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I've been the car driver who nearly made jam out of the cyclist in the last panel. I've also been the cyclist hit by a car which was driving in the cycle lane.
Bad road users are everywhere and they use all sorts of transportation. Let's stop with the division and generalisation.
one has a lot more power and uses a lot more space than the other
Who can forget the time a cyclist ran a red light and killed sixteen people?
The Telegraph and LBC are both right-wing propaganda mills.
Case in point:
In 2022, Hilda Griffiths, 81, died after Brian Fitzgerald, a Credit Suisse director and member of the Muswell Hill Peloton cycling club, collided with her while riding with other members at about 29mph in the 20mph zone.
Police could not prosecute Mr Fitzgerald because “there were no criminal Acts” which could be applied to cyclists who speed, the elderly lady’s inquest heard.
That's pure horseshit.
ahhh going to the absurd. that’ll work. fuck. cars. fuck bikes who don’t follow the rules, too.
Fair but think about hitting and killing a cyclist who had run a stop sign or light. That doesn’t just go away. The person has to live with the trauma of killing another person potentially at no fault of their own.
Give cyclists lanes, so they wouldn't have to stand in a half metre gap between an 18-wheeler and a traffic barrier covered in mix of 19th century soot and souls of the damned. Then they'll follow the rules, case in point: entire Denmark.
Live in denmark, can confirm.
I saw like hells angles waiting for the pedestrian light to go green before crossing, in the middle of the night on an empty street in denmark, so yes they seem to follow the rules there (it was a long time ago, but we don't even did that in sweden, sweden where youd get hassled if you like didn't have your not legally obliged bicycle helmet on).
Car drivers love to criticize cyclists, but they don't realize they're the real aggressors in traffic. They both do most of the bad behaviors, and have the greater damage potential
All of my worst driving, walking and biking stories are vs a vehicle. I commute in various ways a lot, with tons more opportunities for walkers and other cyclists to be the problem. It is unquestionably drivers in 90% of cases. Most drivers don't deserve to drive.
In my state they changed the rules where a cyclist can treat a stop sign like a yeild sign, and a stop light like a stop sign.
the reasoning is this will encourage cyclists to ride through neighborhoods rather than on busier main streets. cyclists need to maintain momentum when riding, and stopping every couple blocks for a stop sign is a huge momentum killer.
obviously cyclists run a much higher risk of injury in a traffic accident than a driver. also cyclists dont really have blind spots the way cars do. so generally if a cyclist runs a stop, they have already checked for oncoming traffic. yes, there are idiots out there both driving and cycling, but typically if you saw a cyclist run a stop sign, he knows youre there and went when it was safe.
That's a great law. That's basically how I use them (with lots of care, obviously).
Which state?
Idaho was the first to do this. Not sure which other states have followed suit, but i think i remember 1 or 2 doing so
yesss, maintaining momentum is an overlooked part of cycling. obviously don't just ignore traffic rules completely and blow through intersections, but losing all momentum especially before a big hill SUCKS
then you have to reaccelerate to speed match the cars around you, honestly it feels unsafe on the faster streets.
Ah yes because every driver obeys every law all the time. It's only the cyclists that break laws! No driver would ever consider speeding, rolling through a stop sign, or being aggressive!
Won't someone think of the poor drivers!!
Your point is well taken, but whataboutism aside, EVERYONE should be obeying ALL the traffic laws. I cycle on public roads myself and I do see other cyclists not stopping at red lights. A bicycle IS a vehicle - it doesn't come with pedestrian rights.
Or we can just keep escalating finger pointing and law-breaking until the traffic laws are meaningless everyone is dead.
I cycle thousands of miles each year, and I haven't seen a cyclist run a red in years. Depends on where we're riding, I guess.
So, why are you asking me to deescalate? Have you asked everyone else in this post and the author of the comic itself? Why pick me?
So, why are you asking me to deescalate? Have you asked everyone else in this post and the author of the comic itself? Why pick me?
can't speak for the other commenter, but i will assume it was because of the whataboutism.
no one disputes that car drivers break a rules, but most of them at least know they are breaking the rules. cyclists really confidently act like the rules don't exist (even that may depend on where you are).
few years back, some non-profit group advocating for bicycles in my city made a presentation for a media, where they showed a video how much faster a cyclist is going through some specific route during the working-day traffic jam than the car.
and then you saw the cyclist ignoring lights, driving on a sidewalk where he had no business to be and so on. he broke like a billion traffic rules during his 15 minute trip and they really acted like they didn't even know that some rules applied to him.
Dude, come ride in my car sometime. Practically every driver out there thinks the rules don't apply to them, either. I'd record them on a dash cam, but I don't want to spend my life editing videos for YouTube. It's a fucking jungle out there. As a practical matter, what's the difference between not knowing the law (an assertion I reject) and ignoring it?
But car brains only get mad at cyclists for it. A car running a stop sign or rolling right on red is treated as business as usual. I see cops doing it.
I had to laugh at the links to deaths caused by cyclists. Two, world wide. Death from drivers doing stupid shit are so common, they don't even bother writing articles about it. It's not newsworthy. Cars do a lot more damage when they hit something.
And I say this as a cyclist that does follow the laws, aside from occasionally rolling a stop sign, when it's safe (Idaho stop, but it's not legal in my state).
As a practical matter, what’s the difference between not knowing the law (an assertion I reject) and ignoring it?
as a practical matter, there is no difference. but if one side is acting like a hypocrite pretending it is only the other party breaking the rules, it is worth pointing out.
But car brains only get mad at cyclists for it.
i am pretty sure people complain about other drivers all the time.
Death from drivers doing stupid shit are so common, they don’t even bother writing articles about it. It’s not newsworthy. Cars do a lot more damage when they hit something.
yes, this is true. but should that mean that cyclists should ignore the traffic rules, or what is the point?
Fucking cyclists causing all the traffic and pollution. Get a car you assholes!
This sort of attitude by cyclists is why we lack bike infrastructure in the US. Back in the 70s one weird asshole insisted that bikes be treated like cars and fought against it.
A brief explanation of just how bad that one guy was for the country.
A brief explanation…links to a 95 minute video. I’m still gonna watch it but later.
Build bicycle infrastructure.
somebody recently posted a video on one of the fuckcars communities about how using boogle maps in Netherlands was impractical. In the same video they were explaining how they removed traffic lights from no car zones.
traffic lights are necessary because of motorized traffic. When you're cycling you're moving less than a hundred kg at about 15kmh, not +1000kg at 50kmh or more
It's not like the cars in my neighborhood are obeying traffic signals or roadway laws in general.
Have you ever been cycling at 3-4 am? It's amazing. The roads are so ridiculously spacious when there aren't any cars around and there is nothing to slow you down on intersections and roundabouts. Can definitely recommend.
This thread is doing a great job of explaining why tribalism around forms of transportation is not constructive.
My biggest gripe with cyclists is that they act like a car when it's convenient and a pedestrian when it's convenient
Cyclists act like a cyclist when it is convenient and like a pedestrian when it is convenient.
Cyclists act like a car when it is the only way to avoid getting killed in car-centric hellscapes.
Yeah basically this. Most cities are not built for cycling, so you gotta just try to survive there how you can
Cars kill more cyclists than the other way around.
Hell, cars kills more cars than cyclists do.
Im a cyclist. I know this bugs people.
The thing is the only explanation is envy?
Like if im on the road and then on a path and then back on the road... who cares?
Obviously you need to be sharing the road or the path with other users and not cutting infront of people, obeying laws, being courteous and predictable et cetera.
But what really is so offensive about being a more versatile vehicle?
Bikes need to stop for red lights and stop signs. It's not envy... I've seen cars get T-boned after running a red light, you will not survive that on a bike.
I don't care if you share the road, as long as you follow the rules. If you switch to a path , be aware of pedestrians just like cars have to be aware of bikes. Safety first.
It literally is just crab bucket "If I have to be stuck in traffic, so should you, its unfair." Especially in America, its not uncommon for drivers to block motorcycles from filtering at a red light.