Irony Alert: L.A. Weekly Story Mocks Cyclist Right to Lane Appears Next to Story of Fatal Dooring

Must be a slow news day.

Dennis Romero at L.A. Weekly hasn't exactly been a friend to the cycling community, this is the same writer who referred to CicLAvia as "Mayor Villaraigosa's Bike Ride Pipe Dream" in the runup to 10/10/10. Today's column is little more than a weird mocking of Metro's "Every Lane is a Bike Lane" campaign designed to inform drivers that cyclists can take full use of a mixed-use travel lane. It's a typical half-thought-out attack on a government agency trying to do the right thing: Metro is incompetent and out of touch and here's the silly thing they're doing.

To whit:

If you're interested in a full take-down of Romero's piece, Ted Rogers does a thorough debunking in the comments section at L.A. Weekly.

What sticks out to us isn't what is in the story, it's what is next to it. Just to the story's right is an  advertisement for a "trending story" on L.A. Weekly about a cyclist killed after colliding with an open car-door. How can cyclists avoid the dreaded door zone? By taking the lane. How do we know this? By reading L.A. Weekly. The slain cyclist was riding in the bike lane on vine when she collided with the illegally opened door.

I wish Romero would talk to whoever wrote the article about the slain cyclist. Oh wait, it turns out that story was also written by Dennis Romero.

If only the rider had the courage to take the lane. If only publications such as L.A. Weekly wouldn't mock him for doing so. Sometimes life is about more than car travel times.