Truck v.s. Average Guy at Pima and Alvernon, Marginalization
Posted by tucsonspokesman on May 21, 2008
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Its never the kind of email or phone call that you want to get. But this morning I found out one of my teamates got hit by a truck that turned in to him near Pima and Alvernon. Fortunately my teamate is ok, his cerevelo is not. Also, in this case the driver was issued a citation but only after witnesses where brought in to corroborate the story.
Anyone who is reading this post has probably been hit or knows somebody who’s been hit. The fact that the Ride of Silence even exists illustrates the significance of the problem.
What to do about it?
One option is to rant about Cyclists v.s. the World (true in a lot of ways).
But consisder this interesting concept that I recently saw applied to cycling; Marginalization. I can’t remember where I saw it so I appologize to whoever I’m stealing from. But the concept goes something like this; by identifying yourself too strongly as a cyclist you open yourself up to be marginalized and dismissed by regular people. In this case, it appears that the officer possibly thought of my teamate as a cyclist i.e. not a regular person but somebody doing something different. This perception may cloud the view of the obvious reality; a person got hit by a truck.
Taking Marginalization into account, one might encourage the perception that you as a cyclist are not realy a cyclist but some regular person. You are not cycling but doing a regular activity that any regular person might do. As an average person you expect that your average community should be safe enough to do regular type activities that any reugular person might do. And if something does go wrong, you weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary, so like any regular person doing things that any regular person might do, you expect your rights to be protected.
The challenge then becomes going up to your co-worker and asking them if they heard about the latest stage of the Giro. When they say no, give them a look like they are some kind of weirdo, go ranting about the regular guy you know who got hit by a truck, and then invite them out for the Ride of Silence.
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