Whatever happened to.....

Those commercials where they tell you not to "cross in the middle of the street", and "Cross at the green, not in between"? They used to play these with those jingles that to this day stick in my head. Anyone who grew up in the 60's and 70's knows what I'm talking about. Simple, effective commercials that kept kids from running into the road. Apparently this guy did not get the message. See? I'm not just against bad driving, I'm against bad walking and riding as well.

Good Driver TV! from Brendan on Vimeo.

The video is short and it's tough to see what's going on but basically it's a guy trying to run across route 53 but he just ran right into traffic. The alert motorist avoided running him over even though the guy did the "confused squirrel" dance in the middle of the road. "I'm going! No, I'm staying! No, I'm going again." The pedestrian was not even really that far from the crosswalk, and I am certain that he started his journey at that corner but from some reason decided darting out into traffic was a better choice.

It's amazing how often we just get an impulse in our heads and "boom", there we are, running into the road. I'm certain you have had those moments. Your driving down the road absent-mindedly and, whoops!, "holy crap that's my exit!" You're in the left lane doing seventy and you are 500 feet from the exit. Wheeee! The "jersey sweep" across 3 lanes, into the exit safety zone and off the highway you go leaving startled, angry drivers in your wake. Wouldn't it be smarter to just miss the exit, turn around and comeback? No one ever seems to think about whether or not being 1 or 2 minutes late is worth risking the lives of all the people who have had to react to an impulse. Do we, as humans, have some sort of filter that prevents us from thinking about all the horrible things that happen to us if we are rolling our cars down the road at high speed, end over end, broken glass and twisted metal shredding our delicate skin while bones shatter and brains are damaged beyond repair? It's a curious thing. Scary as hell, but curious.

What the heck is the big hurry?

Bad Driver TV Episode V from Brendan on Vimeo.

It's Thursday again, the day after our indoor training night with the Bulldogs and I was all pumped up to ride outside again. It was a beautiful morning, a little on the chilly side, but I was dressed just right and the riding was very pleasant. I only witnessed one poor driving incident, chronicled in the video above. It got me to thinking, as usual, about all of the nutty stuff I see people in cars, and on bikes, doing out on the road and how one stupid act by one person can lead to a crappy day for lots of other folks. How many times have you been late for work because of a traffic jam caused by inattentive drivers colliding and bring all traffic around them to a halt? The deeper I get into the bike advocacy world, the more it seems an impossible task to get people to think and behave differently when it comes to how they drive. I have to look into the statistics but my gut tells me that there are probably more and more accidents on the road as people become more and more distracted by their electronic doodads and our lives become more and more rushed as we try to squeeze the demands of the modern world into the same 24 hours we have always had. The demands seem greater but the time allowed to meet them remains the same. The technology that is supposed to reduce our burdens and worry seem only to be creating more stress and anxiety in the world. Tempers are short and the quality of "quality time" seems to be getting lower. Really, all I want is to be able to go on a nice ride and not be constantly worried that some bonehead is going to run me over. Is that too much?

Ouch

So, it's come to this. Indoor training. Our sponsored team, the Bulldogs, are leading a trainer night at the Parsippany location of Cycle Craft and I am reluctantly participating even though I would rather do almost anything other than riding an indoor trainer. It's probably the A.D.D. thing but I have a really hard time keeping my attention on riding nowhere for more than a few minutes. The group thing definitely helps because there is plenty of socializing in between the bouts of heavy breathing and sweating. After not having ridden for about a month I was hurting by the end of the session. You would be amazed at how challenging a ride to nowhere can be! Emboldened by my trainer session, I got back on my commuter tank on Thursday and managed the 8 mile "short" route to work on Thursday. I gotta be honest, it was not a very inspiring ride. It's Monday morning and I am thinking I should ride in again today. The air is cool, but not too bad, and the road is wet but I am compelled. I do it for myself but I also do it to make a point. Does it make a difference to anyone else? To me? Can tiny things make a difference? I feel like I am whispering in a windstorm.

Winter Blues

The year without cars has ground to a halt. I have not ridden a bike since the second week of December.  So here comes the littany of excuses. It seems like this winter is going to be one of the first "real" winters we have had in a long time. It has been pretty darn cold and there has been snow on the ground since before Christmas. Plus, in addition to my "day job" at the bike shop I have been putting in a lot of hours working on the New Jersey Bike Summit for the NJBC. Now, after a month of not riding, I am putting on weight and getting back on the bike will be a struggle. Having a car just makes it too easy to choose comfort over conviction. Getting to work in the morning would not be so bad but having to come home at 9:00 PM in the dark and cold is turning out to be a pretty formidable barrier. In addition to the obvious comfort issues, I always have it in the back of my mind how vulnerable I am out on the roadway and somehow, winter just seems to make me think about it more. That said, if we had bike lanes and traffic control devices that protect cyclists, I would be a lot more inclined to make the trips by bike, even in the dead of winter. I would probably feel more secure if there were some number of other people out there on bikes as well. Think Copenhagen and the bike highways that lead from the countryside into the city.

The NJ Bike Summit is coming along and I think we will hit our goal for attendence. I am realizing just how daunting a task it is to make one street bicycle friendly, let alone a whole state! This is gong to be a long haul but I still believe there is no reason why New Jersey can't be like Colorado, or California, or Louisville Kentucky, or Montreal, or Denmark, or Bogota Colombia, and on and on. Hmmm... I feel like going out for a ride!

Cross Roads

Cross Roads
Originally uploaded by brendan61

Here's a fun sign I passed on the road today. What a great statement on the way things are. The "Stop" sign as authority figure commanding a simple traffic rule. The righteous animal advocate hijacking the command and the other side expressing their opinion by telling the "hippie" to "shut up!". Beautiful.

The Death Of Self Reliance

You know what is becoming really disturbing to me? People. Yeah, yeah I know, but let me explain. I don't know when it happened exactly or how, but I suspect it all started with Henry Ford and his damned mass produced automobile. Since that time people have been giving up their own power little by little and somehow or other we have become a nation of fat diabetics who are scared of everything. Our children are being turned into little sumo wrestlers who can't walk a mile to school. Gym class? How many kids are opting out because physical exercise hurts their self esteem? Kids have to be driven to soccer practice because everyone is scared their kid will get snatched off the street. No one is allowed to  lose a game so every kid gets a trophy. So what the heck are we teaching them? I'm on this rant because a friend was telling me about trying to get a Safe Roots To School program going in her town. The school wants nothing to do with it. More and more towns are actually prohibiting kids from riding to school! The problem? The streets are unsafe!! Cycling is unsafe!! Walking is unsafe!! For crying out loud, it's the cars that are unsafe! Eating fatty fried food is unsafe. Sitting on your ass for 12 hours a day is unsafe. Burning 600 gallons of gasoline a year is unsafe. Stressing out in traffic while spending an hour making a trip of 10 miles is unsafe.

I think we are now finding ourselves in a crisis over the loss of our own self reliance. People have lost the ability to do things on their own. Ride a bicycle 6 miles to work? Are you out of your mind? There are all sorts of excuses--"I have to dress for business", "I don't want to be all sweaty", "It's dangerous", "It's too cold", "it's to hot", and on and on. The truth is that most people are just plain scared and don't think they can do it. They can't rely on themselves and have given over their freedom to the auto and oil industries. They have come to think that they have no choice but to gas up and spend 26 days of the year trapped in their cars. (average 12 hours a week x 52 weeks= 624 hours, or, 26 days!). Not to mention the percentage of income people are forking over every year to sit by themselves in their own little gas burning coffin.  And now our children will have it worse. I have seen people drive their kids to the end of the driveway to sit in the car and wait for the school bus to then take a ride of less than 2 miles to be dropped off right at the front door. When are these kids going to learn how to take care of themselves? How? We are raising a generation of spoiled little pansies and when they grow up and are confronted with  a national crisis I fear they will not be up to the challenge. These days there are lots of folks who are all up in arms about "family values" but I think our real problem is with personal values. Personal responsibility, self reliance, respect for self and others--These are the pillars upon which society rests. The crumbling of these pillars will mark the end of our freedom. I'm just sayin'.

Freedom Rider

We had our first planning committee meeting for the NJ Bicycle Summit coming up in February 2010. Apparently there is some pent up demand for this as registrations are coming in quickly! It is a lot of work to get something like this put together but I think that the Summit will be a great success. Here is a picture Jim Vance from Hoboken Sweet Streets. He was the only person at the meeting who actually took the train and used his bike to get to the meeting. Cool.

I am now convinced I can live without my car. The past week has been a challenge with my back problem and my chiropractor recommended that I lay of the bike for a few days so I did but I am anxious to be riding again. I am definitely more cranky when I don't get to ride! It is also occurring to me that I need to get back to the yoga and core routines to keep my aging body happy. Jim is inspirational because he is obviously ecstatic to not own a car and gets where he needs to be pretty effectively. His bike is pretty cool too. A truly free man moves under his own power!