this post was submitted on 05 May 2024
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Not Just Bikes

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An attempt to recreate the /r/NotJustBikes community on Lemmy. I'm just reserving the Community Name, other folks (for instance the /r/NotJustBikes mods?) are welcome to take over.

NOTE: This sublemmy (?) is in no way related to or affiliated with NotJustBikes, Jason Slaughter, etc.

#RULES

1. Be nice. Please.

I know it's the internet, but be nice. And report trolls & spammers.

2. No memes

No memes, image macros, or low-effort posts. These are easily upvoted, but they pollute the subreddit very quickly.

POSTING MEMES WILL RESULT IN A TEMPORARY BAN.

3. Stay on topic

Try to stick to posts and comments related to the themes of NJB videos, or content creation. Things like urban planning, mobility & transportation, social equity, Dutch culture, etc..

4. No Trolling

Go troll somewhere else. We don't need that shit here.

5. No comment screenshots

Please don't post screenshots of stupid comments as a post. We all know there are ignorant morons online, we don't need to bring even more attention to their stupid comments.

6. No vehicular cycling

I have no patience for advocates of vehicular cycling. You can talk about vehicular cycling, but if you promote it as an alternative to safe bike infrastructure, I will ban you. You can post that crap somewhere else.

7. No people being hit by cars/road violence

Do not show videos or pictures of people being hit by cars, or other road violence. We don't need to see that shit. We know cars are dangerous, and many people have bad memories of car crashes. Keep it out of this subreddit.

8. No tone policing

We don't need any more tone police. If you don't like the tone that Not Just Bike takes in his videos, there's a very easy solution: stop watching them.

9. No internet drama

Don't spread or promote drama over what has happened on the Internet. You're spending too much time online: go touch grass.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Watched it, liked it, mostly agreed with it.

I myself come from a background in network security which maybe colors my thinking, but there is a sort of quirk/feature that nobody ever argues for less security, only more. Basically this means you are always at the intersection of usability and and security. It is, however, usually clear what "usability" means in a given context.

So the question that lingers in my mind is this: how do you find the sweet spot for roads? The video says, and I agree, that people putting their convenience above the safety of others is an asshole. But how do you avoid the reducto ad absurdum that is mentioned AND THEN TOSSED OUT WITHOUT COMMENT where further decreasing speed always increases safety by some margin?

Where is the Pareto optimal point and how do you find it? If everyone goes 5kph, one guy a year is going to die. Are we really just trying to find maximum throughput per person per unit space? Is it maximal throughout with minimal infrastructure? What is the actual problem (generally) to solve here? There's discussion AROUND the topic (about 2/3 through the video) but it's all special case. Would be easier if there was a theme besides "hey go slower asshole".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I don't think he tossed it out completely without comment. He simply pointed to the graph and said (or at least implied) "yeah you can keep decreasing it if you drop speed further, but this is the point at which it seems the return on investment starts significantly decreasing".

I get the impression from your comment that this is the first NJB video you've come across. It might seem strange in that context. But this is one piece in a large history of discussing what makes good road safety, urban infrastructure, and city planning. For example, one thing that he didn't really discuss in this video but has mentioned many times before is how the most effective way to slow down drivers is actually not just lowering the speed limit, but changing the design of the road to make drivers feel unsafe driving at higher speeds. Things like objects near the side of the road, narrowing the road, making it less straight, making corners at intersections sharp right angles rather than smooth curves, etc. And this video doesn't talk at all about the importance of infrastructure that encourages cycling outside of merely lower speed cars.

The "goal" is...complicated. Because there are a whole bunch of different factors that reinforce each other in a virtuous way. Safety, happiness, health, economics. Good urban design is good for all of them and more. Even just lowering the speed limit increases the safety for cyclists, which increases the rate of cycling, which is good for health, environment, government budget, and small businesses' bottom lines.