Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Are Peds Moving Targets too?

A couple weekends ago, the New York Times ran a feature called "Moving Targets" regarding friction between cyclists and motorists. To wit, all those cyclists on The City's streets might consider jerseys with bullseyes on back.

I have not seen much of that attitude here, but wonder sometimes whether some of our cycling brethren consider pedestrians to be "moving targets". Twice in the last few days I saw cyclists blow through crosswalks full of people, defying law and common sense and getting incredulous looks in return. In one case the crosswalk was full of parents walking small children to school; they were crossing Urban by Urban Park to get to Mountain School.

A triathlete tried that "split the peds" stunt near my home in Hawaii some years ago while hurtling down a similar, fast descent that went past a grade school with a crosswalk. She hit a kid, seriously injuring the child. She might have needed to buy a wind trainer for her bike, since she was charged with a traffic felony and could have been facing some training time in the Greybar Hotel.

Ferchrissakes, be careful out there and show some class! If you don't like bad traffic stuff to happen to you, then don't impose it on others. That's what the Golden Rule says, right?

1 comment:

Nick said...

Everyone's a moving target these days, it seems - more's the pity. Guess I'll just have to try to keep moving fast enough to evade the incoming.