Fuck your existing lanes and fuck your 1.5-tonne beasts. Make some space, it won't fucking kill you.
I don't ride my bike to work because the only pathways that lead there are filled with cars.
In my city there's always at least 2-3 cyclists a year killed by drivers who intentionally hit them. And the police have only ever found one of the perps.
The irony of the idea that cyclists are "taking lanes" can only come from the mind of a motorist ignorant that roads in North America only started getting paved with smooth asphalt due to a campaign by what is today The League of American Bicyclists. It was only due to the hard work and advocacy of cyclists that roads ever became hospitable to colonization by machines in the first place. If motorists were ever honestly adamant in their demand that no lanes ever be "removed" then it would mean undoing every single car lane.
In an effort to improve riding conditions so they might better enjoy their newly discovered sport, more than 100,000 cyclists from across the United States joined the League to advocate for paved roads. The success of the League in its first advocacy efforts ultimately led to our national highway system.
https://bikeleague.org/about/equity-and-history/
TIL
In Tokyo the bike lanes are all loading and unloading parking for the large trucks, taxis, and private vehicles. Means you gotta merge into traffic because none of the bike lanes lanes are enforced. I see a lot of cops stopping cyclists to check their registration, but I've never seen them ticket the trucks and taxis illegally parked. Tokyo needs better enforcement and separate bike lanes like Amsterdam (with a physical barrier or different grade from the street), otherwise its really dangerous to bike on streets even with bike lanes.
Bicycles are registered in Tokyo?
Sounds like a good set of laws to me - especially registration (mostly to help drive down bike theft rates).
IIUC, in Ontario cyclists are legally allowed to take up a whole lane on most roads.
Legally allowed doesn’t mean a whole lot when it’s 100kg vs 2000kg.
I don’t mean that it’s not a fair point, but is it worth a life?
In most coastal US cities, if bike-specific facilities are unavailable or blocked then it's legal to take a full motor lane. At your own peril of course, most drivers and many cops are indifferent to this information. Vehicular cycling is sadly not the answer to getting everyone out on a bike.
Let the motorists know your disapproval. There might be many ways to express such. 😁
And these statistics (I would appreciate OOP's sources if they're available) would be good ammunition in the lawsuit filed against the Ontario government for their bill that is spuriously trying to remove bike lanes in Toronto.
In South Africa roads are not even designed with pedestrian walkways. I would hear all the time in the news about drunk drivers hitting a group of cyclists or pedestrians. Its genuinely unsafe to go anywhere without a car. I now live in the Netherlands and I only bought a car 3 years after I moved here, because there is actual working public transport and even the rural areas have bike lanes.
Why did you buy a car?
Pretty handy to have a car. I have one too, for the first time in 10 years. But I don't use it to commute and I actively try to avoid using it.
But sometimes you need to take the wife and kids to visit some family out of town or go down to the local hardware store to pick to materials. There's a lot use usecases
Basically for carrying goods, doing long drives, or comfort in bad weather. Public transport works well here but you can still end up having to do a lot of waiting and walking if you are doing a trip somewhere. Also the more connections a trip needs then the higher chance something can go wrong. For example, missing a train because the connection was late. There are car sharing services here too, and there is one of these cars right next to my house. I would rent that when I wanted to go to an appointment somewhere. But there were enough times that the service was unreliable or booked out when I needed a car urgently, that I got annoyed and decided to get my own car. I think a mix of cycling, public transport and having your own car is best.
I am not that familiar with the public transport in the Netherlands. But I envy your bike paths. I do most of my daily stuff using my bicycle.
I wondered how our needs might differ, since I don't own a car in Germany. I guess you have more need for long distance travel than I do.
I mean I'd love to believe this but there's no source
Found one and updated it!
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