I don’t know how it is with you, but for me sitting in a car is like walking on crutches – there is an extra layer, an extra abstraction between me and reality: I can’t I can’t just feel my speed in my body and through the wind, I have to look at the car’s speedometer I can’t just move my body to indicate direction, I need to use the car’s directional appendage, I can’t just cross a road when it is safe, I need to sit there and wait for the green light even if nobody else is around. I am in general not much in charge: a single 4×4 accross the road or parking area stops most cars and I have to park at designated parking spots almost exclusively – empty ones, that is.
I sure feel more comfortable and in charge biking: for example if I am on the road, and my bike broke down or malfunctions, I will most likely be able to manage the glitch, and be on my way a bit late maybe. But with a car it is a totally different story: I will have to wait for AAA or another agency, maybe for hours, getting towed, waiting for somebody else to fix the thing, and worry about what amount it will cost. And the type and complexity of errors that can happen on a car vs on a bike is another story all together: even shops have to specialize in a brand of autos if they hope to keep up.
What can I say: biking feels much more human. And as a reason, I sense bicyclists on the road behave more human as well: we most often acknowledge each other with a nod, talk to each other in passing, and I have yet to meet another biker, who goes out of their way to threaten me. In contrast I frequently get honked at by car-drivers either as a way of greeting or just showing force for fun, startling either way. Some pass intentionally close, some steps on the gas in a loud vehicle just as they pass me. Credit to them, only a few percentage of all drives do things like that, mostly people just pass, many times giving me plenty of space to live, only blowing some exhaust fume my way.
And then there are those petty little annoyances: Since traffic tickets are increasingly viewed as a revenue raising tool for state and local governments, more effort goes into making it lucrative, whether it is through setting up traffic cameras, streamlining the collection process or even changing the laws – this all mostly rests on the back of car-drivers as they are, so to say, the low-hanging fruit. Bicyclists rarely can speed, and they don’t occupy a paid-for parking spot. They do go through red lights, but mostly they don’t endanger anyone and anything (as the first person they would endanger is themselves, and that is a strong deterring factor). Plus processing them can be a lot harder, as the police rarely knows the exact process to follow regarding bicyclists. A friend of mine, after he got ticketed for speeding (in a car) by the police, described the situation with rage in his voice: “I feel they are like vultures, hovering around silently waiting for the opportunity to ticket hapless drivers”.
Believe me or not, I feel more secure biking around on roads full of two-ton behemoths, because at least I don’t feel constantly preyed upon. Plus it is good to know as well, that me making a mistake on my bicycle would lead to nothing serious or me getting hurt at worst. When I drive, I travel with the burden that my mistakes will endanger others, and mistakes I do make (I hear they are human to make).
One reason cars can so easily imprison us, is because we live in a world where we can’t even imagine an alternative. We might be able to change that however : one of these days I will tackle the subject of a world without cars.
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Since there is not a real appropriate picture to go with this post, I decided to experiment with something new. A video anyone?
