More so-called advocacy...redux
Here's a post calling for cyclists to show up at a meeting in Cobb County, Georgia, in order to defend their right to use the public roadways. Apparently, there's a popular cycling route that some believe is unsafe - because cyclists ride two abreast. Can you imagine that? It can't possibly be safe...and it slows down motorists...so it's definitely not safe...and sometimes a driver has to wait to go around a large group of those pesky cyclists...so it's obviously not at all safe for those bicycle riders to be on the roadway...so let's make it safer by forcing them over onto the shoulder.
This has absolutely nothing to do with making driving more convenient. Nothing. Not at all. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
One truism I've learned from other advocates it this - policy is set by those who show up. This doesn't necessarily imply that it takes large numbers of people to influence public policy. It takes well-spoken, committed people who want to make a difference. And if only motorists show up, you can predict the outcome.
Attempts to restrict our rights are depressingly common, as this post from last week demonstrates. But the most egregious part of it - to me, anyway - is the role of so-called bicycling advocates buying into the hypocrisy about restricting our access for our own 'safety'. Jim Smith's version of bike advocacy (SAFE) is nothing more than a sock puppet for motorists.
"...As Jim Smith, chairman of the SAFE bike advocacy group, aptly put it, "Taking the road when there's a designated 5-foot bike lane is like declaring war.""
"Now SAFE is firing its own salvo at the boorish behavior, advocating for a state law requiring cyclists to ride in designated bike lanes where they exist and prohibiting them from riding side-by-side in those lanes."
SAFE is an obvious shell organization, a ruse to claim that cyclists themselves want these restrictions. But there are other advocacy groups that are best categorized as Uncle Toms, and apparently the Cob County organization is one of them.
http://bikecobb.blogspot.com/2007/02/open-letter-to-all.html
There is a committee of cyclists that is allowing Cobb County to chip away at our rights because they are scared. ...We need to stand up to the Cobb County commissioners, Commissioner Thompson and the cyclist committee, who were not elected, are deciding what they think is right for us.
The cyclist committee is saying they agreed on a voluntary single file rule. Thompson and the homeowners are saying this will this be a county ordinance. I think both are dangerous and either will start to erode our rights to be on the roads.
...The law says we are allowed to be 2 abreast. While I always make room for motorists to pass me, I do not want a motorist coming up behind me and buzzing me because he incorrectly thinks I am in the wrong.
If it is to be an ordinance, as Thompson told the AJC and MDJ, then we are giving up rights granted us by the State of Georgia. State law says those rights can only come under local authority if we are provided dedicated and exclusive bike lanes, which we do not have on Columns. If we set precedence by allowing them to take our rights, they may just keep on doing it.
My good friend Gary says we have a responsibility to speak out when confronted with "toxic talk". When cyclists are threatened with restrictions to their basic right to use the public roads - those roads we ALL use, regardless of our transportation mode - we are obligated to speak up and speak up LOUDLY!
This has absolutely nothing to do with making driving more convenient. Nothing. Not at all. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
One truism I've learned from other advocates it this - policy is set by those who show up. This doesn't necessarily imply that it takes large numbers of people to influence public policy. It takes well-spoken, committed people who want to make a difference. And if only motorists show up, you can predict the outcome.
Attempts to restrict our rights are depressingly common, as this post from last week demonstrates. But the most egregious part of it - to me, anyway - is the role of so-called bicycling advocates buying into the hypocrisy about restricting our access for our own 'safety'. Jim Smith's version of bike advocacy (SAFE) is nothing more than a sock puppet for motorists.
"...As Jim Smith, chairman of the SAFE bike advocacy group, aptly put it, "Taking the road when there's a designated 5-foot bike lane is like declaring war.""
"Now SAFE is firing its own salvo at the boorish behavior, advocating for a state law requiring cyclists to ride in designated bike lanes where they exist and prohibiting them from riding side-by-side in those lanes."
SAFE is an obvious shell organization, a ruse to claim that cyclists themselves want these restrictions. But there are other advocacy groups that are best categorized as Uncle Toms, and apparently the Cob County organization is one of them.
http://bikecobb.blogspot.com/2007/02/open-letter-to-all.html
There is a committee of cyclists that is allowing Cobb County to chip away at our rights because they are scared. ...We need to stand up to the Cobb County commissioners, Commissioner Thompson and the cyclist committee, who were not elected, are deciding what they think is right for us.
The cyclist committee is saying they agreed on a voluntary single file rule. Thompson and the homeowners are saying this will this be a county ordinance. I think both are dangerous and either will start to erode our rights to be on the roads.
...The law says we are allowed to be 2 abreast. While I always make room for motorists to pass me, I do not want a motorist coming up behind me and buzzing me because he incorrectly thinks I am in the wrong.
If it is to be an ordinance, as Thompson told the AJC and MDJ, then we are giving up rights granted us by the State of Georgia. State law says those rights can only come under local authority if we are provided dedicated and exclusive bike lanes, which we do not have on Columns. If we set precedence by allowing them to take our rights, they may just keep on doing it.
My good friend Gary says we have a responsibility to speak out when confronted with "toxic talk". When cyclists are threatened with restrictions to their basic right to use the public roads - those roads we ALL use, regardless of our transportation mode - we are obligated to speak up and speak up LOUDLY!
Labels: bicycling advocacy, Cobb County, SAFE
posted by Ed W at 6:09 PM
6 comments
