My email:
I just had the displeasure of listening to Mike Pintek's "Cyclist
Friendly Pittsburgh" segment.
In the duration of about 15 minutes, he made several assumptions that
were dead wrong, and frankly hostile.
He mentions cyclists being "arrogant" for riding in the middle of the
lane. According to Pennsylvania Driving Law, bicycles are considered
vehicles. Bicycles may be as far into the left of the right lane, as
the operator of the bicycles sees fit.
There are many reasons why a bicycle may be riding in the middle of a
lane. If there are parked cars nearby, there is a three foot "door
zone" where people can open their doors without realizing a cyclists
is coming up and cause a collision for the cyclist. Frequently, the
side of roads are littered with debris such as glass, rocks, branches,
etc, that make riding on the side of the road hazardous.
Cyclists don't ride in the middle of the road because they're
arrogant, they're riding in the middle of the road for their personal
safety.
He then went on to mention how these cyclists were in "his lane." As
previously stated, under Pennsylvania Driving Law, bicycles are
considered vehicles and have the same right to be on the road as a car
does.
All this "arrogance" has "tempted him to bump cyclists." From what he
has said, the cyclists in question weren't breaking any laws and even
if they were, how does this radio host come to the idea that the
solution is to HIT a cyclists with his multi-ton vehicle?
I personally have been "bumped" by a motorist who thought I shouldn't
be on the road. I was at a red light behind an 18 wheel truck on
Butler St. The motorist then threatened to "bitch slap" me and drove
off, only to be able to get one car length ahead of me for about a
dozen blocks.
He further goes on to speculate that the deaths of cyclists are the
own cyclists fault. This is especially insulting considering the
recent death of Don Parker who was riding on the SIDE of the road and
was hit by a motorist looking under his dashboard playing with a flip
flop.
While hardly possible, he adds insult to injury by insinuating that
the reason cyclists in Pittsburgh have been assaulted is because they
are "arrogant" and "dorky." The cyclists that have been assaulted so
far have been attacked by teenagers, mostly pedestrians, who went out
of their way to attack cyclists.
I am neither dorky nor arrogant. I am simply going to work, getting
around town and just happen to do so on a bicycle.
