4 ms·

The comment about slowing down even when you have the right of way in America rings particularly true to me as I was given a ticket in Seattle for being hit by

The comment about slowing down even when you have the right of way in America rings particularly true to me as I was given a ticket in Seattle for being hit by a car while in a dedicated bike lane. Even in bike friendly cities in my experience you need to go beyond defensive cycling to defensive and always deferential cycling as cars (and cops) will always assume the car is in the right.

lizmat 7y ago
In the Netherlands, that is mostly the opposite: see https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict-liability-in-the-netherlands/ https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict-liabili...
Beldin 7y ago
Funny. In the Netherlands, there is a law that makes cyclists a protected class. In particular, while cyclist may cause an accident, the one with airbags, cage construction, bumpers and crumple zones has the responsibility to avoid accidents. This is not "its always the fault of the car driver". But: it is always the responsibility of the car driver to avoid an accident.
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  In theory that's how it's supposed to be with pedestrians here, though in practice police often give a blank check to drivers no matter what, at least here in NYC.
u801e 7y ago
> I was given a ticket in Seattle for being hit by a car while in a dedicated bike lane. Could you be more specific about what law you violated according to the ticket? That is, what ordinance/law was listed on the ticket itself?
- yellow_postit 7y ago
  Don’t have the number handy but it was in the failure to yield category. The officer’s line of reasoning was that in a bike lane when a car is traveling in the same direction wants to cross that lane the cyclist must always slow down and yield rather than the car waiting until it is clear for their turn to take place.

4 ms·

The comment about slowing down even when you have the right of way in America rings particularly true to me as I was given a ticket in Seattle for being hit by

by yellow_postit 7y ago

lizmat 7y ago
In the Netherlands, that is mostly the opposite: see https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict-liability-in-the-netherlands/ https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/strict-liabili...
Beldin 7y ago
Funny. In the Netherlands, there is a law that makes cyclists a protected class. In particular, while cyclist may cause an accident, the one with airbags, cage construction, bumpers and crumple zones has the responsibility to avoid accidents. This is not "its always the fault of the car driver". But: it is always the responsibility of the car driver to avoid an accident.
- CydeWeys 7y ago
  In theory that's how it's supposed to be with pedestrians here, though in practice police often give a blank check to drivers no matter what, at least here in NYC.
u801e 7y ago
> I was given a ticket in Seattle for being hit by a car while in a dedicated bike lane. Could you be more specific about what law you violated according to the ticket? That is, what ordinance/law was listed on the ticket itself?
- yellow_postit 7y ago
  Don’t have the number handy but it was in the failure to yield category. The officer’s line of reasoning was that in a bike lane when a car is traveling in the same direction wants to cross that lane the cyclist must always slow down and yield rather than the car waiting until it is clear for their turn to take place.