The tables on the road were only there for the inauguration day, but bike lane is here to stay.
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
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I damn nearly got murdered by an angry speeding cyclist in Paris, near a canal. I crossed the lane without realizing, not being used to their presence. Bike lanes are simply nonexistent where I live, and I was only staying in Paris for a couple weeks. The dude got super mad at me, like super super mad. To this day I still fantasize about throwing him and his fucking bike in the canal. I really should have done it.... why do I have to second-guess everything
Learn how to cry on command. That would probably have taken the wind out of his sails. I'm not a car freak. If I could get by in my suburban hell without one I would. That being said, if cars have to be aware of cyclists then cyclists need to be aware of pedestrians.
So if a pedestrian walked onto the road without looking or anything, you'd say the driver is at fault?
A cycle lane is to a bike as a road is to a car. A pedestrian is allowed to cross it after looking and checking that no vehicle is coming, and the pedestrian has to give right of way.
Cars have to be aware of cyclists when cyclists are driving on the road, since both have equal rights to be there. Same as a car has to be aware of another car or a cyclists of another cyclist. Both are allowed to use the road, so both need to be aware of each other.
That's what the law says in France, at least. People are supposed to cross on crosswalks, but if they don't and a car hits them the driver is at fault regardless. I can try to find a source in english if that's important to you.
Anyway, context is king here and what I didn't specify in my post above is that the space where it happened was quite crowded and ambiguous (especially for an alien like me who had seldom seen a bike lane at the time)
The whole concept of "being at fault" only applies to accidents. If you see someone breaking the law (e.g. walking across the road where it's not allowed) and you then purposely ram them with your vehicle, then it's not an accident and of course you are at fault then. If someone else breaks the law you would have to be an utter idiot to think that this gives you the right to legally murder that person.
I repeat: you'd have to be seriously braindead and messed up to belive that you can legally kill someone over a minor traffic violation.
If it's an actual accident though, e.g. if the pedestrian darts out between parked cars so fast that the driver can't stop in time, then it's clearly the pedestrian's fault (even in France) and the driver will not get in trouble.
Again, all of that is super basic.
A bike lane is not ambiguous. If you don't inform yourself of laws and customs in a country you travel to, then it's still your fault if you are too ignorant to understand basic traffic situations, and neither does ignorance excuse you from following the law nor does it make your wrong actions and lawbreaking right, nor does it give you any moral high ground.