It hurts us
August 6th, 2008 by Honey
The sun was blazing yesterday, so I might have been a little irritable on my ride home from work. It also didn’t help anything when the bus overheated and stalled on the freeway, leaving a packed load of folks without air conditioning. I didn’t stay on the bus, because I like to keep moving. Me and a few of the other passengers jumped the median and headed up to Barbur Boulevard. I only had 15 or so miles to go from there.
So I was probably a little cranky when a fellow bicyclist alertly and responsibly changed lanes and a vehicle in the entered lane behind the cyclist decided to lay on the horn. I would like to posit that honking your horn at a bicyclist is almost always a bad idea.
Startled, she swerved dangerously out of the driver’s way. Likely stunned, she pulled off the road to regain her bearings. The horn had shocked the rider and made me very angry. Was this the desired result of the driver’s behavior? I think not.
Honking a horn at a bicyclist (when not actually trying to alert the bicyclist to anything but your total and complete dominance of the road) is a violent act, and should be subject to a fine. When you honk your horn at someone who is not inside a vehicle of their own, the sound causes physical pain and discomfort. Also, it is not really all that fair, seeing as how the bicyclist has no recourse and cannot react appropriately to your rude actions. I have on multiple occasions wished for a portable air horn I can use to counter attacks by enraged drivers with no one else to take it out on but unsuspecting cyclists.
In my opinion, bicyclists should always be treated like pedestrians, since they suffer the same vulnerability. Would your first reaction to being inconvenienced by a pedestrian be to honk in their face? I hope not.
hi koen,
so.. you had me until “bicyclists should always be treated like pedestrians”.. really? this really confuses me as a new bicycler. and its not just you, it seems to be a significant amount of others.
even though bikers move as fast as cars in many urban roads, some (about halfish in my experience) don’t bother stopping at stop signs. but i stop for them (in my car).
when i’m riding bike i at least slow down and make sure there aren’t other cars with the right of way. the assumption for me is, bikers are vehicles, they deserve the rights and responsibilities of vehicles…
the honking car seems like it’s being a jerk though. it should be as if a model t or a horse drawn carriage was in front of him, the biker is just a slower vehicle.
is that too idealistic? it seems like the ongoing conflict between cars and bikes is only exasperated by bikers wanting special treatment, not stopping, etc.
Hi Joshua,
I think you’re right about bicyclists wanting special treatment and this attitude only inflaming the ongoing conflict with cars. The thing about it for me is that I believe that a bicycle is not a car, and therefore can’t actually be treated like one.
Unfortunately, we live in a solid infrastructure built with cars (and sometimes pedestrians) in mind. As you mentioned, you’ll slow down at a stop sign, but it defies all logic (in my opinion) to come to a complete stop. First of all, you lose all momentum and secondly, it usually confuses the cars that may also be at the intersection and can actually create a more dangerous situation.
I think we’ve discussed this before, but while I’m on the topic, I might as well reiterate that I believe that human beings have enough common sense to be able to navigate roads without the massive amounts of control imposed by the department of transportation. Although I am obligated to follow “the law”, I resent the fact that I must comply with rules that don’t do much for me in a car and only serve to make my life harder on a bike.
The reason I believe that bicyclists should always be treated like pedestrians, especially when it comes to who has the right of way, is because cyclists have absolutely no protection and in a fight between a car and a bike, the car will always win. Is it fair then, to insist that a bike is just another car, and so can be (and perhaps should be) treated the same way (i.e. cut off, tailgated, bike lanes ignored, etc.)?
The problem with this entire argument, of course, is that there will always be plenty of drivers who resent cyclists and lots of bicyclists who refuse to follow the law. I don’t believe there will ever be enough education or police sting operations or brake and helmet laws to force all us rogue cyclists from running the stop signs, albeit slowing down and evaluating right of way. Just as much, you cannot expect a toddler hanging out on a sidewalk not to jump out into the road. Human life is sacred and it’s not hard to use a brake pedal (it doesn’t take a lot of actual physical effort). If we cared about each other, stopped being so selfish, and really wanted to share the road, cars would slow down and be careful around bicycles, assuming that they are somewhat spontaneous in their behavior, just like pedestrians. There is no punctuality, no rush home, no cellphone conversation worth another person’s health and safety. As the beasts on the road, it is absolutely the car’s responsibility to ensure that no harm comes to those who are naked and vulnerable, whether these are pedestrians, children, skateboarders, rollerbladers, or even bicyclists.
Thanks for your comment!