Getting harassed or even threatened by motorists happens far too often to everyday cyclists. In my line of work I hear these stories often. Its sad and frustrating that people will harass and use heavy machinery to intimidate people who are–like them–just trying to get around. More frustrating is that it seems these louts can bully with impunity. I wrote to Joshua Mello, who works hard at the Wilmington Planning Department to make the city bike friendly, about this today and found some info local cyclists might be interested in. Unfortunately, their is no law in NC on the books about harassing cyclists, though evidently there was one recently proposed (anyone have more info on that?) Fortunately, Wilmington cyclists have a friend at the police department in Lt. Perkins, who has taken it upon himself to follow up on cases of cyclist harassment by sending the driver a letter reminding them of applicable bicycle road law. The cynic might say, so what? Well, people don’t like to get letters from the police. I would think it might make them think twice about doing it again, and it is heartening to know someone in the department is willing to do this work and has the institutional support of the chief and city attorney, who have both approved the program.

I don’t think many cyclists are aware of this effort to make riding a bike in the city enjoyable and jerk-free. If you’re harassed by a motorist, send an e-mail to Lt. Perkins with the date and time of incident, plate number, vehicle description, location and a summary of the event. A log of these incidents is kept and letters are sent to the owners of the vehicles if the incident occurred withing the city limits.

**A note for those thinking of visiting or moving to Wilmington (or to anyone who might get the wrong impression). I have only experienced one such incident in the two and half years I’ve lived here. I rarely get too far out of downtown, where pedestrians and cyclists are common and traffic slower, so I likely get less stick than someone who travels on the outer edges of the city (big surprise: drivers are more idiotic as the infrastructure become more car-centric).

A recent New York Times article about the move away from car ownership gives a typical and maddeningly narrow-minded explanation of the trend’s causes.

Whether because of cost, convenience or environmental awareness, a small but growing number of people are making individual decisions to get rid of their automobiles and rely on public transportation, car-sharing programs and rental cars.

Granted, the article is in the automotive section (bicycles are mentioned only briefly), but the list or reasons above (cost, convenience, environment) is typical in articles on the renaissance of the bicycle as well. They are all fine reasons, but don’t get at the heart of the movement away from private automobiles. People sense that something is missing in their lives, in the lives of families, and in their communities. Call it cohesion, social capital, togetherness–whatever. It isn’t something like money, time, or environmental degradation that can be measured in a lab, but its loss is acutely felt and quietly mourned. Part of the problem is the reductionism that has occurred in public discourse. Mainstream public discourse is very bad at illuminating and discussing the non-material, non-measurable goods necessary for human flourishing. And even if you’re the most radical of radical materialists (meaning that you don’t believe that anything exists which cannot be reduced to the five senses) our present understanding cannot fully explain–in purely empirical terms–human existence and our need for togetherness and belonging.

People aren’t merely moving away from private cars because they want to be lean and green–they’re moving toward walking, biking, and public transport because those forms of getting to and fro foster healthier human relationships. Family and community cohesion are not served well by the private automobile, which is our most anti-social shaper of the physical environment and the mores of a community. When automobiles are the dominant form of transport people tend to become atomized individuals with lives that are spread far too thin. Even if the desire isn’t always articulated by those who choose more humane forms of transport, their most attractive benefit is they foster a sense of belonging to the places in which and the people with which you live, rather than the interminable sense of just passing through.