Rampaging Biker

This happened on Saturday. I was taking my own kids to the Park. We were crossing 8th Avenue. We had made it across the street, and we were about to cross the bike lane that sits between the street and the sidewalk adjacent to the park. I have seen other bike / pedestrian "incidents" (let's call them that) happen there over the years and I know to look carefully before stepping into the bike lane.

Good thing I did that this time, because there he was, the rampaging biker, bearing down on us at top speed. I grabbed one of my kids by the arm to prevent her from stepping into the bike lane. Another dad pulled his son, the kid maybe five or six, out of the lane. Mr. Rampage came through at top speed. Several people, including me, yelled at him. And then he was gone.

He didn't quite fit the profile of the type of biker I dislike most. This is the "Tour de France" type. When you encounter one of them, as you cross the interior park circuit with your kids, you get the sense that you are interfering in one of the Tour's gritty mountain stages. The guy is a minute and a half behind Bernard Hinault, and every second is of maximum importance.

No, this was a different kind of rampaging biker. He didn't have an expansive bike or a spandex outfit. The thing that he had in common with the Tour de France guy, though, was the sense of 'right of way entitlement.' I saw it on his face as he came barreling through. His attitude was, hey, I'm in the bike lane, I have the right of way, so get out of my way.

No, dude. No. And I say that as someone who is interested in sport and competition. I say that as someone who does get frustrated sometimes in the city when I'm in a hurry and have to make my way through people who aren't. I say that as someone who thinks bike racing is a really cool sport. And I say that knowing that many bikers in New York City, including those wearing spandex, are law-abiding folk.

But the bottom line is that Prospect Park on a weekend is just not the place for you if you are in that kind of a hurry, or if you want to have a tour-like time trial experience.

Why? Well because there are a lot of families and kids around and you might hurt someone.

Remember this? http://nypost.com/2014/09/18/cyclist-slams-into-pedestrian-in-central-park/

There's a lot to write about on the topic of why bikes really don't fit into New York City. This is not Amsterdam. The roads aren't right for bikes. More importantly, the culture isn't right for them. We are too aggressive and self-absorbed for city biking.

But that's not where I am headed with this piece. What I want to talk about is the feeling I had as I watched that idiot fly away on his bike. I was angry because he was going to get away with it. There was no cop in sight anywhere. He was moving too fast for anyone to catch him. There was really nothing anyone could do.

This is an all too common feature of our era, reckless, rampaging assholes getting away with stuff. Bullies, hackers, the guys who brought down the financial system a few years back. They all seem to be getting away with things. And it's not because they are necessarily super-empowered soldiers of the Dark Side. It's more that for a variety of reasons the regulatory and enforcement side of our social order isn't proving equal to the task of containing this behavior. Like I said, there were no cops anywhere in sight when this happened. Just like there is no viable cyber police, and little in the way of a viable financial enforcement system either.

Rampagers are rampaging - because they can.

What's the solution? Obviously a part of it has to do with getting better at regulation and enforcement - but I doubt that's coming any time soon. Maybe this biker has a revelation and changes his ways. Again, I doubt it. Maybe someone pulls him off his bike someday – but that’s crazy. That way lies anarchy.

It’s a tough problem. Until they figure it out. Make sure you look both ways when you bring your kids to the park.

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