No more Jay-Biking

Doug Morgan is right.

Doug is my rolling role model, my two-wheeling muse, my eco-physio-communal inspiration. Doug bikes to work most every day. (Once, I biked with him, but disliked the taste of my own blood.)

Doug is right.

He observed me riding a bicycle in traffic and saw me take unlawful advantage of being on a bike: when there was no moving traffic, I zipped through a red light.

It's not normal behavior for me. I'm pretty strict about adhering to the law. Of all my fears, a top five fear is going to jail.

The Jay-Biker's Rationalization
Running a red light on a bike is so available and so juicy when there's no crossing traffic in any direction and, really, who expects a bicycle to wait at a traffic light when there is no cross traffic?

Plus, it's safer for the bicyclist to cross a big intersection when there is no traffic flowing from any direction. Similarly, I've read that jaywalkers are safer crossing in the middle of a block (where there is only cross traffic) than lawful pedestrians crossing at an intersection (where traffic is flowing in various directions and turning). If safety is our goal, then I should be a jay-biker.

Doug's Argument
Doug gently admonished me. "Please don't do that," he said. He went on...

"There is such tension between automobile drivers and bicyclists. The tension — and the danger it produces — could be resolved if: (1) each automobile driver would recognize each bike rider's right to a safe share of the road; and (2) each bike rider would obey the laws of the road."

Ever the lawyer-citizen, Doug added this gem:

"Every time someone breaks a law, even a small infraction, I think that democracy dies a little bit."

My Pledge
Now, today, in the Columbus Dispatch, comes a front-page story of the tension between bicyclists and drivers. 

Today, I renounce jay-biking. I will uphold the law.

Now, egad, my self-righteousness is complete. Run for your lives.

Comments

[Daniel Newman]

The problem is that at a red light or stop sign a bike is forced to full stop. The amount of energy required to get the bike back up and go is enormous. For a car the requirement is just a slight more pressure on the accelerator and no skin off the driver. What gets me is these guys in cars are called drivers while us on the bikes are called riders. Driving connotes a more active exercise than riding. Propelling a bike is much more active and should have higher regard.

[Jim Coe]

Well...Happy Earth Day (belatedly)
I'm travelling and read today's post from Lucy's Coffee in Boise, Idaho...I find the DISPATCH report of David's assault disturbing, as I have known him now for 35-years and the violence creeps me. Just yesterday I watched a pedestrian at a crosswalk in Ellensburg, WA get hit by a car.

BREATHE, people...be in the here and now, and avoid the space that another object is currently occupying!