Shi Thead

Yesterday's bike commute into work was pleasant. I passed cars stacked three light cycles deep on Franklin and Consumnes River Blvd. It was equally pleasant to stand on the 59th street overcrossing to witness an absolute logjam of cars on westbound Highway 50. I got caught by a nice old lady on that bridge.


Note: Image is typical congestion and does not necessarily represent my exact overcrossing.

"You're gloating, aren't you?" she asked and smiled as she walked by. I was caught red handed. What can I say?

Let me ask, it is morally reprehensible to hope that fatal car wrecks occur on days when I commute by bike instead of when I commute by car?

I don't believe so. As beholden to cars as we are, and as any gas price or any amount of bad traffic won't change that, 45,000 deaths are going to happen each year. Period. As we assume airbags and anti-roll technologies are going to save us we drive like total shitheads. As we commute longer, as we rack up more VMT per year and as we incorporate other living into our commutes like texting, cell phone conversations, eating, and DVD viewing to make up for all that lost time we are only becoming more distracted drivers.

This is happening regardless. Why not hope that accidents happen on days I'm not going to get stuck behind them? It's no different than hoping that an accident doesn't happen to me, except that I have some degree of influence to limit my own exposure to dying on the road while driving. And you have some influence as well. You can drive correctly. You can wait to text your mistress (a.k.a., Eyepatch) until you're in a parking lot. You can wait two seconds at an intersection before entering it to minimize getting t-boned -- no matter how late you are and no matter how pissed off the shitheads behind you get. You've got no control over them; to assume you do, or to try to by trying to cut them off is sheer madness. You don't, and never will have, any control.

Yes, I was gloating on the overcrossing this morning. I gloat every chance I get. I stand on the bike and look down at these drivers, some chatting on their phones, some resting their heads in their hands,


and some are snacking. But all completely ignore my presence on the bridge. It's like being in Seoul, South Korea -- everyone knows I'm a white guy but everyone completely dismisses my presence. A highly entertaining human sociological response...just like gloating at traffic. Call me Shi Thead...that's OK with me...