I didn't think I would say this, but 2 years on (sorry, 2 days on) I have to register my first grievance. I was hit by a bike today. I'm walking on the side walk, there's two guys walking in front of me. Now, I walk faster than most people do, so I have to overtake people all the time. The problem is (as we learnt 2 days ago) that the sidewalks are narrow here, because they decided to accomodate the bikers by giving them their own section of the sidewalk. So I step onto the bike-sidewalk and then I hear a bell from a grandma bike behind me. I step to the right, to let the bike pass me on the left, I can't literally get back on the sidewalk cause the two guys are in the way, so I just walked up on them and expected the grandma to ride along. Next thing I know my right sneaker is hit by a wheel. I feel the impact of a wheel on my new. clean pants. The word "Jesus" is heard behind me. What the hell, I just kept on walking. I turn around, yell "sorry". The lady, 25-30 years of age, is looking at me like I just slapped her. Ok, I admit I pulled that one out of thin air, I've never slapped anyone so I don't know how they react, but let's just say for the sake of argument that it's that look of disbelief actresses put on when they're slapped around in soap operas. I wasn't hurt, my sneaker suffered momentarily but the impact barely broke my gate.

Now let's analyze the situation for a minute. I'm walking on the bike-sidewalk because I'm trying to get past people on the sidewalk. Tell me how often it happens that people walk past other people on the sidewalk, pretty damn often, right? I wasn't trying to do something noone ever has before. I hear a bell behind, I go right, in the direction of the sidewalk, I do not step out into the road, there's traffic. I do not turn around because by the time I turn around, I will already have been hit, it's much quicker to just get out of the way. Now, set aside the logic of me moving right, in the direction of my real place in traffic, the sidewalk, there is another striking fact about this incident. You see, bicycles are not vehicles at the mercy of inertia, they do have steering. Some are even fitted with a mechanism perfectly appropriate for this situation, usually in the form of a lever of some kind, to the rest of us they're called brakes. So cry me a river, lady.

The thing is, if you drive a car and you hit a pedestrian, you're fucked, no matter where you're driving. If you're on the freeway, you can't possibly stop in time cause you're going too fast. But pedestrians never, ever, ever appear on freeways. So the point is moot. Now, in inner cities, with two sidewalks, one for pedestrians, one for bikes, you are forced to step into the bike zone ever so often, when crossing the street, getting around a pile of bikes on the sidewalk which block the way, other people on the sidewalk etc. So it's no great shock that pedestrians find themselves in that zone from time to time. In fact, in places that have no pedestrian sidewalk, that's the only place to walk. See, as a biker since the age of 6, and a fairly reckless one at that, I know that pedestrians deserve biker's attention because bikes go much faster (yes, even the grandma bikes go faster than pedestrians). The rule applies for every faster vehicle over a slower one, the faster has quicker steering, it's up to the faster vehicle to steer clear. And I respect that principle, I don't ram into people when I'm driving or biking or skiing. Sometimes the only way to avoid it is by engaging the brakes.

One disturbing fact: motorized scooters also ride on the bike-sidewalk, those things are capable of doing much more damage considering their weight and velocity. :lazy: