I was shocked on my commute to work last week when a couple blocks worth of bike lane had broken glass strewn about.
I just can’t stop wondering if it was on purpose you know? Normally cars are parked or pedestrians are walking in the bike lane so it seems counter intuitive if it was on purpose.
I mean all winter people were shovelling snow directly into the bike lanes so I’m pretty pessimistic at this point.
I love commuting by bike! I just wish it felt safer.
In some places there is a lot of hate towards cyclists, so it’s very possible. But it could also be smashed car windows. (Although I believe that should be “security glass” and should not be extremely sharp… I might be wrong)
Unfortunately though, there are many examples I’ve seen and lived through myself. Glass, nails, metal wires across the bike path … I’ve seen it all.
I used to live in Cork (Ireland) and the hostility from drivers towards cyclists is next to deadly. I’ve been purposefully cut off many times in that city. And on Friday morning, after a so called “students night” the streets are littered with broken glass. Fun times.
Honestly my tires were alright so it probably was security glass.
It’s a main/busy street with lots of bars and the wealth/housing gap is becoming unbearable so someone breaking car windows makes sense.
As you said though I’ve seen lots of hate first hand toward cyclists so when I see something like glass in the bike lane I just feel sad.
I visited Cork years ago and it was not exactly walkable so I love that you were out there biking but I’m sorry you had bad experiences there.