In Defense of Cyclists

Monday must be letter writing day. Here's a letter based on an article in Saturday's Free Press. I won't reproduce the entire article (you can read it by following this link if you have a subscription,) but I'll give a taste of what was, in my opinion, the most objectionable paragraph, along with my letter.

Dallas Hansen wrote:

Bicycle activists are prone to a certain moral elitism, a holier-than-thou attitude that prompts them to look with disdain upon those who fail to make the sacrifice of living by the bike. But bicycles -- regardless of their benefits to human health and the environment -- will never be embraced as a primary mode of transportation by any more than a small percentage of the commuting population: 2.5 per cent for the inner city, and 1.5 per cent for the entire city, according to the 2001 census. Beyond the limitations of winter riding, there are the issues of helmet hair, chain oil on one's trousers, body odour and limited carrying capacity -- all of which will continue to keep the bicyclist among a small minority.

I replied:

I will not argue Dallas Hansen'’s weekly cry for better public transit, but I do object to his recent opinion, that cycling is, and always will be, a fringe activity ("Bikes aren't answer to reduced gridlock," June 3). I don'’t understand why an educated and well spoken columnist like Mr. Hansen would call down a significant subculture of equally educated and forward thinking people based on the stagy demonstrations of few "“holier-than-thou"” activists--a moniker that often describes him as well as anyone.

Blind as he is to his own agenda Mr. Hansen uses census data to assert only a small percentage of Winnipegers are ever likely to choose cycling as a form of commuting. But attitudes and economics, like census data, change with time. Concerns about helmet hair and chain grease on pant legs aside, cycling can be made a safe, acceptable and economical alternative for a larger portion of citizens through increased education and infrastructure. However the road is made more difficult when would-be opinion makers dismissively label the cycling population as a small minority of elitist revolutionaries.