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Things people blamed on bicycles

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Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#241

Post by batiudrami »

Jochim wrote: post #215
pacomerh wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a justification but here in CA I see cyclists cross red lights much too often. So it's not once it's way too many times. They probably think they're special somehow

I think the prevalence of this behaviour can be explained by the fact that in car centric infrastructure only people willing to take a fairly significant risk will be cycling in the first place. As a result you've selected for people willing to engage in risky behaviour towards themselves resulting in a fair few of them running red lights recklessly. Couple this with the fact that the infrastructure was clearly not b…

I don't run red lights but I do cross on pedestrian signals from the road in such a way that probably makes drivers some angry.

The fact is it's much safer for me to clear the intersection ahead of drivers rather than have them try to pass me at the intersection. If there are two lanes of cars banked up behind me impatient people will try and pass without changing to the far lane; getting too close to me in the process.

Some signals in my city have bike boxes and secondary lights for bikes which change a few seconds before the car signals to give riders a head start - this accomplishes the same thing and feels much safer.

For example - https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-31.9548303,115.8601648,3a,5...

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#242

Post by unglaublich »

tenpies wrote: post #206
Raed667 wrote: post #23

And somehow this translates to some drivers deciding that it is OK to kill cyclists because they will be 20 seconds late to the next red light stop.

Don't forget the blood on the political class for this. After all, they're the ones who made murdering with a car the most penalty free and easily forgiven way of murdering someone. In some cities you can be comically negligent - I'm talking murdering people over on the side walk because you dropped a bottle of water in your car - and be perfectly okay.

The irony: the law admits that people don't have full control over the deadly power of their car, yet, it still allows people to drive a car in the first place.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#243

Post by saiya-jin »

goethes_kind wrote: post #218
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…

I would agree with all of those points, except for one. I do not think it is less dangerous to pedestrians. I remember when I used to live in the Netherlands, it was uncomfortable being a pedestrian because there were so many cyclists. They are still going fast enough that if they crash into you, you can expect a concussion or even worse. And they do not respect the traffic laws in the same way that cars do. And beca…

100% this. And Dutch cyclists are usually nicer ones. Where I live (Geneva, Switzerland), cyclists are very aggressive towards... well everybody.

As a pedestrian, I had few super close calls (5cm max) where a crowd of us pedestrians were going through the road on green light and cyclist zoomed at 30-40kph through cars on red light and our crowd, not even attempting to break. At that speed, crash can be fatal/disabling for both. Its not just theoretical - when my wife worked as doctor on biggest urgence here, they had a case where 40 year old guy was hit in same way by cyclist on pedestrian crossing, green light. He went into coma and died in 2 days. Red light is just invisible to most, unlike rest of traffic. As pedestrian I consider cars and motorbikes/scooters OK, but cyclists I avoid / look out for very carefully, especially when with kids.

They really act like everything belongs to them and they are above any constraints, be it red light, no-bike-parks for kids etc. You can't simply cross road because you as pedestrian have green light - you need to have green light and check that no cyclist is going through the town like its some post-apocalyptic wasteland with no humans around.

They are aggressive to the car drivers too - I had cases where drink cyclists were trying to damage my car by kicking into it (I was stopped on red light so no threat to anybody, no idea why). Damage to well parked car, also by cyclists. No love there despite obvious ecological benefits.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#244

Post by unglaublich »

bertil wrote: post #176
quietbritishjim wrote: post #25

HN (and twitter) wants to find people that hate cyclists so we can get angry at them, but I don't think that's what's really happening here. For example: > "We may recall the sage observations made by a writer in one of the English medical journals two or three years ago, that the habit of smoking and the prevalence of appendicitis had both increased during the last two decades, and consequently it was reasonable to…

Almost every anti-cycle tweet that I read nowadays is from very obvious spam bots (days old, one single topic, haphazard spelling, and typing mistakes). I blocked a few real people who were calling for killing others, and there must be someone who wants the bots to operate, but it increasingly feels like either an aggressive minority or some corporate interest that I'm not grasping.

Which $104.2b corporate interest could that be?

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#245

Post by xattt »

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…

> Cycling is cheap, often faster than driving (in my city), healthy, less noisy, creates vastly less pollution, less dangerous to pedastrians

Can we talk about people on e-bikes with phat tires? There’s a certain profile of riders that think they are just as meek and harmless as a normal rider, but their presence and riding style is usually aggressive.

Don’t forget the angsty 40- and 50-year-olds who uncapped their limiters and installed 1000 W motors for their “sleeper” builds.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#246

Post by moffkalast »

DoubleFree wrote: post #194
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 problem of dangerous interactions between drivers and cyclists is much smaller here in the Netherlands, mainly due to two reasons. The first reason is the infrastructure, both visible and invisible. Separated bicycle lanes are commonplace and in the few places where they intersect with car traffic, care is taken to make crossing safe and comfortable. This visible infrastructure is complemented by the concept of "…

> Going out for drinks? Bike.

As long as you don't actually drink anything hah. Everyone's a designated driver with bikes.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#247

Post by tralarpa »

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…

> Here in Europe, people in rural areas or small towns are entirely dependend on cars

My grand-parents lived in a small town ((X) That was in a very hilly town, with simple bikes without gears.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#248

Post by jokoon »

I often discuss on the french subreddit, and it's crazy how hard some people fight back giving up their cars. The recurring excuse is a long commute and bad availability of public transit.

Most people don't have a long commute, since public transit covers most french citizens, but weirdly there is a very vocal minority who live in the middle of nowhere.

I keep explaining to them that they can keep driving since they're a minority so it's not such a big problem, but that they should also consider moving near train stations.

There really is a "car culture" going on, which is very difficult to debate with. Sometimes I suspect if it's just the car lobby paying astroturfers to fight this.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#249

Post by davisoneee »

peoplefromibiza wrote: post #239
davisoneee wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if a driver has to 'squeeze past', they are a bad driver. if a driver is driving so close that they couldn't react to a cyclist falling, they are a bad driver. You should drive within safe limits. If you cannot brake in the distance between you and the car in front, you are _too close_. If you squeeze to overtake, you are too close. Potholes exist. Wind exists. In the UK, the (edit) guidance is that you should pass a…

> if a driver has to 'squeeze past', they are a bad driver if they do not kill you, they are not. or maybe if you are scared of other road users and need a "safe space" you aren't a good road user. just maybe > if a driver is driving so close that they couldn't react to a cyclist falling, they are a bad welcome to the reality. I'm not driving too close to you, you are zig-zaging in the middle of the street and you we…

I ride daily through my country's largest city. I'm not scared. I don't need a 'safe space' (or your desire to start a culture war, as your provocative wording imples). I don't jump red lights. I pull over if the road is busy and fast and wave drivers to overtake if possible. I'm simply asking that, given we share the road, people should drive with some damn courtesy rather than entitlement?

Most people think they are good drivers and its "the others" that are bad, regularly driving and behaving in a way that leaves little to no contingency. You can't control the environment. You can't control other road users. So if you are 'squeezing' then you are reducing your contingency, making it more dangerous for you and everyone else, and leaving yourself much more susceptible to negative events. So yes, a bad driver.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#250

Post by tommoor »

glandium wrote: post #225
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.

Let's be honest: given the opportunity (multiple lanes, etc.), the car would likely overtake a slow car as well, and stop at a red light right after that. I see that all the time (albeit I'm in Japan, not in the US) Edit: point being, for some reason, some drivers really like to reach red light as quickly as they can, and that's not necessarily related to bikes.

The longer you're at the red light, the more time you have to scroll on your phone
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