The ‘wisdom’ of Solomon

Re: Ban the bicycles, Dec. 1

Lawrence Solomon writes that bicyclists “bike lanes now consume more road space than they free up.” Solomon marshals no data to back this assertion; his most compelling evidence is a stale, grouchy quote from Lord Lawson, hardly known as a transportation authority.

Solomon cites no data because there is none. If one stands at a major London intersection at rush hour, one will often see 50 cyclists or more waiting for a light to change. Indeed, the data show that increased cycling has coincided with decreased driving into London.

This makes intuitive sense: does Solomon assume that London’s cyclists will simply vanish entirely if London were to“ban” cycling? They would get to work via car, train, or Tube, like most everyone else, thus contributing to overcrowding on other forms of transport. Would Lord Lawson feel better if the cyclist gliding by him were instead in the black car ahead of him in traffic?

The real clue that Solomon isn’t making a serious argument, or even attempting one, is his fallback: cyclists are “entitled, smug, and affected,” and they are also “middle- aged men in Lycra.” It does not seem to have dawned on Solomon that these middle-aged white men need to commute to their jobs just as well as anyone else, and that they wear their funny bright coloured clothes not to annoy him but to avoid being run over by bad drivers. Nicole Gelinas, New York City