Anti-cycling crackdown in the backwards city I find myself regretting more and more calling home…

The only reason that the two deaths caused by cyclists in recent days are notable is because deaths caused by cyclists are so rare.

Let’s let that sink in for a second.

If you look at it with any sort of proportion, cyclists hardly ever hurt or kill anyone. On the other hand, death and injury that results from cars is so common that only really stunning cases rate coverage anymore.

Making policy because something really unusual happened is a bad call. Always. Especially when that unusual bad thing happened as a result of an outstandingly good thing, like a form of transportation that does little to snarl traffic and generates no pollution.

Yes, we all know that some cyclists are bad actors, but even the worst actors hardly ever hurt anyone. That said, the cycling community needs to work harder to build a culture of respect for pedestrians and responsible cycling. Fine. New laws aren’t the answer. Scaremongering cyclists by cops isn’t the answer. Drivers assaulting cyclists really, really isn’t the answer.

Right now, bike ridership in this city is up dramatically. That’s really, really good news. New laws restricting cycling will just put a damper on this positive progress. No change this dramatic is going to come without accidents, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t, on balance, a very, very positive development.

I’m sorry for the folks who have been hurt and even killed by cyclists, but these cases were accidents. On the other hand, Rachel Fletcher was hit by a car on Thanksgiving intentionally. Worse, the police failed to investigate the incident for 12 hours. If you think this is unusual, don’t. I can’t tell you how many times I have faced hostile behavior from cars. I’ve been threatened by cars before when I was hugging the curb on a nearly empty two lane road, that is, when I wasn’t in anyone’s way.

The cycling community is getting organized. I attended a rally, mostly of couriers, tonight, in support of Ms. Fletcher (currently at Hahnemann Hospital) and against the new, shortsighted laws proposed by Kenney and DiCicco. The photo below is of one of the couriers that organized it, speaking in front of supporters in Love Park. The Philadelphia Bike Messenger Association is prepared to start organizing against the proposed laws. I hope Kenney takes notice and advises his colleagues to drop this very ill-advised endeavor. I can say, for myself, that this is a dead-to-me sort of bill. Support this one, and I’ll never back you again. Good chance I will work against you in my own individual capacity. It’s that bad of an idea.I can’t help but think that this whole anti-cycling fervor isn’t spurred on a weird us versus them dynamic.

Everyone either drives cars or rides cars. Everyone sees driving as “normal.” The very fact that we let driving get so normal, is, in fact, the big public design tragedy of this country, but I digress. This story looks to me like the mainstream cracking down on a behavior non-cyclists deem aberrant. It’s so weird: learning to ride a bike is one of the real rites of passage of youth, yet somewhere along the line we also leave our bikes behind in favor of wasteful, dangerous machines that leave us fat, stressed out and anti-social. It’s unfortunate. It’s misguided. And it’s frankly oppressive: cycling is a lifestyle choice and the truth is every one of us that rides is honestly making most driver’s lives easier, even if we do happen to slow you down from time to time for 20 seconds.

If Council wants to do something for public safety, focus the cops on truly cracking down on cell phone useage while driving (or biking or skateboarding or whatever). Enforcement starts tomorrow — let’s skip the warnings and go straight to tickets: folks have had plenty of warning. THAT will make a real difference.

P.S. Councilman Kenney: no one is riding bikes without brakes. Fixed gears have brakes; they are called “rear hubs.” Just because you don’t know how to ride one doesn’t mean there’s no way to stop. Step off, chill out, let it drop.