this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2024
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[–] [email protected] 134 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Cyclists, some people just see red when they came across cyclist at the road.

[–] [email protected] 68 points 8 months ago

Cycle infrastructure, even.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee 40 points 8 months ago (2 children)

There's really no winning as a cyclist when most people are in cars. If you stop at all stop signs, and obey they right-of-way, people will yell at you and/or try to wave you through ahead of your turn dangerously. If you do an Idaho stop (which is the safest way to approach a stop, whether it's legal or not), people will honk and yell at you and possibly try to run you off the road.

I used to commute by bike a lot during rush hour. If there was a lineup of cars waiting at a red-light, and I just waited in line, people in cars behind me would honk at me as if me preventing them from being one cars-length further ahead in line would somehow affect them. If I filtered forward, like I should, people would actually edge their cars over to try and block me.

I think for the most part, it's misplaced anger from drivers who don't want to face the fact that they are the source of danger on roads. The worst bicycle collision is way less severe than a car crash. They also really hate when bicyclists can get anywhere faster than them, which is often the case because it shows them just how much time they waste being traffic.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] evasive_chimpanzee 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If you are on a bike, you treat stop signs as yields, and red lights as stop signs. Iit has been shown to be safer.

[–] Crisps 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

If it were codified like this as law everywhere, people would accept it better. The rule breaking is what pisses a lot of people off. It would be much more predictable and safer too.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee 1 points 8 months ago

Yeah, the government needs to get behind it (and tell people about it). I've come up to stop signs before, and been nearly run over from behind by cars that didn't expect me to stop.

[–] mods_are_assholes 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I have literally never seen this hypothetical 'rules following' cyclists, but I do have several dings on my car from cyclist's lane splitting in traffic, which is illegal in our state.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You know, I was actually curious about the legality of lane splitting. I've never really done it cause I never bike on roads with more than one lane in each direction. I looked it up state-by-state (all 50), looking only at the actual law, or official state department of transportation documents.

I did not see a single law that prohibits bicycles from lane splitting. Most states that have laws against lane splitting specify that it applies to "motorcycles". Most states are literally just copy-pasted from each other.

Another good chunk of states say that "vehicles" can't lane split, but the official legal definition (which I checked for each state) specifically excludes human-powered devices like bikes from being called "vehicles". In those states, e-bikes and other motorized bicycles would not be allowed to lane split.

One state (virginia) even goes so far to have a law that explicitly states that lane splitting is legal on bikes.

None of that means that you won't get harassed by cops, but it's at least fair to say that there is no state where lane splitting on a regular bicycle is illegal.

[–] mods_are_assholes 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

if you can get a dui on a bike it is a vehicle, there is no exemption for bike-type vehicles on lane splitting. There ARE exemptions for lane splitting on motorcycles in stupid places like California.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee 1 points 8 months ago

I literally just looked it up for every state. I found no state with a law against lane splitting for bicycles. It's legal in every state.

[–] LemmyIsFantastic 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Ignoring the impact (death for the cycler), I've seen plenty of asshole bikers who deserve a good yelling at and 100% deserve the hate.

What they don't deserve is getting run over.

[–] force 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I've seen FAR more asshole drivers than asshole cyclists. It's just a majority of drivers have a bias in their head against modes of transport that aren't cars, they see it as abnormal, so they're much quicker to stereotype the groups than they are to stereotype "drivers", which they, themselves, are a part of.

[–] LemmyIsFantastic 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yeah. Turns out there are a ton of cars, not a ton of bikes.

The rest is just made up in your head.

[–] force 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Lol not in Amsterdam and many other cities. And even outside of those cities, there are a higher % of drivers which are assholes than cyclists which are assholes. You are just an irrational person, there is absolutely no world where more cyclers act like shit in traffic than drivers, proportionally. The average driver absolutely acts like a baby compared to the average cyclist...

[–] adam_y 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

But not the cyclist as the cycle right through it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Classic, I'm guilty of this. The best part about cycling in my small city is squeezing into the gaps and not waiting around in the wind for the lights to cycle.

[–] residentmarchant -5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I see it as my reward for biking instead of driving to be both a pedestrian when I want (go through red lights when traffic is clear on safe streets) and a car when I want (take a lane to get around a delivery truck)

That and getting places faster!

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Congratulations, you're one of the dickheads giving cyclists a bad name.

[–] residentmarchant 3 points 8 months ago

Studies show all the things I do actually make it safer for me as a biker. Example: https://www.vox.com/2014/5/9/5691098/why-cyclists-should-be-able-to-roll-through-stop-signs-and-ride

When you are riding in and around drivers in 2 ton machines because your city doesn't have proper bike infrastructure, you take every single opportunity to avoid them. Call me a "bad cyclist" but I'm going to prioritize my safety over a law or someone's bad driving any day.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Except Berliner cyclists. They scare me.