In the last two miles of my 18 mile commute, I have a one mile stretch of narrow two laned road, with curbs on each side, but it has a 25 MPH speed limit, so I just pedal full out for that one mile and do my best to get through it. This morning, about three cars stacked up behind me, and they started honking their horns at me. How irritating. I got caught by the red light at that very last light two blocks before it widens into a four line highway. The lady in the SUV (Ford Expedition, no less, Ugh!) that was behind me honking her horn, pulls up along side me as I’m waiting at the red light (she had to go over the center line to do that, and was only inches off my elbow). She rolls down her window and starts telling me I’m going to get killed riding in the road like that.
“Oh, I don’t think so”, I said, “I’ve been doing this for years.”
“Really? Well I don’t know if you realize it, but you were riding way out in the middle of the road. You could get killed riding like that.”
“Oh no, according to bicycle safety rules, when you have a narrow street like this, with curbs on the side, you are supposed to ride out in the lane. It’s called ‘claiming the lane’. It leaves room for me to maneuver, and it discourages cars from unsafe passing”. I should have added something like “And you honking your horn behind me was just plain rude and impatient” but I couldn’t think that fast – I was too busy countering her you-are-an-idiot-and-I-am-right-and-you-are-wrong attitude, which was so apparent in the smug look on her face.
Her response was “And you can’t just use a side road?”
Now she was really being a d-ck, and I realized there was no use arguing with her, so I just said “Nope.” Then I walked my bike forward and put it back squarely in front of her front bumper, clearly pointing out that was my spot and I was damn sure going to keep it and not let her scoot past me at the red light. The light turned green and of course she was stopped again two blocks later, where the road finally widens, so I pulled up beside her this time and tapped the window. She rolled it down and I said “One more thing: the speed limit on this road is 25, and I was going 22, so it’s not like I was obstructing traffic, you know what I mean?”
“Oh I know, and there’s a school zone back there too and people just blow right through it.”
So there was that same smug attitude. Like most motorists, her attitude is: we drivers do not drive safely, so therefore you cyclists should just stay off the road. It’s the first thing I get from every motorist about cycling. And I always counter it with this simple statistic: 36,000 people died on the road last year, all in their cars. Not 36,000 cyclists, but 36,000 MOTORISTS. Yet everyone just climbs into their car and drives off without a care in the world, thinking they are so safe.