By Art Allen, Transit for Livable Communities’ Communications Assistant

KSTP Channel 5 has run an “investigative news” story about bicyclists who do not follow traffic rules. Many people here will probably say, “Yes, that’s all well and good, but what about all the motorists who do the same thing?” And yes, you’re right. There should be equal news coverage of motorists breaking the law and bicyclists breaking the law. Jim Foti, the Star Tribune’s RoadGuy blogger, has some good perspective on the story: “Say what you will about the aerobic benefits of biking — sweeps month is all about being breathless.”

But media critiques aside, the point remains the same: the law is the law. I’ve gone on a few international trips with school groups, and every time it’s the same thing: “Now remember, you don’t just represent yourself, you are ambassadors of America.” Rightly or wrongly, people base their opinions on entire groups on their experiences with single members of those groups, especially when they are far separated from those groups. This most definitely includes bicyclists and motorists.

So, silly television stunt or not, this is a good opportunity to remind ourselves: when you get on a bike, you represent bikers everywhere. Please, make us proud.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 5:10 pm by Katie and is filed under Transit and Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.