You know that deep happiness when the car that swerved in front of you on Route 128 gets a ticket a mile later? That’s the secret. That’s how you make a driver Be Kind and Share the Road. No billboards, no campaigns are necessary. Just tickets. Beautiful, green, made-from-100-percent-consumer-waste tickets.First, what's the point? Cyclists can be annoying at times, but they're really just a scape goat. More cyclists reduce traffic, they don't make traffic worse. More cars make traffic worse.
Why is the Globe printing this drivel? Was there some kind of shortage of submitted opinion pieces? Shouldn't the Globe be using this space to print articles that feature, oh, say, some facts? That's perhaps the most frustrating thing about this utterly meaningless article -- it doesn't look at the issue in anyway that offers analysis, insight or anything tangible. It may as well be a 600 word essay titled "I hate cyclists," featuring only the words "Cyclists suck," repeated over and over again.
If anyone wants any insight from this article, it's trying to wrap your head around why the author, Monique Doyle Spencer, is so prejudiced. Is it, perhaps, because she's in her dinosaur-juice vehicle stuck in traffic, while bikes actually move somewhere during rush hour? And if that's frustrating to her, why not take the T? Or, heaven forbid, ride a bike? Something tells me the endorphins she'd get from the exercise may just calm her inane histrionics down.
Meanwhile, why does the Globe feel so compelled to pit commuters against each other? Why is the reporting on cycling as a commuter option so prejudiced? Don't people have better things to do with their time, other than griping about the very same issues with non-car-riding commuters that people are perfectly willing to ignore when it comes to driving -- traffic, accidents and annoying drivers? We give a free pass for everything that's wrong with commuting in an automobile, from maintenance costs to deaths, while fixating on only the bad stuff when it comes to anything but driving. It's insanity and it needs to stop.
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2 comments:
It feels like the Globe and Monique Doyle Spencer want to keep the cars vs bikes argument going without offering anything constructive. Is this really a responsible way to increase readership?
This piece gave me Reader's Rage. Especially this:
"My fantasy is that I will ride silent, ride deep, right behind a cyclist. Then I’ll beep my horn, real loud."
Hmm, Monique, it sounds like your fantasy is irresponsible and seriously dangerous.
When did we forget that cyclists are human beings with a life and loved ones and not pesky obstacles keeping drivers from getting to work faster?
Since cyclists use the roads should they be subject to some sort of excise tax? We already exert some control over bikes with the mandatory helmet law. Maybe the gov could then use that money to expand bike trails.
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