Spacing Wire is carrying a curious story about a road rage incident in Kensington Market, between a parked motorist and a bike courier. Normally, this would be no big deal, just another day in the big city. But Adam Krawesky captured some evocative photographs, and now the story is making the rounds on the Internet.
The photographs only show one side of the story, the end of the altercation. It began with passive aggression: the motorist throws food out of the window, and the courier throws the food back in the window. (Passive aggression is both very Canadian, and very typical for a cyclist, I think.) The driver then escalates to assault by dumping coffee on the courier, who retaliates with property damage by keying his car. And it ends with the driver escalating to full physical assault, shown in the photos.
The full set of images are available here.
Thanks for documenting this event. Most people contravene our bi-laws when nobody is watching, such as letting their dog shit on public walkways — it’s a massive list — etc. And most citizens let it pass because they fear the negative affects of confrontation. However, the fear factor is sometimes overridden by shear outrage. In these situations the instant outrage snaps you into action without thought of consequences. Unfortunately most people respond to the fear and they suppress the outrage while slinking away. The young woman in this incident is one of the heros of our society. She responded to her outrage by attempting to make a statement. Obviously the male has done the littering thing countless times. He treats his surroundings like a garbage can. He treats OUR surroundings like a garbage can and he therefore affronts the millions of people who treasure their environment. He needs a good thrashing. He should have been charged with littering and with common assault, and the woman should be given a civic award — for simply caring about the condition of Toronto streets — and trying to do something about it. Because of your recording of the incident he will probably receive the shunning he deserves from the host of Torontonians who want to live in a clean environment. Perhaps he and others will think twice before again tossing garbage onto the streets. Thank you.