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Things people blamed on bicycles

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Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#341

Post by tbdenney »

markus_zhang wrote: post #307

There are so much love for bicycles. I'll offer something from the other side that people who drive. What I really find it scary is that cyclists often take the road as they wish and then block dozens of vehicles, or do something else that might seem to be quite normal from their perspective, but nevertheless is dangerous from drivers' perspective (e.g. suddenly get into road from sidewalk, are you going to cross or…

Cyclists take the lane and "block vehicles" as a safety measure, not for some hatred of cars.

"...cyclists drive in the middle of the lane because it actually protects us against the most common motorist-caused crashes. Our top safety priority is to ensure vantage and visibility (to see and be seen). Bicycling in the middle of a lane is our #1 tool for defensive driving."

Explanation: https://cyclingsavvy.org/road-cycling/

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#342

Post by Tade0 »

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%.

A popular topic in my father's complaints during family trips was that you have to watch out for cyclists when you turn because some, well, will try to race you to the intersection.

I haven't seen many do that, but I still look over my shoulder when I turn.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#343

Post by ThePadawan »

davidguetta wrote: post #291
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'…

Im french. Cars are replaceable, and actually a burden, in big cities but its insane to think that people in the smaller cities can switch. My parents love biking but theres no f**ing way they can do their life on the littoral without a car. When all your friends and the closer market is 10/15km away from each other. Also the advice to go live close to a train station is literally nuts. You want everyone in a departe…

> You want everyone in a departement. to live Don't you mean "Welcome to Switzerland"?

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#344

Post by kuschku »

grecy wrote: post #173
kevingadd wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just this morning I was walking down the street on a sidewalk and as I crossed in front of a driveway - having checked first - a car pulled out of the garage right up against my leg and stopped, and when I stepped away they started moving again to get close. The stuff people do in cars when they don't have right of way is absolutely deranged sometimes.

A lot of people have no idea of the destructive power of the three ton death machine they are in command of. For that reason I think it should be mandatory to volunteer in a crash recovery ward at a hospital for 100 hours before getting a drivers license.

I’ve had a few bike accidents (usually me vs a trash can that suddenly rolled onto the bike lane, or similar obstructions of the road) where I had to go to the ER.

I obviously had to wait a few hours, because while I may have a concussion and broken some bones, there are people with far worse injuries in the ER.

One time I had to wait 12 hours because a major car accident had happened, and I saw them move the victims of that into the ER.

I was instantly reminded of the difference in danger, and very glad that my injuries happened with a 20 kg vehicle at 20 km/h, and not a 2000 kg vehicle at 100 km/h.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#345

Post by pwpw »

I'm not surprised in the slightest at these newspaper headlines in the linked tweets. They seem par for the course where I live.

I sold my car at a profit two months ago and have been walking, cycling, and riding the bus where I need to go. Occasionally my trip calls for an Uber/Lyft. Wow, I have become a pariah in some people's eyes. People have made comments to my face about how it's odd I don't own a car and how it would be best that I get another. Someone scoffed when I answered their question of how I got to their place from mine when I told them I took the bus on a direct route.

People do seem to be publicly supportive of me biking for short trips and for exercise, but they're mostly still in the phase of being introduced to the idea that someone could survive only biking. Biking as a primary form of transportation is still a foreign concept to them. I live in a very central part of the city, but this is a car dominated Texas city.

Unfortunately, biking infrastructure and car etiquette is extremely poor around here. I find myself having to carefully choose my routes and am unable to reach certain places by bike that are quite close because it's not worth the risk. I hope cars begin to open more to the idea of bicyclists being around. A lot of great people I know have expressed negative sentiments towards bicyclists, so I have to believe there's a larger cultural issue at play.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#346

Post by kuschku »

mlang79 wrote: post #336
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…

As a blind pedastian, I disagree violently. I typically hurt myself once a week because a careless cyclist put their bicycle in an inappropriate place. In front of a shop, because they are just going in for a minute, for example. Cyclists do the most harm to blind individuals in a city. Cars cant even come close.

How many bike parking spaces does your city have? In cities with well-maintained bike infrastructure, I’ve never seen this become an issue.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#347

Post by ryyr »

the only thing i don't like about cyclists (online, key distinction) is their insistence to group bikers/pedestrians together as some sort of coalition when lobbying solely for their own cause

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#348

Post by ch_sm »

DonHopkins wrote: post #299
cinntaile wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I have ever seen this behaviour? This must be a cultural thing?

[flagged]

This article is so insane, it just has to be some sort of outrage-bait (that actually worked for me, although my blood typically has a pretty high boiling point).

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#349

Post by kuschku »

LtWorf wrote: post #330
stinos wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Actual statistics about encounters clearly do show it is less dangerous, and expecting a concussion to be a false interpretion of actual risks. I do get your problem though: you're not used to it. You need eyes everywhere which essentially…

Bah, in my experience bicycle users behave really badly on average. Certainly no better than car drivers. For example they will be ready to crash on a pedestrian who is walking on a bike lane for good reason (most common ones are: an excavator made a trench on the sidewalk, the snow clearing machine took all the snow from the road and made a mountain on the sidewalk). However when there is no bike lane available, the…

I wonder where they’d get an electric bicycle going 50, considering it’s impossible to buy or import ones going more than 20 km/h in most of the EU.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#350

Post by yosamino »

mlang79 wrote: post #336
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…

As a blind pedastian, I disagree violently. I typically hurt myself once a week because a careless cyclist put their bicycle in an inappropriate place. In front of a shop, because they are just going in for a minute, for example. Cyclists do the most harm to blind individuals in a city. Cars cant even come close.

That's an angle I hadn't considered, thank you for bringing it up.

I bike around the city quite a lot, and usually I will have bike parking available, but when I don't, I find the nearest signpost or street lamp and lock it there. I try to be mindful of pedestrians by orienting the bike parallel to the walkway, but I have'nt probably given that enough thought.

Would you mind explaining the physics of how you interact with these or my misparked bicycles, and how they are causing you to hurt yourself ? Is it just that they are parked in your way, or is there something that makes bikes different from other obstacles you have to navigate ?

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