• grue@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    80
    ·
    1 month ago

    Service vehicle never “have” to block the bike lane. They could simply block the general purpose lane instead.

    In other words, they are making a deliberate choice to fuck cyclists’ safety in order to prioritize convenience for car drivers.

    • frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 month ago

      Well…yes, in most areas that inconveniences 3 people vs 300. Bicyclists, despite their entire personality being geared around it, are not by default better or more valuable than people driving cars.

      • grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        18
        ·
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        What cyclists are more of, compared to people driving cars, is vulnerable, which means they’re more important to protect – by not blocking bike lanes and forcing them to mix with car traffic, for example!

        • frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 month ago

          But that’s an irrelevant point if you live, as most Americans do, in an area where nobody is biking to begin with.

          • SeekPie@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            edit-2
            1 month ago

            Do you not see cyclists because they don’t exist or you don’t see them because they use different roads than you?

            Just because most don’t doesn’t mean that no one does.

            • frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 month ago

              Again when did say it did? Good God bicycles-are-my-identity people are fucking annoying.

              However to answer your question, the main st in Cambridge has 1000 cars for every bike. There are times of day that isn’t true, but for the most part it’s accurate. There’s also 1000 pedestrians for every bike, and amazon and other drivers and bikes block them too. Bikes are probably the bigger danger due to being ridden on the sidewalk at road speeds through dense pedestrians.

      • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 month ago

        If cycling wasn’t so dangerous and given lower priority there would be many more cyclists and fewer cars. We see this wherever town planners make this change.

        Less car traffic in general is better for everyone, even the drivers. It doesn’t matter if you think that cyclists are annoying or holier than thou. It doesn’t matter what kind of people they are at all. They could all be assholes, that doesn’t change the fact that cars are bad actually.

            • frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 month ago

              But are people driving cars better and more valuable than cyclists?

              Your claim is that this is a genuine question about my beliefs and not a rhetorical question aka statement?

              Even though that claim is disingenuous on its face, the very clear answer is No.

      • grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 month ago

        Right, but that’s the point: cyclists’ safety should be a superior concern to drivers’ convenience. They aren’t equivalent, and the status-quo habit is to pick the one that causes more harm!

        • crashoverride@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 month ago

          The cyclist is also just inconvenienced, they could just get off the bike and go around and then just continue on with their day. Unlike the car, what’s their stock until the guy comes back and moves the van. The biker is less inconvenienced than the car is.

          • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            5
            ·
            edit-2
            1 month ago

            Do you actually not understand how the cyclist is endangered in this scenario? Do you actually need that explained?

            • crashoverride@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 month ago

              Dude, the cyclist is not endangered in this scenario. Let me explain since you have trouble because I guess you’re 5. Guy on bike sees truck in way, guy gets off bike, guy walks bike with other people who are also also walking on sidewalk, once guy gets past truck, guy gets back on bike, back in bike lane, back doing bike stuff, bike guy does this as many times that are needed, bike guy never has to come in any danger from big scary 2 ton metal things he don’t understand wizzing by.

              • SeekPie@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                edit-2
                1 month ago

                Why can’t the cars just pass then? Why do cyclists have to give away a lane that is made for them just so cars wouldn’t have to wait 10 seconds to pass the van?

                Do you really think that anyone riding a bike in the bike lane would come off a bike iust to avoid a stationary obstacle? Most would pass them on the road (which is what makes the van parking in the bike lane dangerous).

                • crashoverride@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  1 month ago

                  Things aren’t gonna change for cyclists so you have a choice, either use the sidewalk (safe choice)or join car traffic. Up to you. Either face reality or don’t.

                  I bike every day to work and don’t expect any vehicle to ever yield to me for anything. I either go around or , when available, use the sidewalk, and I don’t complain

                  • SeekPie@lemm.ee
                    link
                    fedilink
                    English
                    arrow-up
                    3
                    ·
                    1 month ago

                    Things can change if you complain enough to the right people. It isn’t “it is how it is so we shouldn’t do anything”. Contacting government officials or consistently reporting illegally parked vehicles might some day improve things.

                    I also bike to school every day and I do expect cars to yield when they should. If you let them go when they should’ve yielded, they ain’t going to yield to the next cyclist and might kill them. I’d rather not condition drivers into thinking that bikes will always give them priority.

              • Excrubulent@slrpnk.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                1 month ago

                When bike guy - or child, or elderly person, or wheelchair-bound person, the people who are also also walking on the sidewalk - goes around the van, how do they get around the van? Where do they go?

                You were very careful to lay out every single detail for a small child like me, but you left out that one specific detail. Why was that? Was it somehow detrimental to your point?