this post was submitted on 26 May 2024
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How so?
Most places are not set up for bikes. Bike lanes are largely an afterthought, placed between traffic and parking, making an accident all but inevitable.
You can basically run over a cyclist and kill them with few to no repercussions, because we just don't have enough safeguards in place to protect cyclists from drivers driving off, never to be heard of again.
The vast majority of the US is not cyclist friendly, it's a hazard.
Edited to add: Here's a simple basic proposition. With curbs each between cars / bikes / pedestrians.
Precisely. Visit the Netherlands and compare to the US and you'll know what I mean.
That's cute that your area of the US has a parking zone to divide the main road from the bike lane.
In most places I've lived in the US, they simply paint a bike symbol on the shoulder of a 50mph road and call it a bike lane. You're only inches from people driving like they are on a raceway. It's a suicide lane if you ask me and I refuse to use them. It should be illegal to call such a shitty and dangerous area of the road a "bike lane".
I drew this as a suggestion. Virtually nowhere has this setup, and that's my point.
i.e. you're agreeing with me that cycling is dangerous in the US.
I did misread the comment. But tbf I have very rarely seen an actual divided bike lane in the US. Yes, I agree that it's primarily dangerous and stupid as fuck the way it generally works here.
I think if you go on a road without a bike lane that makes you dumb, it doesn't mean biking in an entire country is dangerous. The sidewalks here are big for a reason.
It's illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in every US state I've been to, so your sidewalk point doesn't apply to most cyclists in the US.
Many states laws force bikes to ride in traffic with other vehicles, even if there is no bike lane. I wouldn't call those people stupid for doing so.
According to this there are only 3 maybe 4 states that don't allow riding your bike on the sidewalk. Just a reminder there are a total of 50 states in the US. ~~Ignorance is a funny thing.~~
To be fair, I did not realize the laws around this were so obtuse and vary so much, and I appreciate the source.
Your own source mentions that the laws vary from city to city within the states, so I think it is still much more widely enforced than you are led to believe. I live in one of the states where it says it is completely legal in your source, yet I know that my city cops write tickets for riding on the sidewalk here.
Fair enough. Everywhere I've lived I ride my bike everywhere and most places I've visited in the country I would rent a bike and never had any problems, so I was very surprised to see people claim the complete opposite of my personal experiences. But it's a massive country and I can see how other people could have different anecdotal experiences than my own.
Thanks for this. I often get downvoted in online conversations when I mention that I bike on the sidewalk. People claim that it's illegal everywhere or that I'm out here mowing down pedestrians or something. This is the US we're talking here...outside of major urban areas, there are really hardly ever that many people on the sidewalk. It's not hard to give pedestrians space while cycling on the sidewalk unless you're in an urban area. I'm sure as hell not needlessly risking my life in some dangerously suicidal excuse for a "bike lane" here in the US. Painting a bike symbol on the shoulder of a 50mph road and calling it a "bike lane" is ridiculous.
It's legal to ride on the road, and often either required, or the sidewalk is terribly designed to permit cycling.
Not to mention, you're blaming the victims of car wrecks. This is how car-centric the US is, where we blame the cyclist piloting a 30 lb machine, not the driver piloting a 2000 lb machine.
If you stay on the sidewalk and look both ways before crossing the street, there are no risks of a car wreck.
You're forgetting about the humans in cars (again, we're so car-centric in our thinking, we often only consider what's outside the car).
Additionally...
No human is a good driver. Not a single one. Even top Formula 1, NASCAR, or the super fast off-road drivers. Because human evolution hasn't caught up to the advances of how a car can perform.
Traveling 30+ mph [48 kph] is not something humans are evolved to do well. Our visual acquisition, muscle response, and even the way our organs slosh about in our body do not equate to good driving capability. We aren't a Peregrine Falcon, or any other bird that is better at moving faster.
Globally, 3700 people die every day to car wrecks. That's 2.5 every minute. And yeah, we're trying to mitigate that with better in-car tech, but fewer cars on the road would help mitigate that even faster.
Don't blame the cyclist. The onus of responsibility is on the drivers, since they're the faster vehicle.
Edited to add: Here's a simple basic proposition. With curbs each between cars / bikes / pedestrians.
You just spelled out why it's safer to stay on the sidewalks than I ever could have.
Sidewalks are terrible. We need designated bike infrastructure.
And fewer cars.
Edited to add: Here's a simple basic proposition. With curbs each between cars / bikes / pedestrians.
But still safer than roads. Which was my point.
You're probably not familiar with cycling friendly cities, so I'll cut you some slack. Bicyclists absolutely have the right to ride in street lanes, and take up the entire lane. They usually cut between cars, because it's safer for them or quicker for everyone. Riding on the sidewalk is a terrible idea, because if you're doing 20 miles per hour on a bike, cars may not see you when they decide to turn left. It's also illegal in most cities.
Actually it's the opposite. Some cities, like NYC, prohibit cycling on the sidewalk but most places, it's perfectly legal. Either way that's a distraction. My only point was that someone saying "it's dangerous to ride your bike in the US" is ignorant.
Have you ever honestly ridden your bicycle to work? How many cities have you lived in? I've lived in seven different cities here, and only two of them are even remotely safe to bike in.
Various cities in metro Detroit area and Phoenix/Tempe I would ride my bike to work, school and anywhere else I had to go except for the grocery store until I was 25. I've also ridden a bike around a handful of cities I've visited, not Chicago or NYC though.
It IS dangerous to ride your bike in the US, because we are so car-centric, that we don't have good and effective infrastructure for cars, cyclists, and pedestrians in proximity to one another.
Edited to add: Here's a simple basic proposition. With curbs each between cars / bikes / pedestrians.
Riding your bike on the sidewalk has the same safety rules as walking. If you follow them, you'll be fine.
And if the driver sucks? Why is the safety of the cyclist only the responsibility of the cyclist?
Edited to add: Here's a simple basic proposition. With curbs each between cars / bikes / pedestrians.
THANK YOU!
Keep the fucking bicycles off the road and on the sidewalk!
Most sidewalks aren't properly designed to accommodate cycling in an efficient and safe manner for all who would use them.
Let's not blame the cyclist for getting hit by a car, and instead build proper infrastructure so cars / cyclists / pedestrians all have their own path. Everywhere.
Edited to add: Here's a simple basic proposition. With curbs each between cars / bikes / pedestrians.
Bicycles are much harder to see than other cars while on the road. It's safer for bicyclers to stay on the sidewalk and look both ways before crossing any street, unless there is a bike lane.
Which is why we need infrastructure for bicycles. And we are terrible at providing that infrastructure, which is why the US is terrible to be a cyclist.
Sidewalks aren't even safer, because of that very mention of visibility. Cars don't see a bike while they pull out from a lot or driveway, and can easily hit the cyclist, and then blame the cyclist, and they get away with great bodily harm or murder.
We need better infrastructure for bicycles. And stop thinking with such car-centric attitudes. Because right now, all I'm getting are responses talking about how it's the cyclist's responsibility to not get hit, and that's blaming the victim, again.
Think outside the box [car], dammit.
Edited to add: Here's a simple basic proposition. With curbs each between cars / bikes / pedestrians.