Bronze level bicycle-friendly Philadelphia is in the throes of a bike-riders vs. everybody-else controversy.
After two pedestrians were struck and killed by bicycle riders in Philadelphia in October, the police launched a crackdown last month against cyclists on sidewalks as well as those who don't make full stops at stop signs or traffic lights. (As you can see in this video at left, [spoiler alert!] most cars, buses, taxis don't stop either.)
Then, a state legislator introduced a bill — HB 2096 — that would require all bikes in Philadelphia to be registered and be equipped with lights and turn signals. A similar law has been proposed by City Council. There's also a proposal that all bikes have brakes, a law that would target fixies.
The piling on doesn't stop at government.
Anti-cycling
Among the verbal assaults issued by newspapers, the New York Times reported that the Philadelphia Inquirer has called for action against the “two-wheeled hazards” and a Philadelphia Daily News columnist can't believe that some people consider bicycles a serious form of transportation.
Let's hope all this attention on bicyclists doesn't encourage some pinheads to act out their aggressions on cyclists, although that might already be happening. Bike messengers at a rally this week pointed to an increase in “anti-cycling sentiment” on the roads.
Early Thanksgiving morning, bike messenger Rachel Fletcher suffered serious facial injuries when she was forced off the road by a motorist. Reported on Fox Philly:
“I heard him coming up really close to the side of me and I heard him scream 'Get out of the road!' and then he just got so close to me that I was just forced onto the sidewalk and I went over my handlebars and I landed on my face.”
This is nothing new in Philadelphia. A Facebook page, “I'm a Philadelphia cyclist and I've been hit by a car before“, recounts the personal stories of dozens of bike riders involved in crashes. “The primary intention of this group is to increase awareness of the hostility and carelessness shown to those riding bicycles in Philadelphia.”
One of the best places to see how this head-on in Philadelphia plays out is the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia website.
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