Cars are Coffins

The more I ride the more I am amazed, amazed I tell you on how bad the car world is out there. I guess I never really notice when driving became something you did defensively and for safety's sake as opposed to just another facet of a multi-tasked world.

Of course the most obvious is the use of cell phones, but also dogs in the lap, and my favorite; reading the morning paper on your way to work. What I fear most is the mommy with a child in the back seat restrained in an infant carrier and mommy in the front in the middle of a phone conversation, while making a left hand turn at a stop sign onto a busy aerterial road. If this isnt endangering mommy, me and the baby, I dont know what is. This is just crazy. Who knows she may even have a hot cup of coffee in here coffee holder. And it seems to just be getting worse.

Instead of motorists driving better or cyclists demanding a European or Canadian Cycling environment with real bike plans and paths cyclists here in the bay area just give up and say it's getting too dangerous out there. They give up and I have to hear hybrid drivers gloat about there new enviro-cuddly Japanese imports. Forgive me but the still take up space on the roads and the parking spaces in town. They still creat sprawl because now I can leave my guilt back in my suburban ranch house get on the freeway and drive to work. The still make me fat because I drive everywhere. And the last I heard the still have the ability to kill cyclists. So you do the math.

Sometimes, after a long bike ride, what is the most tiring part of the ride is not the actual ride; the mashing of the pedals but the stress of constant vigilence of watching out for dumb ass drivers.