Cycle a mile in someone else’s shoes
The News-Gazette.com: Woman is sentenced for bicyclist’s death
(via comments on OIFS)
Summary: a very sad story of a cyclist killed by a distracted teenage driver. The cyclist was on the edge of the road, yet was hit with the *driver’s* side of the car while the driver downloaded cell phone ringtones. This was the driver’s third offense for poor driving habits. Both the judge and victim’s family expressed regret that the law didn’t provide for more serious sentencing.
One idea posted in the subsequent comments suggested that the sentence include riding a bicycle for a period of time. While I strongly disagree with the idea that cycling should ever be made into a punishment, there is some serious merit with the idea of requiring an offender to cycle a mile in the victim’s shoes.
Cyclists are in a good position to get an objective view of the full range of driving habits, moreso than even pedestrians because cyclists are not just crossing traffic, they’re part of the main flow. It doesn’t take very many days of cycling in the city to start thinking that a great many of common poor driving habits would be eliminated if everyone would just spend a week cycling (or walking even) everywhere they needed to go. I’d even allow for bike/bus or bike/train usage, as long as the bike was the primary vehicle.
It’s not just the enhanced perspective, it’s the overall relaxation and slower life pace that would make this a valuable exercise. When people only drive a car, and do it every day, they get desensitized to their environment and their speed. With car windows up and stereo on there’s little input from their surroundings, so other cars and pedestrians become obstacles to the driver’s errands.
Since riding my bike the vast majority of my work and household commutes for the past 3 years, i’ve found that when I do drive around town i drive like the proverbial old man, and i’m glad for it. It’s not just getting older or having kids, i really think it’s that 1) i’m not as comfortable driving fast, and 2) i’m much more aware that i’m driving with a stream of people, not a stream of faceless cars.
I actually look at the people driving near me more now, especially at intersections. It’s interesting to see not just what people are doing in addition to driving, but to see their expressions, their mood. It also seems to freak a lot of people out, like i’m invading their home or something. People don’t like to think their in public when they’re driving their car, but here’s the thing: they are.
Many motorcycling advocates have suggested that everyone be required to ride a motorcycle for a period of time before being allowed to drive a car.
I have come to believe that the speed provided by cars is something that is unnatural and foreign to our biology. The high speed messes with our heads, makes us irrational. I used to feel very comfortable at highway speeds. Now I go weeks or months at a time never exceeding 20 mph (maybe 30 mph on big hills) and trips at 60 mph+ make me exceedingly nervous. If my prior experience didn’t make me know that I’m probably not going to die, I think I’d become a basket case. I imagine that people who were first introduced to cars later in life, and at highway speeds, suffered some ill effects during their first such trips. I seem to recall stories of people literally dying during or immediately after their first fast ride in a car.