8 ms·

Bicyclist pisses everyone off by ‘legally’ riding in the street (2020)

19 points by kitkat_new 4y ago

rahimnathwani 4y ago
(2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Q4tHEHdRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Q4tHEHdRg
walthamstow 4y ago
I used to be this annoying when cycling in London sometimes when I was a bit younger. When cycling this assertively, it's just a matter of time before someone does one of three things: a super-close revenge overtake, ram your back wheel, or fight you in the street
- enneff 4y ago
  It’s true. Drivers can often be absolutely psychotic. Like they actually, sincerely want you dead because you (theoretically) inconvenience them briefly. I rarely ride my bike on the road in my home country, Australia, for fear of my life. Instead I travel to bike-friendly countries, like Japan and the Netherlands, to do my cycling. The difference is night and day. Somehow in countries where cycling is normal drivers just don’t seem to have an issue with you taking up space on the road. (As the guy in the video says, “I am traffic.”) It’s a great shame that the most efficient and environmentally friendly form of transport is so despised in so many places. And that’s a massive understatement.
  - the-printer 4y ago
    Almost purchased a bike second-hand this afternoon. Reasons like this made me back out.
    - ars 4y ago
      I ride exactly the opposite - I move over the right side and let cars pass me unless I'm about to turn left. And I've never once had a single car get mad at me - quite the opposite they are respectful of me, as I am of them. I am aware that I drive slower than cars, and I act that way. Cars don't get mad a bikes for being not-a-car. They get mad at bikes for being slow. I also drive, and when I see a bike acting like he's a car, I also get annoyed - and I'm a bicyclist too! A bike is not a car, and should not act like one.
- jeffbee 4y ago
  Can confirm. I was intentionally rammed from behind in Oakland, California, while riding 25 in a posted 25 zone on College Ave on my e-bike. Some clown just decided he would murder me because he wanted to go faster.
ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
And so they paint the ground on the bike lane... rain + paint might as well be wet leaves or black ice.
- nikau 4y ago
  no sure about the US, but where I live that green paint actually has bits of ground up glass and other stuff in it for friction, its sparkly when you shine light on it.
  - ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
    In that case, it would be superb as long as it doesn't dazzle riders.
indiantinker 4y ago
Madrid is not that good for riding to commute even though ‘We are Europeans’ here.
- enneff 4y ago
  The level of impatience I observed among drivers in Spain was pretty amazing. Europe is a diverse place.
  - petre 4y ago
    Drivers are very impatient in Sicily even compared to Eastern Europe, but they're also used to cyclists (and motorini) and quite able to share the road with them. In my city there's growing respect towards cyclists since the gig economy and the onset of bicycle delivery. 80% of cyclists are delivery persons.
entropicgravity 4y ago
As a driver (and a cyclist) I find that pedal bikes in the congested city core are annoying (because of slow acceleration) but ebikes are bearable because they accelerate faster than cars when the light turns green. Once up to speed (20mph / 32kph) ebikes are bearable because on average that's the speed of the flow of traffic once you account for red lights.
- kitkat_new 4y ago
  fascinating that you are not able to endure bikes going below the average speed of traffic flow
kazinator 4y ago
The problem is he's slow; he's going something like 15 km/h in narrow lanes where drivers are expecting to be able to go 30 km/h.
- jeffbee 4y ago
  Drivers can fuck off. There are not minimum speeds in urban areas.
  - ars 4y ago
    And I guess bike can do that too? Is that how you prefer to live your life, in a constant war? How about each side respect the other - cars give bikes space, and bikes move over for faster moving cars.
    - enneff 4y ago
      You do realise the two things you are suggesting are contrary? How is the driver giving the cyclist space if they expect the cyclist to move out of their way? The central issue here is that it’s simply not safe to ride over to the side, being constantly passed by fast moving cars. As demonstrated in more civilised places, it’s easy for cars and bikes to coexist if people just adopt a different attitude. And that is, essentially, that the drivers must drop their insane entitlement and realise that being stuck behind a slower moving vehicle for a 30 seconds (or even a couple of minutes!) will have almost no effect on their life.
      - scombridae 4y ago
        no effect on their life. Nearly everything we do has no near- or long-term effect. I'm a bicyclist, but also an organism whose time-distance feedback loop is jarred by a sudden obstructionist anomaly.
        enneff 4y ago
        Yes I can see how the existence of other beings may be inconvenient to you.
version_five 4y ago
Cyclists and cars should not be on the same roads. It's silly to pretend that drawing some chevrons on the road or making a law that you need to do whatever around cyclists will make a difference. People who want cycling options should be advocating for separate paths dedicated to cycling, with proper signals when they need to cross car lanes so there is no ambiguity
- toomuchtodo 4y ago
  Very much so, going so far as to convert some amount of street inventory into bike and pedestrian only. Barcelona superblocks and such. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/9/18273894/barcelona-urban-planning-superblocks-poblenou https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/9/18273894... Can’t take the lizard brain out of the human behind several tons of metal, so put in firm infra guardrails (literally) to mitigate harm.
- theossuary 4y ago
  I'd think the motorists who want them off the roadway should be avocating for more bike paths actually. In the meantime it should be completely legal to use roadways, because otherwise there'd be no way to commute by bike.
- choeger 4y ago
  I wholeheartedly disagree. Wherever bicycles and cars share the same routes, at roughly the same speed, they should share the same roads - at a speed that is safe for everyone, so about 30km/h. For routes and speeds that are different (highways), roads should be separated.
  - akvadrako 4y ago
    30 kph is absurdly fast for city bikes and really slow for cars on any long stretch of road. So it's only relevant for like 1% of roads that are very windy and only sport cyclists go.
    - LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago
mort96 4y ago
Why is "legally" in quotes? That's the way you're supposed to ride a bike. Where dedicated bike infrastructure doesn't exist, you have to use the street, and this is the safest way to do so. If you want bikers off the streets (which you should), build biking infrastructure.
- geon 4y ago
  I suspect they used quotes as emphasis. Common but super stupid.
- jericho_jones 4y ago
  In NZ (and probably elsewhere) it is against the law to impede the flow of traffic. Specifically if travelling slower than the speed limit you need to pull over and let other people pass. Its a fine of ~$150, but hardly enforced.
Enginerrrd 4y ago
When cycling without bike lanes, I ride in the safest way I can: I often take up the middle of the lane at stopping intersections so that I get a turn in the queue and I have direct visual communication with drivers, and to eliminate at least one of the potential conflicts at the intersection. (Right hand turners from beside/behind in your lane.) I sometimes use a car in my lane as a "blocker" if I'm convinced it's not turning to help shelter me from other potential conflicts. I generally ride with aggression and quick acceleration in these situations. If no one is behind me, I also take the middle of the lane to avoid doors. When someone is behind me, and I'm not riding at the speed of traffic, I get the fuck out of the way and I let them through, being cognizant of the proximity to doors, then bump back to the center until the next potential passer. This is courteous, costs me basically nothing and keeps everyone traveling efficiently. On gridded streets with stops at every intersection, this is usually a non-issue because cars don't have the distance to exceed my speed anyway. I'm not afraid to assert my space in the middle of the lane when it doesn't impeded anyone, but I also make effort to be courteous.
- r00fus 4y ago
  Wholehearted second this. The best advice to bikers who aren't traveling at kids speeds is "take the lane". Prevents dooring and being run off the road. My only take is that I wouldn't be comfortable doing this if I didn't have proper lighting (front headlamp + Garmin Navia rear radar is huge confidence boost) and comfort in demanding drivers acknowledge my presence.
  - etrautmann 4y ago
    Garmin Varia radar you mean?
    - r00fus 4y ago
      Yes :) Fantastic device, but not a memorable brand name for me.
- fyvhbhn 4y ago
  I wouldn't leave primary position if it's not safe to overtake though
cirrus3 4y ago
These types of guys are dumb. No sympathy. Just because it was declared legal doesn't mean it is a good law. We have lots of laws like that, but most of them won't get you killed swiftly.
- eesmith 4y ago
  I ... think it's the other way around? It reads like the law wasn't allowing something which was previously illegal, but was setting limits on an action which used to be legal. That is, cyclists used to be able to be in anywhere in the lanes of traffic going the appropriate direction. Now they have to have a reason for not being on the right. And wanting to avoid running into car doors opened suddenly is still a valid reason - it was never declared illegal.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
joshka 4y ago
Phrased alternatively: "Motorists, unable to control their feelings, contrary to the law, harass, attempt murder, and assault a man riding a bike".

19 points by kitkat_new 4y ago

(2020) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Q4tHEHdRg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Q4tHEHdRg

I used to be this annoying when cycling in London sometimes when I was a bit younger. When cycling this assertively, it's just a matter of time before someone does one of three things: a super-close revenge overtake, ram your back wheel, or fight you in the street

enneff 4y ago
It’s true. Drivers can often be absolutely psychotic. Like they actually, sincerely want you dead because you (theoretically) inconvenience them briefly. I rarely ride my bike on the road in my home country, Australia, for fear of my life. Instead I travel to bike-friendly countries, like Japan and the Netherlands, to do my cycling. The difference is night and day. Somehow in countries where cycling is normal drivers just don’t seem to have an issue with you taking up space on the road. (As the guy in the video says, “I am traffic.”) It’s a great shame that the most efficient and environmentally friendly form of transport is so despised in so many places. And that’s a massive understatement.
- the-printer 4y ago
  Almost purchased a bike second-hand this afternoon. Reasons like this made me back out.
  - ars 4y ago
    I ride exactly the opposite - I move over the right side and let cars pass me unless I'm about to turn left. And I've never once had a single car get mad at me - quite the opposite they are respectful of me, as I am of them. I am aware that I drive slower than cars, and I act that way. Cars don't get mad a bikes for being not-a-car. They get mad at bikes for being slow. I also drive, and when I see a bike acting like he's a car, I also get annoyed - and I'm a bicyclist too! A bike is not a car, and should not act like one.
jeffbee 4y ago
Can confirm. I was intentionally rammed from behind in Oakland, California, while riding 25 in a posted 25 zone on College Ave on my e-bike. Some clown just decided he would murder me because he wanted to go faster.

ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago

And so they paint the ground on the bike lane... rain + paint might as well be wet leaves or black ice.

nikau 4y ago
no sure about the US, but where I live that green paint actually has bits of ground up glass and other stuff in it for friction, its sparkly when you shine light on it.
- ThePowerOfFuet 4y ago
  In that case, it would be superb as long as it doesn't dazzle riders.

indiantinker 4y ago

Madrid is not that good for riding to commute even though ‘We are Europeans’ here.

enneff 4y ago
The level of impatience I observed among drivers in Spain was pretty amazing. Europe is a diverse place.
- petre 4y ago
  Drivers are very impatient in Sicily even compared to Eastern Europe, but they're also used to cyclists (and motorini) and quite able to share the road with them. In my city there's growing respect towards cyclists since the gig economy and the onset of bicycle delivery. 80% of cyclists are delivery persons.

entropicgravity 4y ago

As a driver (and a cyclist) I find that pedal bikes in the congested city core are annoying (because of slow acceleration) but ebikes are bearable because they accelerate faster than cars when the light turns green. Once up to speed (20mph / 32kph) ebikes are bearable because on average that's the speed of the flow of traffic once you account for red lights.

kitkat_new 4y ago
fascinating that you are not able to endure bikes going below the average speed of traffic flow

kazinator 4y ago

The problem is he's slow; he's going something like 15 km/h in narrow lanes where drivers are expecting to be able to go 30 km/h.

jeffbee 4y ago
Drivers can fuck off. There are not minimum speeds in urban areas.
- ars 4y ago
  And I guess bike can do that too? Is that how you prefer to live your life, in a constant war? How about each side respect the other - cars give bikes space, and bikes move over for faster moving cars.
  - enneff 4y ago
    You do realise the two things you are suggesting are contrary? How is the driver giving the cyclist space if they expect the cyclist to move out of their way? The central issue here is that it’s simply not safe to ride over to the side, being constantly passed by fast moving cars. As demonstrated in more civilised places, it’s easy for cars and bikes to coexist if people just adopt a different attitude. And that is, essentially, that the drivers must drop their insane entitlement and realise that being stuck behind a slower moving vehicle for a 30 seconds (or even a couple of minutes!) will have almost no effect on their life.
    - scombridae 4y ago
      no effect on their life. Nearly everything we do has no near- or long-term effect. I'm a bicyclist, but also an organism whose time-distance feedback loop is jarred by a sudden obstructionist anomaly.
      - enneff 4y ago
        Yes I can see how the existence of other beings may be inconvenient to you.

version_five 4y ago

Cyclists and cars should not be on the same roads. It's silly to pretend that drawing some chevrons on the road or making a law that you need to do whatever around cyclists will make a difference. People who want cycling options should be advocating for separate paths dedicated to cycling, with proper signals when they need to cross car lanes so there is no ambiguity

toomuchtodo 4y ago
Very much so, going so far as to convert some amount of street inventory into bike and pedestrian only. Barcelona superblocks and such. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/9/18273894/barcelona-urban-planning-superblocks-poblenou https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/9/18273894... Can’t take the lizard brain out of the human behind several tons of metal, so put in firm infra guardrails (literally) to mitigate harm.
theossuary 4y ago
I'd think the motorists who want them off the roadway should be avocating for more bike paths actually. In the meantime it should be completely legal to use roadways, because otherwise there'd be no way to commute by bike.
choeger 4y ago
I wholeheartedly disagree. Wherever bicycles and cars share the same routes, at roughly the same speed, they should share the same roads - at a speed that is safe for everyone, so about 30km/h. For routes and speeds that are different (highways), roads should be separated.
- akvadrako 4y ago
  30 kph is absurdly fast for city bikes and really slow for cars on any long stretch of road. So it's only relevant for like 1% of roads that are very windy and only sport cyclists go.
  - LargoLasskhyfv 4y ago

mort96 4y ago

Why is "legally" in quotes? That's the way you're supposed to ride a bike. Where dedicated bike infrastructure doesn't exist, you have to use the street, and this is the safest way to do so. If you want bikers off the streets (which you should), build biking infrastructure.

geon 4y ago
I suspect they used quotes as emphasis. Common but super stupid.
jericho_jones 4y ago
In NZ (and probably elsewhere) it is against the law to impede the flow of traffic. Specifically if travelling slower than the speed limit you need to pull over and let other people pass. Its a fine of ~$150, but hardly enforced.

Enginerrrd 4y ago

When cycling without bike lanes, I ride in the safest way I can: I often take up the middle of the lane at stopping intersections so that I get a turn in the queue and I have direct visual communication with drivers, and to eliminate at least one of the potential conflicts at the intersection. (Right hand turners from beside/behind in your lane.) I sometimes use a car in my lane as a "blocker" if I'm convinced it's not turning to help shelter me from other potential conflicts. I generally ride with aggression and quick acceleration in these situations. If no one is behind me, I also take the middle of the lane to avoid doors. When someone is behind me, and I'm not riding at the speed of traffic, I get the fuck out of the way and I let them through, being cognizant of the proximity to doors, then bump back to the center until the next potential passer. This is courteous, costs me basically nothing and keeps everyone traveling efficiently. On gridded streets with stops at every intersection, this is usually a non-issue because cars don't have the distance to exceed my speed anyway. I'm not afraid to assert my space in the middle of the lane when it doesn't impeded anyone, but I also make effort to be courteous.

r00fus 4y ago
Wholehearted second this. The best advice to bikers who aren't traveling at kids speeds is "take the lane". Prevents dooring and being run off the road. My only take is that I wouldn't be comfortable doing this if I didn't have proper lighting (front headlamp + Garmin Navia rear radar is huge confidence boost) and comfort in demanding drivers acknowledge my presence.
- etrautmann 4y ago
  Garmin Varia radar you mean?
  - r00fus 4y ago
    Yes :) Fantastic device, but not a memorable brand name for me.
fyvhbhn 4y ago
I wouldn't leave primary position if it's not safe to overtake though

cirrus3 4y ago

These types of guys are dumb. No sympathy. Just because it was declared legal doesn't mean it is a good law. We have lots of laws like that, but most of them won't get you killed swiftly.

eesmith 4y ago
I ... think it's the other way around? It reads like the law wasn't allowing something which was previously illegal, but was setting limits on an action which used to be legal. That is, cyclists used to be able to be in anywhere in the lanes of traffic going the appropriate direction. Now they have to have a reason for not being on the right. And wanting to avoid running into car doors opened suddenly is still a valid reason - it was never declared illegal.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

joshka 4y ago

Phrased alternatively: "Motorists, unable to control their feelings, contrary to the law, harass, attempt murder, and assault a man riding a bike".