The original draft of this email was sent to Washington Post transportation reporter Luz Lazo and copied to several Post colleagues, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, two relevant members of her administration, and all 13 members of the D.C. Council, most of whom have gone along with the District’s delusional Vision Zero policy that seeks to impose a largely carless future with no traffic fatalities. As if.
Dear Luz,
God rest Jim Pagels’ soul [“Advocate for bicyclists’ safety killed in car crash while riding,” B3, Apr. 13]. But was his “date” you mentioned going to ride on the handlebars on their way to dinner and a movie? Or were they going to ride two bikes abreast and militantly create an even more dangerous traffic hazard?
In any case, it’s past time for our region’s bike zealots and the silly, anti-car policymakers enthralled by them to stop the suicidal madness. A bare-legged, 150-pound geek on a 25-pound bike doesn’t stand a chance in a collision with a motor vehicle, not even a dinky little Prius or prone-to-battery-fires Volt traveling at low speed.
So either we start putting drivers, pedestrians and cyclists in jail for mindlessly staring at cell phones when they should instead be watching where they’re going (try imposing that law on Chevy Chase soccer moms distractedly driving 5,000-pound SUVs, Madam Mayor and D.C. Council), or it’s time for the radical left, which apparently would like to recreate here in the nation’s capital today the Beijing of the 1960s and 1970s, to climb down off their two-wheelers and rejoin the real world.
There are places, even plenty of streets and roads, where bicycle riding can be safely enjoyed. But crowded urban thoroughfares at twilight or especially after the sun goes down are not among them. The fatalities data you cite in today’s story make that clear, and for all I know radical policymakers are happy to use such fatalities as a means of rallying public opinion against cars. But rather than expect the rest of society to accommodate their sweaty, stinky, cheap-date idiosyncrasies, perhaps it’s time for cycling enthusiasts to save their own lives by considering rides with Metro, taxis or Uber.
Darren McKinney, Washington, D.C.