Leaves appeared in the gutters overnight, just after the wind changed. Fall makes me wish I had somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and something made of brick. Fires and iron. A Hudson Bay blanket. A driveway, black wood trim and a forest. Someone else.
These arms are a two way street. I am leaving town.
The other night I stopped by the mailbox where Darcy Allan Sheppard was knocked from Michael Bryant’s car and killed. I brought a bouquet of flowers to add to the memorial that’s grown there – flowers, notes, flashing bike lights and courier order forms. It was sad and it was sobering. Besides the obvious fact that a man was needlessly and violently killed there, there were also a couple of other things about the immediate scene that upset me. The first was that amidst the lovely tributes written from friends and strangers, the most prominent note was a large piece of paper in the centre of the mailbox on which someone had written “WOULD YOU JUST SIT IDLE WHILE A DRUNK CONVICT CYCLIST ATTACKED YOU?”
There are so many things wrong with this, and most of them speak to the bullshit that surrounds this case. The thing that bothered me the most was that this was a memorial, a place for people to pay tribute. It’s not the proper place to smear a victim or air opinions on the situation. There are plenty of other places to do that. The media is fucking lining up to victim blame – I’m sure they’d be happy to take this person’s letter to the editor. But then, they’d have to sign their name on it instead of being a coward and posting it anonymously on a mailbox. Other things wrong with this sign:
1) I don’t think anyone would have expected Bryan to “sit idle” as someone grabbed onto his car. And while the details are still emerging on what exactly happened, one thing is pretty clear. The reasonable thing to do would have been to stop the car and call the police. Driving the wrong way down Bloor Street (one of Toronto’s busiest streets – it’s a miracle only one person was killed) knocking a human being into heavy objects while his shoes sparked on the pavement is in no way approaching a reasonable or justifiable reaction. In my mind, it’s nothing short of psychopathic. Being afraid is not an excuse to treat someone like a human bowling ball.
2) There’s been so much made of the fact that the victim had substance abuse issues and fraud charges in his past. Having problems or making mistakes does not mean you deserve to die. Last time I checked, there was no death penalty in Canada. The fact that some people don’t feel the tiniest bit sorry for the victim because of his social situation is disgusting.
3) Being drunk doesn’t make it ok for someone to run you over with a car. I can guarantee the people who blame the victim for being intoxicated have been drunk at some point in their lives. And I’m sure they wouldn’t think it was ok for someone to run them over with a car.
4) The note conveniently leaves out the fact that the confrontation started because Bryant hit Sheppard’s bike with his car and then tried to drive away. How upstanding of him.
The other thing that was infuriating about the memorial site, was that there was a black Saab parked beside mailbox when I was there. Bryant’s car had long been towed away. I first thought it might have been someone’s idea of a joke, but then later found out it was likely a news organization’s prop. Really? Was that necessary? It’s more than a bit insenstive.
And this isn’t even starting on the larger situation itself. As a cyclist, the anti-cyclist rhetoric is getting to me. Yes, there are bad cyclists out there. I hate them. I want to shout at assholes who ride their bikes through red lights and street festivals. There are also cyclists who follow the rules, just like there are good drivers. There are also terrible drivers. I’ve been almost run over by many of them. Last night I had my closest encounter with almost being sideswiped and it was terrifying. There should not be an issue of cars vs bikes in the city. The issue should be common decency and respect for fellow human beings. Judging by what I’ve been hearing lately, there’s little of that left.
I think one of the major problems with driver/cyclist relations is being highlighted lately. Car drivers think the roads belong to them and it’s not true. Bikes are supposed to ride on the roads. They are allowed to take up an entire lane if they want. Too many car drivers don’t know the rules when it comes to bikes on the roads. I was once waiting to turn left at a red light. I was in the middle of the lane, like I was totally allowed to be. Some guy turned the corner in his SUV and was angry when he couldn’t use my lane (the wrong side of the road for him) because I was there. (His car was too big to manouvre the turn in his own lane.) He swerved around me and as he drove away shouted, “Get off the road you idiot!” I took off after him. I was so fucking angry, I wanted to punch him in his ignorant, cowardly face. I was perfectly within my rights – he was trying to break the law, while screaming at me as though I was in the wrong. I understand the anger of a cyclist. After dealing with bullshit like that all the time, it gets to you. It’s the same anger I felt when someone in a car rear-ended Adrian on his bike, ruining his back wheel, and tried to drive away – until Adrian pointed out he had his license plate and that three patios full of people had seen it. The guy threw him $40 and left. Most people would never consider leaving the scene of a car accident, but when they hit a cyclist it’s somehow ok.
Wow, this is getting long. And I haven’t even started on the spin. So I think I’ll let the Toronto Star say most of it for me. I’m disheartened by how quickly the tide has turned against the victim. It frightens me that so many people think there’s any way to justify something so insane and callous and violent. The spin is mind-boggling and the Star has explained it pretty well. Please read this article – it paints an important, but depressing picture, of how the message is getting worked.
Lastly, I didn’t know where to fit this in, but check out the letter to the editor by this genius.
This unfortunate incident underscores a belief that I have held for some time now that on major thoroughfares, motor vehicles should not be required share the road with bicycles. A car is many times the weight of a bicycle, and can move much more quickly. It is also less manoeuvrable.
We complain about gridlock and our inability to keep traffic moving, yet we allow bicycles to mingle with motor traffic, forcing cars to slow down, and often to shift lanes, to avoid them…
…
Traffic on main roads is often at capacity; and motorists are already under intense pressure to avoid other moving vehicles, parked vehicles and pedestrians. Permitting bicycles to weave through such traffic, and demanding that motorists watch for and yield to these bicycles, is unrealistic.
As efficient and economical as bicycles are, they are different creatures from cars; and we have not yet reached the status of Beijing, or even Amsterdam, in which bicycles are the majority or a very large minority, and can therefore significantly influence traffic patterns.
Regrettably, on Toronto’s roads, such accidents are bound to happen. I’m not sure what the solution is; but what we’re currently doing is not working, and it’s bound to get worse.
Emphasis mine. How helpful. So because you have the money for a car, you’re entitled to use of all the most convenient roads in the cities? And the rest of us poories on bikes should just…. do what? Ride on the side streets, with the maze of one-ways? Stay home? Fuck you.
