I am not a "Cyclist" (and most Dutch people aren't either)

(birds chirping) (bicycle bell) I am not a cyclist I'm not particularly fond of bicycles I don't care about the latest bicycle technologies  I don't read about bicycle gear I don't watch bicycle racing  I don't go on vacation to cycle I don't cycle for sport  There's literally nothing wrong with  liking any of these things of course  It's just not who I am I do ride a bicycle almost every day though along with hundreds of other   people who are also not cyclists at least not by the definition you'll hear   in most English-speaking countries Let me explain I grew up in a typical North American  car-infested city called London Ontario Canada  I and everybody else around me knew  that bicycles were just for little kids  So when I turned 16 I ditched the bike  got a driver's license and started driving a car  Like the rest of the adults Well my parents car at least When I graduated university, moved  to the big city and started working  I took public transit to work But there was a problem  Because Canadian cities are built wrong  and let their public transit  vehicles get stuck in traffic  This meant that my commute was highly  unreliable and sometimes painfully slow  I worked downtown and had no parking spot at work not that i could afford a car anyway  so that option was out So I did something I thought i'd never do  When i was 27 years old I  broke down and bought a bicycle  This made my commute to work a lot more reliable  but it was still pretty terrible At the time Toronto had very few bicycle lanes  certainly none along my route and every ride was dangerous and stressful A few years later I got a new higher  paying job that was out in suburbia  so i did what everyone does ditched the bike and bought a car  Which started several years of the  absolute worst commutes of my life  There's a reason they call  it the Don Valley Parking Lot But then my wife and I moved to the UK I would take the train up to Cambridge each day  and then the bus into work  I soon learned that it was faster  to cycle (than to take the bus)  So I dusted off the old bike  and started cycling again Over the next few years we lived  in many different countries  and I used whatever method  got me to work the fastest  In Taipei it was by metro In Brussels it was by car  When we moved back to Toronto it  was fastest to take the subway  I didn't care how I traveled I just  did whatever was most convenient  Over the years I've learned  there really aren't that many  car people, train people or bicycle people  The vast majority of people  just want to get from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible A few years later I once again got a job  where it was fastest to go by bicycle  So I did that But what I didn't realize  is that there had been a change in the culture from the last time I had cycled to work   in Toronto over 10 years earlier Because now I wasn't just a guy riding   his bike to work I was a  CYCLIST (scary roar) The first time I realized this I was  having a discussion with co-workers  I don't remember what we were talking about but I remember it had nothing to do with bicycles  and yet after I said something my manager responded with  Well you would say that  You're a cyclist (Lasagna Cat laugh track) This really took me by surprise as I had never thought of myself that way  I mean sure I sometimes rode my bike to   various jobs over the past 15 years but only out of convenience  What was even more bizarre was that I  had taken the streetcar to work that day  So how was I a "cyclist" When I hadn't even cycled? I quickly learned that in many car centric cities when you decide to start riding a bike  you implicitly agree to becoming a part of a group  a "cyclist" This comes with it   many assumptions and stereotypes almost all of them negative  For example people expected me to   become a spokesperson for "cyclists" It was literally every other week  that my wife or I would have someone say to us  oh you're a cyclist? ugh  "I once saw this cyclist ... " Which would inevitably devolve  into a long angry rant about some minor traffic violation  and usually ended with something like "I hope you're not like one of THEM"  We were then expected to either agree with them  or justify this behavior somehow on behalf of our fellow "cyclists"  Somehow drivers were never  held to this same standard This got to be so absurd that whenever my wife or I would hear about   the regular occurrences of a driver in Toronto running a red light  driving twice the speed limit crashing into a building  or killing yet another person on a sidewalk we would just respond with  yeah, but I once saw this cyclist run a stop sign It's exhausting being expected to be held accountable  for everything any person  on a bicycle has ever done  My wife had it worse than me because she worked mostly with people   who would drive downtown from the suburbs and since she wasn't a man   between the age of 20 to 35 she didn't fit the "cyclist" stereotype Why do you ride a bicycle? They'd ask  Are you some kind of tree hugger or something?  Or a hippie? Why would you do that? It's bizarre how much the  topic of riding a bicycle  triggers an emotional and even angry response out of seemingly normal people  And it's very telling in English-speaking countries  when people will routinely complain  about some idiot in a car they saw  but it's never an idiot on a bike It's those damn "cyclists"  It doesn't matter that every study ever done  into the behavior of cyclists has shown they break the law   less often than drivers do The stereotypes remain  The one crazy "cyclist"  sticks out in a driver's mind  while they don't even notice the dozens  of quiet cyclists right beside them  who are just trying to get to  where they're going without dying These stereotypes have serious consequences One particularly sad story was that of Tom Samson  a teacher in Toronto who was killed while riding his bicycle to work When police arrived they didn't bother to   do a proper investigation because it was so obvious:  this guy was a "cyclist" and "cyclists" always run red lights, right?  Obviously this time it got him killed Case closed But to anyone that knew Tom they knew the pieces didn't fit  He wasn't someone who would  take risks when cycling  but the police wouldn't listen so his widow had to hire a   private investigator and uncover the truth: Tom had been waiting to  turn left at this red light  and was rear-ended by a driver  who wasn't paying attention  sending him into the intersection where he was hit by another vehicle  killing him Tom wasn't just some "scofflaw cyclist" he was a husband and father  riding his bike to work on streets that are dangerous   and unforgiving to people outside of a car and his family deserves a fair and complete   investigation from the police just like anyone else Of course eight years later  no changes have been made to improve  the safety of this intersection  which is sadly typical for Canada But the topic of "cyclists" is complicated because ultimately  many of the people who ride in car centric places really do like bicycles  but others do this because they  feel they have to band together  for their own safety and sanity against the stereotypes of a car centric society Unfortunately, this makes it  even more difficult for people  who just want to ride a bicycle because everywhere from advocacy groups  to local bike shops to the bicycle lanes themselves  are dominated by people who  are REALLY into bicycles  and they often have very strong opinions about what it means to be a "cyclist"  "If you want to ride a bike you're going to be one of us  and you better do it right or you'll be 'giving cyclists a bad name'" That's a lot of responsibility just because you want to get to work faster These divides make the us  versus them situation even worse  and over the past few years the press  has been fueling the fires of this divide  The UK press in particular  has gone crazy about reporting on every  bad thing that a "cyclist" has ever done  People are killed by drivers literally  every single day on British roads  but when a "cyclist" killed a woman it was front page news for WEEKS In Canada this anti-cycling messaging was routinely reinforced  not just by the press but also by suburban politicians  like the crack-smoking mayor of Toronto Rob Ford  "the cyclists are a pain in the ass" "my heart bleeds for them  when I hear someone gets killed but it's their own fault at the end of the day" "yes I have smoked crack cocaine" The sad truth is that  labeling people as "cyclists"  dehumanizes them and puts them in an out-group  that some people believes justifies  literal violence against them  In many North American, British, and Irish cities there is a concept of the "punishment pass"  where a driver purposefully drives as  close as possible to someone on a bicycle  to intimidate them and punish them  for taking up space on the road I asked on Twitter for examples from the community and even though I have a much smaller   audience on Twitter I receive dozens of videos  These close passes may not look close on camera because of the lenses used on sports cams  but they're really scary in real life Here's an example from Toronto  of a driver passing so close that he actually hit the   handlebars of the person cycling despite a full lane to the left   that could have been used to pass Many people told me they'd stop cycling  for months years or even forever because of events like this And then there's "rolling coal" some diesel truck owners   get their vehicles modified so that it burns fuel less efficiently  and emits a thick black smoke Modifications can cost up to five thousand dollars  and are sometimes triggered  with a switch on the dashboard  They do this so that they can  punish people who are cycling  or anyone else they don't like I have lost all hope for humanity There were two times in Toronto where I was aggressively run off the   road by drivers who hated "cyclists" and took their anger out on me  Two times where I could have been  seriously injured or even killed  not because of what I'd done but because of the group they associated me with  just because I dared to ride  a bicycle on city streets I totally understand how people become  the stereotypical "angry cyclist"  as I was starting to become one myself Because you are constantly judged unfairly  put in a position of having to  justify the actions of others  and have to put up with literal physical harm just because of the stereotypes of your group  It was an eye-opening experience for me because as a straight white cisgender man  I finally internalized what it  was like to be judged by what   a minority group other people put me in rather than for anything I'd done myself  The HUGE difference of course being that I could stop cycling   at any time ... So I did ... (streetcar sounds) ("next stop: Dufferin street") Taking public transit in mixed traffic was slow and unreliable  but nobody ever tried to run me over just because I was a "transitist" I don't want to join a group I don't want to constantly hear   lame stories of misplaced outrage I don't want to be responsible   for the actions of others and I don't want them to   be held responsible for my actions either I don't want to be forced into a position   of being an activist a spokesperson  or even an "inspiration to  others to start cycling"  I just want to get to where I'm  going quickly and efficiently Thankfully, but far too slowly things are starting to change  As safer protected bicycle  infrastructure is installed  It's attracting people of all ages who  would otherwise never consider cycling  and it's starting to make cycling  more of a "normal" activity  That exposure is slowly changing the culture again because it's hard to be "anti-cyclist"  when 10 year co-workers your sister  and three of your friends ride a bike It's one of those things  I didn't really appreciate  until I was living in the Netherlands for a while I can buy groceries  visit friends get to work  and take the kids to school however I want  Nobody questions my choice Nobody judges me for the actions of others  And nobody screams at me honks at me  or tries to run me off the road Here I'm never a "cyclist"  I'm just another guy riding a bicycle I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my supporters on Patreon  who pay me to complain about  people who complain about cyclists  If you'd like to support the channel  and get access to bonus videos visit patreon.com/notjustbikes

Channel: Not Just Bikes

Views: 1,524,630

Keywords: urban planning, scofflaw cyclists, idiot cyclists, idiot cyclists uk, idiot cyclists canada, idiot cyclists ireland, Why do cyclists break the law?, cyclist, cyclists, cyclist vs idiots, cyclist road rage, cyclist vs car, anti-cyclist

Id: vMed1qceJ_Q

Length: 12min 37sec (757 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 05 2020