Scott Dodd's Blog
Cyclists vs. the law (and the hood of a car)
November 20, 2008
Posted by Scott Dodd in Living Sustainably
Just a couple of quick notes about some recent biking stories that I couldn't resist mentioning:
In New York, a couple of professors from Hunter College promoted a study this week claiming to show that city cyclists routinely break the law. The study isn't available online and hasn't been published, as far as I can tell, but from the writeup on The New York Times' City Room blog, lots of cyclists and others are picking apart its basic methodology, understanding of the law and overall conclusions. Regardless of its validity, I think both the study and the ensuing discussion point to a larger problem: The need to design streets that are safer for everyone and apply traffic laws in a way that make sense for bikers, drivers and pedestrians. As Wiley Norvell with Transportation Alternatives tells City Room: "It's our philosophy that good street design gives us better behavior."
Meanwhile, in Portland, a driver who chased down a cyclist and tried to ram him -- and then sped off with the biker clinging to the hood of his car -- was sentenced to 45 days in jail. What did the biker do to get the driver so riled up? He yelled at him to slow down (maybe using profanity, according to a police report). There's video of the end of the incident below. Commenters in several places have said that the sentence seems a little light -- but of course there's always someone willing to blame the biker for daring to mouth off at a driver. Bikeism, anyone?
| Cyclist on car hood |
(bookmark or email this entry)
Comments are closed for this post.
- Scott Dodd
- Website Editorial Manager
- New York City
- In 12 years as a newspaper reporter, I covered everything from hurricanes to highways to...
- more→
Comments
Dave Reid — Nov 21 2008 01:33 PM
I often find myself wanting to yell out at a car speeding down a local street, or ignoring crosswalk laws but I remind myself that I'm not in a metal box and have no protection from what generally will be a crazy reaction. The driver should of gotten more than 45 days he could of killed the guy.