there was a lot of talk today about cyclists and our rights in the city compared to those of motorists, pedestrians etc. it was mostly spurred by darcy allan sheppard's murder on monday but has been an ongoing battle in toronto for years. i've been spit on, hit (with cars and hands) yelled at and am almost doored daily, so - i break the rules.
me, on a bicycle, at 2am, running a stop sign is not going to kill anyone: you, sitting with your car door open, ignoring bike bells and being completely ignorant of your surroundings, will.
i'm tired of an us vs. them mentality between cars and bikes. the one good point that was made (in an otherwise useless dialogue the torontoist hosted this morning) was that we are caught up in a "war on choice". some bike lanes, some death traps. it's safe to ride half the city and harrowing in the other. we need to work together to make it safe for everyone. toronto is supposed to be a bike friendly city and, were this the case, i wouldn't narrowly avoid preventable accidents every morning on the way to work.
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- STACEY MCCOOL
- i'll make you dinner and then party till i puke. it happens when a grrl gets old.
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1 comment:
It's getting out of control. I have been hit a few times and have many close calls lately. I've taken a shine to kicking cars in the more extreme cases so maybe they will learn a lesson or two. There's a real aggression on the streets right now between cars and cyclists that if everyone just paid a little bit more attention to their surroundings could be entirely avoided.
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