Friday, November 27, 2009

Cyclists beware, the world is out to get us.




So it sounds like a couple people died in 'bicycle-related accidents' in October here in Philly. In all of the reports and news stories I've read about the subsequent bill these idiots are proposing, City Councilmen Frank DiCicco and Jim Kenney, there've been no details about these deaths. Were the people killed drunk and homeless, maybe? Did they jump in front of a cyclist? Nope. They leave us to imagine some malicious fixed-gear hipster careening through red lights.

There's a lot of bicycle hate in cities, Philly especially. No matter where you live, cars dominate. And cyclists are seen as threats to their total monopolization of the road. These councilmen want to up fines for riding on sidewalks ($10) and riding with headphones on ($3) to $300 each. That's a lot of money. I try to never ride on sidewalks. I try to ride the wrong way on one way streets only until the next street where I am a lawful and cautious biker all the way home. I often ride with one iPod bud in my right ear that plays softly so that I can still be very aware of my surroundings. I know that some people are vehemently against this, but I trust myself and I've been riding a bike in metropolitan areas for over five years now.

Oh, and it sounds like people ride bikes without brakes? Or take them off? They're proposing a $1,000 fine for that. Or a forfeiture of your bike.

They want us to register our bikes and get some kind of plates. Plates on bikes! It's a funny thought. It's also a horrendous bureaucratic nightmare that no one is prepared for. With hundreds of thousands of cyclists in Philly, it seems completely insane.

What do you think?

1 comment:

asdfgjhk said...

That's fucking ridiculous. If they put Philadelphia Parking Authority in charge of the citations... let the "Biking Wars" begin.