BTW on KHQ 6 Help Center

Last night I was one of seven or eight BTW volunteers who manned the phones for KHQ's Help Center, which is a call in bit during their evening news hour. They provide some promotion and various organizations get some publicity while helping people with their questions. Unfortunately, it was a slow night on the phones. Slow, but interesting and informative. I had the (mis)fortune to sit at phone number one. Phone one had to be busy before phone two would ring and phone two would have to also be busy before phone three would ring and so on. Because of this, I took the bulk of the calls. I raise the possibility of misfortune because several of the callers I spoke with had nothing good to say about bicycling and bicyclists. Admittedly, a number of these callers didn't properly understand the rules of the road regarding cars and bikes, but they are the reality that cyclists deal with on a daily basis, though thankfully from what I think a pretty distinct minority. Rather than go into all the details, what I can say is that when many a driver sees a cyclist do something they deem rude, dangerous, or illegal, that driver remembers it. One caller brought up an incident form 10 years ago that had stuck in his craw. Maybe now that he'd told a bicyclist about it, he'll have gotten it out of his system. What bugs drivers? Probably the same things that bug most cyclists when they see other cyclists engage in dangerous or boorish behavior. Okay, I guess I will provide some examples. Some drivers think that because there is a bike trail or lane, a cyclist MUST use it. As politely as possible I did what I could to correct that impression, but just one person got my message, or heard it, but whether they actually accept that, that's another story. Another complaint was the cyclist who took the lane and slowed traffic (the most common complaint) but then zipped up along side stopped cars at the light, only to take the lane again to hold those cars up for a second time. I have to admit I don't find this behavior particularly endearing. I ended up agreeing with the caller that this seemed like an instance of having your cake and eating it too. Either take the lane and go with traffic, staying behind stopped cars, or stick to the side of the road so cars can get around, but don't do both. It creates ill will. I'll let someone else weigh in on whether it's a safe or wise way to ride. Of course, impeding traffic is the biggest gripe drivers have. One caller complained about cyclists not keeping up a minimum speed. When I asked if 20 mph in a 30 zone was enough of a minimum speed, he conceded that even then the cyclist should show some "common courtesy" (and common courtesy always was about the cyclist getting out of the way of the driver rather than the driver following the law) and get the heck out of the way. Clearly, while I don't think most of these drivers dislike cyclists in general, and they all say they don't, they clearly feel some antipathy toward anyone who slows them down, or anyone they perceive as slowing them down. Jon Snyder's recent editorial on OTM's website about the car as a "time machine" hits on this point quite well. People can't stand to lose those five second it takes to get to the next light, even if it means they'll be sitting at that light for five more seconds. Thankfully the Bicycle Alliance of Washington was able to get some cycling information into the driver's manual and driver's tests, but that education will take a while to pay off. Clearly, there is a lot of educating of drivers that needs to take place. Until then, maybe we can just do unto others as we'd have them do unto us? Here's hoping.