Foot soldier declares war on sanctimonious cyclists: DiManno | The Star
/ TOROTNO STAR FILE PHOTO
Cyclists have a self-righteous possessiveness about bike lanes, writes Rosie DiManno, even though those lanes must sometimes be used by others.
Some would have you believe there’s a war raging in Toronto between automobiles and bikes, motorists and cyclists.
I, Pedestrian, am having a one-woman guerrilla war with both.
Frankly, those who drive and those who pedal can wipe each other off the face of the city’s streets in this mutual roadkill rush to attrition and Toronto would be better off for it, leaving behind an urban Shangri-La for ambulatory bipeds. As it stands, both are rivalling to land me in an ambulance, pile of broken bones.
Cars have always given me conniptions. As a downtowner who doesn’t drive, my antagonistic view towards vehicles is that they’re all variations of Christine, the supernaturally possessed ’58 Plymouth Fury in Stephen King’s horror novel turned TV movie — a homicidal maniac on wheels. Automobiles — and worse, trucks — have taken on a menacing dimension from the time I was first struck by a bread delivery van as a kid and, later, by a taxi whilst crossing Richmond St. trying to make last call at the old Toronto Press Club.
I have to remind myself that these are inanimate, albeit mobile, machines and not bots with a mind of their own. There’s a human being at the wheel, making those 1,500 kilograms of steel and aluminum and glass bear down on a poor, pitiful glob of flesh, playing Master of the Universe on a left-hand turn.
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