This isn't exactly a Marxist post, except that its topic could have drastically impaired my ability to be a Marxist. I just survived a cycling accident.

I was cycling home from the library after a hard night's work. (Yes, my commitment to the struggle includes giving up my wild social life to spend Friday nights at the library.) It was dark out, and I was cycling quickly, stretching my legs. There was a green light at the intersection ahead; the 'cross' man sign had just changed to the 'flashing hand' sign. I knew I had didn't have much time before the light ended, so I sped up. But it was still green, not orange. All the cars had been stopped for a while, I figured I wasn't in any danger.

What I hadn't figured on was another bicycle. He crossed slowly into the intersection at the far side, directly into my path. I had enough time to do 3 things: think about swerving, think about braking, and yell "Jesus Christ!" as I slammed into his front wheel.

We both went down. I landed on my hands, didn't hit my head, I wasn't hurt, and neither was my bike, though my front reflector broke off. It must have looked really bad though, because all the passers-by starting calling, "Are you OK?" The other guy was older and apologized profusely, saying, "It's completely my fault, I wasn't thinking, my head was in the clouds." A pedestrian told him to get a helmet, she said she was a doctor who worked in an emergency room and helmets were essential. I told him "Take care," and meant it.

He asked if I wanted a business card; I suppose, had I not been full of adrenaline, I might have asked him for $5 to replace my reflector. But I was just relieved we were both still talking and our bikes were in one piece. My bike is pretty small, I was surprised when I rode off and it was OK. I'm surprised I'm OK - my wrist's a little sore, but nothing serious.


"Yay! I made it home alive!"

I've actually wanted to blog about cycling more than once, this is obviously the time to do it. Cycling embodies contradictions (there, I made it Marxist.) It's incredibly safe. We survived the accident because we were both under our own power. Even at top speed, I just pushed him to the ground, I didn't damage my bike or his, him or me. Had we both been cars, there would have been serious repercussions.

But then, in a car, you don't go through red lights with your head in the clouds. Being a cyclist gives you a false sense of security, that you can flaunt road rules and get away with it. It takes so much effort to stop at an intersection, and then start again - why not just slow down a little, and coast through it? I've done it myself. Naturally, there's an incentive: to get away from all the cars surrounding you. And of course, I always look both ways to see if anyone's coming. But not everyone does, apparently.

The whole car vs. cyclist debate is misguided. Drivers aren't worse than cyclists: they're all bad. Drivers open their doors into cycle paths and change lanes without looking; cyclists cut you off. There's even the phenomenon of cyclists talking on cell phones, or wearing iPods! One of the latter recently tried to pass me, on the right, through an intersection. It appears to be a rule of urban travel: we're all trying to get where we need to go, as fast as possible, and damn the consequences.


This kind of imagery is as misleading as car ads showing long, winding roads. Most cycling takes place in cities, like most driving.

It's also not an individual problem. Cities aren't designed for bicycles and cars to mix. Cyclists are at a disadvantage: we have next to no paths of our own, and we're supposed to eek out an existence between parked cars on the right, and a lane of traffic to the left. If we try to take the whole lane of traffic - as we're legally allowed to do - drivers go crazy.

It's terrifying. We have to watch for drivers, pedestrians who step out blindly into the road, other cyclists. Potholes which don't bother drivers are serious hazards to cyclists. Our tires pop on the glass left by idiots who break bottles in the streets. My favourite is when street-cleaning machines 'sweep up' the glass - onto the side of the road, right where we're expected to cycle.

Our cities need separate bike lanes - and not just painted lines, but concrete divides between traffic and bikes, and preferably whole different routes. Until then there'll be chaos, from drivers, pedestrians and yes, cyclists who don't notice red lights.