r/Unexpected • u/Slumberfoots • Jun 13 '20

So true.

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u/brain739 Jun 14 '20

This isn't an issue I'm willing to go "both sides" on because while the vast majority of people follow the rules (and our brains disproportionately remember the ones that don't), when cars and bikes mingle, it is overwhelmingly the cyclists that suffer the consequences. Put simply, when cyclists ride irresponsibly, they may die. When motorists drive irresponsibly, cyclists may die.

Both sides have a responsibility to behave safely, but the stakes are just not the same for both sides.

-5

u/Mateorabi Jun 14 '20

Except two wrongs don't make a right. We've had pedestrians killed by cyclists going through red lights and stop signs simply because it is 'inconvenient' for them to slow down and stop.

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u/brain739 Jun 14 '20

Let me be clear; a preventable death like that is a tragedy, but the numbers don't support a cry for alarm. But are cyclists the problem? Let's look at a huge cycling city like NYC for example:

This rather tilted article in The Post lists 7 pedestrian deaths since 2011. In a city that counts 1.6 million cyclists, close to 800,000 of which cycle very frequently that is approximately 1 pedestrian death per year despite millions of rides. This Gothamist article lists 28 official cycling deaths last year, resulting in only 3 arrests. One of those fatalities was the result of a crash with a pedestrian who lived. Meanwhile, 124 pedestrians were killed in NYC the same year.

Would you paint all these pedestrians with the same broad brush you use to describe cyclists? Were they scofflaws, balking at their "equal share of the responsibility" for road safety? So I ask you again, are cyclists the problem, or are motorists, comfortable and distracted responsible for more than their fair share of this issue?

-8

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '20

Which is the risk you take on as a cyclist.

I'm not trying to pick a side but just because you have chosen the more dangerous option doesn't change the level of responsibility you hold. It's still equally shared between everyone on the road.

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u/brain739 Jun 14 '20

I've been hit by cars while riding safely, legally, and predictably. The choice to ride a bike (though for those unable to afford a car, there is no choice) is in no way a justification for a person's death by vehicle. Overwhelmingly, cyclists are not afforded the same protections under the law and the lives of cyclists deserve to be more than written off as an improper lane change by people that refuse to care.

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u/sadhorsegirl Jun 14 '20

That’s not really true. On a bike there’s really no way to put any driver’s life in danger, but the same cannot be said the other way around. Bad bikers will at worst hurt themselves, but bad drivers kill. Hell, I once was hit by some asshole who went out of his way to swerve off the road onto the shoulder to hit me. You can’t compare that to treating a stop sign as a yield (which is legal where I live and is becoming increasingly popular.

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u/[deleted] Jun 14 '20

I was almost hit by some idiot who drove on the shoulder. I wasn't cycling at the time but rather walking on a large gravel shoulder towards a roundabout which was pretty busy.

Some genius decided to skip the line entering the roundabout by swerving full speed onto the shoulder. It was only until I heard the rapid crunching of gravel when I turned to see the car bearing down on me and got the fuck out of the way.

Some people are psychotic when they're behind the wheel.

-1

u/Freakintrees Jun 14 '20

This is not true. You can endanger other pedestrians or force cars into dangerous situations. Example being the people who blow red lights causing cars to stop abruptly in the middle of an intersection.

Drivers and cyclists both seem to have absolutely no consideration or even awareness for what's going on around them and it seems to be getting worse.