“I would never purposely run over a law-abiding citizen because I’m a nice guy but I am totally fine if someone else does!”
Ride in the middle of the road at your own risk. Get in the bike lane. Sorry if thats not good enough for you.
Pedestrian deaths (termed indirect vehicular fatalities) are included in the graph I posted. To your point, there has been a spike in pedestrian deaths since 2011, so they’ve grown as a share of overall deaths and are back at their 1990 levels. Although it’s important to note that the 6K number is just the raw total and isn’t adjusted for per capita or per miles driven. The latter is probably the best measure to use but people have different opinions on that. Given the time the inflection took place, smartphones would be the likely culprit, but I wanna give a shout-out to drunk morons on bird scooter for taking the baton.
I've never advocated for anyone to purposefully run over someone. Just get in your bike lane. If that's not good enough for you, find somewhere else to ride. If you're being a dick and riding in the middle of the road and get clipped, I'm not happy about it but I don't feel bad for you, either. You fucked around and found out.
Scooters seem to serve a useful purpose in the AM and early evening. I see people in work clothes using them. Every once and a while I’ll use a Lyft e-bike to get to work instead of the bus. But late at night, they are a shit show. Had a friend get drunk on the 4th of July, get on a scooter, crash, and smash his face. Had to get new front teeth
Never seen a sign on a street that said car lane. When I see that I will avoid riding my bike on it. Deal? Deal.
I’m team let them ride. But when I see this or get stuck behind it makes my blood boil. By the legal definition, they’re allowed to have the lane. But they/ we don’t need to. We can get over and allow cars to pass. The self important cyclist crowd is for sure a thing and probably justify it away by saying it is safer than cars passing at will. The reverse is when we do get over and the inpatient drivers pass at the most inopportune time when another car is passing on the other side and too close to the cyclist….and/ or honk to be edgy. Assholes on both sides. Having a big metal shell makes assholes feel real safe about being assholes to the exposed rider.
You can walk around with an assault rifle on your shoulder too so might as well do that too. It's your right! I'll call you a dick for that too.
We have a bunch of Ironman wannabes who can’t qualify for the real deal but like to train here and do the open-admission ultras so they can feel like part of the culture. Invariably they target some of the more grueling mountain roads which tend to be fast, curvy, and no-shouldered. The actual Ironman races on a flat, straight stretch of road that’s blocked off for competition and has 15-foot shoulders to train. Last week I rounded a bend by my house (45 mph posted, probably 55 average) only to find a guy in full competition kit on a unicycle wobbling back and forth across the centerline. It’s like he was trying to find the most difficult way he could to suicide.
The difference in this very shitty comparison, since you are the one that brought it up, is that you are the one that is saying you are fine with the law-abiding citizen’s getting shot if we are to play this out to the end. Because a cyclist is not going to kill you unless your own shitty driving is to blame. But a vehicle or an assault rifle is.
I've seen an issue a few times where those scooters are flying down the sidewalk, have a "walk" sign to cross a street, and a person turning right doesn't see them because the scooter kinda comes outta nowhere. I'd probably never use them.
driving in mountain areas in Colorado, there are a lot of 2 lane highways. It is legal to pass most of the time, and people will go over into the other lane (for oncoming traffic) to pass. The amount of maniacs I see passing every single car in front of them regardless of what the oncoming traffic looks like is insane. And the amount of people that pass when the center line is solid is also mind-numbing. People just can't chill.
I'm not fine with it. I hope it doesn't happen. But if you go play frogger on your bike, you take on the risk. Inconveniencing everyone around you and expecting them to take on the burden of looking out for you rather than you doing it yourself is a dick move and shows you only care about yourself.
you looking at law-abiding citizens as “frogger on a bike” says more about your mentality than it does mine. That is middle school rhetoric. Grow up. You getting to the drive through in a very quick manner is no more or less important than a cyclist exercising or commuting. A grown up adult would plan their day accordingly. If it is a big issue, maybe leave sooner or take different routes. You do not own the road.
A grown up adult would find somewhere to ride that doesn't inconvenience everyone else around them. You're the dick.
Your posting is an inconvenience to everyone around you. Practice what you preach and log off for a bit.
If he wants to stuff his face with Subway trash, who am I to stop him? Oh, back to the gun thing again. Yes, guns and cyclists are on even footing. The last group ride I was in did a drive by of an elementary school. That is it. Just pedaled on by. No one died.
You can't hide behind "We're obeying the laws!" and disregard that that guy is too. You can be law abiding and still be a dick.
I used to drive pretty agressively (I've never gotten upset or flipped someone off, but I'd speed) up until about a year ago. I honked a short little *beep* at some guy who needed to turn left where there wasn't a light and he just wouldn't turn for a few minutes. He got out of his car and waved a gun in my face. I decided to try and drive a bit slower and to just be more patient to people when driving after that. It's so much better. I may get home a couple minutes slower, but I have no stress and it's nice to get the little waves from people because I let them merge in front of me. I also don't have to deal with the stupidity I'd feel after I flew by someone only to see them pull up behind me at a red light. Instead I'm that smug person behind them at a red light.
The gun guy is the jeep, out here flexing his rights and warning everyone of what will happen if they get in his path. The guy behind the counter is the bike, doing his best to get by, trying to not die because of the jeep’s reckless behavior.
If there's no bike lane, cool. If there's a bike lane/path and they choose to ride in the middle of the road, they're dicks. I'm not hoping anyone gets hit, but if they do, I fault the cyclist that chose to ride in the middle of the road. If thats gross, so be it.
City of San Jose has had over 250 pedestrian deaths since 2017, we have more pedestrians get run over and killed then homicides for a city of over a million people in that time span
You laugh until you’re stuck in a traffic jam behind someone who flew out here a couple days before the race, bought a $15K carbon tribike, didn’t bother to lose the 50 extra pounds they’re carrying, and is pedaling 5mph in the flats while their paid photographer snaps pics from a lead van so they can post on Insta “doing the Kona course this year.”
It brightens my day to bear witness to new friends being made and them strengthening existing bonds like that. I get so giddy I often forget where I was even going in my death machine.
I agree with you, but the bolded is hilarious. The next time I see a cyclist stop at a stop sign will be the first.
the more we adapt our cities to be car-free, the better. it's very much trending that way (and covid sped it along in some ways)
Autos constantly speed and roll stop signs and do not signal. Let’s take the party, either autos or bicycles, off the road that are guilty of ignoring the most laws and let the less offending party be declared the king of the road.
Somehow two cars have flipped in my extremely walkable urban neighborhood in the last few weeks. Shrinking the four lane section to two with extended sidewalks and protected bike lanes might inhibit that type of speeding insanity.