Illustration by KEVIN GROULX/QMI AGENCY

Opinion: Cyclists should be praised for their choices, not prosecuted.

I saw a cyclist the other day, during one of the sloppiest days yet this winter. I don’t know if he was a courier or just somebody who wants to be noticed for his non-conforming ways, but there he was slipping and sliding all over a slushy curb lane, with a long line of cars trailing behind.
It was a road-rage incident waiting to happen and I have to praise all the drivers who met up with him for their exemplary restraint.
It was probably the most insane act of selfishness I’ve ever witnessed behind the wheel.
Some cars would pass him as he crossed an intersection, but he would soon catch up when they had to stop for a light or a street car letting passengers off. When it came to passing busses, he would just slip (literally) into the middle lane. Nothing slowed him down … or sped him up, for that matter.
And you know there was nothing motorists could really do about it. We just had to wait him out, hoping he would soon do the crosswalk shuffle in order to avoid having to wait to make a turn.
We couldn’t get too close in our cars, lest that slip result in his going down in front of us. We couldn’t easily pass – it was either being slowed up by him or slowed up by streetcars, which were travelling faster but making more stops.
Anybody who thinks cyclists are second class citizens on city streets should have seen this guy. He ruled the road for the 45 minutes it took him to get where he wanted to go.
Now, he on the other hand is probably quite proud of himself. He managed to make it across town far more quickly than all those cars behind him. He proved he can ride his bike year round, despite what some of the bike lane detractors say about bike lanes only being used maybe eight months of the year.
And, he proved he could co-exist quite nicely in a city dominated by car traffic – all the way across town and not one incident of trying to be run off the road or having to go onto the sidewalk to avoid dangerous drivers, so therefore no angry pedestrians either.
And, all the tree huggers praise him for being sensitive to the environment despite the personal discomfort of riding in winter conditions, not clogging up our streets with pollution spewing cars going nowhere fast … like all those morons behind him.
How somebody can actually think this is good in any way is beyond me. I’m sure somebody will explain it to me.

Tags: Cyclists, motorists, pedestrians