Driving the car through the Bull City last night, we turned right onto the worst road in town.* Two people on bikes were crossing the intersection behind us, and as they did we heard a great whooping and hollering. Were they okay? The driver of the car, who only recently got his license and is much more comfortable on a bike, looked back, concerned. He would of course have been be mortified to have cut them off.
Are they yelling at me? he said.
No, I said, you had the green light, they are just tipsy. Or happy. Or maybe they’re yelling at you for some other reason, or just generally because this road is so bad, but it shouldn’t be because of how you’re driving.
As we processed up the street, the bikes were right behind us. The people on them continued to holler and yell and talk, all loud enough that we, inside the hermetically sealed environment of the car, could hear. And this brings me to today’s biking visibility tip/suggestion:
Raise a ruckus!
It’s easy, on a bike, to feel that drivers are all cozied up in their cars and completely oblivious to the existence of bikers. And indeed, this is too often true. But that cocoon is not so impervious as it appears. If you are by yourself, it might seem odd, but if you are with a friend, by all means, speak to each other! Loudly! And if it feels safe to do so, and appropriate to the moment, whoop! Holler!
Remind those cars that
1/you are out there, and
2/they are not so isolated from the street, the outside world.
It doesn’t take much to make a party. Biking down the road and whooping and hollering, for instance. Party! And, of course, turn on your blinky lights and be safe.
*That’s Main Street between Morgan and Duke, if you didn’t know, about which there appears to be some good news!
Tags: biking, bull city, city riding, party
