Is it our fault? Are we as bad as drivers say we are?

I enjoy Dave Moulton's Bike Blog: http://davesbikeblog.blogspot.com/ Today, I read a sort of dialogue Dave has with himself about bikes in traffic, a particular obsession of mine.

The question: Do we bring it on ourselves? I think not.

We ask for no more than the law allows us. We'd like to be able to ride our bikes without interference from our fellow road-users.

We want drivers to pay attention, to be aware of us on the road and to treat us with the same respect they would show to anyone. We'd like them to think of us as equals, if that's not too much to ask. We'd like to be thought of as neighbors who choose to travel on two wheels - for whatever reasons. Not as people whose purpose in life is to piss off everyone we can.

We'd like to be treated as elements of the traffic mix. And that's just what they do! They treat us just as badly, just as rudely, just as carelessly as they treat everyone else.

Take bikes out of the mix, on the freeway for instance. No cyclists to get mad at, no cyclists to point out as arrogant or inconsiderate or stupid. No Lycra. Should be a near-paradise out there on the freeway, right?

Drivers don't need cyclists to piss them off. Drivers are already pissed-off. They're angry before the garage door closes behind them. That's not a cycling problem; it's a societal problem.

If a cyclist filters past a line of stopped cars at a light, is that cyclist guilty of a traffic offense, or of offending the drivers of those cars? What have they lost? Will their commutes take even one extra second?

Ask those drivers why they get upset; they will lie. They'd like us to think that they're as centered in there behind the wheel as the Dalai Lama on a meditation pad, so they lie.

They lie to cops. They lie to lawyers and judges. They watch themselves do things they know no sane person would do. There's no way to explain why they do those things, so they lie. They're no more to be trusted when they explain why they hit you than they were when they did it.

Even discussing their flimsy excuses and finger-pointing honors those lies. It makes their excuses sound like reasons.

They're drivers. You can't trust them and you can't believe them. Get hit and then read the accident report. Read the driver's description of what happened. Your fault, wasn't it?

It certainly wasn't his fault. Your Lycra made him do it, you arrogant creep.