This morning a woman driving an SUV called me an asshole. I was on my bike, turning left. I had arrived at the intersection of Washington and Boardman streets before her, used my hand signal to indicate my intent, and turned left. I nodded my helmeted head to her in thanks for obeying the stop sign. She looked down from her perch in the big blue box, shook her blonde bob, and swore. Then she hit the gas and roared downhill.
I’d like to say this was the first time my bike and I were targets of scorn. But it wasn’t. Once, on Byfield’s Church Street, a guy in a Dodge Ram truck hit the accelerator just inches from my side, sped ahead, then stopped, shouting “Fuck You,” and raising his middle finger. Even on the Clipper City Rail Trail, even when I warn pedestrians with a cheery “Hi there! I’m on your left!” walkers can be snarky.
In fairness, plenty of drivers grant me wide berth and defer at crossroads, and plenty of moms with strollers and joggers say thanks when I alert them of my presence on the Rail Trail. They don’t want to be hit any more than I want to hit them.
But all one need do is peruse social media to read angry missives about cyclists. Risk-takers. Rules-of-the-road averse. Pavement hogs. When a 68-year-old cyclist was struck by a mini-Cooper on High Street last summer, Facebook comments included, “Sad this happened, but bikes don’t belong on the road,” and “Maybe the cyclist wasn’t paying attention.” Others wished him a speedy recovery, but the vibe was clear: in the battle for pavement, cars rule.
As with any debate, germs of truth burrow on both sides. In this case, cyclists are guilty of many accusations. They often zip through yellow, even red, lights. Sometimes they ride on the wrong side of the road, or on sidewalks. Many don’t use hand signals to indicate turning or stopping. But let’s face it: physics sides with cars. How can you argue with 3,500 pounds of metal compared to my road bike, which I can lift with one hand? What about box trucks, the source of at least two fatal bike accidents in the Boston area this summer? It is little wonder that many cyclists are turning to off-road bikes. Riverside Cycles in Newburyport does a brisk business in gravel and mountain bikes; customers claim that they have grown increasingly fearful of drivers.
The irony is that we live in a wonderful area to explore on a road bike. What can beat cycling the canopied lanes of West Newbury, Groveland, and Merrimac on a sunny fall day, the foliage glistening? Or maneuvering through a cluster of wild turkeys at the Indian Hill Reservoir? Or pedaling early on a July morning beside the Merrimack River dotted with kayakers and fishing boats, the steam rising from the water?
And while there’s nothing wrong with off-road cycling, exploring woods and logging roads by bike, why must we choose? Why can’t road cyclists feel as safe on Washington Street as mountain bikers do in the Georgetown-Rowley State Forest? Studies have proven that the more cyclists on the road, the more aware are drivers. I would like to think that if road cyclists persevere and proliferate, tolerance and perhaps even mutual respect will evolve.
I’d like the North Shore to follow the trends in other urban areas by adding more, not fewer, bike lanes. Maybe divide the bike lanes in high traffic areas with physical barriers, such as wands. I’d love to see parents launch more bike trains, a European trend in which kids and parents bike to school, picking up more kids and parents along the way. I’d like to see more bike racks around town. I’d like to see the city launch a public bike share to make cycling accessible to all, from visitors to locals who don’t have bicycles.
There will always be, I suppose, the car-centric, the people who believe their rights dominate, just as there will always be cyclists who believe that they have the right of way. But, as in most cases, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. And swearing at cyclists isn’t going to get us there.
Sue Hertz
Newburyport Resident
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