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If you can read this... J'ACCUSE!

April 13, 2006

If you can read this… J’ACCUSE!

There is a sign posted on Inman Street in Cambridge which has bothered me for some time. Inman Street is a one-way thoroughfare, and this notice is bolted to a lamppost on the sidewalk facing away from oncoming traffic:

If You Can Read This, You're Biking The Wrong Way

I have read this sign regularly, and am frankly offended by the suggestion it makes. Never once have I been biking the wrong way whilst reading it. I am usually on foot when I read this sign.

(Now, while I imagine the argument could be made that biking without a bicycle is the wrong way to bike, I prefer to think that I am merely biking in an unconventional manner, and not one which which the city should admonish me for. There are almost no reported incidents of biking accidents where neither party was on a bicycle at the time.)

Indeed, by posting this photographic record of the notice in question to the Internet, I have embroiled you, gentle reader. Just by reading the wording in that photo, you now stand accused by the City of Cambridge of biking the wrong way. How does that make you feel?

Worse still, a young, impressionable cyclist could be idly passing by, stop to look over their shoulder and catch a glimpse of this placard. Now the City has forever branded them as Wrong Way Bikers—To say nothing of those who are safety-conscious, have rear-view mirrors attached to their bikes, and whose mirror-reading skills are par-excellence. Such smart folks should surely be encouraged to cycle these dangerous streets.

So to save these spurious allegations from flying forth from such signage, and to ensure that no Cantabrigian shall ever feel falsely persecuted again, I propose the following:

If you can read this, blah blah blah blah

A vast improvement, I’m sure you’ll agree.


Comments

On Friday, April 14, 2006, j.a.m. commented:

Still begs the question of exactly what constitutes improper cycling. I suggest revising and extending as per either of the following:

"...and you and your bicycle are moving toward this sign, you are advised to turn 180 degrees now for reasons of civic conformity." OR

...and this notice appears to be increasing in size, we regret to inform you your direction of travel has not been authorized by homeland security.

On Sunday, April 23, 2006, Dad commented:

What is the different between "biking" and "cycling"? Do bikers bike and cyclists cycle?

On Monday, May 1, 2006, Jimmer commented:

Perhaps the reader is standing on the rear forks of a friend's bike and therefore not biking at all. He should nonetheless be alerted by this sign that he is passengering the wrong way and that he has an obligation to cause his friend to modify his own biking behaviour.

A child being towed behind a parent in one of those bike trailer things would not be passengering the wrong way and might not take any notice of the sign unless it had a picture of a duck on it.

Honestly, who would want to be a local authority sign designer?


About This Site

This is an archive of groovmother.com, the old blog run by Rod Begbie — A Scottish geek who lives in San Francisco, CA.

I'm the co-founder of Sōsh, your handy-dandy guide for things to do in San Francisco this weekend.