Endangered Species

‘You’re an endangered species’, a man told me yesterday.

He appeared to worse for wear as he crossed the junction where I was waiting for the lights to turn green. ‘You’re an endangered species’, he repeated. ‘A cyclist waiting at the lights.’

Then I cottoned on. He was parroting the trope about people on bikes and red lights.

I run a cycle cam because I’m regularly put in danger by bad drivers. I have the man’s comments on video, but I won’t publish it here as:

• he had been drinking, and we’ve all said things we regret when drunk
• he intended it as friendly banter, even though it was misjudged and crass

It was irritating for these reasons.

1) The Trope is Largely False

I find it astonishing that when a drunk person sees someone riding a bike, the first thought that pops into their head is jumping red lights. In Harrogate it is very largely rubbish.

Riding around town the other people I see on bikes are at least as law-abiding as drivers.

2) Why Was it the First Thing he Thought of?

The logical next question, then, is why was it the first thing he thought of?

We appear to have a huge cultural problem around cycling, where negative tropes have been absorbed by a big percentage of the population.

The right-wing rags are largely to blame for this, and the anti-cycling mob in the comments of any online platform. Saying something about red lights is a good way to throw mud at people on bikes, and try to persuade others that all the road space should be hoarded by drivers.

Meanwhile the daily carnage caused by drivers is ignored, or regarded as just one of those things. Motonormativity does its thing.

3) Unsolicited Comments from Strangers

If I’m out with my camera photographing wildlife, strangers take that as permission to start a conversation. ‘Have you seen anything interesting?’

That’s fine, as long as they’re not scaring off the animals and birds. At least it’s friendly.

Does riding a bike also automatically give people permission to approach you? If so, the unsolicited comments should at least be polite.

4) This Was Not Polite

I didn’t find this man’s comment polite. He was essentially criticising me for something I wasn’t doing.

I’ve had similar before. On a quiet country road, I made a lady walking her dog aware of my presence using my bell. She told me, ‘at least you’ve got a bell’.

What do you mean, at least I’ve got a bell? Are we saying that I’ve slightly ameliorated the inherent evil of my riding a bicycle by possessing a device that goes ding ding?

5) A Minority Form of Transport

Impolite comments and hostile attitudes result from the fact that getting around by bike is still a minority activity. That allows people to ‘other’ and ‘out-group’ you, and make generalisations about what all cyclists are like.

The same mentality has it that we all know each other and meet each other at the regular cyclists’ meetings; and that everyone on a bike is responsible for the behaviour of everyone else on a bike – which doesn’t apply to any other form of transport.

People who cause carnage while driving give themselves a bad reputation, not every other driver in the country.

The Great Train Robbers are not thought to blacken the names of other rail passengers.

Once cycling becomes more mainstream, the ‘othering’ will stop. If someone does something wrong while riding a bike, they will be a person who did something wrong, not a “cyclist” who did something wrong.

We also need to reach the point where cycle infrastructure is as uncontroversial as water pipes or electricity cables.

6) Illegal Behaviour by Drivers at that Very Junction

What really got my goat is that the particular junction where I was waiting is the scene of tens of road traffic offences a day – by drivers.