In the town nearest to me there are bike lanes all over and these dickheads still feel the need to get into traffic lanes and fuck up the flow whilst obeying no traffic laws. Fuck cyclists. Keep your toys out of cars’ way.
Your ability to violently catapult literal tons of metal and plastic has no weight on their right to use the road. Keep your angry toys out of cyclists way.
You make it sound like the people behind the wheels of said cars have no choice. They do: slow down and vote for non-car-centric infrastructure. Motor vehicles are in the top ten causes of death, ahead of kidney disease, AIDS, and homicide. We should probably stop forcing ourselves to engage in such an extremely risky activity.
More people need to leave the culture of consumerism behind in order for any meaningful change to happen.
Probably true. I’m not going to argue; I also feel that consumerism is generally harmful to society.
Cyclists are putting themselves and everyone else at a greater risk when they decide to try and share the road with motor vehicles. [citation needed]
I, too, once thought being forced to slow down and pay attention to my surroundings would put people in danger, but I have since grown into an adult with children and neighbors I care about. Why do you think roundabouts are safer and less congested than traffic signals? I’d be extremely unsurprised if road sharing actually made them safer overall.
Cyclists are putting themselves and everyone else at a greater risk when they decide to try and share the road with motor vehicles. [citation needed]
Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night. I, too, once thought being forced to slow down and pay attention to my surroundings would put people in danger, but I have since grown into an adult. Why do you think roundabouts are safer and less congested than traffic signals? I’d be extremely unsurprised if road sharing actually made them safer overall.
Next time, take take a moment and think from their perspective. Do they want to be in the lane with cars? No! That’s scary! So why are they there? Ideas:
cars parked in the bike lane - very common in my area
cars passing uncomfortably close and not giving the required 3’/1m space
cars consistently nosing into the bike lane from parking lots
And BTW, the law in most places state that bikes follow the same laws as cars, they just need to stay to the right of the roadway (i.e. the part before the bike lane). That means they’re entitled to be in that right lane if they feel it’s safer than the bike lane.
I don’t drive, but tbh I don’t like cyclists much either. On top of often doing stuff like riding right on the line for the bike lane with tons of space in the actual lane, they frequently don’t stop for pedestrians and just blow through crosswalks (and sometimes stop signs/lights). I’ve also seen cyclists ride on the relatively narrow sidewalk despite there being a bike lane.
It’s possible this is less of a problem elsewhere. It also doesn’t help that there are a lot of e-bikes where I currently live.
I’ve also been frustrated with some cyclists, especially now that ebikes have lowered the barrier and brought the uninformed masses onto the streets.
Here are the relevant laws in my area, just in case some of it is relevant to what you’re seeing:
stop-light - must stop, but may proceed if the light is obviously not recognizing you (local law is 90sec, but I’ve seen anything from 60-120)
stop sign - treated as a yield, which means stop of there’s contention, but only slow if there aren’t other cars
sidewalk - not for cyclists, and cyclists must yield to pedestrians if they use it; cyclists should use the road
bike lane - not technically part of the roadway, and the law states that cyclists should stay within 3’ (1m) of the roadway unless there are obstructions; likewise, cars must give cyclists 3’ of space, so cyclists will often “take the lane” (be in the middle) of they’re not getting that space
crosswalks - treated as cars (must wait behind) or pedestrians (if crossing the road with pedestrians)
In short, cyclists:
may use the crosswalk, but must yield to pedestrians (and cycling 15mph would certainly present a hazard and could be ticketed)
may use the roads, but need to stay within 3’ of the edge (not including bike lane of shoulder) unless there are obstructions
may yield at stop signs and treat stoplights as stop signs if they don’t change for the cyclist
Those laws seem pretty similar, they just get ignored super often lol. I imagine part of the problem is you can just pick up a bike and ride without getting a specific license, unlike with cars/motorcycles (not that drivers of those don’t break the law), so I’m guessing a significant number of people don’t even know all the rules they’re supposed to follow and just do whatever they feel like.
That’s exacerbated by ebikes. They’re inexpensive, fast, and require virtually no physical effort, so people ride them everywhere. Before ebikes became so available, only very dedicated people would take them on the road, and everyone else treated them as toys.
If you look, I’ll bet 9/10 of those breaking the laws are on an ebike. Look for thick down tube (connects handle to pedal), a visible battery pack, or absolutely no pedaling. A lot of those should probably be registered as scooters, which do require a license, because people frequently don’t actually pedal on them and instead cruise at 20mph+ (>30kph).
People who ride regular bikes follow the law a lot more because they’re actual enthusiasts, and thus care about the law. I’d guess most of those (say, 75%) follow the law most of the time, and innocently get lumped in with the people on ebikes.
I mean, it was pretty common for cyclists to break the law before e-bikes became popular, although it’s admittedly more common now. It doesn’t really change anything though since e-bikes are not exactly going to go away and the problem isn’t going to be resolved unless they actually do try to enforce licensing for cyclists or something.
Idk, I rode my bike to work for 3-ish years almost every day (up until COVID, more or less), and most of the cyclists on my route were pretty good about following the law, and this was along the main segregated cycle path in the area (connects about 5 cities and flows through residential and office space areas). A few would blow through intersections without slowing, but by and large, most followed the law. This was before ebikes were commonplace, and most of the people were out there getting exercise.
These days, however, I see a bunch of cyclists (mostly on ebikes) disregarding the law. I don’t commute by bike anymore (new job is way too far away), so this is more around the recreational part of the day (usually 5-7AM or 6-8PM), so maybe things are still decent during commute hours. And almost every time I see someone breaking the law, it’s someone on an ebike, not pedaling and instead cranking the throttle, and usually in the afternoon. On my commute, the handful of cyclists I see that aren’t pedal assisted are generally doing a great job following the law.
I think the issue here is just how accessible cycling has become with ebikes completely removing the physical ability part.
enforce licensing for cyclists
If they do, it should only be for ebikes IMO, and perhaps only those capable of acceleration w/o pedaling. And perhaps bike shops should be required to provide details of the local laws, maybe even a competency test, even for unpowered bicycles.
What we need is enough cyclists to understand and follow the law for the others to also fall in line. Maybe pair that with some law enforcement presence ticketing during the start of cycling season or something, and first offenses could be resolved by taking a cycling safety test or something.
That doesn’t entitle them to run red lights and weaving in and out of traffic. They do this shit with a free and clear bike lane to their right. They can eat shit.
For every cyclist I’ve seen that does that, dozens of drivers do the same, and dozens of cyclists don’t. Don’t label the whole based on the actions of a very visible minority.
That said, “weaving in and out of traffic” is legal in many places and called “filtering.” The idea is to get to the front where drivers are more likely to see you, cross the intersection without getting run over, and then move to the side of the road to let cars pass. In many cities, they put a special painted area in front of cars at intersections specifically for bikes to enable exactly this behavior.
Likewise for “running red lights,” there’s also an issue where some lights don’t trigger when a bicycle approaches, and many areas have a law that cyclists may proceed once that’s clear (usually 60-90sec).
I’m not saying either is what you’re describing, just clarifying what laws typically look like so you can distinguish the legitimate, lawful actions from what also frustrates law-abiding cyclists.
I agree. In my country, a while ago the government passed a law mandating that cyclists use the same lanes and road laws used by motorists where there are no bike lanes. I can’t stress enough how fucking stupid it is to expect this and to comply with this.
It’s the governments’ responsibility to build infrastructure for the public to travel. Until they have three tiers of pathing everywhere, cyclists should use the pedestrian paths.
In the town nearest to me there are bike lanes all over and these dickheads still feel the need to get into traffic lanes and fuck up the flow whilst obeying no traffic laws. Fuck cyclists. Keep your toys out of cars’ way.
Your ability to violently catapult literal tons of metal and plastic has no weight on their right to use the road. Keep your angry toys out of cyclists way.
Public roads were designed for motor vehicles. It’s dangerous for people to use them with anything that can’t keep up with a car when cars are around.
You make it sound like the people behind the wheels of said cars have no choice. They do: slow down and vote for non-car-centric infrastructure. Motor vehicles are in the top ten causes of death, ahead of kidney disease, AIDS, and homicide. We should probably stop forcing ourselves to engage in such an extremely risky activity.
More people need to leave the culture of consumerism behind in order for any meaningful change to happen.
You can pretend the world is something that it isn’t, but that doesn’t change reality.
Cyclists are putting themselves and everyone else at a greater risk when they decide to try and share the road with motor vehicles.
Probably true. I’m not going to argue; I also feel that consumerism is generally harmful to society.
I, too, once thought being forced to slow down and pay attention to my surroundings would put people in danger, but I have since grown into an adult with children and neighbors I care about. Why do you think roundabouts are safer and less congested than traffic signals? I’d be extremely unsurprised if road sharing actually made them safer overall.
It’s a shame it took you so long to be able to drive responsibly. I learned how to give pedestrians the right of way in driver’s ed.
Great! Have you learned how to give cyclists the right of way yet?
No, I just run them over.
Keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night. I, too, once thought being forced to slow down and pay attention to my surroundings would put people in danger, but I have since grown into an adult. Why do you think roundabouts are safer and less congested than traffic signals? I’d be extremely unsurprised if road sharing actually made them safer overall.
Wow, that’s certainly a take…
Next time, take take a moment and think from their perspective. Do they want to be in the lane with cars? No! That’s scary! So why are they there? Ideas:
And BTW, the law in most places state that bikes follow the same laws as cars, they just need to stay to the right of the roadway (i.e. the part before the bike lane). That means they’re entitled to be in that right lane if they feel it’s safer than the bike lane.
The law have been written by automobile clubs lmao
Yeah, it used to be that cars made way to people, but now people make way for cars. It’s stupid.
I don’t drive, but tbh I don’t like cyclists much either. On top of often doing stuff like riding right on the line for the bike lane with tons of space in the actual lane, they frequently don’t stop for pedestrians and just blow through crosswalks (and sometimes stop signs/lights). I’ve also seen cyclists ride on the relatively narrow sidewalk despite there being a bike lane.
It’s possible this is less of a problem elsewhere. It also doesn’t help that there are a lot of e-bikes where I currently live.
I’ve also been frustrated with some cyclists, especially now that ebikes have lowered the barrier and brought the uninformed masses onto the streets.
Here are the relevant laws in my area, just in case some of it is relevant to what you’re seeing:
In short, cyclists:
Those laws seem pretty similar, they just get ignored super often lol. I imagine part of the problem is you can just pick up a bike and ride without getting a specific license, unlike with cars/motorcycles (not that drivers of those don’t break the law), so I’m guessing a significant number of people don’t even know all the rules they’re supposed to follow and just do whatever they feel like.
That’s exacerbated by ebikes. They’re inexpensive, fast, and require virtually no physical effort, so people ride them everywhere. Before ebikes became so available, only very dedicated people would take them on the road, and everyone else treated them as toys.
If you look, I’ll bet 9/10 of those breaking the laws are on an ebike. Look for thick down tube (connects handle to pedal), a visible battery pack, or absolutely no pedaling. A lot of those should probably be registered as scooters, which do require a license, because people frequently don’t actually pedal on them and instead cruise at 20mph+ (>30kph).
People who ride regular bikes follow the law a lot more because they’re actual enthusiasts, and thus care about the law. I’d guess most of those (say, 75%) follow the law most of the time, and innocently get lumped in with the people on ebikes.
I mean, it was pretty common for cyclists to break the law before e-bikes became popular, although it’s admittedly more common now. It doesn’t really change anything though since e-bikes are not exactly going to go away and the problem isn’t going to be resolved unless they actually do try to enforce licensing for cyclists or something.
If you don’t like cyclists going everywhere give them good bike lanes.
Literally mentioned how there are spacious bike lanes but whatever.
Idk, I rode my bike to work for 3-ish years almost every day (up until COVID, more or less), and most of the cyclists on my route were pretty good about following the law, and this was along the main segregated cycle path in the area (connects about 5 cities and flows through residential and office space areas). A few would blow through intersections without slowing, but by and large, most followed the law. This was before ebikes were commonplace, and most of the people were out there getting exercise.
These days, however, I see a bunch of cyclists (mostly on ebikes) disregarding the law. I don’t commute by bike anymore (new job is way too far away), so this is more around the recreational part of the day (usually 5-7AM or 6-8PM), so maybe things are still decent during commute hours. And almost every time I see someone breaking the law, it’s someone on an ebike, not pedaling and instead cranking the throttle, and usually in the afternoon. On my commute, the handful of cyclists I see that aren’t pedal assisted are generally doing a great job following the law.
I think the issue here is just how accessible cycling has become with ebikes completely removing the physical ability part.
If they do, it should only be for ebikes IMO, and perhaps only those capable of acceleration w/o pedaling. And perhaps bike shops should be required to provide details of the local laws, maybe even a competency test, even for unpowered bicycles.
What we need is enough cyclists to understand and follow the law for the others to also fall in line. Maybe pair that with some law enforcement presence ticketing during the start of cycling season or something, and first offenses could be resolved by taking a cycling safety test or something.
That doesn’t entitle them to run red lights and weaving in and out of traffic. They do this shit with a free and clear bike lane to their right. They can eat shit.
For every cyclist I’ve seen that does that, dozens of drivers do the same, and dozens of cyclists don’t. Don’t label the whole based on the actions of a very visible minority.
That said, “weaving in and out of traffic” is legal in many places and called “filtering.” The idea is to get to the front where drivers are more likely to see you, cross the intersection without getting run over, and then move to the side of the road to let cars pass. In many cities, they put a special painted area in front of cars at intersections specifically for bikes to enable exactly this behavior.
Likewise for “running red lights,” there’s also an issue where some lights don’t trigger when a bicycle approaches, and many areas have a law that cyclists may proceed once that’s clear (usually 60-90sec).
I’m not saying either is what you’re describing, just clarifying what laws typically look like so you can distinguish the legitimate, lawful actions from what also frustrates law-abiding cyclists.
Removed by mod
I agree. In my country, a while ago the government passed a law mandating that cyclists use the same lanes and road laws used by motorists where there are no bike lanes. I can’t stress enough how fucking stupid it is to expect this and to comply with this.
It’s the governments’ responsibility to build infrastructure for the public to travel. Until they have three tiers of pathing everywhere, cyclists should use the pedestrian paths.