I live in Paris and I love the city. Other than occasionally to and back from the countryside or from time to time my collectible car for pleasure, I don’t really drive that much, so I am mostly a pedestrian or a public transport commuter. And I really like it.
I also support most alternative mobility and micro-mobility movements and believe they all have their place in a city. Many of them are not my cup of tea, but diversity is good. The problem I see though, is that the cyclists have brought chaos to the city and I am often scared for my life when I walk in the city because of their behavior. How so, you ask? How could I be so negative about the latest craze and such a great healthy and environmentally and socially valued phenomenon? Read on.
The cyclists are reaping most of the benefits of city planners seeking to reduce the city congestion to reduce pollution and/or noise and stress. They are often cited as high victim risks in accidents with cars, so they naturally get many benefits and protection: the cyclist lanes, special passages and special priorities. And frankly, why not? But the cyclist culture is turning into the dictatorship of the cyclist class and their political allies in cities over the cars, and even pedestrians. The dictatorship of the Cyclotariat class.
How often do you see them casually biking their way through a red light and crossing an intersection with oncoming cross traffic? Or entering a one-way street against the traffic and expecting to have the right of way? Or intersecting pedestrian crossings expecting to have the right of way over the pedestrian? Luckily the practice of riding the bike on pedestrian sidewalk has significantly reduced, which has brought some serenity to pedestrians (although for a while in 2018 the e-scooter took up that habit).
Based on what I have witnessed myself and have heard from family and friends, this is not just a local and French phenomenon, it is in many cities. Now I am not saying that all cyclists are disrespectful and all cities are such, but any objective person will observe that it is a common practice for many cyclists to ‘naturally’ skip red intersection lights. The other day, a friend of mine who has been cycling around Paris for the past 5 years, said, only half-jokingly, that he feels like he is the only one who stops at red lights.
I guess what I am trying to say is that tolerance and respect are essential in living with diversity, so just as the car, the motorcycle and the pedestrian respect the signals and the regulations, the cyclist has to get used to respecting everybody else and the traffic signs: it should not be the cars that have to constantly look out for the cyclist entering the intersection from a red traffic light, or the pedestrian to watch for the cyclist when he/she is walking on the sidewalk or crossing the pedestrian walk. There is no monopoly of common sense in cyclists’ favor.
Paris, April 7, 2021
Zeejay