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Alison Piepmeier

My life is all about bringing down the patriarchy. I write books and articles about feminism, and I also teach and direct the Women's and Gender Studies Program at the College of Charleston....

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Bicycle education

I bike almost everywhere I go in Charleston, and I find that it’s generally a wonderful part of my life--but fairly often it has its challenging aspects.  For instance, biking home I come up Coming, following all the laws of traffic, and at least once a week someone in a car honks at me or yells at me--or drives deliberately way too close to me--because they’re annoyed that I’m on the road.

About ten minutes ago, on my way home, I had the opportunity to educate someone.  A big red SUV was driving behind me, and the guy driving yelled, “Sidewalk!  Get on the sidewalk!”  He passed me, but as luck would have it, he got stopped at a light, and I got to glide up right beside him.

I decided to play it nice.  “Were you the one yelling at me back there?” I asked.

He looked sheepish.  “Yeah,” he said.

“You know, bikes are supposed to be on the road.  It’s illegal for me to ride on the sidewalk.”

“Really?”

“Yeah!” I said.  The light changed, and as I pedaled away, I yelled back, “That’s why it’s called the sideWALK, not the sideBIKE!”*

*In the spirit of full disclosure, I must share that my partner came up with this excellent soundbyte.