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In the US pretty much every pedestrian crossing gets a walk signal while there’s still traffic, thanks to right-turn-on-red for cars. Big difference is being h

In the US pretty much every pedestrian crossing gets a walk signal while there’s still traffic, thanks to right-turn-on-red for cars. Big difference is being hit by a 90kg human on a 10kg bike going 15mph is much less likely to kill you than a 2000kg SUV doing 20mph. Additionally bike still have to yield to pedestrians, not to mention a bike is only 50-90cm wide, compared to 1500cm-2000cm for a car. Makes it much easier for both bikes and pedestrians to evade each other, should one or the other be behaving irresponsibly.

afandian 4y ago
That seems crazy to me! How are blind people, or people with reduced mobility, expected to navigate a crossing if they can't trust the light? A bike has less mass than a car, but I'd rather not be hit by a bike at all, to be honest. Let alone a child or someone more vulnerable.
- thesuitonym 4y ago
  American intersections are built exclusively for cars, everybody else is an afterthought (when they're even thought of at all)
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  The same way that they do at an intersection with a stop sign and a cross walk. It's the car's responsibility to see them and yield.
ipython 4y ago
Also left turn yield on green lights. I’ve found that to be especially dangerous both as a driver and pedestrian at night, where it can be hard to see whether there is anyone crossing on the far parallel crosswalk when you yield left on a straight green light.
throwaway4aday 4y ago
> a 90kg human on a 10kg bike going 15mph Sure, it's not a car crash but this is still equivalent to someone throwing a full bodyweight punch which can easily knock you unconscious and kill you when your head bounces off the pavement.
- afandian 4y ago
  I've been hit by a cyclist whilst walking on a pedestrian pavement ('sidewalk' in American). I was OK, but my child wouldn't have been.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    I suspect the vast majority of cyclist/pedestrian accidents never get reported because most of them don't result in broken bones, etc (e.g, the bicyclist tried to stop or the pedestrian noticed at the last minute, injuries reduced to scrapes and bruises).
- avianlyric 4y ago
  No saying it’s good. Just saying that many places are perfectly comfortable making pedestrians contend with much more deadly conditions, but seemed to get a little hysterical when a bike is involved. Something to consider, in the UK, a pedestrian is killed once every year or two by bikes, and it’s front page news with public outrage. a pedestrian is killed once everyday, on average, by cars (it’s actual a little higher, but close enough), but it’s never news, and there’s never outrage. Pedestrian injuries and deaths by bikes are so low, government basically doesn’t really consider it worth the effort to collect the data. It’s far easier to derive bike caused pedestrian fatalities from counting news articles, than it is to use official stats, because the stats basically don’t exist.

afandian 4y ago

That seems crazy to me! How are blind people, or people with reduced mobility, expected to navigate a crossing if they can't trust the light? A bike has less mass than a car, but I'd rather not be hit by a bike at all, to be honest. Let alone a child or someone more vulnerable.

thesuitonym 4y ago
American intersections are built exclusively for cars, everybody else is an afterthought (when they're even thought of at all)
dsfyu404ed 4y ago
The same way that they do at an intersection with a stop sign and a cross walk. It's the car's responsibility to see them and yield.

ipython 4y ago

Also left turn yield on green lights. I’ve found that to be especially dangerous both as a driver and pedestrian at night, where it can be hard to see whether there is anyone crossing on the far parallel crosswalk when you yield left on a straight green light.

throwaway4aday 4y ago

> a 90kg human on a 10kg bike going 15mph Sure, it's not a car crash but this is still equivalent to someone throwing a full bodyweight punch which can easily knock you unconscious and kill you when your head bounces off the pavement.

afandian 4y ago
I've been hit by a cyclist whilst walking on a pedestrian pavement ('sidewalk' in American). I was OK, but my child wouldn't have been.
- bombcar 4y ago
  I suspect the vast majority of cyclist/pedestrian accidents never get reported because most of them don't result in broken bones, etc (e.g, the bicyclist tried to stop or the pedestrian noticed at the last minute, injuries reduced to scrapes and bruises).
avianlyric 4y ago
No saying it’s good. Just saying that many places are perfectly comfortable making pedestrians contend with much more deadly conditions, but seemed to get a little hysterical when a bike is involved. Something to consider, in the UK, a pedestrian is killed once every year or two by bikes, and it’s front page news with public outrage. a pedestrian is killed once everyday, on average, by cars (it’s actual a little higher, but close enough), but it’s never news, and there’s never outrage. Pedestrian injuries and deaths by bikes are so low, government basically doesn’t really consider it worth the effort to collect the data. It’s far easier to derive bike caused pedestrian fatalities from counting news articles, than it is to use official stats, because the stats basically don’t exist.