Editor:
I love riding my bike around our city, not just for pleasure rides but for utilitarian purposes like getting groceries or commuting to work. I am in favour of the new Active Transportation Network Plan, and all the work that the city has recently undergone around making transportation in our city more equitable for those who don't use personal vehicles. And I am grateful to the city for forging ahead with these plans despite the strong emotional outcry from some members our community.
But it is because of that outcry, I do not voice my support for these projects and initiatives online as the amount of rage and that is directed towards me and other cyclist in response is not worth it. I have tried in the past, and the end result is always the same; I receive personal attacks on my (assumed) character, and frankly I don't need that kind of negativity eating up my time and energy.
Recently I read a journal article on the phenomenon of "bikelash," which was helpful for me to understand this deep emotional response bike lanes seem to elicit from some members of our community. (The article is "Beyond ‘bikelash’: engaging with community opposition to cycle lanes" published in Mobilities, 2017.) With this understanding of "bikelash" now in mind, I am thinking to the handful of op-ed pieces recently published by the Record in staunch opposition to the active transportation infrastructure work our city has undertaken, and wonder what role this publication has assumed in fueling the strong emotional response to bike lanes?
While I can remove myself from online discussions around bike lanes, I am unable do the same when confronted out in public. I have been yelled at and swerved towards while cycling our roads a number of times in the recent weeks, when I've gone years prior cycling the same streets in the same way without any threats being yelled out from passing vehicles. Perhaps this bad luck, but I feel that has something shifted in our community recently where there is a simmering rage connected to opposition of bike lanes that is coming to surface.
Does our local media have an obligation to not add fuel to this small but hot "bikelash" fire that directs rage towards vulnerable road users? I implore those on both sides of this issue, as well as those giving a platform to each side, to look critically at intended and unintended impacts of our words and actions on the well-being and safety of our community.
L. Kwong
