Guest Post: Nic Esposito’s Bicycling Blues

Last year I wrote an article for Plan Philly about an altercation I had with a truck driver while riding my bike on Second Street between Girard and Poplar en route to my birthday brunch. In an effort to make me aware that his rig was coming up behind me, the truck driver sounded his horn. I was startled and called him an expletive. He took offense and explained that he was a biker too and was just trying to let me know he was there. This led me to the conclusion that the tense relationship between motorists and bicyclists is more systemic than personal. I argued if there was a bike lane on Second Street I’d have more room to ride, and if the lights were timed, motorists wouldn’t be in a breakneck rush that forces bikers to run red lights to stay ahead of them.

So let’s fast-forward exactly a year later to, quite appropriately, my 30^th birthday. Once again I was riding down Second Street through Northern Liberties, except this time, I was driving my car en route to visit family in New Jersey. Although my wife and I have had a car for years, these days I find myself behind the wheel much more than I’d like to admit (more on that in a bit). As I passed by the same exact spot near Liberties Walk where I had that altercation with the truck driver a year before, I was uncomfortably parallel to a Ford Explorer in the right lane. I looked over to see how close his side-view mirror was to mine when beyond the hood of his car I saw a man on a mountain bike merging into traffic maybe 50 feet in front of us. I knew that his timing wasn’t fast enough even before I heard the most unsettling sound in the world—human flesh colliding with the metal of a machine.

I kept pace with the Explorer for a moment, preparing myself to try to get a license plate number should he try to take off. But he quickly veered into an empty spot and I did the same. We didn’t say anything to each other as we rushed to the man lying in the street, lightly shaking and clutching his arm.

We both attended to the man as the motorist’s wife called 911. We told the bicyclist to stay down and that we would call an ambulance. But as the biker regained his faculties, he forced himself up, stumbled back, and requested a police officer in lieu of an ambulance. Seeming physically able, yet a little belligerent, he mumbled to the couple the ominous and vague threat that they were going to pay for this. This set the motorist’s wife off, and as soon as the cops showed up, it inspired me to get back in my car and head to dinner.

Although I was already in a reflective mood on my 30^th birthday, this experience forced me to reflect on my choice to bike in the city. In my opinion, biking is one of the most sustainable choices you can make. My 35 lbs aluminum bike that relies solely on energy from my body to go 15-20 mph uses few natural resources, improving both personal and global health. But as noble and important as I think my motives are, I have to acknowledge that with a growing family and more responsibilities, I feel safer in a 2,000 lbs machine that can accelerate to 40 mph in a matter of seconds. As I’m starting to learn, there’s a balance between the two. But there are also obvious differences, which is why I cannot agree with some who make the ridiculous claim that bikes need to be subjected to the same road rules as cars. They are two different beasts.

In fact, I feel that the onus is more on motorists. If we don’t keep traffic moving by timing the lights while rethinking traffic patterns to slow cars down to safe speeds as well as enforce anti-texting while driving laws, bikers will have no choice but to resort to survival mode and run lights. Although some biking advocates may have an issue with this statement, I admit that I am going to do anything in my power to stay safe, even if it means sneaking through a red light to get away from the guy in the car next to me who is speeding to get through a red light while either contemplating his naval or updating his Facebook status.

I must give the caveat that I’m not a city planner, so I don’t know the exact methods for how to accomplish these requests. But for now, can we at least get a bike lane on Second Street between Girard and Poplar? I hate to think what I’ll witness on my 31^st birthday if we don’t.

(Photos via Generocity)