3d ago

Cyclists don’t break traffic laws any more than drivers, says new study

cycling.today Cyclists don’t break traffic laws any more than drivers, says new study | Cycling Today

A new research found that motorists and dangerous street design — not cyclist behavior — are the primary factors that put cyclists at risk. According to the study done by University of South Florida, cyclists were in compliance with traffic laws 88 percent of the time during the day and 87 percent o...

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/15639363

Fahrrad @feddit.org

Cyclists don’t break traffic laws any more than drivers, says new stuy

cycling.today /cyclists-dont-break-traffic-laws-any-more-than-drivers-says-new-study/

77 19

You're viewing a single thread.

69 comments

I drive and cycle.
When I’m riding my bike and break traffic rules, I’m a suicidal idiot.
When I’m driving my car and break traffic rules, I’m a dangerous menace to others.
Drivers don’t get to clutch pearls when their actions directly cause death and injury to others. A cyclist riding like an idiot is like a motorcyclist without a helmet - the vast majority of the danger is on themselves.
- Sometimes breaking traffic laws is literally the safer option. The laws are written for cars not people on bikes. Me sitting in the turning lane between a bunch of massive trucks hoping people notice my bike with a flag on the back and remember I'm there when the light changes. Or I ride on the sidewalk and use the crosswalk. Technically one is legal and the other is not (depending on the local laws obviously).
  Seriously though. I got the flag after the first time a massive truck pulled up behind me. Realized they literally could forget I'm there their Field of view is so bad.
  I really don't know how they are legal. I mean I do. But they shouldn't be. Only thing that big should literally require a commercial license and a valid reason for use.
  
  they literally could forget I’m there their Field of view is so bad
  I'm a school bus driver and last year we had an incident where I was behind another bus driver and we were both waiting to turn left at an intersection. While our light was still red, a cyclist rode up on the right and came to a stop right next to the bus ahead of us. I was like "that dude is gonna get hit" and sure enough when the driver ahead of me made her left turn, her tail swing clipped the cyclist and knocked him over. I had tried to warn her but our radios don't work half the time.
  The dude was unhurt but irate and after we'd pulled over I had to stand in front of the guy and physically prevent him from climbing on her bus while he yelled. I'm also an avid cyclist and I told him it was entirely his fault for creeping up next to a school bus, which is an even worse thing to do than with most trucks because of how much bus protrudes behind the rear wheels (which causes the tail swing when turning). He of course refused to see this - he cycles around our district a lot and is one of those insane people who thinks bicycling on the wrong side of the road against traffic is a smart thing to do, even around blind turns.
  
  This honestly seems like an entirely normal, acceptable, and possibly legal thing to do. It is safer for cyclists making turns to get out ahead of traffic, so that turning traffic hasn't accelerated by the time the encounter the cyclist. And moving to the front of traffic between lanes is the same maneuver as motorcycle filtering, which is allowed in many areas as it improves both safety and traffic flow.
  Imo, fault lies on the operator of the multi-ton vehicle who went through special training to learn how to safely operate said vehicle, the government for any lack of appropriate training, the vehicle manufacturer for creating such blind spots on their vehicle, and again, the government for not recognizing these blind spots and making modifications to the vehicle to account for them.
- I cycle daily and drive once or twice week.
  When I’m riding a bike and break traffic rules, i do it carefully and slowly; knowing that those rules are made mostly to protect users from motorized speed (and mass that's unnecessarily getting even bigger with each passing year)
  When I’m driving a car, i never break traffic rules; knowing how dangerous a car is.
  having wrote that, I see bikers and e-scooters running red lights into traffic, forcing cars to stop in order not to kill them. I don't get it.
  
  I used to live in center city Philadelphia and it was very common to see cyclists sailing through red lights, not only without stopping but without even looking to see if there was cross-traffic coming. I just don't understand how they could do this without dying at incredibly high rates, given that cars there don't pay much mind to red lights either. Bike fatalities are very common in Philly, but it's usually some law-abiding cyclist in a bike lane getting flattened by a truck making a right turn.

69 comments