Share, Don’t Impair

When I ride, I obey traffic laws as much as I can without endangering myself or others. So, for example, I’ll stop for a red light at a busy intersection and, if there is no cross-traffic, I’ll proceed through the intersection ahead of drivers traveling in the same direction in order to avoid drivers who are about to turn.

More importantly, I try to follow the rules of civilization as I understand them. Therefore, in an intersection that doesn’t have a traffic signal or “Stop” sign, I’ll stop if I see that someone with mobility issues is crossing. And on narrow or busy streets I pull aside for ambulances and fire trucks.

Oh, and I try not to park anywhere where it might impede the kinds of people for whom I stop.

I mention my habits, not because I want you to think I’m a wonderful person, but to make a point about some of the behaviors for which I, and other cyclists, are unfairly blamed.

A while back, a driver made a point of pulling into an intersection I was crossing—when she had a red light and I had the green.  She rolled down her window and screamed at me—not for anything I did, but to complain that “you bike riders” leave bikes on the sidewalk.

Fortunately, there was no other traffic in that intersection, so I could take a moment to “school’ her.  “Really? I don’t know any cyclists who do that.”

“I see those day-glo green bikes on the sidewalk by my house,” she lamented.

Then I realized she was talking about eBikes, probably from Lime.  Apparently, they and other dockless eBike share systems allow users to leave the bikes anywhere as long as the bikes aren’t obstructing pavements.

Now, I don’t want to tar all eBike share users with a broad brush. (It’s a good thing I didn’t make a New Year’s resolution not to use clichés!) But in my admittedly-unscientific observations, just about every bike I see abandoned on a sidewalk is an eBike from a share system.  The abandoned bicycles I see are almost always locked to parking meters, lamp posts, fences or other immobile structures.

An eBike lying on the sidewalk is an annoyance or, at worst an inconvenience, for somebody like me. On the other hand, it’s an obstacle, or even a danger, for a person with mobility issues.

That is something Lucy Edwards wants eBike share users to understand. The blind content creator navigates London with her guide dog Miss Molly—that is, when the sidewalks are clear. But if someone has left an eBike on its side, “I don’t know how to get past” if “I don’t have someone with me.”

So…if you use a dockless eBike (or, for that matter, regular bike), please leave it out of the way of someone I (and, I hope, you) would stop for in an intersection.