As you may have gathered by now, my kids and I ride bikes to school each day with a group of cycling parents (a.k.a. The Lee School Bike Brigade). We average 11 bikes, three with bike carts, each day. Somedays there are as many as 20 of us, on one or two occasions there have been more. We ride together in a pack for fun and safety. We are NOT hard to see, actually we are quite hard to miss. Up until last week, we had not really had any problems with cars to speak of.

For some reason, starting last week, Thursday, to be exact, the gasholes were out. They seemed to be everywhere. I don’t know if there is some special gashole season or if the change of weather has brought out the worst in car drivers. Maybe they are mad at us, because we get to have fun enjoying the wonderful fall mornings. While they are cooped up in their cars. Whatever the reason, we seem to be dealing with them almost daily. It makes riding somewhat less pleasant and more dangerous than usual.

Our first run in was last Thursday, 09/20/07. I messed up my coffee to food ratio that morning and was feeling amped and jittery by the time the kids and I headed out for school. I was really hoping the morning ride would help calm me a bit. We met up with Erika and Violet at West Blvd and Stewart, then over to Maupin and Greenwood to meet up with Mark, Sid, Simon, Jody, and Jasper. It was a lovely morning. We had a nice time chatting as we rode. We made our way to East Parkway and Crestmere to meet up with Shannon, Pete, and Lily, then on to school.

We rode the tunnels, exiting on Elm, like we do everyday. We rode up Elm in single file, careful to leave room for cars to pass, while bunching to take the lane at intersections. At the Elm and Hitt, we patiently waited for a safe opening to turn left. This is a complicated intersection, because the cross traffic on Hitt does not stop. And you are on an uphill incline making it harder to get started on a bike, especially if you are 6 or 7 or 9 or 11. We patiently waited and waited. The traffic on Hitt was heavier than usual this morning for some reason. As soon as it would clear one direction, three more cars would appear coming from the other direction.

Just as we were about to make the turn, Gashole #1 (black four door sedan), decided he’d waited long enough and pulled up on the left side of us, in the parking lane, to go around. Apparently, he just couldn’t wait any longer. He had to stop, because of the oncoming traffic. We all started yelling at him "Hey that’s illegal. You need to wait your turn!" He looked over, as did the little boy in the back seat of his car. The driver, Dad, would not acknowledge us, but pulled out really fast to get away from us.

We were incensed. After a quick nod of agreement from the rest of the Bike Brigade parents, I took chase. I stood in the pedals and cranked hard. I followed him up to Locust where he turned right, toward Lee School. Apparently, he was taking the little boy to Lee, CIS, or CDC, three schools right at the intersection of Waugh and Locust. I was sure I could catch him. I would explain about cyclist’s rights to the road and why what he had done was really dangerous. I would ask that he please just give us the time we need at the intersection next time. He turned left on Waugh. I felt sure I could catch up to him. He was trapped in a series of school zones, but I lost him. Dang! If only I hadn’t been pulling the trailer.

I returned to school to inform everyone that I hadn’t caught him, but did get the license plate number and would send it along to MO Bike Fed. We discussed other routes from the tunnels up to school. We wanted to avoid that intersection at Hitt and Elm, it just gets too hairy sometimes since the cross street traffic doesn’t stop. We decided to take Elm, Sixth, Locust the next day.

Next day, everything went fine on the way to school and home afterward. AR had a sleepover that evening at Ella’s house in East Campus. We packed up AR’s suitcase and headed over to Ella’s. We took our usual route to school, foregoing the tunnels, in favor of riding Stewart straight up into campus. We crossed campus, getting back on the street at 9^th and University.

We rode east on University from the intersection of 9^th to Hitt, one block from one stop sign to another. As we neared the stop sign at Hitt, I rode out to the left of AR to take the lane. This is a safety move to keep from getting forced into the danger zone between a car and the curb at intersections. As I did this, Gashole #2 (red Jeep Cherokee) pulled out into the oncoming traffic lane to pass me. When he realized that he couldn’t get in front of me, as we were both at the stop sign, he gunned it and raced across the intersection. Thirty seconds later, Annarose and I were sitting behind him at the stop light at University and College. Good thing he saved all that time. I was tempted to knock on his rear window and wave, but didn’t.

Early the following week, the Bike Brigade was approaching school on Locust. Half of us had crossed the intersection at Waugh and Locust and were already in the official school zone. Locust has the right of way here, no stop signs. In one long stream, the rest of Brigade was following close behind. Gashole #3, (white sedan) was waiting to turn left on to Locust from Waugh. She apparently decided that 5 bicycles was the limit on a through street into a school zone. She didn’t have time to wait for the other 6, which were right there. She turned right into the middle of our group of cyclists. Luckily, our kids and parents are good riders and no one got hurt. The clencher? She is a Lee School Mom who was dropping her kids off at the front door…half block in a school zone from where she had been waiting so impatiently.

The next day, Gashole #4, (silver SUV) He pulled up next to us in front of school, then turned right into our line of oncoming cyclists to park his car without turning on his blinker. Max was riding there when he turned, with some quick evasive moves he missed getting hit.

Friday, 09/28/07, in the interest of safety, we had changed our route through downtown yet again. We were all feeling a little less joyful, a little more shaky by this point. We now take the tunnels all the way into to Flat Branch Park and ride up Cherry Street. This is a bit hillier and a bit out of the way, but the kids are all strong enough to handle the hill and the extra distance.

So Friday, as we approached the red-light at the intersection of 9^th and Cherry, we bunched up to take the lane. Some of us were already stopped, while the rest were slowing behind us. Someone called "Car back". No big deal, we were at a red-light after all. Then Gashole #5, (dark green SUV) came up behind us and didn’t stop, but pulled up to pass. I wondered what she was thinking as she came to a stop in the lane next to us, the opposite lane of traffic. Luckily, there were no cars coming that way. Shannon and I knocked on her window. She looked confused, and a little scared, as she tried to get the window open.

Shannon and I said, "Hey, we are taking the lane, because we have a red-light. We are trying to keep ourselves and our kids safe." She looked really confused. "It isn’t safe for us to get caught between a car and a curb at a red-light so we are taking the lane. You should have waited behind us."

"Oh," she replied "I didn’t know that. I am so sorry. I really am."

"It’s OK." We answered, "Thank you for your consideration, we really appreciate it. We really do." ‘Really really appreciate it, you have no idea, how much’ I think to myself.

I recognized her as a local business owner; I am sending her a thank you card.

I am sure that she just wasn’t really paying attention. There were 17 of us riding together that day; a large and very visible group, impossible to miss. I am sure if she had been paying attention and thinking, she would have stopped behind us instead of trying to pass at a red-light. Actually, I am sure most of the drivers we dealt with over the past week or so, are nice people who just weren’t really paying attention.

That’s a big part of the problem though, isn’t it? Inattentive driving. Being in a car separates people from the world around them and makes it easy to be inattentive to what is happening outside. Most of the time it’s not much of problem, but when it is it can be really dangerous.

It’s hard to be inattentive on a bike or when you are walking, because you are moving and interacting with the world around you in a very real way that forces you to stay focused. In a car you are sitting in a little chair in a little moving room not really doing much of anything, but listening to the radio, daydreaming, shaving, putting on make-up, talking on your cell phone, reading, reaching around for something you dropped, eating, cleaning up the coffee you spilled on yourself…

As a society, we are embrace this. Why?