The Facts

It was a little bit scary reading the comments posted by angry motorists. And this is in a generally progressive city.

One thing I find especially offensive is the use of impromptu derogatory terms for cyclists such as “Spandoids.” They’re all trying to be a pissed-off conservative talk-show host.

Seems like a clear enough op-ed piece, but as usual the anti-bike lobby is having a field day in the sound-off comment section.

Sigh… will we ever get past this?

Holy Crap. I feel a lot less safe on the road after reading some of those comments. Who are these people?

I just take solice in the fact that the voilently-vocal minority tend to swarm to sites where they can spew their crap. If you look at their soundoff profiles - they post all sorts of hateful things on all sorts of topics. The article was interesting and informative.

Great article, but the comments were a little disturbing. So that’s what a progressive cycling city is like. It sounds like you have angry cyclist there as well as angry motorist. “Wow. I had no idea you jerks behind the wheel would also be jerks in front of the keyboard”. Interesting indeed!

Here in Hawaii we have a bicycle registration program that registers bikes as legitimate users of the roadways ($15). Both bicycles and mopeds 50cc and under fall under the program and get a yellow registration sticker letting the police and motorist know you are a legitimate user of the roadway. It seems to work well here. Maybe Seattle needs a similar program to help elevate the dissimilarity between the two, and the feeling that cyclists do not pay taxes. BTW, Hawaii is certainly not the most bike friendly city around, but my experience commuting by bike has proven to me that drivers are very tolerable to cyclists around here. Maybe Seattle cyclist need a little more Aloha. Smile, enjoy the ride, and get along. Teach by example and be respectful to one another. Just an idea.