I read an article recently that talked about the battle between motorists and cyclists.  How it’s a competition. How we treat each other so poor on the road, and act as we wouldn’t in a (as I believe the example was) in a grocery store.

Sure, I have seen cyclists flick off motorists, yell at motorists… but can you blame them? If a cyclist makes a mistake, the cyclist could die. If the motorist makes a mistake, still, the cyclist could die. So when a motorist nearly kills someone, I think that getting yelled at is not that awful of a consequence.

Of course I’m biased, because as a cyclist…. It’s shocking the times I’ve been yelled “fuck you, bitch!” or some combination of those words, just because I point at the cyclist/pedestrian green light to show motorists I do indeed have the right of way, or because I yell, “watch out!”  when I’m almost hit by a motorist who is clearly reading their phone.

Last week, a cyclist was killed in Boston by a cement truck in a neighborhood of Boston unsafe to cyclists, unsafe but entirely necessary for cyclists to get to and from work. I feel that in a city such as Boston, every neighborhood should be safer for cyclists; however, when enough cyclists already use a particular route to commute, the city must respond by making it safe for those thousands of individuals. (For example, the site of the crash services Fenway, Longwood Medical, and other high-traffic areas where cyclists relay on their bike as primary source of transportation).

Continue reading “Cyclists – Take Space” →