Hate is dangerous, including against bicyclists
Ruth MaloneJune 14, 2023|Updated: June 15, 2023 11:12 a.m.
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An eyewitness posted an account on Next Door of coming upon the ghastly crash two months ago that killed world champion bicyclist Ethan Boyce, and almost immediately, negative comments about people who ride bicycles began to appear.
To my growing horror, within hours the social media story in my neighborhood group began shifting from “driver of a swerving car badly injured a bicyclist” to general criticism of bicyclists even though the eyewitness original poster and several others clearly said that Boyce had been riding in a properly designated bike lane when the speeding driver swerved across the road and hit him head-on.
“Cyclists don’t obey traffic laws,” some complained.
“Let’s have the bicyclists pay for bike lanes,” another commenter proposed (ignoring the fact that bicyclists do pay taxes and car-related fees and taxes do not cover the cost of maintaining public roads even though cars and trucks cause the great majority of road damage).
“Cyclists need to be more mindful,” tut-tutted another.
“I’ve witnessed bicyclists doing insanely dangerous things,” said yet another. “S.F. has one of the densest car populations in the country.
Riding bikes and scooters has got to be very risky.”
In all these comments, the implicit or explicit suggestion is that the bicyclist was basically at fault for riding on the street in the first place.
I’ve seen this knee-jerk reaction dozens of times: The bicyclist brought this on themselves, heedlessly and recklessly persisting in riding. Or this comment: “I question how one can value their life while literally putting themselves in voluntary danger. (San Francisco is among the) top 5 most dangerous cities to ride in. I’m so confused on how cyclists are on here accusing drivers for deliberately trying to kill them, then hop right back on the bike. If I thought someone was out to kill me, I would not continue to put myself in that position.”
A “ghost bike” memorial placed at the scene of Boyes’ death was vandalized — twice. Who does that? Someone emboldened to physically enact their hatred of bicyclists.
Just as those who tolerate or encourage racist, sexist and homophobic or transphobic comments on social media contribute to emboldening the people who attack and menace particular groups, people who parrot stereotypical comments about cyclists on social media subtly encourage those who would harm them — tearing down a memorial, close-passing a mother with a child on her bike or aggressively edging their car into a bike lane to menace and squeeze a bicyclist.
It was not until several years ago, when in my 70s I took up an electric bike as my primary form of transportation, that I began to realize how pervasive the hatred of bicyclists is among car drivers. At first, I thought it must be my inexperience that explained drivers cutting me off by turning directly into my path, honking impatiently and close-swerving around me when I slowed or moved out into the lane due to an obstacle ahead of me. They couldn’t know (or didn’t care) that I was being extra cautious to avoid being “doored” by someone parked alongside the bike lane in which I was riding. As I rode more, I saw drivers regularly do these things to other bicyclists, including everyone from kids to expert riders like Boyes.
The next time you are tempted to pile on to such a discussion about bicyclists, ask yourself if you are doing so because you consciously or unconsciously resent them — for taking up space on the roads, for slowing you down in your car, for seemingly being so free while you are stuck in car traffic. And if so, stop and ask yourself if you can re-envision them in a non-stereotyped way: as your own kids, grandmothers, parents or other people who are placed at risk by negative comments. Your words have the power to reinforce hurtful stereotypes or to reshape perceptions.
Ultimately, hate of bicyclists comes from the same place as racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia: a desire to cling to the status quo power arrangements that favor some over others. As the bicycle becomes re-popularized as a legitimate form of transportation, there are inevitably more conflicts with those who continually and mindlessly assert that “streets are for cars.” But just as gay people are no longer willing to stay in the closet, nor women in the kitchen, bicyclists are no longer willing to settle for crumbs in terms of use of our public roadways.
The answer, of course, is to support protected or separated street infrastructure that will allow people on bicycles to go places safely. Until that time, those of us who use bicycles — for our errands, our commutes to work and school, our grocery shopping — will continue to assert our rights as users of the roadways. We don’t deserve to be placed at added risk by hateful stereotyping.
Bicyclist hate hurts everyone. It’s time we called it out as wrong.
Ruth Malone is a former emergency room nurse, semiretired professor and a septuagenarian bicyclist who lives car-free in San Francisco and hopes to continue doing so.
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