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Come to NYC. We have Citibike here and messengers and delivery people on bikes. And it's horrible. The bicyclists ROUTINELY violate nearly every sane traffic

by Nrsolis 12y ago

Come to NYC. We have Citibike here and messengers and delivery people on bikes. And it's horrible. The bicyclists ROUTINELY violate nearly every sane traffic law on the books. They go the wrong way against traffic, refuse to stop for stop lights or pedestrians in crosswalks, ride on sidewalks, have few if any safety features like headlights or taillights, and on and on. If cyclists would simply follow the traffic laws that already exist, there would be many fewer deadly accidents between cyclists and pedestrians (yes, you read that right) and cyclists and cars.

terravion 12y ago
In New York cars routinely violate every law on parking, they break the speed limit on every block, change lanes without signaling, and block intersections. If cars would simply follow the laws that already exist there would be many fewer deadly accidents between cars and people who die when hit.
- kika 12y ago
  If your thought was to object to the statement you're replying to then probably it went wrong.
- Nrsolis 12y ago
  The traffic congestion in NYC keeps the speeds down, not to mention the potholes in the road. But a cyclist running a red light is so commonplace in NYC that they think that it's not even a ticketable offense. http://nypost.com/2014/09/24/most-cyclists-are-still-ignoring-red-lights-despite-nypd-crackdown/ http://nypost.com/2014/09/24/most-cyclists-are-still-ignorin...
- baddox 12y ago
  That's probably also true, and doesn't contradict the statement you are parodying.
gorekee 12y ago
> If cyclists would simply follow the traffic laws that already exist Yes, but bicycles are no cars. So the city need also to come up with bike lanes and adequate regulations. It is too easy to blame the participant which has no real place in traffic.
- santaclaus 12y ago
  It is amazing what you find in bike lanes in NYC [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ
thraxil 12y ago
According to Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-23/pedestrian-cyclist-crash-deaths-rare-as-collision-suits http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-23/pedestrian...), there were 11 bicycle on pedestrian fatalities in NYC between 1996 and 2005. "There were no pedestrian deaths from cyclists in 2010, 2011 or 2012, according to city data." I live in the Netherlands now but lived in NYC for 15 years and biked a lot while I was there. I'm not going to argue that NYC cyclists are perfect and follow all the traffic laws all the time, but at the same time, they're really not much different than Dutch cyclists. When it comes down to it, cyclists do what they have to do to get where they're going and avoid getting hit by cars. Some differences I have noticed: in the Netherlands, it's explicitly allowed for cyclists to bike against traffic on one way streets. Many more bikes in the Netherlands do have lights because 1) it's a 60 EUR fine otherwise and they enforce it and 2) the heavy dutch style bikes just tend to have them built in, whereas on the typical NYC bike, they're externally mounted and will get stolen off your bike in a heartbeat. The Dutch actually can be very aggressive cyclists, cruising through red lights when there's no traffic coming, passing suddenly and closely, flying through crowds of people, squeezing past trams, and generally inducing mild heart attacks in someone like me watching, but they're also extremely skilled since almost all of them have been biking nearly everywhere they go nearly every day of their lives since they were small children. They pull off complex maneuvers that I would never dream of and do it while texting. The final difference is that pedestrians here tend to be a bit more aware and will be careful to stay out of the bike paths.

by Nrsolis 12y ago

terravion 12y ago

In New York cars routinely violate every law on parking, they break the speed limit on every block, change lanes without signaling, and block intersections. If cars would simply follow the laws that already exist there would be many fewer deadly accidents between cars and people who die when hit.

kika 12y ago
If your thought was to object to the statement you're replying to then probably it went wrong.
Nrsolis 12y ago
The traffic congestion in NYC keeps the speeds down, not to mention the potholes in the road. But a cyclist running a red light is so commonplace in NYC that they think that it's not even a ticketable offense. http://nypost.com/2014/09/24/most-cyclists-are-still-ignoring-red-lights-despite-nypd-crackdown/ http://nypost.com/2014/09/24/most-cyclists-are-still-ignorin...
baddox 12y ago
That's probably also true, and doesn't contradict the statement you are parodying.

gorekee 12y ago

> If cyclists would simply follow the traffic laws that already exist Yes, but bicycles are no cars. So the city need also to come up with bike lanes and adequate regulations. It is too easy to blame the participant which has no real place in traffic.

santaclaus 12y ago
It is amazing what you find in bike lanes in NYC [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ

thraxil 12y ago

According to Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-23/pedestrian-cyclist-crash-deaths-rare-as-collision-suits http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-23/pedestrian...), there were 11 bicycle on pedestrian fatalities in NYC between 1996 and 2005. "There were no pedestrian deaths from cyclists in 2010, 2011 or 2012, according to city data." I live in the Netherlands now but lived in NYC for 15 years and biked a lot while I was there. I'm not going to argue that NYC cyclists are perfect and follow all the traffic laws all the time, but at the same time, they're really not much different than Dutch cyclists. When it comes down to it, cyclists do what they have to do to get where they're going and avoid getting hit by cars. Some differences I have noticed: in the Netherlands, it's explicitly allowed for cyclists to bike against traffic on one way streets. Many more bikes in the Netherlands do have lights because 1) it's a 60 EUR fine otherwise and they enforce it and 2) the heavy dutch style bikes just tend to have them built in, whereas on the typical NYC bike, they're externally mounted and will get stolen off your bike in a heartbeat. The Dutch actually can be very aggressive cyclists, cruising through red lights when there's no traffic coming, passing suddenly and closely, flying through crowds of people, squeezing past trams, and generally inducing mild heart attacks in someone like me watching, but they're also extremely skilled since almost all of them have been biking nearly everywhere they go nearly every day of their lives since they were small children. They pull off complex maneuvers that I would never dream of and do it while texting. The final difference is that pedestrians here tend to be a bit more aware and will be careful to stay out of the bike paths.