Dear Streetsblog,
On my ride home this evening I was forced to ride into to traffic to due a horse drawn carriage in the bike lane. Every time I ride by a carriage blocking the bike lane, I point out that they are in fact blocking the bike lane and the car lane. A reasonable assessment of the situation would seem to be that horse buggies must drive in the normal lane of traffic, especially because they are too wide for merely the bike lane. As a result, not only do they impede bicycle use but their width still reduces the number of traffic lanes on CPW from two to one.
This evening, one of the buggy drivers (busy talking on his hand-free wireless phone mind you) replied that because he was not driving a motor vehicle, he is able to drive his carriage in the bike lane. It took about 15 seconds for this to sink in. I stopped my bike and waited for the carriage to arrive. Oddly, as the carriage approached me, the horse began to gallop. Add to the dangerous situation is the fact that another cyclist -- at this very moment -- decided to try to pass the carriage on the left by entering traffic.
The other cyclist, upon seeing me stopped in the bike lane, slowed down just in time to get hit by the galloping horse buggy. The cyclist managed to avoid injury but the buggy ran over and semi-taco'ed his rear wheel. As the accident occured, I began screaming like a maniac for the driver to stop. In my fit of screaming, I even reached up and tried to grab his arm to let him know he was running over someone on the other side of his buggy.
Of course, the passengers of the buggy are now yelling at me (not realizing that I am raising hell because a cyclist nearly got squished between thier carriage and speeding taxis). As the horse and buggy turned down the park entrance in front of Tavern on the Green, I checked on the other cyclist -- he was fine but his bike was not. As the other cyclist used his phone to report the accident, I rode after the buggy to get his license plate.
Unfortunately, I was still a bit angry and yelled at him for driving in the bike lane and running over a cyclist. He and his passengers began yelling back. at this point my rational side came to the fore, and I realized how stupid the whole situation was. Leaving them yelling, I returned to the other cyclist. In hindsight, I feel bad about yelling at the buggy driver. But, when human life appears to be in danger, reasoned speech is difficult to muster.
Because the whole situation escalated from me talking to him yelling and then everyone yelling, I feel especially culpable. Yet, when I consider my blame in light of the hazard posed to my and others safety, I would do it all over again. In the end, I am still curious: Where should horsedrawn carriages drive when a city street has a bike lane?
--Alex