Fran and Fred Smith (CEI) hassle cyclist for reporting van in bike lane

[phantom power]

Conservatives -- the champions of rule-of-law and personal responsibility... except when that doesn't play out in their favor. Because dirty-fucking-hippies, amirite?

Last night, a cyclist nearly hit a van blocking the L Street cycletrack and decided to report it to the police. That's when he met Fred and Fran Smith, the husband-and-wife heads of a conservative think tank who started berating him for "minding other people's business."

Rob, who tweets as @the_baseband, captured the interaction on his helmet camera and posted it online yesterday. It not only shows the need for more public education about cycling laws in the District, but also the divisive attitude some have towards cyclists, even when they're following the law.

Rob was turning left from 19th Street NW to L Street when he almost slammed into the back of a white van parked in the lane. He walks his bike onto the sidewalk and can be heard calling the police, when a woman approaches and asks if he's going to report the van.

As Rob reads out the license plate of the truck over the phone, an older man in a suit walks over and the two begin screaming at him. The two are later identified as Fred Smith and Fran Smith, founder and board member of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank that promotes free-market economics and denies global warming.

The interaction is brief, but it says a lot about lingering attitudes towards cycling and cyclists in DC. While the driver of the van broke the law by parking in a bike lane, it happens so frequently that people like Fred Smith either assume that it's acceptable, or that it's not actually a bike lane.

When Rob explains that he almost hit the van, Fred yells, "The truck is not in the bike lane at all!" He walks out into the street, points to the striped buffer between the bike lane and the general traffic lanes, and says that's the bike lane.

It's also interesting the way that Fred and Fran immediately try to paint Rob as the aggressor for trying to report the driver, chiding him for "minding other people's business." Fred makes multiple assumptions about Rob, saying he "hasn't worked a day in his life" and is "mad" at the driver for not being a cyclist.

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/20891/couple-berates-cyclist-for-reporting-van-in-bike-lane/

[monmouth3]

1. They're above the law 'cause they're repubs, donchaknow...n/t

[on point]

2. This is the real entitlement culture problem. Conservatives don't think the law should apply to them

and they should be able to do what ever the hell they please without concern for others

[dem in texas]

3. Right Wing A..holes

Yes, Fred, it is a bike lane, use your stupid eyes!

[JEFF9K]

4. Bike-lane violators should be heavily fined. Maybe with a surcharge for a-holes like the Smiths.

[valerief]

5. But Fran and Fred own the world. Doesn't Rob know that? Silly boy. nt

[hatrack]

6. This doesn't approach the threshold of the margin of the distant edge of surprising

Arrogant assholes, fond of lying for money and even fonder of the profound feelings of privilege their bullshit existence provides.

Shocking.

[ArcticFox]

7. Is it Fred and Fran's van?

If not, why don't they mind their own business.

[JDPriestly]

8. Cars should stay out of bike lanes. But bikes should stay out of the car lanes if a bike lane

is available and clear. If you are not going the speed of other traffic, you should pull over to the side. That is the law in California.