Fast Food Fascists?

Photos and text by Adrienne M. MooreÂ

I have always been under the impression that a bike is considered a vehicle. Â Bikes are required to follow the same rules on the road as a car. Â Bikers are expected to stop at stop signs and red lights, ride in the correct lane and motion for turns.Â Because of this fact,Â bikes should be given the same treatment as a motor vehicle.

Lately, I’ve noticed that this is hardly the case. Â I constantly hear stories of people getting spit on, yelled at or nearly run off the road. Â A friend of mine was hit with a flying object while biking from downtown to Riverside last week. Â

My bike ride last nightÂ was no exception. Â I took the Riverwalk from Riverside into downtown with a group of friends. Â For the most part the ride was nice, complete withÂ the usual honking. Â

After three hours of biking,Â everyone wanted icecream. Â We decided to go to the Wendy’s in Five Points because the drive through is open late. Â We biked up to the window only to be informed that we would not be served because we were not in a car.

I’d call that a penalty for being environmentally friendly. Â Excuse me?

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 30th, 2007 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Activism, Five Points. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

flappersalley

I'm still just happy that you wanted to ride your bike. Yes!

Nila Boortz

Whats more tragic than not being able to get a frosty on your bike is not being able to take a leisurely stroll to most of your local establishments due to no considerations being made towards pedestrians. I have to drive less than 1 mile to a favorite weekend hangout, which if on foot would require me to cross a major intersection without crosswalk lines or lights. I would then need to avoid getting hit by oncoming traffic when walking near some sort of man made ditch to get to my destination. Then after several draft beers walk the same deadly path back home. If only a side walk would have been considered near one of the busiest areas of town I am positive you would see more drivers turn in the car keys for bicycles, or rubber soles, thus cutting traffic congestion in half, and more importantly reducing your chance of that ever lurking DUI.

Adrienne

Brendan, whoever you are, you write like Chuck Palahniuk.

adam beaugh

i don't think that it's necessarily an issue of politics, but it's just another indication of the double standard that bicyclists are held to. people bitch about bikers not acting just like any other vehicle, but then don't give bikers the same respect that other vehicles get.

Brendan

Maybe it's because of insurance regulations.

Maybe it's because it's much easier to rob a drive through window if you're riding a bicycle.

Maybe it's because the people who work at fast food establishments are the lowest common denominator of workers, and want any reason to not have to do any work.

Or maybe they didn't like your face, or your attitude.

But don't turn this into an issue of having a social conscious. Otherwise I'll start complaining about how oppressed I am as a pedestrian when bicyclists come down the road.

But it's not a penalty for being environmentally conscious.

joshtank

Good point Kevin.

bentnail

This is giving my age away. I saw Queen three times while in high school and in their third concert did "Bicycle". This was after the release of All That Jazz. I was fascinated by counting all of Brian May's guitars in the picture of the inside cover.

JJ

When is the meet-up? Will Queen be performing?

adam beaugh

i'll be sure to get the word out at the next "every single person who owns a bicycle in north florida" meet-up.

JJ

Tell the folks that live in Jax Beach that cyclists are supposed to adhere to the stop sign.

Dan

I was able to walk through that very same drive through and successfully place an order.

After a few minutes of arguing, the excuse that finally worked was that the vehicle I was driving was a tractor trailer and it wouldn't fit through.

Apparently you don't have to be IN a vehicle, you just have to own one.

ricardo

Aint nothin wrong with a chocolate dam frosty after a bikeride now kev cumon

bentnail

It's not fast food fascists, it's car fascists supported by the tort law adjutants. When I ride my bike around town I am amazed how programmed we are to the automobile. Maybe I'm oversensitive about the issue, but I get a feeling people are looking at me and thinking, "Poor man, what did he do to lose his license? Or maybe he's poor." No, I just like riding my bike and I don't need my Tahoe to go to the library.

You know when the alien archaeologists show up they are going to determine the planet was inhabited by these strange metal, plastic, and rubber beings that were supported by a large organic bipedal slave underclass.

kevinlewis

if you want to be environmentally conscious, a good start would be to stop supporting wendys altogether.

Travis

For most cases, it's because of the establishment's insurance. Hell, motorcycles being allowed to use them is a somewhat recent thing. Basically if some dumb asshole rides up behind you and injures you, the business gets ripped a new one.

There's also the fear of being sued, those lanes are cruddy and greasy as hell and if someone slips and falls on a bike and decides to sue, that's a whole other mess. Sucks for riders and some cities are passing codes that allow for non-motorized drive through use, especially for places that have extended drive-through only hours.