Hi Cars!
Hi all:
I’m an urban planning student working on a project to try and address cycling/car/pedestrian behavior in Boston–particularly dealing with infrastructure lag (and getting everyone to use what we have, including our bike lanes, in a less contentious way). One of those ideas is to try and move from an aggressive “taking” of space from cars and into a more playful, assertive way of showing that bikes belong on the road as well. If you have any ideas on how to affect car—and cyclist—behavior, please let me know!
To that end, I went on a 2.5 hour ride yesterday along major arterials of Boston to enjoy the good weather and try and test out my theory. I put a sign that said “Hi Cars!” on the back of my basket and on my bike bag, and resolved to be the best version of law-abiding cyclist, stopping and waiting at every red light and stop sign. I then would try and look around and wave at any drivers who were also waiting, in the attempt at making a social connection and showing them I was there (and law-abiding). The photo and map here shows the set up and the results. On the whole, waving was really successful whenever I was at a light for a significant length of time. While there were a few negative interactions– cars blocking the Comm Ave bike box, one cutting me off to park, a few trucks parked in the bike lane, and the backup of taxis turning left onto Comm Ave at the Longfellow Bridge—on the whole I think it was more positive. It also really changed my attitude as a cyclist and my communication with the rest of the street.
I’d be curious if you have any feedback/ideas/comments. Thanks and see you on the streets!
3 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>
October 9th, 2010 @ 3:02 PM
So what was your hypothesis here? That being nice to drivers will facilitate a return in kindness? This hypothesis might ignore the factors that modulate the cyclist/ driver conflict.
The problem, for me, isn’t that drivers are rude – it’s that drivers are capable of accidentally killing me.
But please continue with your smiling and waving experiment. I actually like to do this as much as possible, but at a certain point, I begin to concentrate on staying alive and getting to my destination. My hypothesis is that it will become increasingly difficult for you to continue waving and smiling, when you start biking with a real destination.
So, I find myself yelling at drivers. Not because they violate the rules (they do), but because they come within inches of crippling me. This is the essence of the cyclist/car conflict, and I think that your experiment is lacking in the recognition of this threat.
Yelling at drivers comes from two separate motivations 1) anger from threats to my life and wellbeing, and 2) a broader goal to have drivers pay attention and respect cyclists as human beings. Much of the time, goal #2 can be accomplished by waving and smiling. Other times, I need to yell at someone as loud as I can, because they just swerved right without a blinker and risked my life, so they could get to Shaws a little bit faster.
October 14th, 2010 @ 12:18 AM
I do tend to agree with cyclestat… what I really get irked about is the excuse: “Sorry (that I almost killed you just now)… I didn’t see you.” Guess what… it’s your LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY Mr./Ms. driver of a big hunk o heavy machinery to see me! If you hit a pedestrian walking legally in a crosswalk, would you say “sorry Mr./Ms. Pedestrian that I just maimed you, but I didn’t happen to see you in the crosswalk”? I often point out to drivers that they just barely missed crippling or killing me… I’m not yelling, just out of breath from evading their dangerous driving… and they get very defensive as if somehow I have no right to bother them with the fact that they almost hit me. In fairness, some of the drivers are horrified and very apologetic. But many just tell me they didn’t see me and roll up their window and drive away. (For some reason it’s usually the ones in the REALLY expensive big SUVs or luxury cars that tend to do that most often. The folks in the beaters or who actually ride bikes themselves are usually quite nice and horrified to learn that they almost hit me because they didn’t see me.)
October 14th, 2010 @ 3:00 PM
Well, cyclostat, I do agree with you. A sign saying “Hi Cars!” is a very small part of increasing cyclist safety, and has to be coupled with better infrastructure, better enforcement, and just better attention paid on the part of drivers. But I also think there is something powerful in the attitude adjustment–I actually do cycle almost everywhere as my primary means of transportation cyclostat, and this was the first time I’ve gone on a ride in downtown Boston for recreational purposes–that came with wearing the sign and realizing that it meant I was inviting dialogue with drivers. It made me more aware of how my actions would be perceived by cars (no Idaho stopping when you’ve got a giant sign on). So again, while you raise very valid critiques, I think a less chastising attitude–in APPROPRIATE context–can help us win more converts. Appreciate your feedback!