We Interrupt This Off-Season Break…

By Martin • November 9th, 2009

…for a debate of sorts.

Earlier this afternoon WTOP broke a story that should be an interest to all of us. Titled “Fenty Uses Police Escort, Clogs Traffic on Bike Rides,” the piece, penned by an otherwise excellent reporter (Mark Segraves is a personal favorite for his ability to sniff out government misdeeds), breathlessly follows D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and his D.C. Velo teammates on weekday rides. The story and the included video footage show the mayor and his fellow riders apparently running red lights and slowing down traffic with the aid of his security detail.

Since this is a story that involves cyclists, a local cycling team and the mayor of the District, I’ve got a few thoughts:

- A number of other local cyclists pointed out an angle I didn’t originally consider — the medium. WTOP is running the story. WTOP is a radio station dedicated almost exclusively to commuters. That’s not to say that they don’t produce good news, but that their product is geared towards people who sit in their cars for extended periods of time. This pro-car bias is somewhat implicit throughout the story, if not explicitly stated in the title. (It goes without saying that they quote someone from AAA, an automotive lobby, but not a local cycling enthusiast.)

- It’s not one story as much as it two. One is cyclists allegedly breaking the law, the other is the mayor’s use of his security detail during a recreational activity. Wrap the two of ‘em together and you’ve got something for everyone — drivers will be pissed at cyclists because they’ll have the evidence they need to call us all irresponsible scofflaws, and good-government advocates will be annoyed at what they see as a waste of public funds.

- On the cycling angle, well, this isn’t really news at all. We all know that we ride the same roads that the mayor does, and we all know that now and then we bend traffic rules so as to not interrupt the flow of a group ride. There usually exists an unwritten detente between cyclists and drivers, especially on weekends and especially on the roads that we tend to ride on. We understand that we’re often riding two across on single-lane roads, so we try and accommodate drivers by letting them pass and signaling when it’s safe for them to do so. At the same time, drivers try and understand that we’re out on the roads trying to have a good time and get some exercise, so they can bear to be a few minutes late to wherever they’re going. Of course, this detente is easily and often broken, both by us and by them. But it’s rare amongst those of us that ride and those of them that drive to see the mutual — if tense — peace broken on purpose and with absolute disregard for safety. Sure, we may roll through intersections, but we’re not going to blindly blow through a red light, if only because we know what the consequences are. And most drivers aren’t gonna risk passing a group of 70 cyclists on a blind turn on a single-lane road. None of us are perfect, neither are they. But we make due. And the debate between who’s at fault — us or them — could go on for the rest of our lives.

- On Fenty and his security detail, well, it’s a tough one. The man is the mayor, so he needs security. But he’s also human, and I don’t think the punishment for getting elected to high public office should be having to sit on your trainer for four years. I like that Fenty rides, because he brings high-profile legitimacy to something we do and love. Should he have security along for the ride? Probably. Should they serve as a rolling enclosure and stop traffic as the mayor and his fellow riders fly through intersections? Probably not. Why? Well, it’s not necessary. The mayor’s out in the open as he rides, and it’s not like he’s that much more likely to get shot by a would-be assassin if he stops at a red light. But more importantly, the mayor’s the MAYOR, and it’s on him to set an example. If he wants to go out and ride, I applaud him. But he should respect all local laws while he does so, and his security detail shouldn’t be used as an easy way to break rules that the rest of us would usually heed.

All told, the story isn’t that big a deal. We’ve all known Fenty rides during the week, and we all probably assumed that he had security along with him. That there’s now video of his escorted ride doing things on the road that we’ve all done at some point doesn’t really do much other than enrage people who were already predisposed to be pissed off at cyclists. And therein lies the danger. Stuff like this has the potential of turning an annoyed driver into an angry one, and we’ve all seen or heard of the scary results of that. Let’s hope that that never comes to pass.

As for Fenty and D.C. Velo, well, I’m sure they’ll be a little more careful from this point on. I think Fenty should stay on the bike, if only because I’d like to come out some day and actually drop him. (I mean that in cycling terms, people.) But maybe his security detail should merely hang back, and maybe the group should be as careful as possible about the rules of the road. This is the mayor, after all, and they should have known that eventually someone would see the guy and say, “Hey, isn’t that Mayor Fenty riding his bike down Clara Barton? I should call the media on him.”

Which they did. And look where it got us.