Fuck Cars
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
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In Ottawa, bike lanes mean nothing when cyclists keep on using the road instead of the fully segregated, paved, beautiful bike lane that runs right along the road... I still cannot understand what, presumably logical reason, they have for doing this
There are two sections on my commute where I take the road over the bike path. The first section is because the bike lane is so bumpy that I'd have to be on a mountain bike. It's actually insane and saves a ton of time and comfort to take the road. There's actually another benefit to taking the road at this spot though; there is almost no visibility for cars of the crosswalks over the bike lane due to a lot of trees so I'm way less likely to be ran over in the road than the bike lane crosswalks at this section.
The second section is on a quiet street with 3 lights in a row that are almost always green. And the cross walk sign is always red (button has to be pressed to get a walk sign). So three times in a row you have to wait a full light cycle while barely traveling any distance. It saves sooooo much time to just take the road (which has a painted bike lane) here.
Sometimes bikes also just need to turn left. Or the bike path is just on one side of the road and a persons destination isn't on that side
But no I'm sure the bikes around you just do it to annoy cars, or because they don't even want the bike infrastructure to begin with, or to feel less safe. Get out of here lol.
None of what you claim takes place in the area I am referring to. And I do my best to give as much space and look after cyclist even though they seem to want to share the road but never respect road rules (like stop signs or red lights)
But sure, pointing out a reason why people who do not bike may not want to support bike lanes that even cyclists do not want to use, makes me the bad guy and I am immediately hit with a strawman accurately highlighting you just had no other way to turn this bad cyclist behaviour on me
Imagine if anyone came here claiming they ride the shoulder regularly because it's less bumpy and saves some time... then insult anyone asking why are people driving on the shoulder
How often do you see drivers roll stop signs or rush amber lights? When's the last time you drove at or below the speed limit for an entire trip? I constantly hear drivers complaining about cyclists who pose no danger to drivers, meanwhile the drivers continue to exceed the speed limit, roll stop signs, and be one of the leading causes of death in this country despite having fully dedicated infrastructure everywhere.
Not as often as cyclists to be honest... running yellows MAYBE... but I rarely see a car taking a glance and running a red light that has been red for a while.
Look if cyclists want to endanger their lives, well it completely sucks for everyone but it definitely sucks for them more. A cyclist would always lose against a car. And I am x100000 for all of us using bikes more but we ALL need to be responsible. The mentality here is that this is a car problem and if cyclists break rules well so do car drivers so two wrongs make a right and all is good?
I think what they're actually trying to say is that you have some observational bias, not that two wrongs make a right.
I also kinda want to point out that bikes rolling stop signs isn't dangerous (for a few reasons that we can get into if people want), but that's why some places allow "Idaho Stops" which allow bikes to yield at stop signs instead of stopping. But either way, bikes should have to obey their regional laws.
I don't think it's a bias. The issue here is that if a car causes a low speed collision with another car, as bad as it is, there is a good chance the "worst" damage is property damage. If a cyclist is involved, on the other hand, there is a HUGE risk of bodily harm or death.
It is incredibly if they are going straight on the same road a car is turning right.
I DO see a bigger problem if a cyclist runs a Stop sign, not because it's a worse road infraction but because the risk they are taking is orders of magnitude greater. And to boot, if I as a driver see a pedestrian, I assume they will follow pedestrian rules, if I see a car I assume they will behave as a car. Cyclist on the other hand usually follow a hybrid pattern, they may jump on or off the road as they please, they may or may not stop at signs of red lights, they may or may not signal turns (yes, I know, car drivers do the same but I know a car cannot turn where there is no road, a cyclist can turn whenever)
The problem is that if you simply ask a question here, it immediately goes "car bad, bike good" and a conversation cannot take place
The Idaho Stop says they must yield, I'm not saying that a bike going 40kmph can safely run a stop sign. I specifically said "roll" a stop sign. And yeah, the data shows that it is safe (just not legal everywhere).
But to your point about car turning and bike going straight, this situation is actually dangerous whether the bike stops or rolls. The car needs to see the bike or the bike needs to wait in order to not be ran over. There are multiple intersections of this exact make on my daily commute. It's always scary. Stopping or rolling doesn't change if I'm seen though. I always have to wait to go until it's safe. To be clear, rolling doesn't mean not waiting for your turn at a 4 way stop or anything. It just means you don't have to come to a complete stop.
You can read about the safety of Idaho Stops here: Understanding the Idaho Stop/Stop-as-Yield Law.
This is totally true and definitely a safety concern. Driving (or biking) predictably is always safest. It's something taught to motorcycles too. But yeah sometimes a bike has to move from the bike path into the road. It often happens at intersections and it's not really possible to predict. Mind you, tons and tons of bike paths abruptly end, forcing this situation. I don't really know what the solution is. I do think it's an exaggeration to say that bikes regularly jump on or off the road though (not that you specified frequency).
I still do not believe your question was a good faith one. Maybe it was, but you just refuse to accept any answers. Like I mentioned in other comments, I gave some answers and perspective, but the goal post has shifted. Feels to me more like you simply just wanted to complain about bikes on the road. As if there could be no reason for it when a bike path exists. Hoping you have time to watch the video I linked in another comment. Your opinions are not unique, but even though lots of drivers share them, doesn't mean they carry much weight. But undoubtedly I could go on for hours on why cars are bad and bikes are good. That's a joke, but it's also not.