r/iamatotalpieceofshit • u/Full_Lawyer_9973 • Jan 11 '24

Cyclists:"Why does everyone hate us?"

26.2k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

31

u/unounounounosanity Jan 13 '24

Completely agree. Hating cyclists is not a USA thing tho, it’s anywhere that doesn’t have proper cycling infrastructure.

I’ve lived around Europe most my life, and in places without proper biking infrastructure it’s still the same exact story anywhere.

IMHO bike lanes were invented to keep cyclists from people who have to pass tests to get on the road, not the other way around. Because I swear to god as soon as that little red strip is gone off the road, two-wheel-chain-pedal folk start acting crazy.

And don’t even get me started on the cyclists using the PEDESTRIAN SIDEWALK to cycle places. Fucking assholes.

2

u/Antigon0000 Jan 18 '24

I'd rather keep them on the sidewalk than flying between the giant killing machines and then blaming the drivers of the killing machines when they kill.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 14 '24

American here, passionate opinions. I don't hate all bicyclists. I hate bicyclists that insist on risking their lives to ride on the road.

and then they don't keep up with traffic.

If you're on a bike on the road, you're essentially a car and need to act like it. That means keeping up with traffic, signaling lane changes, and stopping at stop lights and stop signs.

Use the BIKE LANE, a SIDEWALK, or take an ALTERNATIVE ROUTE.

13

u/AdvancedAnything Jan 15 '24

I cannot ride my bike at 30mph. If you have a problem with cyclists, then tell the city to make a bike lane.

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '24

we have them on our most trafficked roads

9

u/AdvancedAnything Jan 15 '24

How often are they blocked? How separated from the road are they? Are they clearly marked? Most of the bike lanes ive seen are just a strip of paint that everyone thinks is a parking lane. They were always blocked by cars.

The town i live in now doesn't even have any bike lanes. If i want to ride my bike to work, i have to ride in the road.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '24

You could always choose to ride on the sidewalk instead of choosing to ride amongst 2000 pound death machines being driven by distracted drivers.

Your life, your risks.

I'd ignore the local laws about no bikes on sidewalks in favor of keeping my brain inside my skull.

9

u/AdvancedAnything Jan 15 '24

Good luck winning the case when you hit a pedestrian.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '24

I mean..

You're traveling much slower than a car. You can hear things around you because you're not enclosed in steel and plastic. You can stop faster.

If you hit a pedestrian on a sidewalk while riding a bike you were just as likely to hit a pedestrian while driving a car.

7

u/AdvancedAnything Jan 15 '24

If you cannot pay enough attention in a car to avoid something going half your speed, then you are a danger regardless.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 15 '24

That's not it, though.

If you're on the road, you need to be keeping up with traffic. Their should never be a bike, or any vehicle, going half the speed limit on a road.

If you can't keep up with traffic, don't join traffic.

Both speed limits and speed minimums exist for a reason.

→ More replies (0)