Kalamazoo Five

[Asmodean]

I wish more major streets had bike lanes for the cyclists' safety and my sanity.

These help too sometimes:

^
The mark of Satan Himself.

Worse; The Holy-Divine Mark of His Grumpiness' Own Personal Motorway. 

[jumbojak]

I find "cyclists" infuriating most of the time, for reasons well laid out by Asmo above; failing to stop at stop signs and redlights, failing to signal - especially when turning left off the road as there's no way to know that the person you're about to pass is going to veer right in front of you, failure to yield the right of way. Sure, there are cyclists who follow the rules of the road. Then... there are the ones who stop traffic to let thirty or more cyclists onto a road (this is often done by someone who is not in any way affiliated with the police) and then bunch up making it impossible to get around. They ride three, sometimes four, wide keeping up a running conversation with each other and are left completely oblivious to what's going on around them. When they stop in town they lean their bicycles against parked cars to go into stores. Sadly, this sort of cyclist seems to be the norm in my area.

Then you have the people who ride a bike but are not what I would consider a cyclist. I have noticed that those who depend on their bike to get back and forth to work etc. tend to be more observant of traffic laws than people driving cars. It could be due to them spending a lot more time riding their bike than the average cyclist, and perhaps being more aware of just how dangerous a position they could find themselves in should they not be careful.

I came scarily close to hitting a cyclist just a few weeks ago. He ran a stop sign cutting across traffic into a busy road. He never looked or slowed down. He could have easily been killed and I know cyclists who think that riding that way is perfectly acceptable. That drivers are ultimagely responsible for anything that might happen to them and they do not have to obey traffic laws. It's almost unimaginably stupid of them, but that's the way they feel and if I did hit someone causing serious injury or death, regardless of whether they were at fault or not, I'm not sure how well I would sleep at night. That's what really makes me angry.

[Tank]

Over the last 9 months I have been driving between Leeds and Bradford. They are building 'Cycle super highways'. So there are these lovely cycleways on each side of the road. They have narrowed the roadway. There are some brain dead moron cyclists that still ride on the road, not on the cycleway!!! WTF!!!

[Siz]

Over the last 9 months I have been driving between Leeds and Bradford. They are building 'Cycle super highways'. So there are these lovely cycleways on each side of the road. They have narrowed the roadway. There are some brain dead moron cyclists that still ride on the road, not on the cycleway!!! WTF!!!

There is a good reason for that. Often when roadways are swept (or by the natural movement of small debris) all the glass and other punctureous detritus end up on the cycle path. To maintain a safe, cycle-friendly route the councils should make provision to actively maintain (i.e sweep) the cycle paths. This, apparently, is not in the budget and the roadway, often having been made narrower, becomes a lesser evil for the cyclist. The fact the cyclist does choose to use the road instead should tell you something about the quality of the provision of the cycleway.

[Claireliontamer]

Over the last 9 months I have been driving between Leeds and Bradford. They are building 'Cycle super highways'. So there are these lovely cycleways on each side of the road. They have narrowed the roadway. There are some brain dead moron cyclists that still ride on the road, not on the cycleway!!! WTF!!!

There is a good reason for that. Often when roadways are swept (or by the natural movement of small debris) all the glass and other punctureous detritus end up on the cycle path. To maintain a safe, cycle-friendly route the councils should make provision to actively maintain (i.e sweep) the cycle paths. This, apparently, is not in the budget and the roadway, often having been made narrower, becomes a lesser evil for the cyclist. The fact the cyclist does choose to use the road instead should tell you something about the quality of the provision of the cycleway.

Absolutely Siz!

That thing (I won't even call it a cycle lane) in Leeds is a death trap for cyclists.  It was so ill-thought out in the design process and the biggest waste of money, the real 'brain dead morons' are those who have been championing it.  A friend of mine is chair of the cycling campaign group in Leeds and they were consulted when the money was announced for it but the planners ignored all their suggestions, mainly due to political pressure from Leeds council.  It is built in the wrong place for a start, there is already a much safer route for cyclists from Leeds-Bradford along the canal, well away from cars that could have been improved for a fraction of the price and would actually have encouraged more people to cycle.  But after the Tour de France publicity the council wanted to be seen to be doing something in a more public area so went even more steam ahead for the highway mess.
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The junctions on the death trap in particular are a real mess.  It is now even more dangerous than ever for cyclists and you find them leaving the highway to go on the road for a safer route around the junctions.  Then there's the fact it is level with the road and parking isn't' enforced so it has ended up in places as a glorified car park.

There's a guy who has a much more informed blog, complete with photos and diagrams https://departmentfortransport.wordpress.com/2014/07/18/leeds-and-bradford-cycle-superhighway-confused-you-will-be/

To encourage more people on to cycles, you really have to work on the fear factor and make it genuinely safer for cyclists.  Cities across Europe do get it right but it needs a complete change in culture.  There should be no need in the UK on our densely packed island for people to have to rely on cars every day.  Personally I'd love to see the day where most households don't even own a car but maybe just rent one for the occasional use.  Leeds actually gets a lot of this right in terms of public transport and there is actually a fantastic bus service between Leeds and Bradford so people shouldn't need to drive every day along that route.  The problem is there's little joined up thinking on how to best get people to the bus interchanges from the outskirts of the city and stupidly they don't allow (or make space for) people to cycle to the bus and split the journey up that way.   

I recently visited Oxford for work and they are further on track for getting it right.  The number of cycles is amazing and there are bikes parked everywhere, there is a real cycling culture and the more people who do take to bikes the more pressure there is on the law makers to make it safer. 


ETA: photo from a friend's twitter of the 'cycle superhighway':



see....the lovely line of cars?  Yep, that's the superhighway!

[Bad Penny II]

I'm not writing this feeling particularly ranty and pious, maybe I should use a pleasant blue font? 

I think the psychology of this is quite interesting.
I've heard anticyclists venting their bile so often and their arguments are almost all demonstrably rubbish.
So what is going on with them?

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jul/01/sabotage-and-hatred-what-have-people-got-against-cyclists

"What you see in discourses about cycling is the absolute classic 1960s and 1970s social psychology of prejudice," he explains. "It's exactly those things that used to be done about minority ethnic groups and so on – the overgeneralisation of negative traits, under-representation of negative behaviours by one's own group, that kind of thing. It's just textbook prejudiced behaviour."

If you do feel the hate and you value rational consistency, I humbly suggest you examine your motives.
Not Asmo of course, his philosophy isn't pretty but it is at least more or less consistent.

brain dead moron cyclists that still ride on the road, not on the cycleway!!! WTF!!!

Sometimes I encounter herds of cyclists,

Would those be a cases of dehumanizing by any chance?

if I did hit someone causing serious injury or death, regardless of whether they were at fault or not, I'm not sure how well I would sleep at night. That's what really makes me angry.

I think the complaints about delay are petty. That above sounds defensible, even if it's a financial/legal fear. 
While playing the amateur psychologist I'll toss that rationalisation word in, it was always one of my favourites.

I saw a Goofy cartoon when I was very young, amiable Goofey gets into his car and experiences a Mr Hyde like transformation.  I think this happens to many people to some degree, I'm not sure how this ties in but it's not conducive to caring and sharing.

[jumbojak]

if I did hit someone causing serious injury or death, regardless of whether they were at fault or not, I'm not sure how well I would sleep at night. That's what really makes me angry.

I think the complaints about delay are petty. That above sounds defensible, even if it's a financial/legal fear.

That above is not the least bit financial or legal. It's referring to how I would deal with having been driving the vehicle that killed someone. Also, the issue of delay is hardly petty. If I or someone else has there job put at risk so a group of cyclists can enjoy their day off and block the roads while doing so it is a very real concern.  How would you react to an employee who was late because they had to spend twenty minutes (or more) getting around a mob of cyclists?

[Asmodean]

Not Asmo of course, his philosophy isn't pretty but it is at least more or less consistent.

Well, yes, He's perfect in His live-and-let-die world view. Finally some recognition of the fact!

Thing is, I'm not anti-cyclist or, for that matter, pro-might-makes-right. Alhough, even if it doesn't necesserilly "make right", might, when barreling towards you in the form of an overloaded big rig, can make you dead. And being a small and squishy thing, you have some responsibilities in regard to your own survival. Why else would young children be taught to look both ways before crossing a road, even on a zebra crossing? (A thing they seem to forget, by the way, the instant they turn into teenagers and evolve smart phones and massive sound banks around their ears)

[Ali]

Well, my irritation about someone going below the speed of traffic in front of me may be petty, but it's not coming from a place that is particularly anticyclist. I feel the same or more irritation when someone in a car is driving very slowly in front of me as well. Actually that's probably worse; at least with the cyclist I understand that humans typically can't ride as fast as cars can drive. So I may well be Mr Hyde behind the wheel, but I'm an equal opportunity Mr Hyde. If everyone could just GTF out of my way all the time, that would be super.

[Bad Penny II]

if I did hit someone causing serious injury or death, regardless of whether they were at fault or not, I'm not sure how well I would sleep at night. That's what really makes me angry.

I think the complaints about delay are petty. That above sounds defensible, even if it's a financial/legal fear.

That above is not the least bit financial or legal. It's referring to how I would deal with having been driving the vehicle that killed someone. Also, the issue of delay is hardly petty. If I or someone else has there job put at risk so a group of cyclists can enjoy their day off and block the roads while doing so it is a very real concern.  How would you react to an employee who was late because they had to spend twenty minutes (or more) getting around a mob of cyclists?

I didn't think you were motivated by financial or legal fear, just that some people might be.
I have never been delayed for twenty minutes by bikes, roads are closed sometimes for iron man events though.  I've been delayed by traffic and road works though, if punctuality is vital allowance should be made for delay.  Bikes take cars off the road so they'd have both a positive and negative effect on travel time.  A delay of twenty minutes, an extreme of bike caused inconvenience and a ruptured spleen,  it does seem petty in comparison to me.