Dear cyclists, don't be idiots!

A few days ago I watched a short news story about the bicycle infrastructure here in my home town - Zagreb. They did a pretty good job of showing some of the problems cyclists face every day (I'll talk about this issue soon once I gather a lot more evidence) and I was really pleased by the way they pointed out some of the strange situations you can find yourself in.

The next day the host of the news show shared the story on Facebook and from the get-go you could see two camps - car drives/pedestrians and cyclists.

The cyclists commented something along the line of less fountains, more bike paths, where the former group was talking about kamikaze cyclists crossing the road as they will, riding on side walks (which you are prohibited of riding on by law) and other stuff I have also seen cyclists do.

I started thinking about the reason everyone only noticing cyclists as the villains and the only conclusion I have been able to come to is that since you don't see (that many) cyclists all year long you remember them more.

When you see someone zip through a fresh red light (yes, that's a thing here in Croatia) you just think that the person is an idiot and carry on. The same thing goes for pedestrians. You can see them inching through an intersection as the lights start changing and you think the same - what a bunch of idiots.

You start to have some kind of confirmation fatigue (something I came up with a second ago) and once you establish that all people are idiots you stop recognizing them that often.

Now come the cyclists. I am not saying that all of them are bad but there are a lot of black sheep among them for a simple reason - you just are quicker then a pedestrian and have (somewhat) less restrictions than a car driver.

You can quickly get from A to B and can (despite sometimes not being allowed to) use everything you encounter on your route.

The infrastructure in Zagreb when it comes to non-motorized traveling is pretty awful and, as I said, I will have a lengthy report on that soon but that doesn't mean that you can ride your bike as you want.

So here are my 5 tips on how to get safely from A to B as a cyclists:

1. Ride in the bike lane - there are a ton of people who either ride next to the bike lane or on the line separating cyclists from pedestrians (wtf is wrong with you!). If there is a bike lane use it!
2. Ride in the correct direction on the bike lane - since there is a finite amount space you can dedicate to cyclists without upsetting car drivers (and let's be real here, nobody wants to upset drivers since they represent a big chunk of your budget - parking, taxes etc.) most cycle paths have a one way orientation which follows the flow of the traffic in general. If you are riding in the opposite direction make room for cyclists that ride in he correct direction.
3. If you for whatever reason have to ride on a sidewalk keep in mind you are there as a guest. Don't expect people to move to the side just because you are in a hurry - we all are! If they do, flash them a smile, say thank you and try to get out of their way as soon as possible. I don't think I have to even mention that you should be riding slower then u usually do.
4. If you ride on the road which you are required by law here if there is no cycle path/lane, OBEY THE LAW!!! It doesn't get clearer than that. Just pretend you are driving a car and you should be good to go.
5. Buy a lamp! I don't care if your road has lights and you can see far ahead. Buy a lamp! These lamps aren't really for you to see better but rather for you TO BE SEEN. There have been countless times I almost hit a cyclist just because they wore dark clothes and had no front and back lamp. If you can't afford a lamp then sell your bike and get your self some tickets for public transportation - it's safer.

That's pretty much it. If you just stop acting like an idiot and stop pretending like you are the king of the road you will get to your destination a lot faster and safer.

Please don't be an idiot.

Until next time,
keep riding.