Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
How come you don't see drivers raging about this? Photo: Washington Bikes
How come you don't hear more drivers raging about this? Photo: Washington Bikes
false

How do you explain the outrage some drivers feel when they have to slow down for a few seconds for a cyclist or a passing pedestrian? There seems to be an ingrained sense that people outside of cars violate the natural order of things, and the natural order of things is motorists sailing uninhibited to their destinations at high speeds.

As kids go back to school this week, dangerous driving is on the mind of Barb Chamberlain at Washington Bikes. She says it's time for a reality check:

There is nothing guaranteeing any street user anything like “unimpeded speedy passage with no need to slow down, ever.” There just isn’t. Get over it.

– let me point out that typical street traffic includes all of the following, every single day (well, except maybe for item #1, which probably doesn’t happen every day):

  • Drivers concerned about their declining abilities to see and hear clutching the steering wheel and peering over it while they travel down the street at slightly under the speed limit
  • Pedestrians crossing at any intersection (in Washington every intersection is a legal crossing even if there’s no painted crosswalk, unless signage forbids crossing there)
  • Having to veer around some kind of hazard in the street: part of a blown-out tire, an item that fell off the back of an unsecured load, a pothole
  • Emergency vehicles for which everyone has to pull over
  • A driver hitting the brakes because someone’s pet — or child — is in the street
  • People slowing to look for an address or read the sign name on a cross street
  • A train passing through and making everyone on both sides of the tracks wait
  • People causing collisions — everyone waits while the wreckage is cleared and the ambulance takes away the bodies

This is just a sampling and you probably have your own favorite story about something that hung you up when you were in a hurry.

People in traffic have many causes for slowing, stopping, and sometimes even choosing an alternate route. Someone riding a bike is only one of many such things you’ll encounter in your driving day.

You never had any reason to expect that you could just barrel straight to your destination without anything slowing you down.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Urban Milwaukee says loud motorcycles are a quality of life issue for city-dwellers around the country. Strong Towns explains how municipalities can help build physical infrastructure that will help build wealth. And Mobilizing the Region reports that a controversy over speed cameras in Long Island demonstrates how badly automated enforcement was needed.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: How Car Culture and the Internet Attention Economy Waste Your Time

Our favorite YouTuber breaks down what happens when car culture, hyper-consumerism, and internet brain rot collide — and how to claw our way out.

September 19, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Run Out the Clock

Thousands of unawarded federal transportation grants have been frozen, from reducing truck emissions to reconnecting communities divided by freeways.

September 19, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Live from MARS To Change the ‘Crash First, Fix Later’ Mentality

Welcome to MARS: Modern Analytics for Roadway Safety. Let's talk about it in a special edition of the podcast.

September 18, 2025

Thursday’s Headlines Freak Out, Give In

Doesn't matter what you believe in, at least regarding the current debate over how safe it is to ride transit.

September 18, 2025

How Many Americans Live in Walkable Neighborhoods?

...and how does your community measure up?

September 18, 2025

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Wednesday’s Headlines

Is our Jetsons future is finally upon us? Plus, a new and better way to measure streets' level of service.

September 17, 2025
See all posts