Some worry that New York City’s crackdown on unsafe cyclists leaves them facing greater consequences than drivers, even though cars cause more fatalities.
Some worry that New York City’s crackdown on unsafe cyclists leaves them facing greater consequences than drivers, even though cars cause more fatalities.
Good. As someone who is all for biking and public transit infrastructure, the number of idiot cyclists running red lights in my town is entirely unacceptable, and far outnumbers the cars I see running lights. They’re going to get themselves killed, and get some innocent driver thrown in prison for their own stupid mistakes in the process.
Cyclists have an incredibly dangerous, toxic culture when it comes to ignoring traffic laws (in the US at least), and it’s really satisfying seeing them actually face the consequences of their actions for once.
motorists have an incredibly dangerous, GAS POWERED, MULTI TON WEAPON that is regularly used to harass and threaten cyclists. It would be really satisfying to see them get punished for all the anti-cyclist hate and violence.
Are you agreeing with the person you responded too, and then adding more to it? Or are you saying cars are worse, so bicycles shouldn’t have to follow any laws? I’m just a little confused on where you are going with this, because your post seems strangely aggressive when the person you responded too said very clearly that they are for biking and public transit infrastructure, things which drastically lessen reliance on cars.
singling out toxic CYCLISTS as if they’re as bad, or worse than the droves of incompetent and downright malicious vehicle drivers.
Our society has an incredibly dangerous, toxic culture where people aren’t punished for their transgressions, even when given the responsibility of a multi-ton motor vehicle.
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As a cyclist I agree. So many want to be whatever is most convenient for them at the moment. Pedestrian, vehicle, whatever, I’m sick of it too.
They put up a light specifically for the bikes. I watch bikes blow through that light far more than I’ve ever seen them stop.
This particular T intersection is pretty dangerous. The traffic from the right doesn’t ever stop unless the bike light trips. The traffic to the left only gets a red for either the bikes or traffic turning. The limit is like 50mph(~80kph) which means people are doing ~10 over that pretty regularly. The amount of bikes that get hit or nearly hit because they incorrectly assume the traffic to the right is gonna stop because the traffic to the left is stopped is insane.
Blame Google for the blurry pic…
Edit to rotate the pic to correlate better to the directions.
But there’s an obvious difference between a car running a red light and a bike running a red light. Namely, that in the second case the only bodily risk is to the miscreant.
That’s an important difference that your argument elides.
Can’t they face the consequences through DMV fines on threat of arrest instead of court appearances that just go the same way?
They could, but if it’s anything like the sheer epidemic of bikes running red lights here, I absolutely think it makes sense to send a message to curb the dangerous behavior.
Then again, if it’s actually just an excuse to harass and possibly detain immigrants as mentioned in another comment, then as usual the cops can go fuck themselves.
Such recklessness poses more danger than cars doing the same thing? Either they should both go to court or both should just have the fine.
To repeat what I said in my original comment, the sheer number of cyclists running red lights poses a serious threat to motorists. It’s inevitable that some of those idiots running the lights are going to get hit, and the motorists are going to have to deal with the consequences of the cyclists’ stupidity.
Since cyclists running red lights is a widespread, deeply-ingrained problem in North America, and one that’s much more frequent than cars running red lights, the harsher punishment is completely justified.
To break it down a simply as possible for you: yes, one car running a red light poses more danger than one cyclist running a red light, but one hundred cyclists running a red light poses an order of magnitude more danger than one car running a red light.
And for that reason, I fully support sending the cyclists to court, and only giving the motorists a ticket.
No? The cyclist is at fault.
100 people getting broken bones is better than one person dying. Not to mention how probably motor vehicle accidents are to cause a chain reaction, that cyclists’ much lower inertia means they slow down much faster, and that motorists are more likely to be distracted—by bells and whistles and passengers and whatnot. Plus the ratio was ~36:1 (~29:1 excluding non-motorcycle bicycles, i.e. bikes that aren’t e-bikes or mopeds and can’t go above 15mph), not 100:1, as of 2016. Assuming constant speed and ignoring all the not-to-mentions, the median American vehicle delivers the kinetic energy of about 13 e-bikes. That’s very little less-than-half of the 29 of the ratio.
The problem with your argument here is that you’re ignoring the fact that those 100 squishy cyclists running red lights can all get hit by cars, potentially resulting in way more than broken bones, and possibly sending the innocent drivers to jail for vehicular manslaughter.
For the third time, a large number of cyclists running red lights is demonstrably more dangerous than a small number of motorists running red lights, and the court summons is more than warranted.
Edit: Also, holy shit, if you’re right, and the number of cyclists who run red lights compared to motorists is actually 36:1, then YES send them all to court. Jesus!
Even just 29 all getting run over is a ways less likely than a single car causing a chain reaction and causing the same amount of damage.
Show me. I doubt that’s more likely than sending an innocent rider to jail.
You completely ignore my 108-word argument to the contrary.
This is such a ridiculous claim that it’s not even worth responding to.
From your other responses in this thread, it doesn’t surprise me at all that you think that.
You’ve been ignoring everything I’ve said this entire conversation, which I’ve already pointed out multiple times in this thread.
It’s clear that your biases aren’t going to allow you to see clearly in this situation, so I think I’m going to cut my losses here and disengage.
Have a good one, and be sure to stop at red lights.