Dear Cyclists: Don’t be this guy.
caro:
It was 12:30 AM on what was either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, depending on how you like to categorize these things. The significant other and I were driving in Brooklyn Heights (he is a New Yorker with a car, which is like a curious and rarely-encountered narwhal) and were slowly turning a corner from one one-way residential street onto another when, to our surprise, there was somebody punching the back of the car and yelling at us. From a bike. Apparently it was a pissed-off cyclist who believed that we had cut him off or were threatening to mow him down, or something like that.
Except we absolutely did not see him coming. We couldn’t have. He was dressed head-to-toe in black, including his hat. He was not sporting any kind of lights or reflectors on his bike. Worse, he was not wearing a helmet.
NYC bike advocates: I support everything you are working for. The fact that I know a lot of you as co-workers and professional colleagues and friends means that I realize the guy flipping us the bird last night and punching the back of the car was just a random asshole and not representative of the city’s bike community. But it made me realize that it just takes one narrow-minded city council member to have an unpleasant experience with a rude and irresponsible cyclist like we did, and entire progressive initiatives could be shelved.
So I hope you are never that guy, and if you know that guy, please pass word along to him and make sure he knows his dumb actions are hurting an entire community that’s working to make NYC a cleaner and more pleasant place to be. And if you are that guy, please get a damned helmet. And wear it.
All of this. Glad to hear that both the cyclist and you were OK. Every time I visit NYC, I see so many people ignore those aforementioned rules, but in addition to that, they just lack any kind of common courtesy for anyone else sharing the space. (This directed equally at all types of pedestrians and motorists, BTW.)
I love riding my bike through the city and in Philadelphia we’re super-fortunate to have an ever-improving bike transit system. Getting to ride in dedicated lanes is a privilege but it’s a two way street (pun intended!). Being a responsible pedestrian or motorist is so essential to keeping everything in check. It boggles my mind when I see people who consider themselves exceptions to the rules of the road. Guess what? None of us are ever the exception.
