Quote:
Originally Posted by Deschodt
The problem I believe is that the road sharing assumption is 100% flawed... To me it's like opening a portion of the airspace to Air force jets AND handgliders, and open some popcorn...
I mean roads were created for transport of goods and people and at some point bikes were a valid and safe option but now, it's really more of a sport/recreational activity, not a necessity for actual transport. And they aren't even paying for usage honestly. If you follow that reasoning, why not have the right to play tennis or volleyball in the middle of the road too and share with everyone (and expect to be killed)?
Doesn't help that cyclists are by and large acting like *********s (please don't pretend you've never seen it happen), and drivers..... just as much so, but at least they got armor! Plenty of blame to go around. A bike is a magical device that allows its dickish user to disrespected traffic signs and rules because you know, it's TIRING to stop (wait, wasn't it exercise?)... and also to magically to turn from a vehicle into a pedestrian, in a blink of an eye. Red light ? Zip, I'm now a pedestrian on the crosswalk... If I had a penny for each cycling idiot pulling bonehead moves in a city, or acts like a $%#$% blocking the road a 20 mph with his buddies, I'd.... nothing, because drivers are $%$#%$ too... And sometimes they cannot be expected to comprehend that the bike is magical and somehow allowed to disrespect all the rules cars should follow (but also don't)...
You need bike paths, this road sharing is nonsense... Hang glider vs jets.
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Paved roads were created for cyclists.
https://www.vox.com/2015/3/19/8253035/roads-cyclists-cars-history
And I bike as part of my commute to work every single day which saves me over 3 hours of commuting time per week. Hardly recreation. And as far as pay to play, only 40% of road construction is funded by gas and license taxes in the US, never mind the fact that a bike causes almost no degradation to a road surface compared to a passenger car or a truck which destroys roads in short order.
As far as following the rules, the amount of death, injury and property damage caused by bikes vs cars amounts to a rounding error. Jaywalking is illegal too but nobody cares about that, why? Because it doesn't really matter. And if a cyclists is using the lane at 20mph then you wait until its safe to pass and then do so. The amount of hate cyclists get is unreal.