turn? I wasn’t going fast?â€. After some back and forth with the husband (defending his wife, and I expected that) she shouts back this gem:
Well that was the end of the discussion really, how can you respond to a statement like that? It deserves to be printed on a t-shirt. I turned around, rode the 50m back to my house and made a cup-of-tea. What would you have said?
I think for the most part you can’t change ingrained attitudes like that. These people believe nig-nogs should be back on the boat, women back in the kitchen and bikes back on the footpath, but if we make it perfectly clear they’re in the minority will they keep their opinions to themselves and tow-the-line? I’d like to think so.
So I got angry, I got depressed and eventually I got motivated. Emotions need a bit of a work-out every now and then to spark you up – not a bad thing after all.
I’ve had it quite often. IN fact, I nearly got knocked off my motorbike because some idiot tried to turn inbetween me and a guy cycling – he hit the rear of my motorbike. I’ve had people try and run me off the road on my motorbike too – i’ve had to abandon the road and use the footpath once or twice.. no apparent reason for it other than roadrage.
It’s quite common, as I spend most of my time cycling north or south on Gt Sth Rd, to have people try and cut me off because they dont want to wait.. tooting, swearing, flipping me the bird. I dont necessarily think it is “bikeist” – I think its just that they get impatient, many misjudge how long it is they are going to wait, or in your case wait too long and feel embarrassed and lash out.. in my case many of them just dont realise that I am doing between 35 and 50 kmh alot of the time, and they dont have to wait any longer than a car.. and they also dont realise that at 40kmh its damn hard to stop a bike – disk brakes on roadies have only just been released (cant even buy em in NZ yet).
A friend and I got spat on when cycling home on Friday night. It wasn’t because of any altercation with a motorist, it was entirely unprovoked, but not very pleasant at all.
I have 2 theories on this.
First, there’s a deep subconscious belief in humans that small gives way to big. Perhaps it had an evolutionary advantage back in the day. This belief would have it that big people are higher status than small people. Big houses are better than small houses. Big salaries. Big boats / cars / genitals etc. This belief works counter to the road rules, where vehicles are deemed to have rights of way based on road position or traffic signals, not size. Hard-wired beliefs are stronger than traffic rules.
Second, while it has become less acceptable to hate on blacks, Jews or cripples, somehow it is ok to diss people on bikes. Cyclists are the new gay.
This suggests a strategy for countering bikeism. A key message is that riding a bike is mainstream. More than a million Kiwis ride bikes. Your neighbour / workmate/ kid / wife rides a bike.
Riding a bike is an everyday thing to do. You can ride a bike wearing ordinary clothes. Councils collect rubbish, license dogs and provide for cycling. Business as usual.
I’ve had some bizarre experiences with car drivers on Auckland’s roads as a cyclist, I’ve had cars intentionally drive at me, pull out to fully block the cycle/bus lane upon seeing me, shout at me to “get off the road” etc. etc. Auckland is full of red-necks who think anything urban is bad, these are likely the same people who park all over the shared spaces.
@Patrick Why do we need a campaign to tell us what is normal? What we need is a campaign to tell us what is abnormal.
For most people, cycling is normal. Its something they do from the time they are kids. What is abnormal is stopping doing it because you need to commute. Most people aren’t stupid – most people are just fat/lazy/scared.
@Geoff: I hear where you’re coming from, I’ve ridden motorcycles for 30 years myself and commuting on my bicycle I’ve also had ‘road-rage’ incidents, even had food and bottles chucked at me.
This was a little different as although I don’t know them these people are more or less my neighbours, it was on a quiet (dead-end) suburban street and they looked in their 60s.
It was the statement she made to my face that floored me. The realization that intelligent people can actually think like that.
Maybe the mistake you’re making is thinking that they’re intelligent sentient beings. When you have National party MPs calling buses loser cruisers and such an unbalanced transport budget, it’s no wonder the general public believes cyclists are low lives.
Its definately the areas where you see the least cyclists that you have the most problems, so i agree if there was a lot more bikes around motorists would learn to deal with them better?
Also it seems that you get the most abuse when you are following the rules and being courteous, or is it just me?
@Antoine: when people are angry or embarrassed, they say stupid stuff. Perhaps they just felt bad because they did something stupid and it was compounded by you coming back to find out why?
Anyway – I do think its a good question – “what do people really think about cycling/cyclists?”
@Bbc – perhaps the problem is giving credence to anything politicians say – the very nature of the words politician/politics should signal to everyone that we can not trust a damn thing they say.
Generally speaking I do stop rather than make cars stop. Stopping and starting is a great user of petrol. It uses up more petrol to stop and start than cruise, whereas its easier for us to stop.
@Dave S:
Dave, The point was (and sorry if I didn’t explain it very well) that the car was traveling straight ahead past my side-road and shouldn’t have stopped at all. I would have gladly stopped, but that wouldn’t have been necessary if the guy was obeying the road rules. He should have just driven past and I would have turned across the centerline behind him.
I can forgive an old chap who is being cautious, it was his wife’s reaction that got me going!
@Antoine. No probs. I myself am also no stranger to cycling adreneline!
One of the reasons I am enjoying life in the Netherlands is that here bikes rule, and all car drivers know that bikes have right of way….no matter what. It is the car driver’s responsibility to be aware of the bikes around them, give way to them, make space for them etc… an excellent arrangement! Of course the dedicated cycle lanes, bike-only traffic lights etc help, but it is the mindset of drivers that really makes it all work. I guess it helps that nearly all drivers are also cyclists….