Asbury Park has just launched a new Bike Share! We cut the ribbon tonight and people are happy that AP is becoming a safe and welcoming city for people-particularly the most vulnerable road users-pedestrians and bike riders, whether visitors or residents. But there is still a sense that people on bikes are a renegade bunch.
There are too many disturbing news stories recently about badly behaving bike riders, and even more stories about bike riders being hit and killed by drivers of motor vehicles with little or no consequences. APCSC is making an effort to turn this around in Asbury Park, advocating for streets that are safe for everyone.
“Yes, a percentage of cyclists ride like idiots, and their actions can cause injury and, more often, intimidation or alarm.
But the same can be said for just about every form of transport. As I’ve written before, I strongly suspect cyclists who rush through red lights are likely to drive a car equally stupidly. It’s about idiots, not the mode of travel that happen to be using at the time.
And there is a lot of stupidity in cars. Speeding and phone use at the wheel is less visible than a cyclist sailing across a red, but (for reasons of physics rather than morals) is much, much more likely to kill or maim someone else.”