@energisch_@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR I wouldn't necessarily advocate this, but I know a guy here in the USA who rides his bicycle while open carrying his Glock. Cars give him a pretty wide berth.
@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR I often pretend to be recording a video with my phone, most drivers stop looking at their phones, shut weird stuff about my mother and inadvertently let me cross the street. I works every time!
@alter_unicorn@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR I have a cheap flashlight with a strobe function. Works very well. And if the driver does not stop I get frightened and drop the flashlight violently towards the car.
@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR I've made drivers have to skid to a stop because I walk at a crosswalk. I don't care if the driver isn't planning on stopping. They will stop one way or another. Of course I have a death wish, though.
@jay_chi@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR
I don't disregard stop lights or stop signs. I also don't sit around waiting for imaginary cars. If I assess that there are no cars coming or that they are far enough away that they won't get near me before I clear the intersection, then I go. If you are jealous because you have to wait, buy a bicycle.
@KawaTora thanks for a response that wasn't ad homonym nor knee jerk nor self-righteous bicycle Nazi. (I love pissing them off with their little closed minds, as they age or their bodies start to fail, they might realize that cars are not all Satan-wagons)
Unfortunately, the behavior that you describe is still choosing to disobey laws when not under an immediate threat of personal injury. Is that moral?
@jay_chi@KawaTora
"as they age or their bodies start to fail, they might realize that cars are not all Satan-wagons"
The idea that bicycles or footpaths are intrinsically less accessible than cars is laughable. Driving requires quick reaction times, good day and night eye sight, a stable mind and the ability to pay close attention for long periods of time. Driving requires that you are well rested, sober, and fully alert. You need good spatial awareness so you can gauge your distance from things you can't see. You need to be able to remember and recall a complex and ever changing set of safety critical rules.
After all that you need a good income to afford the keep up on a car (surviving on the disability and age pension is hard enough without a car taking 30% of it)
You're much more likely to age in to being unable to drive than to be unable to bicycle or use a footpath.
@jessta@jay_chi
Good point. I live in Japan and it's common to see people in their 80s and 90s riding bicycles here. It would be terrifying if they all drove cars.
@KawaTora@jessta@jay_chi That reminds me of an interview I read with an Italian former bicycle racer who was still riding centuries at 98. The interviewer was like, "isn't it hard on your body to ride that much?" and he was like "you don't understand, cycling is regenerative, I think the only reason I can still walk is because I still ride centuries"
The health benefits of cycling statistically add years to your life, even factoring in the risk of crashes.
@jay_chi@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR
Cars are a mistake. They move too fast and they are too heavy. Humans can't process enough information or react to the input fast enough at speeds much faster than we can naturally sprint. Horses have their own instincts and will try to avoid injury. Having them pull us worked for thousands of years. Just because you can build something doesn't make it a good idea. Fuck Cars. As to the moral and legal implications, again, Fuck Cars. If there were no 6000 pound motorized living room sets being used by lazy entitled apes on the road, we wouldn't need stop signs or lights. Go inside of a mall where thousands of people move through intersecting hallways and see how smoothly it works. Even if a few people bump into each other, no one gets seriously hurt. Also, I am not required to study or know any laws or get any permission from the state to walk or ride a bike. I don't have to know how to read or even have the ability to see. Why should I be required to stop for signs or signals that are intended for drivers? The sign is there to stop drivers who are exercising a privilege which the state has the ability to limit and restrict. I have a right to travel under my own power without permission or restriction, unlike a driver. #FuckCars
@jay_chi@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR before there were cars, there were no red lights. The red lights got invented because of motorized traffic. Why should bicyclists respect a system which was invented for some completely separate problem: car infestation
@gunstick@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR people may want to read up on the history of railroads before claiming that a light signaling system that they don't wish to obey of was invented for a transportation mode that that they disapprove of.
@jay_chi@jamesglave@VisionZeroYVR So you’re victim blaming, when overwhelmingly, altercations with cyclists end in disaster for the cyclist, not the other party (who is overwhelmingly a motorist)?
edit: thank you activitypub this message has gotten me 32 /likes thus far
@reinhilde@jay_chi@VisionZeroYVR@jamesglave Yup. And not only that, but stopping at red lights and stop signs for cyclists can be far more dangerous than running them because people driving around while on their phones have a habit of crushing waiting cyclists from behind.
Just because they don't follow rules designed for cars doesn't mean they're being reckless. If people didn't have such little regard for the lives of cyclists, maybe we wouldn't have to operate our legal, 2-wheeled road vehicles so defensively.
@PacificNic@reinhilde@jay_chi@VisionZeroYVR@jamesglave Not as dangerous as crossing at a red light IMO. You should respect the road code whether in a car, on a bike or on foot!
There's plenty of idiots who drive and there are also plenty of good drivers who respect cyclists. Similarly there's lots of cyclists who respect the rules and there are those who don't know how to ride a bike.
Blaming one part or the other doesn't solve problems unfortunately.
Also the grab a brick idea is dangerous. I suspect it would cause way more accidents than it prevents
@nicolaromano@jamesglave Why do you suspect that’s more dangerous? From your car or trying to cross the street? I know from experience that if a driver gets a warning by a pedestrian who wants to cross, he stops the next time - without a warning. I once stood at a zebra waiting for cars that refused to stop. I didn't have a brick, but I did have my voice. So I shouted very loud and the next car stopped. Scream, brick, a psychological effect. Pedestrian is seen and safe, driver is more alert.
@suzantepas@jamesglave If I were in a car and saw someone waving a brick I would probably be scared and might break all of a sudden, which might be dangerous for those behind me. Also, if I saw someone waving bricks at cars I would probably call the police, which is probably not the desired outcome here. I think we should educate people more (everyone, motorists, cyclists and pedestrians alike) on how to behave on the road.
@nicolaromano@jamesglave Thank you.
The thing is, would you be scared if you were in a car and saw someone trying to cross the street, almost getting hit? I think you're getting into the seat of the driver too easily, and 'to educate people more' has not helped with most car drivers. Because when one of them doesn't stop, the next doesn't. They're not acting like individuals, they're acting like car drivers. Pedestrians don't need 'education', that's fake 'both sides'. Pedestrians need safety.
@suzantepas@jamesglave Sure I would be scared, but if I see someone trying to cross and I am driving I stop and let them pass. However, I still don't think that "throw something at the ass driver" strategy is very good.
I think we need to be fair though; I have seen plenty of people crossing the road, maybe at a red light, whilst looking at their phone, or listening to music or both, and not paying the slightest attention to what is happening on the road. Sure, cars should stop, but sometimes it might not be safe to do so, or maybe simply you don't expect someone crossing the road when the light is red. There are many different situations and generalisation is always problematic.
Similarly, I see plenty of cyclists going out at night with no lights/no reflective clothing/no helmet. Sure, cars should be more careful when driving in the dark, but you should not go out at night without lights either.
As I said, there are plenty of car drivers who do not behave properly, and there are plenty of cyclists and pedestrians who also don't. I am just saying that education is important and a much better solution than trying to scare other people off.
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