The American Automobile Association—that venerable proponent of auto safety, auto insurance, auto touring maps and roads-roads-roads (sometimes at the expense of walking and biking trails)—is slowly changing. Over the past six years, a number of chapters have expanded their services to include roadside assistance for bikers.
It wasn’t that many years ago when AAA had a terrible reputation within the biking community. They were accused of opposing rails-to-trails programs and hogging all the gas tax money for highways (and actively opposing alternative modes of transportation that might alleviate congestion). The best thing people said about them was that they endorsed wide shoulders, which made biking safer.
The long-standing animosity showed signs of mellowing around 2009, when the Oregon and Idaho branch began to offer roadside assistance for bicyclists. (Ironic historical sidebar: In describing the new biker assistance program, one observer noted that AAA was formed around the turn of the last century to give a voice to then-outnumbered motorists, who wanted bikers to share the road with them.) But the rapprochement was something less than a full-body hug. Articles asking “Why does AAA hate cyclists?” still appeared and the Better World Club—an “environmentally-friendly auto club” that competes with AAA—gleefully pointed out AAA’s attempts to quash bicycle safety programs in California.
Still, it felt like a start. Then last summer AAA’s Washington chapter instituted roadside coverage. And the chapter in Minneapolis just followed, with roadside assistance starting July 1. For now, the service is available “only to bicyclists who have a breakdown on a street” so you are still on your own if you have a flat on one of the city’s many trails. Because if AAA can’t get to you in a tow truck, it can’t get to you.
What’s going on here? It was speculated that the Oregon/Idaho chapter felt pressured from the Portland –based Better World Club, which offers biker assistance. The Minneapolis branch acknowledged that it was hoping to upgrade its image among younger people. (The branch says only 25 percent of its members are 35 and younger.) And others have characterized AAA’s pro-biker moves as a half-hearted attempt to “greenwash” its otherwise lousy environmental record.
If AAA is trying to greenwash, it has a long way to go. It’s still easy to find biker blogs that despise the organization. (See: AAA Revives Offensive Against Safer D.C. Streets.) But it’s rolling, Bob.
Photo: “Puncture” by Keanu (2007) via Wikimedia Commons
