Originally Posted by
gthomson
Because the internet is so good at knowing what my interests are based on all my browsing history, I am receiving more news articles related to local biking news. This year has had a big impact on cycling with everyone home and getting involved by buying, fixing and riding bikes and it seems some of my communities are responding by committing to more bike infrastructure to help cyclists out. My nearest city has committed to an extra 40 km’s in bike lanes throughout the downtown core for 2021.
What I find shocking is the backlash against these changes by the pro car/anti cyclist people. Any time I see a news article on social media, the comments section is hundreds of post long with people for or against and a lot of hatred between the two. It really disturbs me to see what some of these anti cyclist people say about this and almost scares me to be on the road knowing some of these people really want to prove their point?
Some of ongoing issues are cyclists should be licensed, they should pay extra taxes for these changes to bike lanes, they shouldn’t be allowed on certain roads or that they should grow up and stop riding bikes! Really?
I drive a car and I ride a bike so I pay taxes and appreciate both for what they are. I will admit there are some cyclists who are bad apples and give us all a bad name, but guess what – the same goes for drivers! Cyclists usually don’t kill people when they get in an accident!
Anyone else noticing this dividing issue or am I just more sensitive to it now in this COVID year?
People can complain all they want about bikes on the road, but realistically, what can they do, other than intentionally hit you? Rant on the internet. Buzz you at worst. But if they own a car and maybe a house, they're not gonna risk losing that just to ruin your day, at least no sensible person would.
Then there's crazy people, but who can ever predict what they will do? That leaves mainly people making honest mistakes that you have to worry most about, so I try to place myself in their position as a fairly reasonable, maybe a little impatient driver, and that seems to work OK (knock on wood).