This morning, my wife was riding west on Ventura Boulevard in light traffic. She was in the right half of the #2 lane. She looked over her left shoulder at the approaching traffic and saw an 18 Wheeler in the #1 lane and a Metro Rapid Bus (750) in the #2 lane. They were side-by-side and traveling at the same speed.
Enci had parked cars to her right and no room to spare. She held her line, with only inches between her and the parked cars. There were only a few parked cars remaining before the Boulevard opened up and the #2 lane widened.
The Bus Operator did not slow down and had no room to move to the left. He passed Enci with inches to spare. Enci had no wiggle room at all.
She did not see the Operator but she was able to get the 4-digit number off the Bus. She was shaken, she was pissed and, in an expression of frustration, she yelled at the bus as it drove off down Ventura Boulevard, still side-by-side with the 18-Wheeler.
She continued on her journey, westbound on Ventura Boulevard, still in the #2 lane when a motorist passed her and then made a hard right turn (the “right hook”) across her line and into the corner gas station.
Enci was able to avoid the vehicle, braking and turning hard left and then right, but ended up losing control of the bike and she hit the ground, hard.
As she lay in the street, she was unable to get up off the ground because her left arm and left leg wouldn’t take her weight. No motorists traveling the same direction stopped to help and none of the motorists waiting at the light offered assistance. A pedestrian stepped out to help her get to the curb and to collect her bike.
As Enci stood on the curb she looked around the gas station for the motorist who nearly took her out. Moments ago, the motorist was in such a hurry to get to the gas station but after cutting Enci off and leaving her in the street, he had apparently given up on his errand and had left.
Enci rested at the gas station, made a few adjustments to her bike and collected her wits.
She continued her journey, arriving late to her Theatre Company’s first read of Peter Cottontail, Jr. and then she went home. That was when she lost it.
Safely at home it sunk in. She relaxed and the experience caught up with her. The emotion of being terrorized by a Metro Bus Operator and then right-hooked by a motorist and left in the street overwhelmed her and she cried tears of fear, anger, frustration and righteous indignation and utter disappointment in people, people who can threaten someone’s life and then just drive away.
As this happened I was in Sylmar, having ridden busted up Lankershim to the debris littered San Fernando Road all the way to the edge of Los Angeles for a breakfast meeting that went long. I called Enci when my meeting ended only to hear her sobbing on the phone.
It was a long ride home for me and I felt very helpless. When I walked in the door, Enci was there, no longer crying but now very angry. Before I could address her incident and ask how she was doing, she burst out.
“You won’t believe what just happened. Eric just got squeezed by a Bus on Sunset Boulevard.”
Enci was already in activist mode, ready to change the world. It needs changing and there’s no better place to start than right here.
We made a few calls. They may or may not have some impact on the Metro. It remains to be seen. The Metro is a large organization with institutionalized behavior and a culture that is stubborn, resistant to change and supported by a strong union.
But we won’t give up.
LA is a great place to ride and it’s up to us to demand equal access to our streets and it’s up to us to demand respect. Without equality and respect, nothing else matters. Without equality and respect, we will continue to be treated like 2nd class citizens and we will continue to be marginalized. But only if we accept it.
As I watched Enci get back on her bike and ride off to her Westside appointment, I stood more committed to fighting for equality and respect for the cyclists of Los Angeles. I hope you’ll join me.
“See you on the Streets!”
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9 comments:
I have read. I have understood. I have felt bad for you. Yesterday and today, very bad. A kind of communal suffering perhaps - in Latin: passion & sympathy. Passion and sympathy for you and for me. For us.
The sheer indignity of the encounter, within a structure created by engineers, oil barons, property developers, the sun, and filled with uncycling humans.
Thank you for sharing it. Upright onward, with a kiss.
This is an experience all-too-common on LA's mean streets. There is no respect, and little regard for safety. The latter - bicyclists safety - can be mandated and legislated. To that end, I applaud your great efforts in trying to prod the Metro bureaucracy take responsibility. In Sacramento, too, action is LONG overdue. The new DMV booklet is supposed to focus on bicycle safety among other changes, but too little, too late. Safety is a responsibility of public agencies.
The latter - respect - is a longer and much more arduous road, though. All we can do is refuse to yield (literally and figuratively) and stake our claim to the small slice of the pavement due us. Hopefully the pavement won't stake its claim before we stake ours. Best wishes to Enci!
I'm an infrequent bike rider now, but I spent the first two years of college commuting on a bike, so I have some idea of the outrages that riders must bear. Respect for bicyclists will always lag as long as they insist on their legal rights, but break traffic laws when it suits them. What percentage of bicyclists actually stop at stop signs? It's pretty low.
That said, I support your efforts to raise hell with MTA.
Nothing feels better than biking down a hill, wind in your hair, pedals flying. Until a car cuts you off trying to get to the freeway entrance... and then coming to a full stop. Seeing as how you can't stop in time, all you can do is brace yourself. Bike shatters the back glass, your body makes a dent on the top of the car, glass shreads up your stomach as you flip over the car onto the street.
True LA story, location: chinatown.
"Respect for bicyclists will always lag as long as they insist on their legal rights, but break traffic laws when it suits them."
Thanks for trying to be nice - but please go fuck off and die.
Respect for bicyclists lags because:
-automobiles drivers buy more stuff than people who walk, ride bikes, or take transit
-cars and oil make some people very rich
-the people who sell us stuff, cars, and oil pay for politicians to get elected
-the people who sell us stuff, cars, and oil also pay for transportation engineering schools that define the very term "transportation" as implicitly meaning travel by private automobile
Me coasting through a red light on Monday morning, on a small side street, has nothing to do with what happened to Enci (and other cyclists) on the roads of this region.
Your point is bullshit. Sorry for the strong words, but you deserved it.
I was riding in the bikelane on __ one day and there was no traffic around me whatsoever. The road is FOUR lanes wide. Eventually, a Metro Bus approached from behind me and blew their horn at me, as if I was in the way. I WAS IN THE BIKELANE ON A FOUR LANE ROAD WITH NO OTHER TRAFFIC!
I could have become angry. Instead, I just had to laugh at the ignorance and stupidity and antagonism of people. I just smiled and giggled and realized, "Wow. I am a much happier person with a far more rich and rewarding life than that person could ever dream of experiencing." Kinda felt sorry for the idiot after that.
Hi: I'm a writer for LA Citybeat. I'm trying to do a story on bicyclists and their reactions to the new Bike Master Plan and a lot of my research has included your various posts. Do you think we might be able to chat in the near future about the BMP?
Enci, glad you're OK. Every time you're out there, you make it safer for me and the folks I love to be out there. Way to stand up and keep fighting.
Enci... glad you're ok and was able to shake it off. It pisses me off that no one helped you out and just thinking of a down rider and traffic still moving around... pretty scary. SoapBoxLA... I'd hate to go through that "helpless" feeling that you felt on the ride home.
Thanks for everything you guys do..
Al
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