An Open Letter to Car Drivers

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a cyclist, not all cyclists.

So when you hear that I ride two wheels to and from work each day, please suppress the urge to tell me stories of every rider who blew through a stop sign, didn't use hand signals, used confusing hand signals, wasn't wearing a helmet, was wearing a funny helmet, was slowing down the flow of traffic, was going dangerously fast through traffic, was riding on the sidewalk, was riding on the road, or had their butt crack hanging out. You need to stop and think about what you are doing. I am a cyclist. Not all cyclists. We don't get together the last Tuesday of the month to discuss what's been going on around town. No one keeps minutes. There is no secret handshake.

Due to this, there is no possible way I can convey your accounts of woe to the people who happen to be behaving badly on bicycles.

Here, let me put this in perspective. When I find out you drive to work each day from some suburban nightmare, I don't regale you with stories about the idiocy of car drivers-- how terrified I was when a sport utility vehicle passed me at 40 mph with no room to spare. How I got honked at for actually stopping at a 4-way-stop and then taking "too long" when it was my turn to proceed. How I've made it my personal battle to make the phrase "Get on the sidewalk!" legal grounds for manslaughter because it is so fundamentally ignorant...

Telling you all that would be silly! Because you are a car driver, not all car drivers. You have no association with the person next to you on the freeway other than that you are both people, alone in a car, coming from a similar direction and going in a similar direction. That's it.

The same is true for me. I am proud of my bike and the miles I put on it. I'm proud of my friends who actively and enthusiastically put miles on their bikes. But I honestly can't account for the actions of every hipster on a fixie, no more than you can account for the actions of every Escalade with spinning rims. I am my own person with my own story and my own love of cycling. Don't try to group me with those who don't know how to ride. Furthermore, don't pretend like you've never rolled through a stop sign or forgotten to signal. Please.

Does this make things a little bit more clear for you? Do you understand? Good. I hope this little talk comes in handy the next time you have the opportunity to meet a commuter.

Sincerely,

Me, just me, one cyclist among millions, Antonia, doing her best against these waves of constant stupidity.