I love this statement. Last night during a new rider/low speed group ride, the group went slow up a pretty harsh little climb and yes, traffic stacked up a little behind the group. Riding in a sweep/control role, I was sitting on the back, slightly into the road to create space for the less experienced riders in front of me (and to limit stupid passing). Limit is the right word too, because you can’t stop stupid.

This is a good place to pass you think.

The evidence? white Lexus SUV, female driver, estimated age mid 40’s. Decided that it would be a good idea to pass the group. Uphill. Into a blind corner. Within a quarter mile of a stop sign. With traffic at the stop sign that held her long enough that the entire group arrived at the stop sign about the same time she did.

During her pass, an oncoming car made her dive back into her own lane, right into the middle of the group. Fortunately we were communicating in the group and no one was placed in harms way, but it could have been a deadly situation. At the stop light, she rolled down her window and yelled at us about how dangerous that was. While I would love to discuss the matter with her, she was clearly not in the frame of mind to handle it, so I waved, smiled and said have a nice day.

She is right, it was dangerous, but it was not the bicycles that made it dangerous. 15 bikes riding single file, as far right as possible. On a rural suburban ‘back road’, with a 40mph speed limit. A road that is designated by the city it sits in as a bike route. What made this dangerous? the impatience of a driver. That right there is when I realized the crux of the truth.

We have become so blinded to the dangers our cars represent and so invested in blaming others for our failures that we use the phrase “It’s Dangerous” towards bikes legally using the road legally to imply that the bikes are at fault when what we are really saying is that our actions as drivers make it dangerous.

She did not need to make that pass on any level, and she lives in the area, she knew this. She made the choice to make it dangerous when there was absolutely no need to do so. When the situation went from risky to imminent danger, she rationalized that the bikes were at fault because they were traveling slower than the speed limit and ‘made her pass them dangerously’.

This is what we have to change. “Share the Road” doesn’t cut it. We have to get it into the open and discuss it.