Due to the nature of my job, my daily commute changes quite often. Some weeks I ride to the same place every day, while other weeks I may be riding through Fountain Square one day and riding to Fischer's the next. Since I have ridden through most of the city and surrounding areas a good bit, I have formed purely unscientific opinions of the drivers one typically encounters in the differing areas one is likely to ride through. Basically, the farther south you get from Fountain Square and the farther north you get from Broad Ripple the more dangerous and obnoxious the drivers get, and drivers in Broad Ripple are more likely to drive in or block bike lanes than drivers elsewhere in the city. Also, no matter where you are in this city, 4-way stop signs confuse the Hell out of local drivers.
This past week, I have been doing a good bit of riding through Carmel, both on the Monon, and on the streets. I saw nothing to change my overall opinion that drivers in this area are quite dangerous due to an inflated sense of importance and smart phone use while driving. In fact, I rode by a four-car accident scene yesterday morning which, on it's face, appeared to be a chain reaction distracted driver accident. However, during my rides in this area through this past week, I did notice an apparent difference in courtesy which falls along gender lines.
This week's commute involved the Monon as well as the traffic circle at 116th and Keystone Parkway. The Monon has a few crossings of city streets which require stopping for traffic, and the traffic circle has pedestrian crossings for those who are unwilling to ride in the street through it. In these cases despite the presence of crosswalk markings, a cyclist or pedestrian must wait for a break in the traffic, or for a courteous driver with the latter being a rare thing, especially at the traffic circle.
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Male Driver who pulled into, then blocked
the crosswalk
(Note the courageous girl negotiating this traffic circle) |
After the first two times through these crossings (one going and one coming back) it seemed to me that every driver who stopped and waved me through was a woman. This seemed a bit odd, so I paid particular attention the next day, and, sure enough, every driver who paused for a few seconds to let me through was female. This trend played out for the entire week. I also noticed that every driver stopped in a crosswalk or blocking a bike lane was male.
Given this observation, I began paying more attention to cyclists and pedestrians on the trail who initiated or returned a smile, nod or wave, and even then, the vast majority of courteous people were women even though most of the trail users I encountered were male.
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| Female Driver (stopped well before I got there) |
I'd like to tell myself that the courtesies shown were due to my rugged good looks and overpowering charm, but my daughter has over ruled that assumption, and even posited that it is due to my being old, and the women in question merely feel sorry for me. She also says that the over-abundance of homo-phobic men in this city accounts for an unwillingness by men to show courtesy to other men. Since I am unable to question the courteous women I encountered this week, I am unable to rule out either of these assumptions (though I like mine better, and can see the merit in my daughter's observation about the men one encounters). Also, I haven't interviewed other cyclists and pedestrians, so I can't say positively that this observed phenomenon is universal.
However, based purely on my own personal observations during this past week I have come to two more unverified conclusions: 1)-Women drivers, cyclists, and joggers are far more likely to show common courtesy to those around them than their male counterparts, and 2)-I owe an apology to the women who drive in Carmel for my inclusion of them in most of the negative things I have said about Carmel drivers. Though, so far, the male drivers still seem to deserve my contempt and fear.
