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Video: Here's What Happens When You Walk Into A Bike Lane Without Looking
By
Lauren Evans
Published Oct 2, 2014
Modified Oct 2, 2014
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By
Lauren Evans
Published Oct 2, 2014
Modified Oct 2, 2014
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Bike lanes are the one place cyclists should feel safe, but anyone who says that hasn't tried to maneuver down 2nd Avenue without committing manslaughter. Strollers, carts, rogue children, trash piles, rogue dogs, chickens sometimes!, and people: So many people. Joggers, texting zombies, bottle collectors and THIS GUY.
You know this guy, who cowers in the sallow light like a jaywalking Edvard Munch ghoul. He comes in every available shape, size and demographic, but the expression is always the same: Impotent terror that quickly gives way to recrimination, but maybe I'm being too hard on him. Maybe he's a visitor from a North American town so remote he's never seen a bicycle. Maybe he's a visitor from some disorganized planet beyond the asteroid belt whose Earthling Integration Training is out of date, meaning he's only been taught to fear runaway horses and dropsy and not pissed off cyclists with Go-Pros. MAYBE he's blind and his old seeing eye dog, the only one he's ever had after he lost his sight at 42 from meningoencephalitis, died last week, and this is his first, emotional foray out of doors without her.
Or maybe he just wasn't fucking looking. As the cyclist, who filmed the incident on 2nd Avenue at 23rd Street in the "early morning," says: "I saw this guy a mile away and knew he was going to walk into the road without looking. I thought I would teach him a valuable lesson since I had the green light. And yes thats a car horn on my bicycle."
As an aside, I think all cyclists should make a habit of investing in cameras like this hero, just as the Russians rely on their dashboard cams for sousveillance and occasional meteor sightings. It's also a great vehicle for advertising your bizarre random acts of kindness.
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2nd avenue
cycling
pedestrians
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Lauren Evans
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