This has nothing to do with tech. It's for Twitter, not HackerNews.
Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
271–280 of 424 posts
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#272This has nothing to do with tech. It's for Twitter, not HackerNews.
Maybe the bicyclist is a programmer.
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Cars are a political choice that we made but don't have to make. Ambulances aren't though. Same with delivery vehicles. Public transport is, but typically one associated with less cars. All of these are both dangerous to cyclists and essential in a functioning city.
over here in the civilised world, we have bicycle lanes.
and the cyclists still don't respect pedestrians and abuse their privilege and oftentimes cut them off on pavements and zebra crossings when they feel like it.
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#274As a bicyclist, I'm constantly told how dangerous bicycles are. Usually, I get a blank look when I explain, bicycles are very safe, it is the cars that are the dangerous part of the equation. Now I'll have to add fast billing ambulances to the list of dangers.
The entire discussion about cycling can be avoided by simply taking a look at the Netherlands and designing infrastructure and laws like this. It's literally that simple.
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#275Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Cars are a political choice that we made but don't have to make. Ambulances aren't though. Same with delivery vehicles. Public transport is, but typically one associated with less cars. All of these are both dangerous to cyclists and essential in a functioning city.
over here in the civilised world, we have bicycle lanes.
You ignore the existence of intersections.
Last year in my neighborhood we had a cyclist die from making a sharp left turn straight into a tram. It was a track x cycle lane intersection and between the tracks and cycle lane parallel to it from which he turned there's a strip of pavement, so unless you really cut that turn, the tram should be in your field of vision.
Also there's a yield sign for cyclists, but obviously that didn't work.
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a pretty weak example; gravity is a physical force of nature and inescapable. Cars are a political choice that we made but don't have to make. But that the comparison seems apt is pretty endemic of how cars are treated: an absolute must, as if they were a force of nature. Never mind that a huge chunk of our population can not drive, and are therefore excluded from society by cars. Car dependency is a very excl…
Saying cars are a political choice assumes we live in a command and control society. Saying "we" in this context assumes you have political power.
You are free to drive any car you want on private roads.
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the problem is that in a lot of places in the west bicycles are forced to mix with motor vehicles, and away from pedestrians. This always seemed like a weird trade off to me - “you are inconveniencing some pedestrians, so go in this other lane where you can die” I grew up in Eastern Europe, where technically the laws are similar, but no policeman is going to stop you for riding on the sidewalk. So you natural…
Mixing pedestrians with bikes runs into its own set of issues, at high enough density bikes simply can’t be ridden. Really there’s no one solution that works at every scale. Bikes on sidewalks are also far less safe in deaths per mile than it seems.
I live in Thessaloniki, where you can get pretty lucky: The city is built along the coast, so there's a large boardwalk spanning the entire coast, it's pretty broad and has a nice bike lane. You can cycle from one side of the city to the other in 20 minutes or so, and the boardwalk is so broad that pedestrians tend to have enough space to stay out of the bike lane. It's an extremely pleasant way of transportation.
If you cycle anywhere other than the boardwalk, though, Greek drivers are going to kill you, but I've developed coping strategies (using side-streets).
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#278Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s not the law. Vehicles take turns at an intersection - there’s no total queuing order based on arrival time. At a contended intersection, it should never be the case that two vehicles coming from the same lane take consecutive turns.
That’s not the law. Vehicles take turns at an intersection - there’s no total queuing order based on arrival time. No, 'taking turns' is not codified in the law or mentioned in the DMV handbook. If the Waymo stopped at the intersection after the bicycle stopped at the intersection, or if the Waymo's path was blocked and it was thus not entering the intersection, the bicycle would not be required to yield. At a conten…
> No, 'taking turns' is not codified in the law or mentioned in the DMV handbook.
Even if it's not explicitly written, it's a natural consequence that once two opposite cars go, the perpendicular cars were there before the replacements, so they get to go first, and it falls into taking turns.
> Consider the sequence of events in this hypothetical scenario
They meant when vehicles are waiting for each other the entire time, since obviously with nobody waiting multiple vehicles can go the same direction. In your scenario nobody is waiting after step 2.
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#279Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a pretty weak example; gravity is a physical force of nature and inescapable. Cars are a political choice that we made but don't have to make. But that the comparison seems apt is pretty endemic of how cars are treated: an absolute must, as if they were a force of nature. Never mind that a huge chunk of our population can not drive, and are therefore excluded from society by cars. Car dependency is a very excl…
Saying cars are a political choice assumes we live in a command and control society. Saying "we" in this context assumes you have political power.
You're acting like politics has no place on government built and regulated roads.
All the decisions are politics by definition.
Re: Ambulance hits cyclist, rushes him to hospital, then sticks him with $1,800 bill
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
The car driver’s view is irrelevant when determining who made the mistake, only the facts of the matter. And in the vast majority of cases, it’s the car driver.
I get the impression you read "Cyclists make mistakes" and commented without reading the rest. We all agree on what you are saying. That is what I'm objecting to. "Cyclists make mistakes, make bad judgments, take big risks, JUST LIKE CAR DRIVERS."
No, we don’t agree. The original post only pointed out cyclists as the ones making mistakes. You’re trying to both sides the issue. I’m saying that the VAST MAJORITY of mistakes are committed by drivers. Those three positions are not the same.