How a significant part of public opinion sees people on bikes
How a significant part of public opinion sees people on bikes
People on bikes may be rude and may not follow the rules, but can't be aggressive.
When a man with a .45 meets a man with a rifle, the man with a pistol will be a dead man.
Original stripe from the Onion: https://www.theonion.com/bum-rush-hour-1846606314
Cross-posted from: https://mastodon.uno/users/rivoluzioneurbanamobilita/statuses/113615912203015089
And when they have their own lane:
Literally me every day going solids 35km/h on the bike lane passing the cars stuck In traffic. Is delicious.
I am visiting Boston. I am looking forward to using their transit, but their biking has not left a good impression so far. In one spot, they had a bike lane symbol, but it was just on a busy street between parking and traffic with no actual lane. In another spot, there was an actual lane, but people were parking on it. And just in general, there aren't a lot of obvious places to bike around. People are making it work, but it just looks dangerous.
There’s room for a lot of improvement, and drivers hungry for parking are already fighting back against the changes we have.
Something that makes the experience much nicer is if I manage to plan out a destination that will take me along one of the community paths that are walking/bike specific. But yes, ideally you shouldn’t need to do such a thing.
Wait, this artist is serious and not mocking drivers with this opinion? Lol
Pretty sure that's the onion
Poe factor means you can't tell. (And either side may claim it and use the imagery regardless of authorial intent.
No
I was riding on a two-lane road a couple of years ago. I heard a car approaching from behind, and he went really wide into the opposite lane to pass me. This was thoughtful of him except that there was a white van coming the opposite way which had to get almost all the way over to their curb to avoid hitting the car passing me head on. The driver of the white van stuck his head out of his window and yelled at me "YOU'RE GONNA GET SOMEBODY KILLED!"
I watched someone do that (without the screaming) right in front of a cop car going the other way, to the point where the cop had to hit the brakes to avoid a collision. I had to laugh.
Naturally nothing came of it. You know, driving dangerously isn't a ticketable offense, for some reason.
German right wing party AfD had one just like this, but unironically
No what I hate about bikes besides everyone saying it doesn't happen is them not following the rules of the road
like not parking or driving in the bike lanes ? Like not speeding on every street because of the "cushion" ?
like driving without a license ? or insurance ?
oh you were whining about the human powered vehicle not the one the needs gas/coal/oil. My bad.
Every time I take my bike I'm amazed at how many car drivers don't follow (or don't know) the rules about overtaking safely.
You only get to pass me if there is plenty of space and it's absolutely safe for both of us. Just because you're in a car doesn't mean you're entitled to squeeze past and nearly run me over.
Sometimes, though rarely, they even come to a complete stop at the slow down sign.
I've lived in a city...well two major cities and I did drive. I definitely noticed a difference between conscientious cyclists and oblivious cyclists... Which if I'm being completely honest I always gave space because safety and I hope they never felt unsafe.
The lunatics are on scooters in traffic....good God man it seemed to be pure insanity.
And the same people are the loudest complainers when bike lanes are installed so this doesn't happen.
Weird that you link directly to the post of original comic, but then share a lower quality, fuzzy version.
Why not just use the image in the original post you linked to?
I think some lemmy instances use thumbnail caching.
Most assholes in cars can't be bothered to stop for twenty seconds -- like they're supposed to -- when there's an obstruction in their lane. They think there's some unwritten rule that they absolutely have to be moving no matter what's on the road in front of them.
The proper thing to do in these "squeezed by a bike" scenarios is to just let the fucking bike determine the pace for a little while, and then wait until the other lane is free and you can pass using it.
They think there’s some unwritten rule that they absolutely have to be moving no matter what’s on the road in front of them.
I've experienced that more times than I can count from cyclists on sidewalks that think that I should be expected to dodge out of their way just because they ring their little bell.
Most assholes in cars can’t be bothered to stop for twenty seconds – like they’re supposed to – when there’s an obstruction in their lane.
The problem is that this applies to assholes on bikes, too. This is not to defend asshole car drivers, but you cannot deny that quite a number of bicycle riders have a rather loose connection to the rules of the road.
Well. There are some really dumb bicyclists out there.
I have a real world example from just over an hour ago. I work overnights. I have to travel to different locations during my shift on certain nights. Tonight was one of those nights. I'm headed up to a location on a city street, 40mph speed limit, when I catch sight of a cyclist in my lane when I'm maybe 20ft from him. He's peddling for his life but only doing 12-15mph or so.
Why didn't I see him until he was that close to me? Was I playing on my phone? Tired because I work overnights? No. He is a black guy, wearing a black hoodie with black sweat pants, on a bike with no reflectors on it. Riding down a city street in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure this is the second time I've encountered this guy too (same ninja cosplay both times). The first time was at least half a year ago. Honestly I'm surprised he's still alive, or at least uncrippled to the point that he can bike.
People are insufficiently conscious of their visibility. Last night, in the dark and rain, a jogger came running full speed to cross a crosswalk from a dark wooded area between buildings who was completely wearing black. I would have hit her if it weren't for the two inches of white socks that extended above her black sneakers which allowed me to slam the brakes just a moment before.
I know it can be hard to introspect about your own visibility. My partner has pointed out to me how to be better visible when I go out on my bike. More people should think about it.
Across the board, nighttime visibility on US roads has gotten worse for drivers and cyclists alike imo.
Then you need actual bike lanes
Yea bud, except the amount of stupid drivers out there far exceeds both the amount of stupid bikers and the danger they pose. You’re just used to it because the standard of driving skill is so abyssmally low and you’re a) probably part of that group whether you like it or not and b) familiar with what to look out for while bikes might be rarer.
In all my time driving I rarely see people who aren’t way too close to the limit of their driving skill. One little mistake followed by someone else not making up for it and bam, problem.
I'm going out on a limb here. On average car drivers and cyclists are equally rubbish in traffic. After that it becomes a numbers game. I don't see any reason why the mode of transportation has any bearing on my skills in traffic.
As I told my kids when they started venturing out in traffic by themselves:
Me: expect anyone in traffic to be a moron Them (in a got ya-snicker): But that means you, too! Me: yes.
We all have bad days in traffic, regardless of how many wheels are at our disposal. Plan for it.
Probably the main point to follow this on is that bike collisions likely do happen, involving pedestrians or other cyclists. They’re aggravating and occasionally require intense treatment, but generally nowhere near as lethal as car collisions.
So, the risk factor makes a big difference. Like walking to your desk with a full cup of coffee, vs a pinless grenade.
Thank you for your insight, @[email protected]
I think most cyclists are great but there are also jackasses. when I used to have to drive to work in Houston, TX, I was coming home at night. Cyclist with no bike lights wearing all black just blew through a stop sign with a wall that ran all the way to the sidewalk. I slowed down because that intersection has poor visibility and people just yolo'd through it frequently, else i'd've hit them. I did notice one thing as they shot out: white earbuds in so also not listening to what's going on around then.
That's why your car has lights. If someone could have spray painted a garbage can black, filled it with bricks, and put it in the street, would you have smashed into it and damaged your bumper? If the answer is yes, then you were going too fast. Drivers have a responsibility to drive to the conditions. You're the one operating the deadly machinery.
Could he have benefitted from putting on reflectors? Sure, yes he could have. But that is a decision for his own benefit, it doesn't affect you. If he's an idiot, then he's only being an idiot to himself. If a car driver is an idiot, then someone else could die. That's why idiots should all be on bicycles.
Some years ago in the Netherlands, I was cycling home through a pitch black cycling path covered by trees (so not even moonlight) with my very decent bike light illuminating the path ahead of me.
Before I could even process that there was another cyclist coming towards me, a dark figure zips past so closely that I feel their jacket brush my left hand. It startled me so much that I needed to stop and catch my breath. I could only imagine what would have happened if I had hit him head on with us both going 25 km/h.
I'm curious to hear how that incident was my fault.
So you almost ran a guy over, but it’s his fault for being black?
I mean, that’s one way to live your life.
EDIT: just saw the user name. Totally ate the onion. Leaving the comment up to commemorate my shameful action.
No, as a driver you are always responsible for your actions.
However, being a driver does not absolve any cyclists of their responsibility as cyclists. In this case the issue is the lack of reflectors and lack of bike lights. That is part of the responsibilities that comes with being a biker.
Any reference to race, outside of the reflective properties of different colors that might actually be relevant in this case, are yours.
I am normally a pedestrian and I fucking hate bikes as they are silent, fast and either used by 45+ old men that never got to do Tour de France or people with barley enough control to chew gum ans breath at the same time.
Really high Poe factor. I can't tell if the cartoonist is posting this ironically or not.
I've heard enough people regard bicyclists as a menace (and feeling ashamed in the cases when I'm quiet about being a bicyclist) that this really is how we're seen.
ETA the source explains a lot. Not knowing where it came from, though, seriously high Poe.
It's a parody news site
Kelly’s artistic screeds are devoid of irony, but as the invention of Colorado-based cartoonist Ward Sutton, Kelly the character — much like Stephen Colbert’s former Comedy Central bloviator — is composed almost entirely of irony. And that joke-within-a-joke makes all the difference.
...
Sutton is a true student of old newspaper comic strips and cartoons, so what emerged was a character whose persona embodied this “man out of time” approach — a cartoonist who is himself a caricature of a blind-to-his-own-buffoonery pundit, producing old-timey cartoons that ripple with parody.
A visual stroll through the Kelly collection is like a meta-history lesson in editorial cartooning before sardonic subtlety became fashionable. Kelly’s illustrations, reflecting wading-pool deep takes on the news, are larded with labels (“today’s no-good teens,” “today’s troop haters,” “benevolent America”) that skewer the worst practitioners of the art form. Kelly sees himself as a political “king of comedy,” but in truth, he is as deluded as Robert De Niro’s bad stand-up Rupert Pupkin in Martin Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy.” He would have been painfully mediocre at best in his own era; in our era, he is laughably hackneyed.
Ben Garrison uses this style unironically, so at a glance it's hard to tell. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/ben-garrison
IMO. Bicyclists have liberal disregard for traffic laws here. But so do the following groups: pedestrians, motorcyclist, big rigs, cars.
I’ve heard enough people regard bicyclists as a menace
The point is, most aren't. But the handful of assholes are the ones that stay in the mind. Just like with car drivers.
Being introspective, I wasn't great, learning from the bike messenger sector who was adroit at aggressive driving downtown, but to be fair San Francisco has an intense, unkind traffic vibe (at least compared to Vacaville and Sacramento, when my then-girlfriend was driving from Vacaville and Sacramento to visit me every other week.
In my opinion, the best traffic community in SF was on Clement street in the commercial area (a blend of Chinese community and Russian community small businesses) in which everyone drove horribly but did so at five miles per hour, so I could be patient while a cluster sorted themselves out, and in the meantime find an opening to zip through.
Drivers in my city liberally use the bike lane as an impromptu turn lane, especially if another car is behind them even more if a bike is in the lane.
If it's California that's legally required. I know bicyclists in California are unfamiliar with the concept of laws, but that's how they work.
Yeah also the Adjuster that killed that CEO was seen leaving on a bike!1!1!1!
He also used a backpack and jacket!!!! We will outlaw those next.
Yeah, no more clothes!
Wait that would actually solve the issue of fast fashion.
ALLAHU HANDLEBARS!!!
When a man with a .45 meets a man with a rifle, the man with a pistol will be a dead man.
I won't be very sure about that. A pistol has better ADS afterall :P
Funnily, the exact opposite tends to happen to me a lot of times. With the cars just slowly closing in on me from the side.
This might be my new favorite sicko with a bicycle helmet on 🚲
I like the Onion's cartoons, but they're also often confusing. At least for this one, I get what it's trying to say, though the meta-ironic huge labels, extremely bad puns, (in this case also a rather incoherent speech bubble from the dad) make this a fun experience too. But other cartoons like https://theonion.com/stars-and-strips/ also have meaning that I don't get, or the godfather references or whatever. maybe others appreciate this complexity better. Is it because I'm too young, do they put references to old media often? The Godfather is from 1972. Also, do you think they're doing this big literalness in the dialogue and the huge labels just to make fun of cartoons and how they influence what you think about the characters? Or is there some trend in other cartoons, where some Cartoons are seen as special for being very literal?
they are parodies of right wing political comics, and in this regard, are spot on
Reminds me of my bike messenger days.
Bike needs a 'Latest fad' asterisk
The bicycle was invented in 1817. It isn't the 'Latest fad'.
It's a Kelly comic, facts aren't relevant
I must "Pick men" to be my sexual partners!
True for bicyclists and motorcyclists.
IDK.
I saw a guy on a bicycle a month ago screaming at the top of his lungs at cars behind him on the street.
FUCKING GO AROUND YOU PIECES OF SHIT!
to which the first car did and the man promptly kicked the fender and dented it. hilariously he almost fell off his bike but was able to balance it out.
not two feet away was a sidewalk with nary a person on it.
I live in a small city without bike lanes but the sidewalks are really nice(at least in that part of town).
some people have bad days, that's inside and outside the car. many times I don't trust what a bike rider is doing because of the above and it's impossible to see what they're doing. on the rarest of occasions do I know exactly what a rider is doing because they communicate intent very well.
Is it legal for bike riders to use the sidewalk in your town?
it is but pedestrians have right of way.
it's impossible to see what they're doing.
Then you better treat them as a car of which you don't know what they're doing (most of 'em), and keep a sensible distance.
I do keep a sensible distance, but when they're doing 15 on a 45 it causes a problem that requires one to go around.
I agree more bike lanes should be installed, but vindictive riders out to "prove a point" helps nobody and only serves as an example to the majority of drivers that bike riders are dangerous on the same roads as cars.
same can be said for drivers as well. many of whom should have their licenses revoked on the spot.
As a pedestrian the amount of times I've had to jump out of the way of a cyclist that was using the sidewalk instead of the bike lane, without using any kind of light, reflector, or bell to at least make themselves noticeable, is way too damn high.
It's not just that most cyclists are maniacs with complete and absolute disregard for anyone else using public spaces, it's that they often seem to actively intend to harass and possibly harm everyone else in their vicinity.
I absolutely despise cars, but cyclists..? Cyclists I've learned to fear. At least drivers are required to have a license, and face legal consequences when they misbehave.
I dream of the day all forms of wheeled vehicles, no matter the amount, will be banned from cities and any other places frequented by civilised people (unless they run on tracks; trams and trains are tolerable as long as they are electric and proper barriers are in place to prevent them from causing harm).
I have to wonder if there's something wrong with the bike lane, because I can't imagine anyone wants to cycle through pedestrians
No, the bike lanes are perfectly fine (probably due to lack of use), they would just take one or two seconds longer to get to wherever the cyclist wants to go, so any pedestrians in the straight line between there and the cyclist better watch out, because ringing the bell also costs precious time.
They've done studies with motorcycles and a big problem we need to overcome is: For some reason our brains ignore people on bikes sometimes. It sounds silly but it's a real thing I promise. I support anything anti car related, but any Bike lane shouldn't come within 50 ft of a road cars use. The mainstream trend of all cars bad lends too much ammunition to the pro car crowd. It's not pretty or satisfying but it's true. It's a nash equilibrium and there's only so much we can do.
Edit: Just putting this here for google. Working towards a car free world is going to be a ton of work. Our efforts here are focused on appeasing the car centrists. I want independent bike lanes away from heavy machinery and toxic exhaust chemicals. I want the cars we do have to use, relegated to roads where their bulk and fumes aren't affecting anyone. Picking a fight with anyone not towing the party line is stupid, and should be below this community.
"Mainstream trend of all cars bad" which mainstream is that? Because last I checked Australia, Canada, the US and the UK are all still extremely car centric. This also completely ignores the fact that it is car centrism that causes the disregard for pedestrians and people on bikes. Finland and Denmark certainly don't seem to have an abundance of poeple developing bike blindness and they have mixed traffic zones all over the place.
Your logic is pretty silly. By that same beat we must really like work and paying taxes. I dont know any 'car centrists' in my daily, but maybe you do.
No evidence for my claim, however I think a lot of the not noticing bikes while driving is just an expectations thing. People expect large metal boxes with 4+ wheels barreling down the place. They don't expect something smaller, with fewer wheels, and in some cases completely silent. Because they don't expect it, they don't process it.
What's this mean? Well, for one it means we don't simply "ignore" people on bikes. That's a facet of our limited attention and expectations. It also means this trend can be changed. If we condition people to expect and look out for bikes/motorcycles, people will probably be FAR less likely to not see them.
Having infrastructure like a bike lane can help with this. If you see a bike lane, it is reasonable to assume a bike may be using it. This can help keep you looking for bikes at intersections.
People below you just continue the circlejerk, but I'll address you directly. Yes, if we throw a ton of effort at training drivers to also use bikes, and expect this effect to hold as strong outside a study environment - it could work. People really do just ignore bikers though. Even bikers did it.
I CAN’T HELP IT UR HONOR! MY BRAIN JUST DOESN’T SEE BIKES! IT’S SIMPLE BIOLOGY REALLY!
Literally this, but unironically, and less stupid 🤣
Your honor I was suffering from car-fluenza which my highly paid personal doctor will testify is a real medical condition.
You should forget about stroads. Stroads are hell.
Separate roads for bikes and cars.
The reaosn people.ignore.bikes is because they're off in the shoulder. Ive had much more space given to me by cars when I take the lane (riding where the car's left tire runs in the road).
Bicyclests would be safer if they took motorcycle courses and learned how to ride to be seen.