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1. I biked through the intersection of Alabama of Pennsylvania SE today, as I do everyday. Only today, a horrible car accident had occurred (apparently in the presence of many DC health officials - go figure). Traffic was a complete mess, cops everywhere, jaws of life, like 300 ambulances, etc. I rode extremely cautiously down the remainder of Pennsylvania to the capitol.

2. Despite that, on 11th and K later on my commute I was being tailed by a guy in a pick up truck who was honking his horn and yelling at me because he wanted to beat the red light. feeling pressured, I ran the red light. I also dodged a group of pedestrians, one of whom looked like a DC activist type who screamed "share the road a**hole!" A warranted response to my intransigence. for sure.

3. Shaken up from both incidents, I remembered I had to stop at the starbucks on 7th and Penn to pick up a laptop from my roommate. Biking up 7th on the way home, I was nearly run over by a woman in a merecedes convertible on a cell phone as she cut into the bus/bike lane and ran a red light (for the umpteenth time).

4. I ran a red light at 7th and New York because there was no perpendicular traffic and, from experience, I know that running that red light is safer for me because I can slowly accelerate and take on the hill from New York to N at vehicular speed by the time the lights turn green and the stream of cars shoot up 7th.

5. I arrived home a complete mess.

Why did I relate this story to you? Well, for one, to express solidarity with the numerous bikers on this blog who have similar harrowing experiences every single day (solidarity, brothers and sisters!). and two, because I hope that this anecdote illustrates the realities of the car/bike relationship in DC for you non cyclists. Did I "break the law" without any reason to do so? Absolutely. Was I pressured to break it by cars looking to do the same? Absolutely. Did I see cars break the law? Of course! Either way, I hope you can understand why I did what I did (I'll do something similar tomorrow, no doubt).

Where people like Lance and I disagree is on the remedy. No situation will ever be perfect, but Lance's solution is to ban bikes. that's fine, but I can tell you that the laws will still be broken. I see it as a great example of why comprehensive, independent cycling infrastructure has emerged as a necessary component of any responsible city planning. Separate, but equal. Separate, dedicated lanes; equal, in that those lanes are created by chipping away at car sewers (which calms down traffic, as many studies have shown). Ultimately, we as a city and region have to ask ourselves whether we want to embrace multimodalism, and if we really believe that adding exclusive vehicular capacity is really the answer. It may be, but judging from what 495 probably looks like right now, I'd say bike free zones aren't necessarily going to be the bee's knees for the Hummer set.

So, /rant, have a great evening, everyone.

by JTS on Aug 5, 2009 5:54 pm • link • report