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US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

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Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#41

Post by cr1895 »

mytherin wrote: post #31
anonymou2 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles: http://www.johnforester.com/

No, the safest option is to separate cycle lanes from roads altogether, as is evidenced by the significantly lower death toll per km that e.g. the NL and Denmark have compared to the US [1]. In those countries, cyclists almost never share the road with car drivers. In roads that are not designed for cycling (where cyclists have to share the road with car drivers), perhaps it is true that they fare best when they act…

>cyclists almost never share the road with car drivers

That's not true...there's plenty of shared road. Drivers are more cautious and aware, but it's not all separate pathways.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#42

Post by francisofascii »

jbarberu wrote: post #20

Having recently moved to Florida from Sweden, I was shocked at how biker/pedestrian hostile it is here. I naively thought I'd be able to live a more active lifestyle because of the nicer weather, but instead I'm driving a car everywhere as I wouldn't feel safe on a bike. It seems to be a pretty vicious cycle of the infrastructure being hostile to biking so nobody does it, nobody is biking so the roads are optimized f…

Planners often cite the lack of cyclists as an excuse not to create bicycle infrastructure, and fail the acknowledge the reason is due to the danger, rather than the desire to bike.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#43

Post by jetrink »

jbarberu wrote: post #20

Having recently moved to Florida from Sweden, I was shocked at how biker/pedestrian hostile it is here. I naively thought I'd be able to live a more active lifestyle because of the nicer weather, but instead I'm driving a car everywhere as I wouldn't feel safe on a bike. It seems to be a pretty vicious cycle of the infrastructure being hostile to biking so nobody does it, nobody is biking so the roads are optimized f…

Another anecdote about Florida: I bike almost every day during good weather in Chicago and though I know it isn't the safest activity, I've never had a serious incident. I traveled to Florida last Fall and was struck by a car on my very first bike ride there. I was on a dedicated bike path that was separated from the road by a grass strip and was hit by a car turning into a driveway. It was 11am on a sunny day, but the person didn't see me. (The person was not elderly, so I believe he was probably distracted by his phone.)

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#44

Post by chrisseaton »

baud147258 wrote: post #28

Why the article doesn't mention of distracted and inattentive pedestrians? It might be possible that the sudden increase in deaths is due to the rise of handheld distractions. Also the same could be true of drivers and cyclist using their handheld.

> Why the article doesn't mention of distracted and inattentive pedestrians?

I don't know what you mean - it shouldn't matter how distracted and inattentive a pedestrian on the sidewalk is, because the cyclists shouldn't be in the same space as them in the first place.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#45

Post by danieljohnson »

ab71e5 wrote: post #34

I moved from the Netherlands to Canada and still bike to a lot of places. While I of course expected the lack of infrastructure, I did not fully expect the amount of hate I would be getting. People here see you as some idiot who is playing with his toy while `serious` people are driving. They yell at you to get on the sidewalk, get off the road, that you don`t pay `road tax` (wtf), some homophobic shit. Canadians are…

Canada is pretty big, what area/city?

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#46

Post by chasd00 »

gdubs wrote: post #30

I pretty much assume that unless I make eye contact with a driver and get some kind of acknowledgement, I don’t trust that they see me. By far the closest calls I’ve had are stop signs where someone in an SUV stops, doesn’t look right or left (or worse, doesn’t look up from their phone), and then just goes. I also hate “share the road” situations where the right thing to do is take up the whole lane; drivers are almo…

"I pretty much assume that unless I make eye contact with a driver and get some kind of acknowledgement, I don’t trust that they see me"

so true. After one or two close calls I'm always on my toes watching for vehicles while walking regardless of crosswalks, lights, one-way streets, having the right of way etc. Even on a sidewalk i keep an eye on traffic.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#47

Post by admiral_biatch »

cglace wrote: post #35
junga wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The safest infrastructure are ones that split pedestrian / bicyclist / motor traffic as much as possible, for obvious reasons. Can you provide a source for this? (especially concerning the separation of bicyclists and motor traffic)

If you completely separate two things they can not collide.

True, but it's not feasible to separate the traffic completely. Every intersection would have to be collision-free for cars, bikes and pedestrians. How much money and space would that require?

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#48

Post by JoeAltmaier »

chasd00 wrote: post #21

heh a couple summer's ago in Dallas i got hit by a police officer while crossing the street. Ironically, while he was on his cell phone. I had to do the whole ninja-roll thing over the hood and on to the pavement. Came out of it with only a sore wrist and a funny story for the conference call i was late to. a buddy of mine grabbed a guy and pulled him out of the way of a city bus. The guy had the light to cross and t…

Here's the thing drivers - if you turn right and don't check over your right shoulder for the bike or pedestrian, then one day you will be that guy that kills somebody. Its just a matter of time.

Always, always glance over your right shoulder when turning right.

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#49

Post by mdhen »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #36
electricslpnsld wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NYC outlaws rights on red unless otherwise posted and it makes life as a pedestrian so much better.

It's a shame that NYC drivers never seem to follow this. I see even commercial vehicles like trucks regularly turn on red. Although, I suppose the situation would be even worse if it wasn't outlawed...

This isn't true. I don't think I've ever seen anyone try a right on red in Manhattan and while I'm sure it happens occasionally in the boroughs I really don't ever see it. Not sure what you're talking about

Re: US Cities Are Becoming More Dangerous for Cyclists and Pedestrians

#50

Post by AMerrit »

ab71e5 wrote: post #34

I moved from the Netherlands to Canada and still bike to a lot of places. While I of course expected the lack of infrastructure, I did not fully expect the amount of hate I would be getting. People here see you as some idiot who is playing with his toy while `serious` people are driving. They yell at you to get on the sidewalk, get off the road, that you don`t pay `road tax` (wtf), some homophobic shit. Canadians are…

Yeah Canadian driving culture is surprisingly hostile. Even here in New Brunswick where people are stereotyped as slow old drivers that stop to let pedestrians to cross we had people openly posting on social media about wanting to crash into bikers when they put in new laws about giving bikes space on the road (put into place because of bikers getting hit.)
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