Why I rather despise the World Day of Rememberance 🚲 ☹️

The Albany Bicycle Coalition strikes me as an organization that is more anti-bicycling then is pro-bicycling. While their goals may be noble, two of the things they promote – ghost bicycles places where people have died in bike crashes – and the World Day of Rememberance for Lost Pedestrians and Cyclists is decidedly anti-bicycling.

In many ways the Albany Bicycling Coalition reminds me a lot of some of the gun control groups – whining a lot about the lost of life for cyclists and how tragic it is – while not doing much to make cycling safer or better beyond suggesting cyclists and pedestrians don’t belong on their road, and anyone crazy enough to step out of the protective cocoon of an automobile with it’s 10 different air bags is just plain asking for death by motorist suicide. Obviously, by emphasizing how dangerous cycling is, then it’s an excuse to embolden cops and cities to get more revenue by ticketing and harassing cyclists and pedestrians, even if they aren’t the ones causing most of the problems.

The problem with many of these cyclists organizations is they are primarily recreational in nature, most rarely leave the safety of the bike trail, or when they do ride, it’s on rural highways with wide shoulders and sunny weather in the middle of the weekend day primarily. When your a leisure cyclist, it’s easy to criticize people who rely on a bike to get around town in traffic. Commuting sometimes involves risks that you don’t have to deal with a leisurely peddle on a bike path. These cyclists organizations view owning a bike as something you do leisurely with family off-the-road. They don’t get that cycling may have dangers, but so does obesity, lack of exercise and fresh air, along with the harm that driving an automobile does with it’s toxic exhaust coming out of tailpipes and rubbing off their tires.