dsn@umcp-cs.UUCP (11/04/83)
The following article by Colman McCarthy, entitled ``Beware the Lawless
Bicyclist,'' appeared on the editorial page of the Washington Post on
Saturday, Oct. 29:
In 1973, when I and a large number of others responded to the
then-dawning energy crisis by getting rid of our cars and commuting
to work by bicycle, we were praised by others and congratulated by
ourselves. Ten years later, cyclists have blown it.
Too many of us ride recklessly. We break traffic laws as if we
have a permanent right-of-way. We injure or scare pedestrians,
cause accidents with motorists, and maim or kill ourselves. With
good reason, we are seen as roadway terrors. William Saroyan
believed that ``the bicycle is the noblest invention of mankind,''
to which it now must be added that Americans in 1983 are the most
ignoble users.
I have only a few statistics and 10 years of surviving the odds of
50 pedaled miles a week, but I can say that what I fear the most on
the road are not cars, taxis, buses or trucks but other cyclists.
We are dangerous because we are unpredictable. We share the road
with other vehicles, but sharing the rules of the road is often
something else.
The data suggest we are not the civic-minded, virtuous underdogs up
against The Killer Car. IN 1981 in Washington, a year in which the
547 reported accidents involving bicycles represented a 10 percent
increase over 1980, cyclists were at fault in 49 percent of the
accidents and motorists in 35 percent.
What the police state is what everyone can see in open daylight:
cyclist lawlessness is rampant. Twice as many of Washington's
accidents in 1981 due to running lights or stop signs were caused
by cyclists. In the traffic anarchy of New York City, 461
pedestrians were injured by cyclists in 1981.
Before the mid-1970s rise in recreational, commuting and
courier-service bicycling, children were the major accident victims.
Washington's 1981 figures show a change. The age group 10 to 19 was
involved in 40 percent of the accidents, while those from 20 to 34
accounted for 41 percent.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that this is a
national trend. The greatest increase in cyclist death rates was
in the 25- to 34-year-old age group. In 1980, nearly 1,000
cyclists were killed in accidents.
With the death rate rising and an increase in lawlessness visible
in the streets of any American city, cyclists show a rank disregard
for even their own safety. ``Few bicyclists wear helmets,'' the
Institute reports in its forthcoming ``Injury Fact Book.'' A
``review of bicyclist deaths in Dade County, Fla., indicated that
the head or neck is the most seriously injured part of the body in
five of six fatally injured cyclists.''
What kind of lasso should be tightened around the necks of these
street cowboys? First it needs to be said that a fair portion of
cyclists obey the law. For me, next to my helmet and my prayers to
St. Christopher, the law is my surest protection. I keep it, it
keeps me. In addition, all of us cyclists have tales of taking
motorist abuse. This ranges from deliberate sideswipes that send
us flying, to foul language, which is a severe problem for women
cyclists.
Three initial reforms are obvious: mandatory helmet laws,
licensing of cyclists after age 16 and more safety courses in
elementary and junior high schools.
I am uncomfortable criticizing cyclists, being one myself and
knowing that many of the Earth's freest spirits are fellow
two-wheeled travelers. For years, we thought that motorists were
our natural enemies. Us Against Them. Now we know better. We've
become as frightening as we always believed motorists to be. It's
Us Against Us.
The statistics showing we are accident causers more than accident
victims, and that we ride helmetless, can't be ignored. Nor is
there much to the argument that motorists do their share of
lawbreaking, so why pick on cyclists?
Bicycling need not turn nasty. The simplicity of the machine, the
healthiness of the exercise, the freedom from the car addiction:
these peaceful joys shouldn't be squandered in the ugly street wars
that more and more cyclists seem to relish. In 1973, we were above
the battle. We should get back there again.
--
Dana S. Nau
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