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Things people blamed on bicycles

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Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#351

Post by Tade0 »

chriswarbo wrote: post #289
goethes_kind wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> And they do not respect the traffic laws in the same way that cars do This seems to be a persistent myth. All the studies I've come across say the exact opposite; for example: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonreid/2019/05/10/cyclists...

> A Transport for London study investigated the “hypothesis that the majority of cyclists ride through red lights” and discovered that 84% of cyclists stopped on reds.

Imagine 16% drivers not stopping on red.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#352

Post by esel2k »

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…

Swiss here aswell and regular cyclist. We have seen and will see more and more space been taken by bicycles: Look at what paris did during covid: narrowed streets everwhere to make a separate bike path. Now they can’t keep up with people riding bikes and it is already chaos breaking out.

It isn’t such a drastic shift we are experiencing in Switzerland but we need to adjust the roads once created purely for cars and buses. This will automatically reduce friction.

But its a good topic to fill the newspapers…

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#353

Post by Agentlien »

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 live in a small town about 30km from Gothenburg, Sweden. I typically have no problem with cyclists except that there's quite a lot of them where I live staying in the middle of the road next to the broad bicycle lane and randomly darting from one side to another with no warning. I don't want to pass because they might randomly turn without looking and get run over. They're typically going at 15km/h where it's 50-60km/h. And it's not ~10-30 seconds, they stay there, in parallel with the bike lane, for several kilometres.

The main problem seems to be that people (drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, ...) all think they own the road and show very little respect to those around them. Especially those travelling by another type of vehicle. It makes for frustrating and dangerous situations.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#354

Post by Casperin »

LtWorf wrote: post #325
goethes_kind wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I agree. In Copenhagen multiple bas stops just go onto bike traffic. And they DO NOT CARE that a bus just stopped and people are about to come out.

I live (and bike) here too. I think what you mean to say is that it can feel kind of hectic and dangerous to step out of a bus onto the bike lane.

I can promise you that every biker care. If nothing else, then at least for their own safety. And in the 35 years I've been biking around here, I've never seen a collision between someone stepping out of a bus and a bike coming from behind.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#355

Post by mlang79 »

kuschku wrote: post #346
mlang79 wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

No post body was provided.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#356

Post by badlucklottery »

antihero wrote: post #310
DoubleFree wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 "…

Just need a way to deal with bike theft. My number one concern is parking my pretty decent bike within view of where I’m sitting or not leaving it unattended for over five minutes. I’m insured, but I have a bond with my wheels! If anyone has recommendations for stealth theft detection/tracking devices I’m all ears.

>If anyone has recommendations for stealth theft detection/tracking devices I’m all ears.

If you have a bike lock/chain that can resist bolt cutters, you're probably fine for everything other than leaving it overnight. Casual bike thieves are looking for easy money and likely aren't going to bust out an angle grinder in the middle of the day unless your bike is obviously worth a grand+.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#357

Post by mlang79 »

yosamino wrote: post #350
mlang79 wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The biggest difference from otther obstacles is that bikes can fall over, and typically do so while landing on your foot or Achilles Tendon. It can also hurt mightily if you happen to ramm a handlebar into your stomache.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#358

Post by dageshi »

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

Let's be honest, the real reason is that cyclists are frustrating to drivers merely by being cyclists. They're slow so they force the driver to either try to overtake or slow down everyone behind them and most people when driving will feel a pressure not to slow down the journeys of others behind them.

So long as cyclists and drivers share the same roads it will always exist, some drivers will just be better about it than others.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#359

Post by kuschku »

mlang79 wrote: post #355
kuschku wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Quoted post unavailable.

As cyclist myself, of course I’m in danger of hurting myself. Two weeks ago I had a bike accident where I hurt my dominant hand, and I’ve been unable to even hold a glass of water since, because someone parked their bicycle in the middle of the cycle lane in a situation with bad visibility.

I know the issue exists, and I can empathize with your situation. But I’ve also lived in cities with better bike infrastructure and more bike parking spaces, and in those places there were no issues with bikes parked in random places.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#360

Post by yieldcrv »

pwpw wrote: post #345

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 i…

Same or similar, I sold my car at a profit in spring and went playing around in Europe all summer and then dipped out of there when they turned the gas off. best of all worlds!

Back in the states this year, I only had one social outing / date where it was "weird" I didn't have a car, in this car centric city.

I actually adjusted in a slightly different way, I got a second lease in another central area of town. (This city has no single "central" area, but multiple happening and trendy areas)

so I just uber between my places once a week and stay in the other spot. this solves the logistical challenges of wanting to hang out in the happening area, like maybe I go co-work in that area in the day time but now I have my laptop but don't want to go all the way back to my first spot to drop it off before hanging out, well problem solved I'm staying in my second spot in that area all week. although I avoided it, due to possible theft, I could have stored stuff in my car and used to sometimes. but now I actually get naps in between places by taking ubers or other forms of transit, keeps me fresh for longer, and I can indulge more if I wanted to at the event, and I have more peace of mind for my stuff being at my place.

Regarding cultural issues at play. I had begun thinking about inequality. Like, for the first time ever we can have multiple high paying jobs (instead of multiple low paying jobs, or one moderate/high paying job and a low paying moonlighting/moderate freelance gig on the side), and we can also have multiple places. Politicians and municipalities have no clue to address housing or whatever.

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