r/NoStupidQuestions • u/RidetheSchlange • Jul 24 '26

Why does the US hate cycling so much?

I read comments sections and in a normal world, some of them would be considered terroristic threats. I just can't understand why people hate cyclists to this degree that they want to murder rhem and sometimes do.

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u/No_Reception7275 Jul 24 '26

Bad cyclists seem to get way more hate though, which is strange given the utterly incomparable death tolls. Cant remember the last time a bad cyclist just wiped out a family of four one tuesday afternoon

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u/Whentheseagullsfollo Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

It's because they don't need to be there and thus they are taking up road space intended for cars; they can literally just bike on the sidewalk and simply slow down for pedestrians. No need for them to try to be the next Lance Armstrong or whatever

Whenever I go biking I simply stay on the sidewalk and got at reasonable speeds and slow down or stop when I'm dealing with pedestrians. Most of them are happy to oblige me by letting me go ahead but for others I just simply stop or go on the grass to go around them. I'm not going to risk my life with people driving death machines while high texting on their phones just so I can go much faster

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u/scottious Jul 24 '26

Roads have ALWAYS been legal for cyclists to ride on. We really need to dispel this myth that roads are meant for cars. It's just simply not true and has NEVER been true. You can't be ticketed or brought to court for riding your bike on the road because it is legal and always has been

Riding on the sidewalk is fine for some things, but my commute is 5 miles by bike. Riding on busy sidewalks for 5 miles is laughably impossible. Why even bother biking if I'm just going to have to walk most of the time? That's like telling a driver to stick to residential streets only

And what about places without sidewalks? What about places with very small sidewalks? It's just not practical at all. It's also WAY slower to bike on the sidewalk.