Scapegoat Cyclists

There are some things you don't expect. We definitely didn't expect a car collision to happen a few meters away from us on our first bike ride around Harvard Square. We (cyclists) were all obeying the rules, but an unfortunate couple's new car was smashed by a guy running a red light. Thank goodness Peter Cheung was with us -- Before we could process everything happening around us, Peter was already stating the facts of the case, saying, "He ran a red light! That guy in the red ran a red light!" We were also fortunate that right across from us was a pedestrian who so happened to be an officer. The young man who ran the red light seemed dumbstruck. Our cycling crew was slightly in shock also -- two of our cyclists were just on the other side of the hit car; without that car... well, it's hard to speculate and not too pleasant to think what might have happened. Sadly, we learned later that the parents in the car were heading to a birthday party (they had balloons in the backseat) and it was the first new car they'd had in 20-odd years. 

Our team shook off the post-accident shivers and decompressed by going to Bertucci's.  We had a pretty diverse and solid conversation, ranging from cycling to random movies/shows.  One thing we learned from one of our cyclists was that a nearby "witness" during the accident had said, "It was those cyclists!" in response to seeing the accident. Wait, what? How did us cyclists cause the collision in any way? It was strange, and this kicked off a conversation on stories of personal experiences where cyclists have been scapegoated or somehow marginalized/ignored (particularly in accident scenarios).  There's a lot of interesting debate and discussion that evolve from the intersection of law and biking (like why the law does not necessarily protect cyclists).  This will be an ever-evolving field, and we encourage more discussion and engagement in your own biking communities and events.  If you don't know where to begin, start with jumping on a bike or joining one of our future (virtual) meetings.  Email us if you have stories/experiences you want to share.