[*BCM*] My reason for riding tonight...

[Robert Arnold]

This was in Boston, on Beacon St. in the Back Bay, between Clarendon and
Dartmouth.

On 9/30/05, Lee Peters <lfpeters at gis.net> wrote:
>
> Which town were you in?
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* Robert Arnold <rsarnold at gmail.com>
> *To:* Boston Critical Mass <list at bostoncriticalmass.org>
> *Sent:* Friday, September 30, 2005 1:11 PM
> *Subject:* [*BCM*] My reason for riding tonight...
>
> Just the other day some guy in a Toyota minivan purposely pinned me
> between his car and a pickup truck. We were all going about 20mph. I had
> knocked on the side of his van because he was drifting toward me; in
> response, he suddenly veered my direction. Luckily I was able to hunch my
> shoulders and sprint through the 18-inch and closing gap. Still, I nailed
> his side view with my right shoulder and was pressed into the pickup at my
> left shoulder. My drops put a scratch in the minivan's paint. After escaping
> certain death, I rode to the first intersection with his van charging me
> from behind and stopping at the last minute. Then I got off my bike, stood
> in front of his van, and called the cops.
>
> It goes without saying that the cops were no help. One officer chastised
> me for being between lanes: "You had no business being there," he said. I
> replied, "You're absolutely incorrect." (I had been positioning myself to
> make a left turn.) Then he said I had no business knocking on the side of
> his van. Since bikes don't have horns, I wonder what I'm supposed to do to
> get a driver's attention when they're poised to crush me. I said I'd like to
> file a police report and the same officer said it was a civil matter and
> there'd be no report filed. Apparently you have to wait until you're dead
> before people take road rage seriously. I didn't hear either officer utter
> one disparaging word to the driver.
>
> When people badmouth MassBike on this list, I think what they're
> frustrated about is the complete lack of even basic protections given to
> cyclists in situations like this. Classifying bicycles as motor vehicles in
> the eyes of the law shows a stunning lack of good sense, and is simply
> inaccurate. And token victories like racks on busses (however useful they
> may be on occasion) simply cannot compensate. I asked the officer if he'd be
> so dismissive had the driver hit a pedestrian in the same manner. He didn't
> answer. When it came time for me to take down the driver's information, the
> officer sarcastically said I'd better have a pen and paper. I told him that
> I was a full-time writer and editor, and not just some punk. "It's amazing,"
> I said, "the lack of respect cyclists get in this town."
>
> So tonight, Critical Mass is my direct action protest to those officers,
> and to that driver. I don't know what my legal rights are in that particular
> situation, but I'm obviously discouraged. At least I'll have a few hundred
> other discouraged cyclists joining me tonight as we, for a few hours at
> least, take back the streets from the bozos of the world.
>
> Thanks for listening.
>
> rob
>
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>
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