Not Just Bikes
An attempt to recreate the /r/NotJustBikes community on Lemmy. I'm just reserving the Community Name, other folks (for instance the /r/NotJustBikes mods?) are welcome to take over.
NOTE: This sublemmy (?) is in no way related to or affiliated with NotJustBikes, Jason Slaughter, etc.
#RULES
1. Be nice. Please.
I know it's the internet, but be nice. And report trolls & spammers.
2. No memes
No memes, image macros, or low-effort posts. These are easily upvoted, but they pollute the subreddit very quickly.
POSTING MEMES WILL RESULT IN A TEMPORARY BAN.
3. Stay on topic
Try to stick to posts and comments related to the themes of NJB videos, or content creation. Things like urban planning, mobility & transportation, social equity, Dutch culture, etc..
4. No Trolling
Go troll somewhere else. We don't need that shit here.
5. No comment screenshots
Please don't post screenshots of stupid comments as a post. We all know there are ignorant morons online, we don't need to bring even more attention to their stupid comments.
6. No vehicular cycling
I have no patience for advocates of vehicular cycling. You can talk about vehicular cycling, but if you promote it as an alternative to safe bike infrastructure, I will ban you. You can post that crap somewhere else.
7. No people being hit by cars/road violence
Do not show videos or pictures of people being hit by cars, or other road violence. We don't need to see that shit. We know cars are dangerous, and many people have bad memories of car crashes. Keep it out of this subreddit.
8. No tone policing
We don't need any more tone police. If you don't like the tone that Not Just Bike takes in his videos, there's a very easy solution: stop watching them.
9. No internet drama
Don't spread or promote drama over what has happened on the Internet. You're spending too much time online: go touch grass.
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This is incredibly dangerous, unless you mean that you're riding on the other side of the white line (sometimes called a "fog line"), on a road with a nice wide shoulder. All it does is encourage drivers to overtake at dangerously close distances when they're unable to do so safely. Taking the lane keeps you safe, because it makes you easier to see (it puts you right where drivers are already looking, instead of off to the side) and it provides an obvious indication that the only way they can overtake is if they move into the other lane. Which requires that they're able to move into the other lane. No incentive to squeeze past when it's unsafe.
I've been riding this way for 33 years, never been hit. My main bicycle is basically a mirror anyways, known by the entire county as Silver. If you can't see Silver, you don't need to be on the road anyways.
I'm also smart enough to know that whenever traffic gets too busy, it's probably a fine time for me to take a riding break and let traffic settle down. As a bike rider, to me, rule #1 is watch your own ass..
I'm gonna continue riding the way I ride as long as I ride, because I'm still alive and never had a traffic injury.
I'm sorry to read that places as awful for cycling as there still exist and surprised that you never need to go anywhere when traffic is busy.
Oh no no no, make no mistake, I do know how to navigate heavy highway traffic on a bicycle. Rule #1 is the rider watches their own ass..
I don't expect most riders to adopt my sort of riding style though, as my bikes are more intended for BMX flatland on an open basketball court or such. Although my bike has seen many knucklehead travel miles, it's originally built to do bike tricks on a court.
I do want all bicycle riders to be safe though, but I still don't see how it's safe to ride in the middle of the lane...
In the UK, riding centrally in narrow lanes is taught so that the rider is where a driver is more likely looking, among other reasons, so they can take appropriate action to pass properly, as required by law. If you ride by the edge, they might not see you but will still hit you as they fail to pass.
That sounds good and proper and all, but here in the USA, all too many vehicle drivers have that asshole carbrain attitude. Like bicycles don't even belong on the road and they'll just as soon deliberately run you over.
I've had a face to face confrontation with such a carbrained asshole. They can't even be bothered to use a blinker before turning right in front of a bicycle, and they're not even driving a BMW.
When confronted, I've been threatened that they don't give a fuck and would just as soon run me over, because bicycle not supposed to be on the road. I wasn't even on the road that day, I was riding the sidewalk passing a Dollar General.
When I asked the asshole what about pedestrians and baby carriages and other sidewalk transportation, dude huffed and puffed, shrugged his shoulders, and thankfully left.
Me, plus my bicycle, might weigh a grand total of ~200 pounds. The average vehicle here these days tends to weigh like ~3500+ pounds.
I'd just as soon not be right in front of them, especially considering that I have no idea if the dude had a gun or not...
The ones that deliberately run people over are gonna do it anyway. Fortunately, they're rare, even in some parts of the USA. The only cure for those is policing. I believe the USA has some problems with that too, as well as road design, but that's a more general problem.
By far the bigger problems are those that either don't see you, or see you and think they can "squeeze by" ignoring that their car is incompressible and doesn't get narrower like a bunch of bikes can, so put you in the ditch. Both of those problems are reduced by taking the lane.
On one level, I totally get you: it's far less stress not to be mixing with what the video calls "hippos" and be on a good bikeway. But if we have to swim with the dumb hippos, l'm gonna do it the way the evidence says is most likely, on average, to avoid injury, which is to take the lane when it's narrow. It's possible that you live in some extremely hostile place that the evidence points the other way, but I doubt it.