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Things people blamed on bicycles

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Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#181

Post by pastage »

laputan_machine wrote: post #133
evandijk70 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often does that kind of thing happen? Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly?

If you commute daily (5 times a week) then you will see at least one terrible / dangerous driver in that time period. Some weeks it can be really bad, several a day, some weeks it will be almost silent (but always at least one nutter). The weather makes a big difference, for some reason drivers drive a lot worse in the rain and really hot weather, usually speeding / running reds and not checking mirrors more often th…

This was true for me, but now days it almost never happen. What changed was that my route got a serious upgrade, with lower speed intersections, better yield signs for everyone. All it took was a well thought out plan for all the streets with bicycle traffic.

But yeah when I am not on my daily commute you still get that kind of behaviour.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#182

Post by eptcyka »

ralferoo wrote: post #138
eptcyka wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pedestrians are not vehichles. I am specifically referring to a situation where there's traffic going one way on a road and slower vehicles are impeding on traffic behind them - in this case it's the responsibility of the slower vehicle to let the faster traffic pass in a safe manner. Seems like I've worded myself poorly here given that people are clearly misunderstanding me. Yes, at intersections, as a driver, I wil…

> 30 minutes later when on a mountain road, I expect the soccer mom and the cycling enthusiasts to do the same. I have a feeling that you'll end up killing someone on one of these mountain roads with that attitude. You wait behind them until you're on a clear stretch of straight road, and then overtake. If you don't have a clear stretch of road, you continue to wait behind them. Anything else, and you're putting eith…

What specifically about that statement implies that I have an attitude that tends towards being dangerous on the road?

I'm not saying that I'll be driving at inappropriate speeds or trying to tail-gate other cars or god-forbid cyclists on mountain roads. I prefer to keep my distance, especially around cyclists. All I'm saying is that it'd be nice if the slower traffic in front would actively let the faster traffic pass, using the turnouts or whatever they're called to stop and let others pass.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#183

Post by cjrp »

sschueller wrote: post #109
ChrisRR wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK as a cyclist I still get so much hate on the road. I'm just trying to get to work like everyone else, but people still drive their cars up right behind me, squeeze past when there's not enough space, beep their horns and shout out the window. And then the justification is always "well I saw a cyclist run a red light once, therefore all cyclists are shit"

Well cyclist running red lights is extremely common here in Zürich Switzerland especially during morning rush hour. I have seen some crazy altercations between not cars and cyclist but public transport like trams and cyclist. Once a cyclist managed to pull up to the front of a double bendy trollybus[1] I was in just to cut across the front of the bus forcing the driver to hard break. In another incident recently whic…

I was thinking what proportion of red-light-running (by cyclists) is because they don't want to lose momentum, and whether that will be improved with e-bikes.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#184

Post by dijit »

pembrook wrote: post #178

Think folks are missing the point here. The idea of this thread isn’t that bicycles are uniquely singled out for ridicule. These article snippets all come from a time when the bicycle was just invented and usage was growing fast (eg like any new tech). In fact, I think they were taken from a defunct Twitter account called pessimists archive. The point is that mass media will always court controversy and bemoan any ne…

Is that really in-line with reality though?

Cycling was becoming quite common in the UK and it was actively suppressed by urban planning because the stance was that "it was for the poors" and car travel (a newer mode of transport) was much preferred because it was luxurious.

Jay Foreman has a good video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gohSeOYheXg

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#185

Post by _dain_ »

theK wrote: post #28
vocram wrote: post #15

Hate for bicycles hasn’t changed. People think a bike travel is recreational, and thus less important than a car travel. Someone goes out of their way to affirm that, by having to overtake bikes or not let them overtake their cars. A couple of times I met cars busting their brakes trying to keep up with me with a disc road bike on long technical descents

Re: hate for bicycles I think, especially in cities, you just have the problem of bicycles not fitting in either of the two historically present transport modes. They are too slow for the street and waaaaay to fast for the pedestrian side. Bike lanes historically do not deliver as they increase traffic pattern complexity significantly for all three participants. I have seen some very ambitious plans to make city Cent…

>not fitting in either of the two historically present transport modes.

Bicycles were invented first, cars came later. It's the cars that don't fit. They're too big and too dangerous.

Next time you go outside, take a look around you and count all the gizmos and contrivances that litter the streets, all of which are for cars or because of cars or to protect from cars. Traffic lights, painted crossings, bollards, metal protective barriers, pedestrian islands, bike lanes, parking spaces, speed cameras, on and on it goes.

We only need all this ugly junk because of cars. We've trained ourselves not to see it, like a hoarder who doesn't properly see his piles of clutter.

When it's just pedestrians, bikes, and maybe a tram or two, it's amazing how tidy and calm a street can be.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#186

Post by pojzon »

jimmytidey wrote: post #142
montebicyclelo wrote: post #114

Cycling is cheap, often faster than driving (in my city), healthy, less noisy, creates vastly less pollution, less dangerous to pedastrians... And I'd guess that about 95% of drivers that I come across are respectful of the danger they present - overtaking with enough space, and not at too high a speed (my city doesn't have great bike lanes). Unfortunately, a typical journey involves passing more than 20 cars, which…

The pattern: -- A car squeezes past you at high speed -- Less than 30 seconds later I pull in front of it as we both stop at a red light. In fact, a car coming too close and knocking you off your bike is not a common cause of injury. It certainly makes cycling unpleasant though. 40% of non-cyclists in London say the danger of cycling is a significant factor in their decision not to cycle.

No post body was provided.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#187

Post by seszett »

piokoch wrote: post #99
mnd999 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a lot more hate for bicycles since I stopped driving and started walking as it turns out.

That's my impression to. Bikers apparently think that those funny white stripes on the roads and bike roads are some kind of decoration, not passage for pedestrian. Many bikers think that they have priority there...

Well... I'm both a pedestrian and biker (and I generally use a car when outside my city) and honestly, I find it normal for pedestrians to give priority to bikes.

It's just a lot more energy expensive to stop and start again for a bike, while it is essentially free for a pedestrian.

As a pedestrian I always try to avoid making bikes stop unnecessarily, and most people seem to do the same here, even if pedestrians technically have priority. Most people here are also bikers at times, so I suppose they understand this better than pedestrians in places where bikes are seen as something special/annoying/for other people.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#188

Post by ruivil7 »

pojzon wrote: post #186
jimmytidey wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pattern: -- A car squeezes past you at high speed -- Less than 30 seconds later I pull in front of it as we both stop at a red light. In fact, a car coming too close and knocking you off your bike is not a common cause of injury. It certainly makes cycling unpleasant though. 40% of non-cyclists in London say the danger of cycling is a significant factor in their decision not to cycle.

Quoted post unavailable.

And if a pedestrian has no sidewalk?

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#189

Post by sixstringtheory »

cstrahan wrote: post #79
ginko wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be under the impression that bikes are like cars where you're essentially guaranteed to be dead of at least maimed when they hit you. In reality the most likely thing to happen to you is that you maybe get so nasty scratches and dirty clothing.

… unless you’re longboarding around 20 mph and just about to go through a green light when a dozen bikes come flying through at 20-25 mph 5 seconds after their light turned red. That’s what happened to me. Only reason I didn’t get trampled was because I had a funny feeling and decided to slow down as I approached the intersection (buildings obscured my view of possible traffic). They had zero sense of self preservati…

Yeah, I never try to time lights like that anymore, I’ve seen so many cars blow red lights. I always proceed slowly and look both ways for one coming at a fresh green, whether on bike or in car.

I’ve had a similar experience walking, I was in the middle of a crosswalk on a four lane road by the time a dozen teenagers blew through their red light, popping wheelies on gold plated BMXs, cars screeching in the middle of the intersection to avoid hitting them. I almost yelled at the first one that went by me thinking they were the only one, but was very glad I didn’t when all the others passed around me. One of the wildest things I’ve seen in a city.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#190

Post by orwin »

turing_complete wrote: post #54

There is nothing new under the sun. Today we have "Things people blame on cars". I've read many Americans that argue that cars are somehow destructive to community live. Here in Europe, people in rural areas or small towns are entirely dependend on cars, even more, they love their cars (and rightfully so). Yet, they have healthy communities, live in large houses. Nature is near, history at hand (look, you have a nice…

I lived in rural towns most of my life, never owned a car. I wasn't the only one, and i still have friends there whose most used transportation system is bike (either that or tractor).

Also buses are great there if you can organize yourself.

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