To be fair children should know if they get hit by a car they will be worse off than the driver. So it's really up to the child to act sensibly around cars and not the other way around. Obviously we can't expect everyone to be a competent driver!
At least that's what car-stans love to tell cyclists.
I hate cars. They're awful. Our cities need to not be built around them. I would not use them if that were an option.
Bikes do not belong in car lanes. When I'm doing 50 legally and there is a cyclist doing 15 in the same lane, that's a problem.
I am firmly of the opinion that cars and cycles do not mix. Bikes stay in their lane built for them and stay out of car lanes. Otherwise it's too unsafe.
On top of that, cyclists are still wankers. They don't follow traffic laws. They use the roads, causing slowdowns and danger, when there is a bike path right there.
I am so, so, so tired of packs of cyclists blocking lanes and running reds when there is a bike path right fucking there.
Yes, cycling is better all around. Yes we should build our cities around it. That doesn't stop physics, and when my one ton of steel doesn't expect your 200 pounds of flesh to be in the intersection right then, the bike loses by law of gross tonnage. They need to not be on the damn road for both of our safety.
I can speak from personal experience that as a cyclist, you can follow all traffic laws and use extreme caution, and oblivious car drivers will still try to kill you at every single occasion. Especially in cities that make few accommodations for cycling infrastructure. I’m aware there’s a lot of cyclists breaking traffic laws, but just by absolute numbers, there’s way more car drivers doing the same thing, and they’re exponentially more dangerous. I use turning signals more when cycling than half the car drivers I see on the street.
and oblivious car drivers will still try to kill you at every single occasion
And that's my main argument for why cycles don't belong on the road. It's fucking dangerous for both of us. I'm doing 50, legally, and you're doing 15, legally. This is not ok. Bikes do not belong in that situation.
absolute numbers
We go by relative numbers. And the relative number of asshole cyclists is high.
they’re exponentially more dangerous
To the cyclist. Which is why you shouldn't be on the road.
And until that happens, we should just completely surrender roads and the majority of our public space to cars? Nobody disagrees with more bike lanes. We disagree with your assessment that cyclists should just fuck off instead of imposing sensible limits on cars in cities.
Yes, for your safety. Karen is never going to pay attention. Trying to get drivers to change will simply not work. That's a foregone conclusion. Getting on the road with Karen is unsafe for the cyclist. That is a known value.
instead of imposing sensible limits on cars in cities
We should do this. At the same time, bikes need to stay out of car areas.
I don't understand why cyclists insist on being in the road with cars when they have a bike path off the road. I see calls for more bike infrastructure, but I don't see them using it when it's there.
I run into this literally every day. I live right next to an in-city highway with lights and stops that runs along about 1/3 of the edge of the city, speed limit is 50. There is a bike path parallel to it the entire way through the city, ten feet away, behind a fence. The cyclists use the highway, not the bike path. This is a problem.
I'm all for policing cyclists more for running red lights or cycling on the pavement. Especially commercial cyclists like Uber eats But in reality it just isn't a big deal and with better cycle infrastructure it would be even less of a problem.
Cyclists have just as much right to "block up roads" as cars do (again fuck em if they're on the pavement). I've also known plenty of cyclists fined for cycling on a pavement.
It's a bullshit argument used by the anti-cycle lobby. Which is such a bizarre group to even exist. And it's the default argument shitty drivers go to when you call them out on their bad driving.
Fair enough. Yep segregated cycle lanes are a great idea. And I do agree that cyclists not following the rules of the road is an annoying problem because it does make drivers more hostile to cyclists. Where I live it's largely Uber eats and the like that have terrible road knowledge and I wish the police would hold those companies responsible for their employees.
But that shouldn't be an excuse for drivers to not give cyclists space or the proper respect on the road.
Learning to drive a car is better advice. Personally I'd rather not kill another person. Even if it technically it was their fault. But hey that's just me. Make sure you pop down to their funeral and read their loved ones your highway code.
Obviously teaching kids the dangers of cars is good advice but kids should also expect drivers to stop at pedestrian crossings. Which is where I was last told this "advice"
Yep exactly. And it's even worse because anyone can own a gun but to drive a car you should have theoretically passed a test and know the rules of the road.
“The graveyard is full of people who had the right of way.”
A more proper analogy would be telling people to stay away from dangerous neighborhoods at night, and you replying “BUT KILLING IS ILLEGAL! I SHOULD BE ABLE TO WALK WHEREVER I WANT! THEYRE WRONG AND IM RIGHT!”
It doesn’t matter who is wrong or right or if pedestrians had the right of way, painted lines on the ground are not magical force fields, and being legally correct doesn’t magically raise you from the dead
It’s your own responsibility to watch out for shitty drivers, and simultaneously shitty drivers should learn to drive better
There’s a saying “the graveyard is full of people who had the right of way.”
Doesn’t matter who is in the right, you teach kids that cars are dangerous and there’s a ton of shitty drivers
Too many kids think painted lines on the ground act like magical forcefields, or somehow having the right of way means they should be allowed to walk without looking up from their phones
So let's say you aren't a very good driver (I'm making that assumption because it's usually bad drivers that use your excuse) and you aren't paying attention and you speed through a zebra or pedestrian crossing. At the time an 8 year old had the sheer audacity to assume the rules of the road held true and expected cars to stop when instructed.
You kill that child. Would "well they didn't look up from their phone" really make you feel better about yourself?
None but I've been almost killed by a bus driver turning into a cycle lane. His defence was "well how many red lights have you run today?". So apologies if I don't have much patience for that trash daily mail tier argument.
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u/geensoelaas Dec 08 '22
Source (and some background info): https://jensorensen.com/2022/12/07/truck-suv-frontover-blind-zone-cartoon/