Dear Editor,
As the number of cyclists continues to increase every summer, conflicts between cyclists and motorists in the Foothills seem to have been on the rise as well. As a cyclist, I’ve encountered the following situations just in the past two weeks:
• An extra-wide flatbed semi, carrying round bales, nearly pushing myself and an oncoming vehicle off the road while passing me, followed by being verbally accosted by the driver of the oncoming vehicle (since this was somehow my fault?).
• Being passed and cut off by a right-turning vehicle, whose driver proceeds to yell at me while I dodge him on the left.
• Getting several “F*** you’s” hurled at me by a truck’s passenger who’s hanging out the window as it passes me, while I’m casually making my way along Highway 22 coming up on Black Diamond.
While street harassment is increasingly deemed unacceptable by society, it seems that harassing and intimidating cyclists is still considered perfectly acceptable by many. My hope had been that the horrible accident that killed Johnny Gaudreau and his brother would bring some awareness to the disastrous consequences of collisions between motor vehicles and cyclists, but unfortunately, this seems not to have been the case.
I won’t claim that cyclists are angels; I’m also bothered by seeing fellow cyclists make poor choices and will confess to moments where I lost focus and could have been riding my bike closer to the edge of the road.
The one thing that I think is most important to consider and remember is that each cyclist out there is a son, daughter, mom or dad and in a motor vehicle vs. cyclist situation, the cyclist will always draw the short straw.
It only takes a few extra seconds to practice common courtesy and not put a cyclist in a dangerous situation.
Matthijs Visser
Foothills County
