Those four little words that so irritate cyclists are the subject of this column of opinion in the Cambridge Times this week.
"It's only a bike." Tom Speed had been cut off by a minivan and went over the handlebars, landing hard and requiring a trip to Cambridge Memorial Hospital. The driver stopped and gave him the necessary information -- name, address etc -- which turned out to be false. Speed then called the police, where a constable apparently said those four little words: "It's only a bike."
It is the most curious thing that riding a bike somehow sets us apart from the conventions of the street. If a pedestrian had been knocked over by a minivan in Cambridge, the police would have issued warnings about pedestrian safety and called for witnesses to call the Tips line. If a car had been struck by a minivan, there's an accident reporting centre for the minor ones and the police show up with tape and cameras for the big ones, all to satisfy the requirements of the Highway Traffic Act, the Criminal Code and the machinery of the auto insurance industry.
But a cyclist goes down, and what is the law enforcement response? If the cyclist is dead, often the only witness is the motorist, who is invariably remorseful and totally surprised that this cyclist "came from out of nowhere." If the cyclist is alive, the response is often something similar to what Tom Speed experienced, or at least that is what I have heard from too many cyclists. The cyclist is treated like a clumsy road user who somehow got in the way and has been hurt. The investigation seems to be focused on what the cyclist did wrong that allowed the incident to happen. And the loss of the bike itself is inconsequential, akin to a ripped pair of jeans.
It's not always that way. I know there are bike-riding police out there who understand a bit of the roles and responsibilities of all road users. But I wonder sometimes if it is just that, like so many motorists who don't now how to respond to these two-wheeled road users, there are some police who don't have the training or experience with cycling accidents to know how to respond. Not a car, not a pedestrian. Oh, it's just a bicycle.