May 10
6
Attitude is the issue not cars
In doing my normal round of my fellow cyclists blogs this morning I happened across this post by Gwadzilla and it got me thinking. There’s no direct bike tie in other than the post comes from a cyclists blog, the post details how an impatient and irresponsible driver is causing a dangerous situation in his neighborhood. For some reason this set me to thinking about cars and some of the irresponsible people who drive them and why people behave the way they do.
As cyclists it’s so easy to vilify the automobile. Most of us have all been buzzed by an impatient motorist or two and many of us have unfortunately, had much more serious encounters. It’s so easy to blame the cars and everyone who drives one for the widespread bad behavior we see on today’s roads. As someone who loves to drive a car I have often found myself at odds with this culture clash, sometimes getting upset or aggravated with my fellow cycling brethren as they preach the gospel of two wheels while bemoaning the sins of four.
Today I came to a realization that it’s not driving or anyone’s preference as to mode of transportation that is really at issue. The real problem as I see it, is we have as a society become increasingly impatient and disrespectful of one another. The guy in Gwadzilla’s post reference earlier, had little to gain and everything to loose by racing down a residential alleyway. What could possibly be so important as to risk the safety of others for mere minutes of time saved? Every time a car aggressively passes a cyclist I wonder to myself what could possibly be worth saving a minute or two? The guy who hit me a few years ago cost me a bike, a trip to the hospital, surgery and months off the bike over his unwillingness to wait a minute or two for me to pass before making his turn. Literally two minutes could have saved us both months of pain suffering and money. I just don’t get that.
When I’m out in my car I actually enjoy driving. I like to roll down the windows cruise back roads and enjoy what I’m seeing as I move about my day. I’m in no hurry to rush along and certainly am not going to risk someones safety so I can get to work or home 5 minutes faster. I just can’t wrap my ahead around that sort of mentality. I can’t help but wonder when did we collectively become so impatient and disrespectful of one another as a whole? This is an issue that seems to be getting worse with each new generation. I know my parents and grandparents don’t drive and act this way. It’s largely people about my age or younger. It makes me wonder what we are doing wrong to create this trend. Maybe it’s the consequence of the information overload age we are living in. The gotta have it now attitude that seems so prevalent these days. Add to that the increasing trend of a narrowing focus to only ones self and the disregard of the world around us and we have a serious issue. I cringe every time I see a kid with their ipod on walking around in a public place so oblivious to everything around them. It seems by becoming increasingly plugged in during our lives we are becoming more and more disconnected and this is part of what is causing the negative attitudes and behaviors.
It’s definitely not the cars or even drivers as a whole that are the issue. It’s the attitudes behind them that are. Unfortunately a car makes for horribly dangerous tool for the irresponsible and careless to become very dangerous rather than simply unpleasant. For me riding a bicycle is the ultimate expression of life being more about the journey and less about the destination. Life has to mean more than racing to each appointment or task as quickly as possible. The more we rush around the more we miss and the less of life we actually see. It gets under my skin when people demonize people for choosing to drive and until today I don’t think I had put my finger on why. As someone who likes to drive; based on where I live has to do so for most things, I don’t want to be lumped into the same category as those behaving badly and endangering my fellow cyclists. It would do everyone good to take a deep breath, relax and just enjoy the ride more no matter how many wheels you happen to be on at the time.
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