Street Fights: Why does everyone hate bikers?

In the novel "Street Fights," author Janette Sadik-Khan dedicates an entire chapter discussing why everyone loves to hate on cyclists in New York City. And her answer can be broken down into several parts, the primary message being: There is a fight for streets and what they stand for and who they belong to.

The hatred from each party - drivers or pedestrians - towards cyclists differs. But ultimately they rely on the same premise: that roads were created for cars to drive on, nothing else. This includes pedestrians. Sadik-Khan explains how the streets are referred to as "swimming with the sharks," indicating that the streets are dangerous places. Thus, cars are the only possible way to maneuver around the dangerous area. This message goes to both pedestrians and cyclists. But as much as pedestrians and car drivers find each other to be a nuisance, the bike is by far the worst of their worries.

Pedestrians understand how to avoid collisions with cars - use cross walks, listen for approaching engines, use your peripherals to see if a car is coming your way. However, pedestrians have a much harder time looking out for cyclists - they are silent, small, and often travel between pedestrians and traffic. Therefore, your head has to constantly be on a swivel, more than it already is, just to cross the street. Bikes increase how observant a pedestrian has to be, no longer can they just watch the street, they must look in front, behind, side-to-side just to avoid getting in the way - or worse, being hit or killed - by a cyclist.

For drivers, safety is not particularly the issue at hand. Instead, it is a matter of convenience. Road were constructed for the purpose of motor vehicles, by including bike lanes, they are shrinking the size of a road dedicated for cars. Thus, it appears to most drivers that cyclists are slowing traffic. Although, in reality, cars cause traffic, their conclusion does seem logical. What is worse is when cyclists fly by a sitting car in traffic. Cyclists abilities to travel as a car and also in a private bike lane makes it feel as if they are "cheating" by "cutting the line in front of law-abiding people who drive" (P. 149).

Furthermore, the construction of bike lanes can derail current infrastructure that favors cars. For example, when a bike path was originally implemented on Kent Avenue, 200 parking spaces had to be removed in order to make way for safe cycling (p. 163). In addition to inconvenient parking, those who owned small businesses along the avenue were now suffering from a lack of customer parking. Thus businesses end up losing money due to a lack of customer participation.

Working class individuals appeared to only suffer the negative effects of cyclists, as many view bike paths as causing more traffic, cyclists as just another safety issues and possible objects to be hurt from, and one more reason for infrastructure change that costs money and loses money for individuals who rely on a bike centered culture. However, Sadik-Khan notes that in spite of all this push-back she was able to complete a major project to establish a bike lane and create change. In fact, although most people "love to hate on bikes," Sadik-Khan gives most of the credit for her success to New Yorkers themselves. People are smarter than you think, even if sometimes they do experience "cyclist-rage."