As much as I am all for the de-car-ification of my country, cyclist really aren’t doing themselves any favors.
Bullshit. Cyclists obey the rules of the road at greater rates than drivers. It’s just that you expect drivers to behave like entitled dipshits, so their lawbreaking is less visible.
So much to dissect here
First: drive(cycle) predictively, not politely.
Second: I just left a comment about not liking car culture(go on, check my profile. I’m not lying.)
Third:I don’t expect anything! I get into the other lane if there is a cyclist. But go on, tell me more about myself.
Oh, I did do that, didn’t I? Crap. I meant it in the general-you sense. But still, cyclists obey the law more often than drivers when researchers do objective counts.
cyclists obey the last more often than drivers
Yeah. My limited experience in addition to statistics, says you’re correct.
Didn’t mean to start an argument, and I’ll apologize for it.
I’m sorry.
No, my apologies! It’s even a personal rule of mine to not tell people what they believe and experience.
Now kiss!
slams 2 dolls together
Don’t tempt me with a good time!
I’ve never once seen a cyclist stop at a stop sign. Even into oncoming traffic they just ignore them and hope for the best.
Are cyclists supposed to stop at stop signs there? Here they aren’t. They are supposed to treat them as yield signs
In my state they are expected to follow the rules of the road and stop at stop signs and traffic lights.
It varies by state.
Edit: if I recall correctly, bicyclists in PA are supposed to obey all the same traffic laws as car drivers except they aren’t required to maintain the same minimum speed, and they are allowed to ride on the shoulder.
However, it’s been some time since I looked into it.
I stop at stop at stop signs, and see others do, too. So it happens. Probably as often as drivers stop at stop signs.
no less so than drivers are, so it’s kind of an irrelevant point
Today, while I had the green light, had another car blatantly run a red light and almost hit me. I turned left to catch up with him, pounded on his window and told him he was a jackass. When he rolled his window down I recognized him as a state assembly member. Hoping he doesn’t recognize me when he eventually calls the HR office because he’s at the dentists office and doesn’t have his insurance card because he’s a fucking spoiled man-child.
my mindset when biking now is mostly to inconvenience bad drivers as much as possible and ensure that if they hit me it results in as much damage to their car as I can without harming myself.
I will aggressively take my right of way. one of the most common places is a bike crossing nearby where drivers routinely blow the stop line on their red light - I start up quickly so that if they blow the stop and go into the crossing, I may not be able to stop before crashing into them (you often can’t see them approaching the stop line because they are behind traffic in the middle lane). I don’t mind my shitty bike taking some damage if it leaves them with a dented door panel. another common occurrence is roundabouts - drivers vastly underestimate the speed at which a bike can navigate a tight roundabout, and they routinely cut me off. unfortunately, I’ve avoided collisions every time that a driver has nearly hit me, because my reaction is to not get hurt. but god damn did I ever want to slam into some of those cars and leave a lasting impression
I feel you but you only have only one fragile body.
I spent months of horror and multiple hospitalisations because I braked too hard on my bike at low speed, didn’t fall but landed too hard on the saddle. My username comes from that horrendous experience.
Of course it was because a car ran a red light, that was hidden to the inattentive car driver by a truck parked like an asshole.
There’s a shitload of studies showing that cars break far more rules than bikes everywhere it has been measured. You don’t have to put your body in the line to make a point.
Please just be safe for your own sake. You certainly deserve it.
thankfully my reflexes still prioritize my own safety, and most times I leave a near collision pissed off at the shitty driver and regretful that I couldn’t leave them a lasting mark. but when I get to the chance to, say, let my cargo bike basket scrape a car that pushed me into the curb, I’m gonna try to take it.
and thankfully (?) my health issues are unrelated to biking injuries (at least, unrelated to sharing the road with drivers — I’ve got a completely self-inflicted road injury from long ago and injuries from mountain biking lol).
Cyclists: every pavement is a shared space if you’re going fast enough.
For some reason there’s always a guy doing this when there’s a perfectly good cycle lane on the road next to them. Best thing as a pedestrian is to show no fear.
is it a “perfectly good cycle lane” tho? cyclists are just stupid for no reason? or maybe there is a good reason (or maybe even multiple reasons!) they go where they go
let’s try to extend some grace to a person who risks their life so that they pollute less
Here in Missouri the bike lanes are just painted on existing car lanes. Sometimes right down the middle. I actually applaud whenever I see a cyclist acting safe. The performance of most cyclists I see is insane at best, deadly at worst. I don’t think most cyclists realize they can be run over and the cops would likely just rule it an accident, unless there’s pressure and evidence to suggest otherwise. If I hated cars so much I didn’t want to use one, the last thing I would do is pick fights with them on crowded streets. The best cyclist is the one that isn’t there.
Living in Manhattan for decades, I only had 3 issues with cyclists. I’ve had dozens with drivers. I had no issues with skateboarders.
this is what’s wild to me. I’ll be having casual conversation with people and they’ll mention one cyclist that did something they didn’t like. sometimes it’s valid like running a red light, sometimes it’s something stupid like complaining about how they’re not in the non-existent bike lane. the wild part is that they will do this after we just had multiple discussions about how bad drivers were on the way to the location that we are currently hanging out. like, there’s just no recognition for how much worse drivers are and how much more prevalent it is.
no matter what method of transportation I use, drivers are always the worst part of it. always. no matter where I go. a lot of routes around my house don’t even require me to be on public streets except residential streets or to cross streets, and still drivers will fuck up the one of three situations in which I must interact with them.
*Drivers: I have to be careful by not texting gibberish or not watching this entire 7 second TikTok clip
My issue is if you want to bike in the streetlike a car, then you have to obey car rules. Like stopping at stop lights and stop signs. If you want to ride on the sidewalk then you have to obey pedestrian rules, like crossing at the correct times. Thr number of cyclists I’ve seen blow through stop signs and stop lights is staggering.
to be fair, it’s not like fewer cyclists are following the rules than drivers
When cycling like a pedestrian here, such as on a shared bike/footpath, you do follow pedestrian rules at crossings. So lights are only advisory and you may cross at any time if you want to.
A significant portion of accidents involving cyclists is from others not paying enough attention to them - which can be mitigated by proper bike infrastructure.
Unfortunately we cannot mitigate the recklessness of cyclists this way, another big contributor to the accident statistics.
You say that, but drivers would lose their minds bicyclists followed the same rules. Example: Taking the whole lane.
It’s called vehicular cycling and it’s a safer way to cycle.
Also often called “taking the primary position”. It’s often done to prevent close passes by forcing drivers who want to overtake to wait for a gap in the next lane
That or if you are in a group you cycle next to each other, so you are together taking up a comparable width of a car.
That is the one which angers carbrains the most. Yet it is the safer way to ride.
I first found John Forester’s book in the library in the 90s, and it felt like a tome of secret, special knowledge. Then, I read more of it, and it did not match my experiences.
Jason Slaughter has now done a very extensive takedown video on his Not Just Bikes channel, which is far more congruent with what I have seen. Taking the lane is effective when there’s no other choice, when it’s too narrow for cars to pass, but drivers will try anyway.
Otherwise, there’s very little that’s safe about it.
Thanks for shouting it out! I’ve been putting off watching that video for weeks but I’ll give it a go based on the recommendation here.
I wish bikes just took the whole lane like a car. Half assing it either way is really the problem.
I don’t disagree, but the reason we don’t is because of the intense road rage it causes in drivers.
I’m aware
Man, it’s almost as if we need a third thing. A sort of, road for bicycles (or long, skinny concentration camp, if you prefer) which is suited to bicycling without getting in the way. Get those bloody cyclists off our roads and footpaths, those are for us!
How would you implement this? Are they going to have bridges over every traffic light?
Toronto has a pretty sweet setup with bike lanes that have their own bike street lamps. Seems to work very well for a city of millions.
Extensive unlit tunnels five feet tall and two and a half feet wide. Entry and exit is by vertical shaft only.
I’m so down for this!
I live in a city in the US that has “bike lights” at the intersections. These give bicyclists the right of way without “letting” cars go as well.
Little longer of a traffic light, but makes biking waaaaay more approachable for newbie bicyclists (like me!)
Unfortunately, this is the only place I’ve ever seen them implemented.
The Netherlands would like a word.
Granted. But they were originally built with cyclists in mind. I would love their infrastructure!
The Netherlands was as car-brained as most other countries. Then, they changed course after the Stop de Kindermoord (Stop Murdering Children) protests, and started to build for people outside of cars. The process of rebuilding is still underway, now, in 2026.
The difference is not that the Netherlands was originally built for bicycles. It was not. The difference is that Americans don’t give two shits about the lives of children.
But they were originally built with cyclists in mind
No it wasn’t
Dutch people: “both of those are dumb and dangerous”
Some places you don’t have to. Here, a stop sign is a yield for bikes, and a red light is a stop sign, legally. It works really well imo.
Living in a big Dutch city. Cyclists just be like: I have to be careful not to hit any more dumb suicidal tourists. For fuck sake, I have had to repair my bike twice this week already.
And in these modern times everyone needs to be csfeful of young kids on fat bikes.
What do you have against bikes with fat tires?
In the Netherlands Fat Bikes are not those mountain bikes with fat tires, they are just electric motorcycles disguised as a bicycle because it has barely functioning pedals. Kids are a menace on those bikes, they go way too fast. Not to mention Dutch kids are getting fatter and unhealthier because they barely exercise and putting kids on motorized vehicles instead of bicycles doesn’t help.
I’m glad little shitheads on motorized bikes is a problem all the world over. I get them riding through the playground where my kids play.
NJ just required the ebikes be registered and insured and put age requirements on them, and so I have noticed lately a drop in shitheads, but there are still some out there.
Get them the fuck out of towns
What about fat kids on young bikes?
Fat kid is child abuse (unless medical condition) and the young bike needs to be rated for the weight otherwise it’s also child abuse (/jk). But older bikes usually have steel wheels while younger bikes have aluminium bikes, so the weight capacity is larger with older bikes (not that it matters for kids though, but it does matter when having someone on your luggage carrier).
Fuckin’ tourists. Get off the fietspad! And I wish they would just say no e-bikes for under-16.
Everyone warned me about the bikes in Amsterdam when I went to visit. When I got there and stepped outside for the first time, oh yeah the bike lane is painted a different colour to the pavement so I will walk on the pavement bit. Hang on, how the fuck do people struggle with this?
Yeah, plus no fat bikes at all!
Why no fat tires? I’m thinking about getting some just because they look easier to maintain
They aren’t easier to maintain at all, the exact opposite is true. Most bicycle shops refuse to even service them because they are of such bad quality and the parts are not available. They are very unsafe (brakes failing, things like that).
why would they be easier to maintain?
Because they should get fewer flats. Larger surface area and all that.
Meaning more surface area to hit something sharp. Yeah the larger area means lower pressure on the contact surface but I don’t think that’s the deciding factor in whether something punctures your tire. Best way to prevent punctures is tougher tires rather than larger ones. The lower pressure just helps with stuff like loose gravel or sand.
There are also puncture self repairing tires now. They have a gel like layer on the inside which gets pushed out into the hole sealing it. I have them and haven’t had a flat in over 5 years.
That mKes it more likely to get flats though.
Larger surface area surely increases the risk as there is more area that could run over glass shards.
I have 700x35, or 38, can’t remember. Had 1 flat on the front wheel in the entire lifespan of the outer tread. Second outer tyre now and nothing so far.
i’ve got 20 and 24 inchers and i live in goats head country. i cannot keep them inflated for the life of me. I am this close to just putting solid rubber blocks on my wheels
Then get one at the black market because then you pay what they are worth. Also, they are perfect if you like to maintain your bike, as you have to do it often. They break down often, especially breaks. Easy to maintain? No. Lots of sensor errors, software issues, etc. It’s fancy looking (well, I find them ugly AF) Chinese junk which have increased accidents exponentially since they arrived on the market. Next to that they are getting banned now, with Amsterdam as a first banning them at certain places. They also want to change regulations to make helmets mandatory for them and raise the minimum age.
Want an electric bike? Get a non-smart one. No Vanmoof or anything like that. They are junk (I had one, they are awful and insanely overpriced).
Best advice I can give you is a Gazelle or similar brand, with a Bosch middle motor (so not in the wheels, as they suck). They are easy to maintain, don’t have weird electronics hidden in impossible places, no smart mullshit which requires an app or the bike won’t work, normal commercial off the shelf parts you can get anywhere.
Obligatory fuck cars
Pedestrians don’t even look up from their fucking phones when they cross the road. I even saw a dude doing it while pushing a pram once.
why would I need to?
my crossing signal turned green and I glanced both ways before stepping out. there’s no need for me to be constantly aware as I cross, nobody should be driving at me.
I think they mean when not at an actual crossing and without ever even looking. I get it all the time, “phone zombies” stepping into the road right in front of me because my bicycle doesn’t make as much noise as a car. The bell seems to do nothing to wake them from their stupor so I have avoided fixing my loud squeaky brakes on purpose.
Also though, do people really need to constantly stare at their phones while walking anywhere, let alone where there are 1 tonne metal things moving at speed with pilots who may or may not have seen the red light?
oh man, people not hearing my bike coming is annoying. I’ll make tons of noise and eventually ring my bell and they either don’t shift or jump left directly in front of me. people do not pay attention to what is around them
Think I have clipped a few oblivious people before with my bike. Usually one of my pannier bags when they step into the road and I barely avoid them
You’re more trusting than I am.
I see it all the time and I can’t stand it. It’s not even cars, sometimes a sidewalk is lifted, low tree branch, literally any number of potential hazards in the way, and people are just letting iPhone Jesus guide them through life.
Idunno pedestrians in my city just walk with the confidence that law says cars have to stop.
I do that. If I get to a crosswalk, I don’t stand and wait for cars to stop, I step into the road and make them stop, because thems the rules. I don’t do it while I’m staring at my phone though, because that’s dumb.
Posted from a hospital bed.
I do this, but only if I can see their eyes.
As I’ve heard one person say, “your right of way doesn’t matter if I run you over.” As a pedestrian, I always wait until I see the car slowing down before I step out in front of it.
I definitely agree with the sentiment, my top priority is to not get run over. I still walk confidently onto the crosswalk without pausing, while keeping a close eye on the approaching car so that I can get out of the way if they don’t stop.
My experience is that if you hesitate, way too many drivers will just floor it in front of you, while if you give the impression that they’ll hit you if they don’t stop, they’ll hit the breaks.
Exactly. I drive and watch people hover on the sidewalk, clearly intending to enter the crosswalk, but not making that move. I stop whenever I even so much as think someone might cross. I stop and sometimes they turn instead of crossing. Whatever, doesn’t matter, it’s two seconds. But it seems like everyone else on the road can’t be bothered.
And so it’s because of that that I just walk into the road. And I should say into the road, but not into the travel lane, per se, because I don’t actually want to get hit, I got kids, and it would be a stupid funeral if “Dad died doing what he loved, being an idiot.”
yeah, I do that. because I have right of way when I do it.
I had a driver yell at me once because in her incorrect opinion I had not checked for cross traffic. I was approaching a pedestrian crossing at a roundabout that is signed that drivers must yield to pedestrians. I knew she was approaching from my left, I heard her slowing down, and I quickly glanced to confirm that she was stopping. I did this without obviously turning my head. I stepped into the crosswalk without slowing down, and she took the time to roll her window down and yell at me that I need to look around or something, and then nearly hit something as she proceeded through the roundabout trying to roll her window back up.
I did everything just fine, she was just mad that she was too observant to notice me checking for traffic
I’ve had two bicyclists run a red light right in front of me as I was pulling out on a green.
One was horrified and apologic.
The other yelled at me for almost hitting him.
Yeah… I hate to say it but cyclists take to the sidewalks in my neighborhood even though we have bike lanes everywhere. Obviously they are trying to be safer from cars which I can’t fault them for, but they do become a danger to pedestrians. Basically pedestrians are in a lose lose situation. Unless we want to start counting the bugs they step on.
I don’t care how many “bike lanes” an area has. A stripe of paint on a road will never be acceptable. Unless there is a physical barrier, I’ll be taking sidewalks when possible.
Think about it like this: Bike crashes with car = broken bones and probably death. Bike crashes with person = bruises and scrapes, maybe broken bones.
It’s clear to me.
I live! I die! I live again!
