Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Things people blamed on bicycles

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 852 posts

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#401

Post by pessimizer »

kuschku wrote: post #359
mlang79 wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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.

This may be true, but it can't be a case of letting shit roll downhill i.e. I'll think about the blind when I park my bike only after sufficient bicycle parking is designated in every part of every city in the world.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#402

Post by [deleted] »

Tade0 wrote: post #351
chriswarbo wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

[deleted]

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#403

Post by micromacrofoot »

Tade0 wrote: post #351
chriswarbo wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

1 in 3 car drivers admit to running a red light in the past month (33.3%)

in 2017 over 900 americans died in accidents involving running a red light

https://newsroom.aaa.com/2019/08/red-light-running-deaths-hi...

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#404

Post by gibdu »

gray_-_wolf wrote: post #319
jnsaff2 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

Not the person you replied to but I also drive an EV since 2021. I have a Tesla Model 3 (LR) and after leaving it for three weeks it only lost around 3% battery. Also, I have a similar distance I drive monthly and I only charge it once.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#405

Post by microtonal »

mauvehaus wrote: post #363
antihero wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In my experience it's mostly a matter of not having the most desirable bike or the shittiest lock. Put a $100 u-lock on a $300 bike, and you can almost be assured that you'll have neither. Put a nice enough lock on yours, and you can be pretty sure you won't have the most easily stolen bike either. At least in the US, road bikes are pretty much immune to being stolen because they're seen as terminally uncool by the l…

In my experience it's mostly a matter of not having the most desirable bike or the shittiest lock.

Right, in The Netherlands, where there are a lot of bikes, this is the basic rule: just make sure that there are other bikes that are more attractive to steal, even if it's a new bike. The second basic rule is: use a chain lock to attach your bike frame to an unmovable object, so that a thief cannot just throw your bike in a van and remove the locks elsewhere.

What I do:

- Use a ring lock for the back wheel. Makes it unattractive to steal just the wheel. The lock needs to be unscrewed from the frame to remove the wheel.

- Use a chain lock and make it go through the frame, front wheel, and attach it to an unmovable object. In order to steal the frame, the thief would have to saw through the chain in plain sight.

- If there is no supervised parking, park the bike in an area where there are enough people where someone will notice a thief trying to break the locks.

- Get bike insurance. It's usually only 10 Euro per month and if your bike gets stolen, you get back the bike's value.

- Some insurers also install a tracker. This has double value: bikes with a tracker are less attractive to steal. Secondly, bikes with a tracker are usually moved to a 'cool-off' location first. This is usually just some place removed a few streets from where the bike was stolen. If it's still there after a few days, the thieves know that nobody is actively tracking the bike and they can take it somewhere to comfortably break the lock. So, it's likely that the insurer will find the bike at the cool-off location without much damage.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#406

Post by desas »

microtherion wrote: post #370
beowulfey wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

As a former bicyclist, I try to be extra mindful of bicyclists when driving. One of the right turns on a common route I take is on a downhill slope, and I've noticed cyclists passing me on the right even when I already had my turn signal on for several seconds. I hate to use the common refrain, but it really seems to me that a higher percentage of bicyclists drive like maniacs. What purpose, exactly, does driving wit…

> Leading to the ever popular driving across a crosswalk (I'm not so sure who's at fault if I were to hit a bicyclist on a crosswalk, and I'd rather not find out).

It's you. If someone had left a dumpster in the cross walk it's also you. If you hit a cyclist without any lights in the dark, it's you.

You're in charge of a vehicle, unless someone jumps out at you, it's on you not to drive it into things.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#407

Post by InCityDreams »

_dain_ wrote: post #203
gernb wrote: post #4

I wonder if the "cross a red light anytime I want to on a bike" is the reason so many are now doing the same in their cars. it could be (1) got used to it on a bike so repeating in car (2) saw cyclists get away with it so decided might as well do the same (3) unrelated reason note: I'm seeing egregious traffic violations by cars every time I drive now which was not true say 10yrs ago. Don't know what changed as a cyc…

Sometimes you just have to jump a red light on a bike. The sensor doesn't detect you, so it'll stay red forever until a car comes up behind you. I've even had this happen on dedicated bicycle traffic lights ... >note: I'm seeing egregious traffic violations by cars every time I drive now which was not true say 10yrs ago. Don't know what changed More cars on the road?

Perhaps the sensor is back a bit behind you? I know several places where the sensors are 30-60 metres away: it allows cars to pass thru in chunky groups.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#409

Post by desas »

bsagdiyev wrote: post #315
yrro wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Legally speaking they're not cyclists though.

Re: Things people blamed on bicycles

#410

Post by hug »

yieldcrv wrote: post #360
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…

No post body was provided.
Post reply on HN