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this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Asklemmy
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Here? Bicycles. Super weird how weird people are about bikes and bike lanes here. Spreading the joy of a non-commodified fun-as-fuck method of transportation often provokes some truly reactionary energy here.
Biking is based. The benefits far outweight the cons compared to the other private transport we have today. I thought the hate was almost exclusive to cars from what I've seen which is understandable. At least in comparison to bikes.
Pedestrians hate us too. Drivers want us off the road, pedestrians want us off the paths. We are welcome nowhere.
Pedestrian here, can confirm. Cyclists are the worst.
Knowing that there are motorists out there who will maliciously put your life at risk because you're on a bicycle is insane to me.
I remember this one motorist who as a hillarious joke would almost run me over. Not a fan of his
Comedy is subjective though...
yes I'm sure he found it a lot more funny than I did.
It's not a very polished set, but he's persistent.
redditors are the worst about it. If you post in your town's subreddit about bike lanes, all the landlords crawl out of the woodwork to talk shit about bicycles and go on paranoid rants about how drivers are oppressed by bike lanes.
Here's the problem: for the average consumer, more than five minutes of exercise in a bicycle is apparently excruciatingly painful.
Here's the problem: for the average ~~consumer~~ American, more than five minutes of exercise in a bicycle is apparently excruciatingly painful.
No lies detected there!
At the same time you have people driving 30 minutes to the gym to use the stationary bike... I bet if they had less human-hostile designed cities, people would cycle more.
Who doesn't like bicycles? I mean, cyclists are often very reckless, dangerous people on the road, and bike lanes are sometimes more of a safety hazard.
Bikers get a lot of hate because a lot of them act like pedestrians. (i.e. riding on sidewalks, crosswalks, not stopping at stop signs, not signalling turns or shoulder-checking) But then if you do all of that dumb law-abiding stuff like some kind of responsible citizen, people in cars honk at you, give you their right of way, or worse!
cyclists would not need to do those things if there was proper infrastructure and if car drivers weren't out to kill them.
making bikes come to a complete stop is less safe because of the acceleration curve of a bike, if the way is clear it's safer the cyclist and anyone else around for the cyclist to maintain speed
Regardless, the law states that a vehicle must stop at a stop sign. Bikes are considered vehicles, and thus must come to a complete stop.
the law doesn't determine what is safest, physics does.
the law also varies by jurisdiction and in some places having cyclists treat stop signs like yields rather than full stops is the law.
Really? I didn't know that! Where I'm from it's different. That's good to know, thank you! Have a lovely day, and stay safe out there.
found the truck driver who tries to kill every cyclist they see
I'm a cycling instructor. I teach people how to cycle safely and in accordance with laws.
Have a lovely day, thanks for your input. I'm happy someone was ready to discuss with me!
you really think someone would do that? just go on the internet and tell lies?
I don't follow, sorry.
you should try interacting with cars as a pedestrian or cyclist. There are people driving on the roads now that I wouldn't trust to safely ride in a pram let alone use of heavy machinery at high speed in a public area based on a test they did years ago. If car use was held to the same standard as safely using heavy machinery in an industrial environment a lot of people who drive now wouldn't be let near a car. It's like people think they have a god given right to operate heavy machinery despite having no ability (or inclination) to do so safely and doing it around children
also bikes don't actually have turn signals and when you use your arm to signal it means you have less control of the bike while you do it
That's why you have to practice signalling so that you can maintain control over the bike while signalling. It's tricky, though, especially for less experienced cyclists. Have a lovely day and thanks for the insight!
"Who doesn't like bicycles"
Damn those entitled cyclists acting like they're entitled to use the road without getting run over.
As a cycling instructor, I've been honked at, verbally harassed, and flipped off more times than I can count. The reason I know the anti-bicycle talking points is because my job is to discourage people from becoming like that.
Sorry if it wasn't clear in my comment! Have a lovely day and thank you! Your response made me laugh.
I ride on the sidewalk when I can because I do not want to be run over by some
in a truck with a 12" lift who's infuriated by having to see a bicycle
I can understand that. I know that the laws (and road conditions) differ from place to place. Where I'm from, sidewalk riding is restricted to younger people, and so as a cycling instructor, I cannot advise my students to ride on the sidewalk, as it would be dangerous to pedestrians.
Thanks for your perspective, though! I hope you have a lovely day and most importantly, stay safe out there!
I love riding my bike, but one thing I and everyone else heavily disagree on is riding in the street. You can tell me it's safer (somehow) than the sidewalk until you're blue in the face, I'm not doing it and I certainly don't feel safer doing it, and I'm definitely going to be pissed at anyone doing it in a road I'm trying to drive down.
Edit: I almost forgot the carried over thing from Reddit where anything ambiguous is automatically the worst possible extreme, so I want to clarify that "being pissed" is just complaining to myself in my car, I'm not going to commit vehicular manslaughter because someone's in the road on their bike.
Riding on the sidewalk endangers pedestrians (especially children and people with disabilities). Crossing an intersection that has cars coming from the right is also unsafer because you enter drivers' the field of view much later (than if you're on the street) and at a higher velocity (than a pedestrian). If you are riding a car please accept that in the most places in the industrialized part of the world, bicyclists have exactly the same right to use the street (according to local regulations of course).
K.
ill take your seething over a fine lol
A fine? What dystopian hellhole do you live in? Where I live in Indiana, almost no one rides in the street, always on the sidewalk, the only people ever riding in the street are those dorks in full underarmor outfits that revolve their entire life around being a bike owner. No one gets fined for riding in the sidewalk here, and I'm honestly horrified that that's a thing anywhere.
Why and how does that mean that? I've never had any issue riding around pedestrians.
You would be pissed at cyclists who are actually on the road where they are supposed to be unless there is a cycle path...?
Yes. More on this at 11.