Hang Up and Ride

Lots of people don’t like it when drivers talk on their cell phones while driving. If it’s going to make you swerve, then I’m not a big fan either, but I do it, so I don’t really have any right to point fingers. However, there is another group of cell phone users, which I do feel I should point a finger at: bicyclists.

Twice tonight I had to be very mindful of people riding their bikes and talking on the phone. One was using his right hand to hold phone (which restricts his braking ability to the front wheel) and swerving around while trying to ride up a steep hill on Hill (kind of confusing, Hill Street being such a hilly street). Hill is not a wide street, but you can get two cars passing with ample room to spare. But it turns out that one guy on a bike, talking on the phone, takes up about as much space as a car and a half.

The second guy was using his left hand for the phone, but holding it to his right ear, which was making him wobbly. He was a little better than Guy #1 in that he wasn’t swerving. I was mostly worried that he was going to fall off and land under my tires.

The worst offender in this genre was about a month ago. A guy came zipping along, through a red light, talking on a phone, with NO hands on the handlebars. I give him a lifespan of about 10 or 15 more minutes.

I’m all for watching out for, and being respectful to, bicyclists. It’s important not to drive in their lane, and to watch for them when you make a turn. But it’s hard to keep feeling respectful and vigilant when they glare at you after you almost hit them as they are running a red light, through a blind intersection, going nearly 30Mph.