Friday, September 19, 2014

"make us bicyclists look good" in Rosslyn

Rosslyn is the mother hub of a vast network of multi-user trails across the whole Greater Rosslyn Metropolitan Area. At the high-traffic intersections connecting the Custis Trail to the Mount Vernon Trail next to Rosslyn's Gateway park, inspiration for bicyclists has recently appeared stenciled on the sidewalk: "make us bicyclists look good." 

As a cyclist, here are ways you can make yourself look good by upholding Rosslyn ideals of community-spiritedness, caring, happiness, and long life:
  1. Always ride your bike in a predictable, alert, and lawful manner.
  2. Stop at road crossing with a stop sign or a stop signal.  Even if you have a green walk light, checking for traffic before rolling through the intersection is a good idea.  Some cars occasionally run red lights. Some take right turns without regard to traffic entering a crosswalk.  You can help prevent idiot drivers from killing you.
  3. Recognize that pedestrians always have the right of way.  Slow down, signal your approach, and ride cautiously around pedestrians.  Some pedestrians may be hard of hearing.  Some pedestrians may get confused between left and right. Some pedestrians may all of the sudden turn across the path. Cyclists need to be ready for such possibilities.
  4. Look happy riding your bike. You don't have to have a face of agony like runners.  You have wheels. You can roll!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

stop the graffiti

Anonymous said...

Have ta agree. The last thing that graffiti did was make us cyclists look good.

Anonymous said...

If you think of this stencil on the pavement as "graffiti" and a blight on the environment, then maybe Kirsten Gillibrand is right about Arlington being a soulless suburb.

Anonymous said...

List got off to a rational start then took the typical turn (without signaling!) towards drivers suck, pedestrians suck, runners suck.

Anonymous said...

Lighten up. The original post merely makes the valid common-sense points that it's dangerous out there, and we could all be a little nicer to each other, regardless of how we travel. As a bike commuter, it's brought home to me daily that we all sometimes do dumb things on the spur of the moment, regardless of how we get from point A to point B.

Anonymous said...

FINALLY A BICYCLIST WHO MAKES SENSE!!!!!!