Bicycle riders

Bamabuzzard said:

Familiarity and it being a more normalized part of their society. I compare it to people who live in big cities and learning how to drive safely at high rates of speed while weaving in and out of lanes within literal inches of the next car, on the freeways. To us small town country folk, it baffles our little linear simple minds how folks who live in Atlanta, Ga, Houston, TX and other similar cities drive like that and not have massive fatalities everyday on the road ways. But it's what y'all big timers are used to. You get used to it and it becomes no big deal. I have two cousins who live in Atlanta and have ridden in the vehicle with them. I told them they ought to seriously think about driving a Formula 1 car because they are more than qualified to do so. LOL!

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i am lucky that i rarely have to get off of surface streets to drive. but i have lost my edge for the big city aspect of it, getting on the interstates here scares the bejesus out of me. its like nascar.

I think the honest truth is that, even if a cyclist is following the rules of the road, if the area is heavily trafficked or has a speed limit 35mph or above, it's going to be an annoying inconvenience to about 90% of vehicle drivers.

It's not anything against enjoying biking - go on and bruise your taint and take an hour and a half to get where your going if you like, but it's always going to annoy a vehicle driver to have to suddenly negotiate an unprotected civilian traveling a 1/3 of their speed on the road.

Heck, if there is a car stopped on the shoulder I try and get in the other lane - so if there is a bike on the road with a person who is in no way guarded from my 2-ton hurtling shell of steel, then yah, it's gonna be nerve wracking for most of us.

To me, the two just don't match up on the road.

TIDE-HSV said:

I agree that that is about 90% of the problem. First, cycling is not a flash in the pan here. It's shown a steady growth over the decades. In Europe, a much heavier concentration of bicyclists is seen than here. You won't see them on the autobahns, but you see them in heavily traveled areas, centers of cities, etc. Bikes and cars get along much better than here, but, then there's a totally different attitude towards bikes on the part of drivers...

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92tide said:

same with atlanta, it has always had a huge number of cyclists.

i go to berlin every february for work and am always amazed at the number folks riding to work in freezing rain, sub 0 (c) temps, and other nasty weather, like it's any normal day. and the bikes, cars, and peds all function together very well.

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Goes to show that the European culture is different than the culture here.

Something I already knew - but when people start stating we have more school shootings here than in Europe - they are trying to frame an argument 100% around guns - when there's a whole lot more to it.

Different cultures.

More a-holes here too, I would imagine.....

Bazza said:

Goes to show that the European culture is different than the culture here.

Something I already knew - but when people start stating we have more school shootings here than in Europe - they are trying to frame an argument 100% around guns - when there's a whole lot more to it.

Different cultures.

More a-holes here too, I would imagine.....

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there are plenty of a-holes in europe. look at how popular the nationalist movements are there

one difference. their cities are much older than most of ours. most of our cities/suburbs post ww2 were built around cars with physical mobility (pedestrian and bike) inherently limited by the design of spaces (strip centers, malls, grocery stores, schools, lack of connectivity, etc) as well as distance.

many cities are now adapting and designing places more for walkability and bikability.

TIDE-HSV said:

I think the worst city I've seen for totally ignoring the need for human transport is Orlando. Of course, Disney grew it like "Topsy". When I looked it up, two other Florida SMAs outdid it...

LINK

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the atlanta region is pretty horrible. over the last decade or so they have made some improvements.

i have only been to orlando once for a trade show and it was a horrible place.

Bazza said:

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I hate those guys too.

TIDE-HSV said:

It's indefensible...

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"Indefensible"

Really great word, Earle

:smile:

Critical Mass

The Houston Ghost Bike Facebook page is about keeping track of all cyclist who has passed away from car related incidents, poor streets related incidents, & crime related incidents against cyclist.

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I just saw this posted on FB.....I think it's pretty sad when you are saying a cyclist needs to ride in the road in order to be seen better - and thus reduce chances of getting run into.

They need to step up enforcement of distracted drivers....in particular the cell phone users!

Bazza said:

I just saw this posted on FB.....I think it's pretty sad when you are saying a cyclist needs to ride in the road in order to be seen better - and thus reduce chances of getting run into.

They need to step up enforcement of distracted drivers....in particular the cell phone users!

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I was not in the road when I got hit. I was in a bike lane (technically a sidewalk that doubles as a bike trail. Apparently I should have been in the road.

I've been fortunate to participate in a benefit ride just north of San Diego. Such a wonderful experience to ride along the coast in bike lanes that at times were 8 feet wide - oh man, what a thrill ! That's one thing I like better about Cali.

crimsonaudio said:

Regardless as to what the law says, it's ridiculous that bicyclists expect to be treated with the same level of respect as other auto drivers. It's not even about automobile drivers being arrogant - it's literally about the massive difference in speed and visual profile that bicyclists present.

I have no problem with people riding bicycles, but they need to make sure they're not impeding traffic. I don't care how many laws you make, people driving in autos are not going to be ready / able to consider bicyclists unless the roadway speeds are similar, like it is in Euro cities.

I hope to never hit / injure a bicyclist, but I've had plenty of occasions where, if I had allowed myself to be distracted in any way, the relatively slow-moving bicyclist would have been easy to maul.

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This.....


I used to ride a bike quite a bit. I still ride a motorcycle (quite different I understand, but still similar in the size/weight ratio between both and cars/trucks). I always treated the 4 wheelers like they always had the right of way, even when it was obvious I did. I avoided many accidents that would have obviously been the 4 wheelers fault. I think back to when my dad was teaching me how to drive, and would yell at me for not slowing down when approaching an intersection where the opposing road had to stop, or a situation that was similar. I’d get aggravated at him and would say “why? I clearly have the right of way”. He told me one time..”well good...we can put I Had The Right Of Way on your gravestone, because you’ll be just as dead if they don’t stop”. That has always stuck with me, especially now that everyone carries a mobile distraction device on them.




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