[*BCM*] Longfellow/Cambridge Bike Police, Systemic Change,

[spikem at bu.edu]

I overstated things in my first post, but it seems like whenever I have 
an interaction with a driver, it is not a positive one. That is what I 
meant, not that every driver is swearing and trying to kill me, but 
that when I do interact with a driver, it is on negative terms, usually 
with them honking or yelling.

Quoting thom3 at aol.com:

>
> better to bike than take the bus 
> http://news.aol.com/article/passenger-stabbed-beheaded-on-bus/111785
>
> maybe the dude wasn't so polite?
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kate Ziegler <ziegler.kate at gmail.com>
> To: list at bostoncriticalmass.org
> Sent: Fri, 1 Aug 2008 12:44 pm
> Subject: Re: [*BCM*] Longfellow/Cambridge Bike Police, Systemic Change,
>
>
>
> I personally choose the polite/courteous route for several reasons. 
> First, in my experience, people are completely thrown off by being 
> called out on their actions, and are even more confused when the 
> person stopping them is being calm and rational. Yelling and throwing 
> insults won't make them reconsider their position, or even make them 
> stop yelling (Boston drivers like to yell...imagine that...) The vast 
> majority of the people I have stopped and spoken with in the street 
> stare open-mouthed and apologize profusely, because they really just 
> don't think about the consequences of their actions, or think that 
> anyone will call them out individually from within their car. The 
> driving style of Boston is a product of the same do-or-die 
> requirement that makes us ride as aggressively as we do; it's not 
> until someone points out an individual incident, rationally, that 
> people will consider the fact that their cars are more deadly than 
> our bikes and that?their actions have real consequen!
>  ces for others.
>
> ?
>
> Secondly, I'm frankly afraid of escalation. I'm not big, I'm not 
> intimidating (I think?) and because of that alone, I'd really rather 
> not provoke people to confrontation. I just want to explain my 
> standpoint so that, optimistically, they think twice about their own. 
> And, in doing so politely and calmly, I'd like to believe that a 
> driver is even more likely to sit back, calm down?and really?think, 
> rather than finish their commute angry and not thinking about the 
> situation at all.
>
> ?
>
> I also think Jamie raised a really good point - more often than not, 
> drivers honk and yell? While we all hate the drivers that do so, if I 
> think of all the cars I pass during my rush hour commute from Brigham 
> Circle to South Station, though I may have one or two incidents per 
> day, the percentage is hugely in favor of all of the cars that steer 
> clear and pass without incident. If any one of us is having more 
> people yelling than not at any time, we may need to reevaluate our 
> riding styles.
>
>
> --
> Kate Ziegler
> "Life is not about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
>
>
>
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