8 ms·
If you read the comments on any reel/post about cycling on Instagram, you really get a sense of how many people actually think about cyclists. I've seen comment
by kpennell 3y ago
If you read the comments on any reel/post about cycling on Instagram, you really get a sense of how many people actually think about cyclists. I've seen comments like 'cyclists are subhuman' or other ones gets thousands and thousands of favorites. People really are in a hurry now and cyclists are just something to barely dodge for many of them. And even when cyclists get hit/killed, 25% of the time the driver doesn't stop. Cyclists (in many place) are basically sacrificing their lives to try to help build critical mass for what should be a more standard way of getting around.
Cycling is more pro-social, better for the environment, takes up less space on the roads and for parking, and also helps against the obesity crisis. It should not be so dangerous in so many places.
- TechBro8615 3y agoI hate cyclists when I'm in a car. I hate cars when I'm cycling. And I hate pedestrians when I'm walking, cycling or driving.
- ryukoposting 3y agoIncidentally, I also hate cars while I'm in a car.
- renewiltord 3y agoI don't know, man. My experience in the Bay Area is that most people are trying to make the best of what they're in and they're usually kind. Cars will make room for me to lane split, other drivers will get out of the merge lane to make room, and cyclists and pedestrians are usually doing the right thing. Overall, I'd say I like my fellow road users. They're kind to me generally and I try to do my best to them.
- bryanlarsen 3y agoDo you really hate pedestrians when walking? My experience is more like this oatmeal cartoon: https://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences/cutting_off https://theoatmeal.com/pl/minor_differences/cutting_off
- johnnyanmac 3y agoUnfortunately my experience is a bit more like a certain, crass, Boondocks clip than that comic.
- steve_mcdougall 3y ago[dead]
- AceJohnny2 3y ago> to help build critical mass... I don't know if you did that in purpose, but Critical Mass is the name of the San Francisco cyclist advocacy group https://www.sfcriticalmass.org https://www.sfcriticalmass.org
- kpennell 3y agoyep :) love critical mass and the various bike parties (offshoot of CM). Related: https://www.harvard.com/book/two_wheels_good/ https://www.harvard.com/book/two_wheels_good/ This book is such an amazing read for anyone into cycling.
- bifrost 3y agoThat group is terrible. Routinely f'ed up my ability to get home as a teenager. The SF Bicycle Coalition are even worse though, especially because they're funded by tax dollars.
- flopsamjetsam 3y agoAlso all through Australia!
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoMy own experience with Critical Mass in several cities in Europe has left me with mixed feelings. It’s one thing for a few cyclists in the stream to stand at an intersection and block traffic until the whole stream of hundreds of bikes has passed. But I have repeatedly seen cyclists not only block a car from passing the intersection, but begin thumping on its hood and shouting insults – and not because the car is trying to proceed, but because the cyclists are high on some sense of tribal unity. This does not boost public sympathy for cyclists, which is supposedly why we are all riding together in the first place. The problem is perhaps that Critical Mass is a free-for-all where participants don’t have to participate in any initial orientation and be told “Please don’t be a jerk”. Any time human beings come together in big groups, that is a necessity, and cyclists are no exception.
- kpennell 3y ago
- whalesalad 3y agoThe problem is all the rapha weekend warriors blocking roads. I’m a cyclist and a car enthusiast and so I straddle the line between both groups. Obviously cyclists are the underdog here but they aren’t all angels.
- rpearl 3y ago*using roads
- whalesalad 3y agoI ride in the road. I occupy a full lane. I use my u-lock to dent body panels when needed. There’s still a way to coexist with cars and a way to be an obnoxious rider.
- Gigachad 3y agoOccupying the full lane is the suggested way to ride for your safety. Drivers will attempt to kill you if you ride on the side by running you in to the gutter to perform an unsafe overtake.
- Gigachad 3y agoSo the thousands of uber eats drivers blocking the roads to transport a sandwich are a non issue, but a tiny number of people using the roads to go somewhere on the weekend are?
- TinyRick 3y agoFalse dichotomy fallacy.
- snappy173 3y agoNo, that’s not actually “the problem”
- whalesalad 3y ago
- veave 3y ago[flagged]
- UncleOxidant 3y agoThere was a post on our local NextDoor a few years back where a woman cyclist was asking if anyone had seen the car that struck her while she was cycling on one of the main drags in town. She was injured and wanted to get info for a police report and insurance info. The comments were so awful that I quit NextDoor. Most of them were blaming her because she was biking - they hadn't seen anything, they just assumed that the person biking must've been at fault. I remember one said something to the effect of "You cyclists are slowing us all down! Stay off the road!". Made me realize that I live in proximity to a bunch of shitty human beings and I guess I would have preferred to stay in the "ignorance is bliss" stage of not knowing.
- FridgeSeal 3y agoI remember being told something about how the pane of glass of a windscreen/display/etc has an interesting psychological effect on humans, where sort of dissociates us from the reality of the moment. I don’t know the extent, or how true it is in reality, but from my experience as a cyclist, dealing with drivers, I’d definitely believe it. Get someone out of the car and you can watch the patina of confidence and self-righteousness slide off in real time.
- georgeplusplus 3y agoMuch like the internet.
- wredue 3y ago[flagged]
- nimbleplum40 3y agoWhen you say “cyclist friendly” do you mean “fully physically protected bike lanes”? Lots of cities paint on bike lanes (often in the door zone of parked cars…) then people are confused when cyclists often don’t use them. But if they aren’t safe or are always obstructed by parked cars, it’s really not that helpful…
- wredue 3y agoA lane of road was taken away in order to move things around and put in fully physically protected bike lanes. Then the cyclists proceeded to use only the single remaining lane. The arrogance of cyclists is truly awe inspiring. Convince a city to spend multiple hundreds of millions on rebuilding infrastructure only to not only not use it, but actively and arrogantly NOT use it just to be the arrogant pricks that they have the image of. I use to defend cyclists until that particular failure of a project. They worked overtime to ensure that the stereotype was no longer just a stereotype. Very badly, it was actually a double failure. Due to traffic being restricted to fewer lanes, sitting there in idle increased drastically, actually making the bike lane infrastructure actively worse for the environment. This giving climate change denialists ammo for their handicapped idiotic propaganda.
- nimbleplum40 3y agoCyclists had a fully-protect lane free of cars and decided to ride in the middle of a lane filled with idling cars? I'm not sure where you live, but that's just not the behavior I've seen anywhere else...
- wredue 3y agoI see it consistently everywhere that I’ve ever driven that has protected lanes. Several cities have opted to remove their protected bike lanes for exactly the same reasons. Cyclists just don’t use them.
- dools 3y ago> I've seen comments like 'cyclists are subhuman' I predict a large overlap between those people and the people cheering on vigilante violence against Just Stop Oil protesters.
- georgeplusplus 3y agoAh yes, those people. Ironic how you replied to a comment about a group of people being subhuman with pointing out that the opposing group is in fact the subhuman group. Very mature.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]