Dear Cyclists - Another Rant

It's raining this morning. And that sucks for a lot of people, in particular people commuting. Despite the fact that our bodies are made up of about 70% of water people seem to have a real problem with having water on the outside of it. However this rant is not about the rain.

For those of you who don't live in Toronto, in addition to stop lights, we have cross walks in the city - intended for people walking - you push the button and a bunch of flashing lights dance above you, and the vehicles are meant to stop so that the people walking may have safe passage to the other side of the street. Just like with yellow lights as soon as these things start flashing motorists speed up to get through them. There are a lot of dangerous drivers in this city, I know that. This, however, isn't about them.

This morning while at a cross walk, the button was pushed. I looked both ways (because I know better than to blindly assume people are paying attention). And about half walk through my journey from street to street a cyclist tears in front of me and runs over my foot. That's how close the asshole gets. And then he has the nerve to tell me to watch where I'm walking. I know that this guy isn't in the majority of cyclists who are very good people, and mindful, but I still have to rant about the small percentage of them who don't think that the normal rules of the road apply to them. Much like having a child, there is no license or test that has to passed for someone to ride a bike as a transportation device in the city - and yet these people are expected to follow the traffic rules despite not having to prove that they can handle that privilege. And yes, I believe that driving any kind of vehicle, motorized or not, is a privilege and not a right. I had an argument on my blog here back a few months ago when I was complaining about people riding bikes on sidewalks, and he argued that it's not safe on the street with the 'crazy motorists'. I think that if you actually feel that way, that you're not safe, then you probably shouldn't ride your bike. The same way I wouldn't recommend someone skydiving if they didn't feel that it was beneficial to their health. Driving any kind of vehicle inside of a city is stressful to some degree and I think it's safe to say that not everyone can handle the stress. Luckily not everyone has to. There are a lot of other affordable systems in place to get you from point A to point B.

I know the picture I used above is a bad example of the average cyclist. I know that most of you are good intelligent people who take the responsibility of riding a bike seriously. This isn't for you. This is for the asshole that drove over my foot. I'm not a violent person, but next time I'm shoving your ass onto the street.

Have a lovely day.