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Things people blamed on bicycles

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Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#311

Post by vetinari »

ginko wrote: post #102
throw_a_grenade wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP, but this your "reality" is wrong. For example, three days ago in Warsaw, a cyclist ran over a child (ER took the child to hospital) on a busy promenade on the bank of the river. The cycleway is temporarily moved there because of the roadwork and the space is designated as shared between cycle and foot traffic. For several days pedestarians complained that cyclists drive like crazy and it's "when" not "if" som…

Meanwhile there's over 2000 deadly car accidents a year in Poland, 20% of which are pedestrians[1], meaning there's more than one pedestrian killed by a car every day. [1] https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/11/23/road-deaths-in-poland...

How many of these pedestrian were hit on sidewalk? How many on pedestrian crossing? And how many on roads, outside of crossing?

I would guess that the stats would be radically different, if we took only pedestrians on sidewalks, as was the case above.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#312

Post by simongr3dal »

ejb999 wrote: post #265
bertil wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars kill someone every three seconds.

>>Cars kill someone every three seconds. Do you have evidence to back that up? That would imply 10.5 million people are killed by cars each year - I don't buy that. 31557600 seconds in a year, divided by 3 = 10,519,200

bertil seems to be off by an order of magnitude. WHO claims 1.3 million people die from car related injuries every year, 1 person every 25 seconds.

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/road-traffi...

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#313

Post by kuschku »

desas wrote: post #141
aikinai wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is some seriously counterproductive absolutism, and I cycle everyday and don't own a car.

It's literally the guidance that every police force in the UK work to, you need to leave a space of 1.5 metres between your car and the cyclist when overtaking at 30mph. It might be that our road lanes are narrower than yours of course. See https://www.northants.police.uk/police-forces/northamptonshi...

It’s the same in Germany.

Also, cyclists have to keep roughly the same distance from parked cars (“reasonable distance”, OLG Düsseldorf ruled 2018 that this means 1.5 meters from parked cars or 80 cm from a curb if there are no cars).

With those two rules combined, in most city streets bicyclists require a full lane.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#314

Post by mytailorisrich »

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…

"Less dangerous to pedestrians"... that really depends. Here many cyclists like to cycle on pavements, making bikes more dangerous to pedestrians than cars!

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#315

Post by bsagdiyev »

yrro wrote: post #287
xattt wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 l…

They aren't cyclists -- they are motorists using illegal uninsured vehicles. [In the UK, electrically assisted pedal cycles must cut out after 15.5 mph; the max motor output is 250 W; and the motor must solely be activated by the action of turning the pedals; vehicles that don't comply with these rules are illegal]

This kinda feels like a no true Scotsman, if it walks quacks and flies like a duck it doesn't matter.

Edit: I say this a cyclist myself. I see other people on bikes do some dumb shit, we can't say they aren't real cyclists because they do something that makes us look bad.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#316

Post by markus_zhang »

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

The point, from a driver's perspective, is that driving is a social activity, so whoever does not behave well is not welcomed, drivers or cyclists.

I have no issue if cyclists are riding on reserved lanes, but I DO have an issue if 1) they are blocking other vehicles for 20+ seconds, 2) suddenly come onto road from sidewalk, 3) anything else that adds mental burden to other people

That said, I hope ALL roads have cyclist lanes so that I can enjoy more cycling.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#317

Post by soco »

grardb wrote: post #266
moffkalast wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Going out for drinks? Bike. As long as you don't actually drink anything hah. Everyone's a designated driver with bikes.

Do you get too drunk to ride a bicycle every time you go out for drinks?

The good thing is, "too drunk to ride a bike" happens much earlier than "too drunk". And while with a car some push it and still drive drunk (sometimes with horrendous consequences), a bike has this safety mechanism where they simply cannot be ridden when drunk.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#318

Post by DonHopkins »

tralarpa wrote: post #213
pojzon wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

It's controversial because it is often more dangerous to drive on a bicycle lane, at least outside the Netherlands with its well designed bicycle lanes. There is a higher risk that car drivers will not see you when turning right at a crossing etc. In addition, you are exposed to car drivers or passengers who open the door without looking. On the road, with a safe distance to the right, you are annoying to cars but fa…

Hans Monderman was the world's most famous traffic engineer! ;)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Monderman

>Hans Monderman (19 November 1945 – 7 January 2008) was a Dutch road traffic engineer and innovator. He was recognised for radically challenging the criteria used to evaluate engineering solutions for street design. His work compelled transportation planners and highway engineers to look afresh at the way people and technology relate to each other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wte5-_gCDQ

>de Kaden shared space.wmv: Shared space traffic intersection in Drachten, The Netherlands. Traffic signals removed in 2002. The junction handles around 17,000 vehicles per day. One of many projects led by the late Hans Monderman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpHlj5j7nyY

>Shared space intersection, Drachten - The Netherlands 3,824 views Apr 29, 2009 Drachten, Drift/De Kaden, shared-space-intersection. From the centre of expertise on bicycle policy: http://www.bicyclecouncil.org. The intersection Drift and De Kaden is an example of shared space in the purest sense. Despite a quite high traffic volume hardly any measures have been taken to regulate traffic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqQSwQLDIK8

>Unbelievably busy bicycle crossing in Amsterdam: The Netherlands, Amsterdam, May 8, 2018 Bicycle and car traffic at the crossing Korte Prinsengracht and Haarlemmerstraat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjBGokenEhQ

>Hans Monderman: Rethinking the design of streets and public space.

>An Urban Design London and Urban Design Group Lecture Hans Monderman has been one of the most significant influences on the current debate about the design of streets and spaces in the UK. A traffic engineer and road safety specialist from Northern Holland, he is celebrated as the pioneer of shared space as a means to influence speed and driver behaviour. Monderman has been the inspiration behind scores of towns and villages which work without road markings, traffic signs, signals, kerbs, barriers and bollards. ‘Most engineers, when faced with a problem, try to add something,’ he says. ‘My instinct has always been to take something away.’ Following a short introduction by Rob Cowan, Hans explains his approach, work and experiences. Copyright: Esther Kurland. Director. Urban Design London

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#319

Post by gray_-_wolf »

jnsaff2 wrote: post #253
jokoon wrote: post #248

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'…

In my local EV forum there are a lot of people who join just to come and say: EV's are wrong because: "it doesn't stimulate my hearing, just no feeling without the engine growl", "charging something something", "what about road trips", yadayada. I guess people who don't want to change their habits feel threatened somehow? Because deep inside they understand that the change is correct? I don't know, this is all super…

> charging something something

But charging is (well, would be, I don't have EV) annoying. I usually fill the gas tank once a month or two and it takes 15 minutes including the trip to gas station. The ~500km distance I get from full tank is enough to cover my car use for a long time.

So yeah, having to charge more often, having to find a place to charge at, all of that sounds quite inconvenient and I do not want it.

Related question since you seem knowledgeable about EVs: What is "passive drain" on an average EV? Do I still have "full tank" after not touching the car for two or three weeks?

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#320

Post by beowulfey »

tralarpa wrote: post #179
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.

> In fact, a car coming too close and knocking you off your bike is not a common cause of injury Interesting question. I just googled for statistics and found some for German cities. In Berlin (2021), the majority (~50%) of accidents involving bicyclists in which the bicyclist was not at fault were caused by cars turning. But "insufficient distance" was still at 5%.

Both of my hits while riding a bike have been because of cars turning.

For one, the driver was turning right and only looked left -- I was still in front of him, and he never looked ahead; T-boned!

For the other, I pull up to a stoplight alongside a few cars, against the curb. There is only one lane for left/right/straight. No one had on turn signals. Light turns green, so myself and the first car go straight. Second car apparently wanted to turn right without signaling, and once again does not look to the right (looking left, maybe?). Cuts me off in their turn and I hit their right side door.

So yeah, can definitely confirm that people do not look when they are turning.

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