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 the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
People on bikes may be rude and may not follow the rules, but can't be aggressive.
When a man with a .45 meets a man with a rifle, the man with a pistol will be a dead man.
Original stripe from the Onion: https://www.theonion.com/bum-rush-hour-1846606314
Cross-posted from: https://mastodon.uno/users/rivoluzioneurbanamobilita/statuses/113615912203015089
Reminds me of my bike messenger days.
Well. There are some really dumb bicyclists out there.
I have a real world example from just over an hour ago. I work overnights. I have to travel to different locations during my shift on certain nights. Tonight was one of those nights. I'm headed up to a location on a city street, 40mph speed limit, when I catch sight of a cyclist in my lane when I'm maybe 20ft from him. He's peddling for his life but only doing 12-15mph or so.
Why didn't I see him until he was that close to me? Was I playing on my phone? Tired because I work overnights? No. He is a black guy, wearing a black hoodie with black sweat pants, on a bike with no reflectors on it. Riding down a city street in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure this is the second time I've encountered this guy too (same ninja cosplay both times). The first time was at least half a year ago. Honestly I'm surprised he's still alive, or at least uncrippled to the point that he can bike.
People are insufficiently conscious of their visibility. Last night, in the dark and rain, a jogger came running full speed to cross a crosswalk from a dark wooded area between buildings who was completely wearing black. I would have hit her if it weren't for the two inches of white socks that extended above her black sneakers which allowed me to slam the brakes just a moment before.
I know it can be hard to introspect about your own visibility. My partner has pointed out to me how to be better visible when I go out on my bike. More people should think about it.
They've done studies with motorcycles and a big problem we need to overcome is: For some reason our brains ignore people on bikes sometimes. It sounds silly but it's a real thing I promise. I support anything anti car related, but any Bike lane shouldn't come within 50 ft of a road cars use. The mainstream trend of all cars bad lends too much ammunition to the pro car crowd. It's not pretty or satisfying but it's true. It's a nash equilibrium and there's only so much we can do.
Edit: Just putting this here for google. Working towards a car free world is going to be a ton of work. Our efforts here are focused on appeasing the car centrists. I want independent bike lanes away from heavy machinery and toxic exhaust chemicals. I want the cars we do have to use, relegated to roads where their bulk and fumes aren't affecting anyone. Picking a fight with anyone not towing the party line is stupid, and should be below this community.
No evidence for my claim, however I think a lot of the not noticing bikes while driving is just an expectations thing. People expect large metal boxes with 4+ wheels barreling down the place. They don't expect something smaller, with fewer wheels, and in some cases completely silent. Because they don't expect it, they don't process it.
What's this mean? Well, for one it means we don't simply "ignore" people on bikes. That's a facet of our limited attention and expectations. It also means this trend can be changed. If we condition people to expect and look out for bikes/motorcycles, people will probably be FAR less likely to not see them.
You are absolutelt right. There is at least a study that proved that drivers who also use bicycles are better at noticing stuff. The rationale would be that if you are also a cyclist you know thst the road is not only used by cars.
If you are interested I can problably find that study.
"Mainstream trend of all cars bad" which mainstream is that? Because last I checked Australia, Canada, the US and the UK are all still extremely car centric. This also completely ignores the fact that it is car centrism that causes the disregard for pedestrians and people on bikes. Finland and Denmark certainly don't seem to have an abundance of poeple developing bike blindness and they have mixed traffic zones all over the place.
I CAN’T HELP IT UR HONOR! MY BRAIN JUST DOESN’T SEE BIKES! IT’S SIMPLE BIOLOGY REALLY!
Yeah also the Adjuster that killed that CEO was seen leaving on a bike!1!1!1!
And the same people are the loudest complainers when bike lanes are installed so this doesn't happen.