In case you weren’t aware, May 26 to June 1 is Bike to Work Week in Vancouver. And with that comes an influx of novice, newbie, casual and first-time cyclists to the road — something that fills of with both joy and a little bit of fear. Joy because biking is good for us, more environmentally friendly than cars and makes people look more attractive (it’s a scientific fact). And fear because we’ve seen some pretty scary cycling behaviour in the last few days — texting while cycling, shuffling songs on an iPhone while cycling, running stop signs without looking for oncoming traffic, weaving between traffic, weaving for no reason at all, failing to signal, riding dangerously close to parked cars, and we’re pretty sure we saw two attractive Mount Pleasant hipsters making love on a single speed bicycle while riding. Or maybe that was just a dream of ours after drinking too much craft beer. It happens.
The point is cyclists need to wise up. So do vehicle drivers, mind you. But drivers at least have rubber, metal, seatbelts, airbags and way more volume protecting them, whereas cyclists have clothing, a helmet and perhaps a beard serving as protection.
So let’s be careful and courteous out there. And for God’s sake, put down that cellphone and use it later for what it was meant for — playing Candy Crush at work and taking pictures of what you’re having for lunch.
