this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
330 points (83.4% liked)

Fuck Cars

9824 readers
6 users here now

This community exists as a sister community/copycat community to the r/fuckcars subreddit.

This community exists for the following reasons:

You can find the Matrix chat room for this community here.

Rules

  1. Be nice to each other. Being aggressive or inflammatory towards other users will get you banned. Name calling or obvious trolling falls under that. Hate cars, hate the system, but not people. While some drivers definitely deserve some hate, most of them didn't choose car-centric life out of free will.

  2. No bigotry or hate. Racism, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, chauvinism, fat-shaming, body-shaming, stigmatization of people experiencing homeless or substance users, etc. are not tolerated. Don't use slurs. You can laugh at someone's fragile masculinity without associating it with their body. The correlation between car-culture and body weight is not an excuse for fat-shaming.

  3. Stay on-topic. Submissions should be on-topic to the externalities of car culture in urban development and communities globally. Posting about alternatives to cars and car culture is fine. Don't post literal car fucking.

  4. No traffic violence. Do not post depictions of traffic violence. NSFW or NSFL posts are not allowed. Gawking at crashes is not allowed. Be respectful to people who are a victim of traffic violence or otherwise traumatized by it. News articles about crashes and statistics about traffic violence are allowed. Glorifying traffic violence will get you banned.

  5. No reposts. Before sharing, check if your post isn't a repost. Reposts that add something new are fine. Reposts that are sharing content from somewhere else are fine too.

  6. No misinformation. Masks and vaccines save lives during a pandemic, climate change is real and anthropogenic - and denial of these and other established facts will get you banned. False or highly speculative titles will get your post deleted.

  7. No harassment. Posts that (may) cause harassment, dogpiling or brigading, intentionally or not, will be removed. Please do not post screenshots containing uncensored usernames. Actual harassment, dogpiling or brigading is a bannable offence.

Please report posts and comments that violate our rules.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I saw a good article on c/upliftingnews about AI improving traffic signal controllers. It's good and all, I just can't help but think of the "look at what they need to have a fraction of our power" meme while reading it

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Aren't bikes also required to stop at red lights?

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Yes, but you don't need lights if there are only bikes. Lights are there to prevent heavy vehicles from colliding. If there are no heavy vehicles, then the lights aren't needed.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Also since bikes take up less space more can cross in the same time

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So you're ok with getting hit by another bike (or several) when you go through an intersection.

Unless you live in a small town, if everyone used bikes, city centre intersections would be mostly mountains of crashed bikes and people trying to get out of that mess while more bikes continue to pile on.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All green on a large car intersection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIqCei97M74

Intersection designed for bikes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RQrKP9a0XE

People on bikes naturally avoid and communicate with each other non-verbally.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I live in the Netherlands. There are so many bikes there is traffic jams out of bikes, there are piles of bikes everywhere.

No, you don't need traffic lights for bikes, only if there are high speed heavy vehicles. I wouldn't even say it's just the heaviness, it's the heaviness coupled with speed that makes them necessary.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ok, I need to experience this myself, but I'll take your word for it.

I was just thinking of the normal speed I cycle at when going to work, which is 25 - 30 km/h, and can't imagine that not causing issues on intersections if there were no red lights.

Of course the answer is to slow down at intersections :)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Yes, but depending on the locality they may only need to treat it as a stop sign (and can proceed if it’s clear) instead of waiting for a green.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not always (which I'll mention in a moment) but:

  • The trivial point was; car wait times are reduced when there are less cars.
  • The main point is; even from a bike perspective its not about stopping/not-stopping, it's about wait time. I have NEVER had so many bikes in front of me that I missed the cross-walk signal and had to wait a whole other red-light cycle. Comparatively I regularly have that happen to me in a car. Idk if its a 30% improvement but its less time waiting at red lights.
  • Finally, technically no, bikes don't always have to (legally) wait at red lights. This is only a technicallity but some crosswalks, like several in my town (or the iconic one in Japan), we get the walk signal on red. My town is also unusual by officially allowing bikes on pedestrian paths. So bikes can legally cross on red.