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I've been cycling as a primary mode of travel for about 10 years now in LA and in the Mountain View area. So pretty broad depth of experience from bat shit insa
by jkyle 11y ago
I've been cycling as a primary mode of travel for about 10 years now in LA and in the Mountain View area. So pretty broad depth of experience from bat shit insane metro traffic to the bucolic in comparison suburban commuting.
Car drivers are orders of magnitude more of a threat to my safety than buses. Buses are far more predictable and tend to change their vector of travel more gradually when they do change. Also, the drivers tend to be much more alert and aware of their surroundings.
Also, in general and particularly during commuter traffic, they really aren't that much slower aside from the stops.
I've also never, ever had a bus driver intentionally try to harm me in a bus (like trying to 'muscle' me off the road). This has happened on multiple occasions with car drivers.
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I'd also like to mention I love the google cars. They're just so predictable and courteous. And in general, they just follow the rules.
For example, at a stop sign that a human driver reaches first. They have the right of way, but they want to be polite so they'll try to wave a cyclist on...then start to go...then stop and wave....then start to go. There's nothing more dangerous to a cyclist then a driver not following the rules and behaving erratically.
Google car? Stops. Waits. Goes. No fuss. I have seen the older models get "stuck" and wait longer than normal. Though usually this is when other drivers refuse to go before the google car.
- ant6n 11y agoHere in Montreal, car drivers seem much more willing and eager to kill me (cyclist) than bus drivers. What makes car drivers so willing to casually endanger a human life I will never know. That they get away with all that reckless behavior can be infuriating.
- jkyle 11y agoI'm not sure either, perhaps the sense of duty, training, having your job rest on being cool headed, and being constantly observed. But I agree, I've had normal, every day people you'd see in the coffee shop line try to murder me in their cars. It's nuts.
- spacecowboy_lon 11y agoFrom experience cycling in london cars don't belch as much nasty crap into the atmosphere and its the big vehicles buses and lorries lorries turning into you that are the real killers.
- jkyle 11y agoBusses here have been natural gas for a while.[1] We don't have many lorries here, mostly very large 18 wheelers and local deliver trucks...I count the delivery trucks amongst the regular car drivers. I wouldn't say they're more dangerous, though not less. 1. http://anga.us/blog/2013/5/16/cleaner-transportation-powered-with-natural-gas http://anga.us/blog/2013/5/16/cleaner-transportation-powered...
- spacecowboy_lon 11y agoAround 90% of the cyclist fatalities in London are caused by lorries
- bazzargh 11y agoThe figure is more like 50%, despite lorries being only around 5% of the traffic (see eg http://lcc.org.uk/pages/cycling-near-lorries http://lcc.org.uk/pages/cycling-near-lorries, http://www.cyclelaw.co.uk/cyclists-and-hgvs http://www.cyclelaw.co.uk/cyclists-and-hgvs). They are disproportionately dangerous, but not to the extent you suggest.