It's a banner year for bicyclists.

First, Jimmy Johnson won the Daytona 500. Then Tony Kanaan drank milk -- finally -- at the Indy 500. A week after Indy, Detroit's Shinola, a firm that produces American-made bicycles, prominently sponsored the Detroit GP with track and Winner Circle signage. On Monday Fernando Alonso announced that he had bought the license of World Tour cycling team Euskaltel-Euskadi.

From where I sit this trend is great. I love cars and bicycles equally, and each is my life passion. When I rediscovered as an adult the joys of cycling, I also learned that some automobile drivers can be dangerously negligent and intentionally hostile bullies. As someone who loves and appreciates both modes of transportation, this is an exceedingly frustrating and bothersome occurrence.

Before going further, there's some ugliness to get out of the way: Some people who ride bikes are irresponsible, ignorant, rude, and foolish scofflaws. Occasionally, they are clumped in riding pods that take up space on the roads with little concern for co-existence with car drivers. My hope with this editorial is that it does not become a flashpoint for negative internet comments, but is, instead, insight that a solution is available.

That preamble said, these are the sobering facts of cycling on U.S. roads: Every five minutes a bicyclist is hospitalized; every 13 hours a bicyclist is killed. Obviously, hit-and-run incidents on cyclists are at epidemic levels; drivers use cars and trucks to threaten cyclists with casual and alarming frequency.

Motorists and cyclists need more education, but ultimately it is the motorist whose weapon begets this conflict and can be holstered. Is it too much to ask for peaceful, co-existing travel without confrontation? Autoweek's readers are astute enthusiast influencers -- I know as I've been a reader for more than four decades -- and we have proven to affect change elsewhere, like teenage driver education. So together let's synthesize this conflict to the most basic elements: safe passage for all and respect for life.

Driving used to be about just getting from Point A to Point B (in as much fun as we could have doing it). Today, it is about territorial imperative -- about marking your territory -- and includes abandoned personal responsibility, entitlement, resentment, revenge, intolerance for delays, financial burdens, distracted texting, phoning, eating, and a litany of personal frustrations and issues. Add a cyclist -- or, heavens, a peloton -- to the mix and drivers go tribal. Rising too quickly to the surface is contempt for a cyclist who is somehow seen as less than human -- a hard-wired reaction. Remember these are people, people; you wield a 5,000-lb weapon. You have power over them, and you must use it for good, not evil.

The good side to that hard wiring is, generally, we like people like ourselves -- our own tribe. And we like celebrities. So what if the most visible faces of our racing culture -- the best recognized personalities of car brands -- led the way to a more peaceful car-bike co-existence on America's roads?

When the traditionally staunchly conservative southern town of Birmingham, Ala., has designated bike lanes and its city officials openly discuss public bike sharing schemes, could the tipping point be in the review mirror? As a matter of shifting demo and psychographics, more cyclists are on the way; no less than William Clay Ford speaks of bicycles as part of a coming multi-modal future mix. Ford personally has invested in a bicycle sharing company. Other industry luminaries are in on the fun: Viper SRT chief and hardcore car guy Ralph Gilles rides; Hyundai's marketing boss Steve Shannon is an avid rider; salesguy extraordinaire Greg Penske rides, even members of the Autoweek staff have been know to enjoy a pedal.

So many top-level racers ride bicycles that it is easier to make a list of those who don't. In NASCAR-central -- Charlotte -- cycling is spreading; a Joe Gibbs Racing lunch ride even exists. Max Papis, when he's not getting slapped, connected the Dillon brothers with exotic Pinarello bikes.

No, not everybody rides, but a recent conversion about the subject is worth noting. This planet's self-proclaimed “preeminent anti-cyclist,” British TV personality Jeremy Clarkson, now basks in a new-found kinship with the F1 cycling elite. Who next? Tony Stewart is such an unlikely cyclist that sponsor Mobil 1 parodied him on a stationary bike; my guess is if his rehab docs have their way, Tony has some stationary bike seat time ahead. Perhaps in a few weeks on a fine autumn morning his cycling friends will invite Tony outside of physical therapy for a slow roll instead of grinding away indoors. The wind in his face, the sensation of speed, the open-face helmet. He just might like it more than a soda cookie. OK, maybe not….

The two worlds of racing and cycling are the same world at the pinnacle. For many, the cultures are one. I see no better solution than for the elite of gearhead culture to lead the way. The Racers Who Ride Foundation Inc. was established to facilitate, encourage, and explore the quest for less conflict on the road. Its priority is to generate messaging in one of today's most potent format: viral-video. Mostly funny, sometimes poignant, never preaching, lecturing, or condescending, getting the word out to be safe for both constituencies is paramount.

Here's an idea: What if Ken Block shot an outtake from his next Gymkhana video chilling the hoon to slow down and safely pass the single file Ford All-Star Peloton of Gittin Jr., Pastrana, Bayne, Edwards, Almirola, Mears, Hornish, and Faust? Director's note: Hand gestures here are peace signs. Perhaps we can see Tony Kanaan and Jimmie Johnson on a Trek tandem bike? With Jimmy Vasser driving a pickup? You get the idea. We have so many great personalities to work with: Franchittis, Rahals, and a mess of Waltrips! There is Montoya, Servia, Kahne, Pagenaud, Zanardi, Papis, Vickers, Ricky Carmichael, Carey Hart, Tommy Kendall, and Nicky Hayden. Let's have some fun and spread the empathy!

Hey Ford, Chevrolet, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, Fiat-Chrysler, Hyundai, Subaru, Volkswagen Auto Group, are you in? The phone companies just came together and hired Werner Herzog to make a compelling video against texting while driving. Ponder what gut-busting havoc Clint Bowyer-as-auteur could generate on a shoestring handheld budget.

As an Autoweek reader you can help too. Take your 12-pound carbon-fiber rocket Cervelo with electronic paddle shifting to the next Cars and Coffee. Or go old school and do a show-and-tell of that handmade Italian classic with Ferrari supplier Campagnolo parts. If you don't ride just reach out to others, especially younger enthusiasts, and inform them that the Rallycross and Drifiting worlds are densely populated with cyclists.

Anyone up for a ride with sports car stars Patrick Dempsey, Andy Lally, and Patrick Long? Sebring? Or with the Indycar stars at Detroit GP or Long Beach? Maybe with the NASCAR stars and crews before the Brickyard? Or at a MotoGP? It's on the radar for the Racers Who Ride Foundation.

Now is the time. We can do this. Autoweek enthusiast influencers please join racers and manufacturers alike to define our future to include safe cycling for ourselves and our favorite stars. Let's cease the friendly fire. We are the same tribe. Surely Jean Todt, Bernie, Emmo, and Schumi of the FIA Action for Road Safety campaign will take note? We should all agree that the sanctity of life is a good starting point and move forward from there.

Michael Hart is the Founder of the Racers Who Ride Foundation Inc. Follow on Twitter at @RacersWhoRide or like at facebook.com/RacersWhoRideFoundationInc

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