You’re a Cyclist Who Was Just Struck by a Car Driver. Here’s Why It Was Your Fault
You’re a Cyclist Who Was Just Struck by a Car Driver. Here’s Why It Was Your Fault
McSweeney's bringing some hard truths with this one. We could all be doing better.
You forgot to go back in time and tell people that subsidizing the oil industry might be a bad idea.
When the oil and auto industries teamed up to bend public policy to their will, making a system of roads and parking lots that now function as a continuous subsidy and magnificent symbol of the normalization of injury and pollution, you had a lot of options. You could have objected. You could have shifted public opinion. Instead, you weren’t even born yet. And, rather than go back in time, all you’ve been doing is riding to get groceries and occasionally saying, “Please stop killing us.” On the effort scale? 1/10.
I was hit on my bike while heading to college. Simply crossing a crosswalk with a stop sign and someone decided they didn't feel like stopping while I was already crossing. I now live with back pain. Drivers can't be trusted to follow traffic signs.
Yes, but I once saw a cyclist run a stop sign. These two things are obviously exactly equal, and bicycles are just as dangerous as cars. I am very smart.
Hmm.. Have we tried painting lines?... we should paint lines... let's paint lines. Problem. Solved.
That's ridiculous. LINES WONT STOP CARS! Only if they paint the ground near the edge a different colour will it be safe to cycle on roads.
In most states, riding a bicycle in a crosswalk is not legal, and you are not considered a pedestrian that cars are obligated to yield to. I was taught at a young age to dismount the bike and walk it across for this reason.
Holy shit, your country is deranged
Only 66% of drivers commit moving violations? Every instance of speeding is a moving violation, I think that number should be more like 90%.
*99%
I mean really, who doesn’t speed even a little?
In 20 years of commuting by bike I've been hit twice. Both times were from cars exiting driveway without looking. Times cars driving recklessly and nearly merging into me have happened too many times to count. Sure bikes cause accidents but it's got to be 99 cars to 1 bike.
Thank goodness this reads, at least to me, as largely satire. But then again Poe's Law is certainly a thing.
I have been hit twice by motorists/cars while road cycling, and will die on the hill that US motorists are entitled asses, too self-absorbed to care that, LEGALLY, on just about any roadway bicycles are allowed to take up one entire lane, as a full-fledged vehicle.
Drivers can piss off and cry, that the whole world isn't cars like the auto manufacturer lobby and oil magnates/giants have tried to force us all to become dependent upon and addicted to.
Well it kind of has to be satire, since it’s suggesting time travel as the shortcoming, but yeah, it is ridiculous how little care motorists pay to cycles. On the other hand, I’ve met plenty of cyclists acting just as entitled, blowing through signs and pedestrian crossing as though they have the same rights as a car, but for in situations where it’s more convenient, as though they don’t have to obey the same rules. And, of course, the situations where they are completely in the right, but so outmatched by tons of steel that being right only matters to their family in court. Operators of cars and bikes can both be distracted or make a mistake, but only one of them is likely to face life ending consequences in an interaction between the two of them.
Man, cyclists/pedestrians like that crack me up
"The law says I have right of way!"
"Not the laws of physics, so you should still look both ways and be prepared."
"REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
I've definitely run into my fair share of folks like that, and to a degree I think they infuriated me even more than just-car drivers, since they were making us cyclists look bad as a whole; giving reasons to motorists to hate us all. I totally hear you, and thank you for your thoughts that are right on, about the discrepancy in consequences
If cars don't want bicycles on car lanes, then they should build more bike lanes. shrug-emoji.
Bike lanes and sidewalks are car infrastructure that lets cars go faster.
If a car hits a pedestrian or cyclist, the car is always legally at fault. At least here in the Netherlands. Is this not the case everywhere?
That would be amazing, but unfortunately not the case in many places, including Australia where instead a bike rider that gets hit by a car gets told that it is too difficult to prove blame on the driver, even when there is clear video evidence and third part witness statements saying the the driver intentionally rammed the rider.
Don't ask me how I know...
If you want a good sense of how bad it is in the states here are two episodes of Freakomomics that do a job of exposing the issue.
"The Perfect Crime": https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-perfect-crime/ (From 2014)
Then a follow-up episode: "Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians?": https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-the-u-s-so-good-at-killing-pedestrians/ (from July 2023)
Your mistake is assuming that places like the US are as rational, practical, just, and/or civilized as the Netherlands.
Not here in the US. There's so much victim blaming. The victim always being a pedestrian. Not the asshole driving on a walk path.
not in Australia
@BorgDrone @pbrisgreat Unfortunately no. In the United States the pedestrian or cyclist can be at fault (I, thankfully, don't live in the US but I lived there for a while and I noticed the laws are skewed towards cars).
what matters most is who can afford expensive lawyers and if they cost enough; it doesn't matter whose legally at fault.
Cannot upvote this enough…
When I was riding, I actually found by night it was better to make myself as invisible as possible and assume cars could not see me, since when I went out bright and shiny they were unpredictable and more dangerous.
As a daily cyclist - and as a motorist, please don't do this. Being invisible at night on a bike is a bad idea.
I'm from a country where we have no fucking sunlight half the year, and seriously, reflectors etc are a must and we have halfway decent infrastructure for biking. So many people injure and cripple themselves or get killed, just because a driver couldn't see them. Remember, a ton of drivers are not just assholes, they're idiots. Half of them are on the phone or doing shit on their phone or focusing on anything other than driving. It's no more noble to die by an idiot than an asshole.
And this is the kind of ideas motorists (as you describe it) have to face every day🤦🤦♀️
Well the alternative is to be lit up and at the mercy of motorists who don't know how to share the street. As I said, it was more typical they'd drive erratically near me when I had lights and reflectors up than when I was shrouded.
Maybe when we automate our cars so they're not dependent on human beings, it might be safe to be near them.
lmao McSweeney's consistently knocks it out of the park.
Conveniently misses out "you ran the red light and cycled straight into fast traffic because you don't think the rules apply to you."
Man, where are people seeing all these cyclists? I have never seen a cyclist run a red light in my entire life but I have seen well over a hundred cars do the same thing.
I think I'm the only cyclist that does stop at red lights. Everyone else goes through at full speed or goes flying up onto the pavement and forces all the pedestrians to get out their way.
Personally:
I live in the SF Bay Area, home of (imo) the 2nd worst drivers in the US (after Dallas-Ft Worth).
There's also loads of cyclists. We have a lot of cyclist infrastructure (though not nearly enough).
Guess what, the ones doing the cycling are the same people as the ones doing the driving.
Bad driver in 4 wheels = bad driver in 2 wheels.
Wild. I don't live where there are too many bikers, and I see bikes blow through red lights and stop signs frequently. I've had bikes fly past me through intersections while I was stopped at a red light on my bike.
I also haven't gone a day without seeing cars doing dumber shit. Cars are definitely more consistently stupid, but there's plenty to go around for everyone.
Motorists are psychopaths.
I saw that happen once. Literately only once. I seen THOUSANDS of cars blow through light and stop signs. In fact just a few weeks ago a cop car ran past the stop sign and almost hit me. And, no, his light we're not on, he just wasn't paying attention.
You mileage may vary. In my area, I see very few motorists run red lights or stop signs, but at least half of all cyclists do it.
Maybe people wouldn't run red lights if the traffic infrastructure was designed exclusively for cars.