More Bikes, Less Cars...

Oh No!

‘More people riding bikes more often.’ A rallying cry that bicycling advocates can really get their teeth into and put some serious support behind. The private motor industry is choking the life from our cities and our very bodies – not to mention bleeding our wallets dry – so any moves to reduce this burden is admirable. The bicycle is one of the means that we can use to ride out of the smoggy cloud that envelops us, and any means that increases bicycle use is likewise admirable.

However, it is not without some trepidation that I tread this path – not to mention write this article.

First, what does getting more people on bikes really mean? It is an absolute statement, with the implication that simply getting more people on bikes is a good thing. But is it? I’ve seen enough hare-brained cyclists without even the most rudimentary skills necessary for riding in traffic to be concerned about any more of these individuals out there than there is already.

Hare-brained motorists are bad enough, but cars are heavy lumbering beasts, and a sprightly cyclist can avoid all but the most determinedly erratic of them. Bicycles, on the other hand, are a different matter. They share the same space with one another, so an erratic cyclist is most likely going to be a hazard to another cyclist, and indeed themselves. Frankly, I’ve got enough concerns dealing with the current traffic mess without even more random particles being added to the mix. 

Of course, this could readily be solved with systematic, universal cyclist education programs, but that isn’t encompassed in the phrase ‘more people riding bikes more often’, hence my concern.

Now, let's consider the idea of fewer cars on the road. Don’t get me wrong; I fully support reducing the number of these smelly, thunderous behemoths. I do look into this possible future with some degree of, how should I say it?, a sense of loss, but perhaps not for the reasons that you are thinking.

While the benefits of the bicycle are manifold, the one I am concerned with losing here is the specific advantage bikes have in heavily congested motor traffic. My regular commute takes me through some pretty thick areas of stop-start traffic, but on my bike I am immune to it. I zip through as though it wasn’t even there (well, almost). There are hundreds of cars, but usually I am the only cyclist. This gives me largely unfettered access to the spaces between them; it’s like having the road to myself.

Call me perverse, but the heavier the traffic is, the more I like it. I derive a certain pleasure from breezing past all the fume-suckers sitting in their all-powerful, yet ironically impotent single occupant vehicles. I find it especially amusing when said vehicle is a BMW Roadster, or an MX-6 or some such device built purely for speed, or some high priced ‘executive’ car that no matter how much the owner paid for it, is just as stuck as the rest. In the meantime, I leave them sitting stunned in the wake of my bicycle. Sometimes I just have to laugh out loud, or wail ‘suuuuckeeeers’ as I slide past their semi-mobile comfy chairs.

It probably sounds selfish, and it more than likely is, but in a way I don’t really want to lose that advantage - which I undoubtedly would if the congestion vanished - and I don’t really want to be stuck in bicycle congestion - which I suspect by nature would be impregnable to a bicycle - but is the logical conclusion to ‘more people riding bikes more often’. I realise that this selfish attitude is something I will have to let go of, irrespective of whether this future eventuates or not, but in the meantime it does niggle at my mind.

So while ‘more people riding bikes more often’ is on the surface an admirable goal, perhaps to ease my discomfort at the ramifications mentioned above, I could offer some possible modifications.

How about:

More people riding bikes with more skill. [the ‘more often’ bit will probably take care of itself]

Or:

More people loving to ride bikes. [when you love something you will want to do it better, and more often]

Or simply

More love of riding bikes. [it sound a bit ‘hippyish’ I know – but hey, I guess I’m a bit hippyish myself :^)]