What the hell gives people who drive around in cars all day the right to tell me how to ride safely? To be clear, I'm not talking about people who ask cyclists to signal with their arms more, I'm talking particularly about people who tell cyclists (read: me) not to cycle with earphones in. It makes me so mad. I'm pretty sure most of them play music in their cars when they drive around, but because cyclists are the vulnerable ones, they should be hyper alert all the time.
This is SO wrong. It's the same attitude of drivers who shout at pedestrians crossing the road to get out of the way. I'm not sure, but I think the law even agrees with me here. The onus should be on the least vulnerable to look out for, and give way to, the most vulnerable. If you're guiding almost a tonne of metal around at 60km/h, you better be damned sure you're not letting it get anywhere near a cyclist or pedestrian.
I refuse to ride like cars own the road. They don't, they share it, and I'm not going to take out my earphones or ride on the pavement because there are a couple of drivers who don't realise this. Anyway, do you have any idea how loud cars actually are? Amazingly, I can still hear them. Not that that helps much when they're probably texting and "driving".
I know I know, stubborn and stupid way to have cyclists noticed and avoided. But you know what? So what. Cyclists are on the right side of history. We're on the moral high ground in nearly every respect. As long as I'm abiding by the rules of the road, I do expect cars to look out for me and other cyclists and to treat us as more vulnerable, and with more care than other road users.
