Los Angeles, meet the bicycle.
Of all the least-expected consequences of soaring fuel prices, this has to be near the top of the list: swarms of cyclists are taking to the intimidating, multi-lane thoroughfares of Los Angeles, some even defying the law and whizzing between the stationary cars on the gridlocked freeways.
The result is a city of diehard motorists in need of some anger management. Criminal charges have already been filed against one driver accused of deliberately braking in front of two cyclists in the wealthy suburb of Mandeville Canyon — home of the world's most famous Hummer-driving road hog, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both cyclists ended up in hospital.
Meanwhile, pedestrians are beginning to repeat the constant gripe of the modern Londoner: traffic-dodging cyclists are hogging the “sidewalk” and almost knocking them off their feet.
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The city is so alarmed by this clash of car culture and pedal power that it has enacted an emergency plan, which so far consists of a Cyclists' Bill of Rights and a public “conversation” about how everyone can get along without killing each other. More meaningful developments are also afoot: the city has hired Alta Planning & Design, a planning consultancy, to revamp its haphazard and under-maintained cycle lanes and come up with cyclist-friendly initiatives.
Even in liberal LA, however, there is an element of political antipathy in this showdown. Even if cyclists do not overtly consider themselves to be combating everything from obesity to global warming when riding on two wheels, motorists tend to perceive their every on-road manoeuvre as holier-than-thou.
The Cyclists' Bill of Rights has done nothing to disabuse motorists of the notion that all cyclists are condescending, Obama-cheering elitists. The document states that cyclists are an “indicator species” of a healthy community, and represent a solution to environmental destruction and gridlock. One pro-cycling group, the Crimanimalz, organises frequent law-defying rides to prove how much more efficient two-wheeled transport can be.
Yet the problems of cycling in Los Angeles go deeper than just dealing with touchy and credit-crunched SUV owners. The summer heat can be unbearable. Then there are the poorly maintained surfaces, the wheel-buckling storm grates and the debris that slides into the road after the occasional heavy rainstorm.
Brad House, a member of the Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee, speaking at a meeting of the city's new bicycle task force, said: “We are the illegitimate bastard child of the transportation industry.” Having apparently never encountered a London taxi driver while on two wheels, he added: “In Europe, motorists are very respectful of cyclists.”
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