Note: this is written with a lens local to Blacksburg and Christiansburg, Virginia, where I live and work. I believe it’s relevant to many small towns and cities in the US, though.
The simple fact I keep coming back to: we are all people.
This past week, there were a couple posts on the local “Everything” Facebook groups about bicycles and broader transportation issues that seemed, dare I say it, almost constructive.
They were presented in the form of complaints or concerns, which is absolutely normal. What was impressive was that most people skipped the blame game. They accepted the facts:
Our car traffic has outgrown our roads. That’s what happens when towns boom. Most people still want to drive, though.
Bicycles and pedestrians don’t have a place to go and are forced to interact with cars.
Nobody follows the rules, riding a bicycle or driving a car. Laws are broken all the time but enforcement is nearly impossible.
It makes everyone angry. One person pointed out our region’s “deep cultural hatred of bicycles,” which was a smart and fair assessment.
The concerns are real; the outrage avoids responsibility.
Best I can look back and tell, I’ve been riding bicycles for transportation in Blacksburg, Virginia since 2004—22 years. I’ve been driving on the same roads since I was 16, so 18 years. I’ve had a CDL since 2015 and used to drive many large vehicles through crowded streets.
In that time, almost nothing has changed culturally. We have a few more bike lanes. The Huckleberry Trail, our local artery for everyone who isn’t driving a car, goes more places. But…that’s it.
At every pinch point where a driver is forced to interact with bikes and pedestrians, nothing has changed. If you’re in a car, the biker is at fault. If you’re on a bike, the dumb and distracted driver is the problem.
We’re all just trying to get around. The other side is not evil despite the bravado and rhetoric we all like to use.
Everyone flouts the rules to benefit their current transportation situation.
Let’s just say it plainly: nobody is playing by the rules of the road, sidewalk, or bike path. These are self-evident facts:
Barely any cars stop at stop signs. Go sit at a four-way stop and see for yourself.
Barely any bikes stop at stop signs. Go sit at a four-way stop and see for yourself.
People blow through stop lights all the time and roundabouts are a gamble with death for everyone involved.
Everyone in a car speeds. Cars are designed to make that easy.
Everyone on a bike takes shortcuts, rides through parking lots, and jumps on a sidewalk if it’s easier.
People who walk places wear headphones. They step out into traffic. They walk on roads where it isn’t safe. Sometimes they’re drunk.
We are all people trying to get home tonight.
Drop the outrage and accept that we’re all flawed people just making our way in this world.
If you’re behind a biker in your car, just stay there and listen to Spotify. You’re experiencing a two minute delay, max, and have air conditioning.
If you’re biking on the road, be predictable. Ride where you’re supposed to, make sure the person driving sees you, and decide who goes through the stop sign. Let the car go if they’re going to pass you in 10 seconds anyway.
I’ve softened on the bike. These rules seem to work for me.
Remember those 22 years of bicycling here? I’ve experienced a lot, from the best mountain views and flocks of birds flying with me to intense anger and terror when a road rager gets out and tries to fight me. Dozens of times over to both.
Now? I wave. I let cars go. I slow down on the Huckleberry Trail.
Some people still pass close or scream at me but nothing is worth escalating. I just wave. If I didn’t, some sad person with nothing to lose is going to use their car or Glock and I don’t make it home that way.
My dream? It’s something this quirky town could pull off.
Let’s cut the bullshit on all sides and accept that everyone is trying to get home. Let’s be the small rural-ish town that does pretty well with all this. A place where diesels don’t roll coal; they pick up bikers with flats and take them back to town. Where bikes don’t careen through traffic and blow stop signs at breakneck speeds. Walkers that try to remember where they are.
When somebody messes up, you go “I love you, do better.” and we all know that means something. No cussing, no idiot men getting out trying to fight. Just a gentle reminder.
We’re not fixing this with rules or infrastructure.
At scale, we aren’t going to follow traffic laws whether we’re on foot, riding a bike, or behind the wheel. It’s nearly unnatural to do so and certainly unreasonable to expect us to entirely change our ways.
Government is not going to fix this. We aren’t getting bike lanes everywhere or turning into Amsterdam. Everyone is going to have to interact in uncomfortable and often unsafe ways.
Let’s just agree to do better. Call out bad behavior when you see it too—be brave but don’t scream. Shame works better anyway. You can be a disappointed mom or dad without the posturing.
I’m open to feedback and ideas here, too. This is going to take cultural movement above all else. Let’s do it.