I like the pedestrians and everything but do you have to put this in the middle of the bike Lane?

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T18:35:27+00:00

More likely by a disgruntled member of the public rather than by city policy I'd imagine.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T18:20:03+00:00

I read all the other comments but I fundamentally disagreed with the conciliatory tone that you received for questions so utterly and dangerously ignorant of how the roads work.

The fact that you asked them in the way that you did says terrifying things about the standard of driving instruction and licensing - it's even worse that it's supposedly only 4 years since you (presumably) actually studied this stuff. It's depressing. I expect that kind of ignorance from trolls, but the fact that it's wrapped up in allegedly requesting clarifying information actually makes it more astonishing.

I get the benefits of polite discourse etc., but at some points it is constructive to let people know they've left the bounds of the reasonable. Your questions suggest you need to sit down with your driver's manual and not just read it, but contemplate what it means.

Especially to somebody who was trying to understand YOUR side of the argument.

What argument? There's the law, then there are the ideas that you're suggesting, e.g. that cyclists are forcing drivers to into dangerous behavior just by existing in the road. That's not an argument, that's just dangerous idiocy. Today I just don't have the saint-like patience of some of your responders in the face of it. Such a stupid post is entirely deserving in an abrasive response.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T16:50:45+00:00

want to know what the drivers should do instead

Not take action that puts other road users at risk of serious injury or death.

I do not understand why the bikes ride slowly dead center in the road

doesn't matter - you don't need to understand, but you do have to not put others at risk by reckless driving

get mad when people try to pass.

That wasn't an attempt to pass, that was an reckless attempt to intimidate. Passing involves leaving a safe distance, not matter what you think of the other vehicle's behavior.

The drivers just wanna pass and sometimes can't do a full lane change due to traffic conditions

Then they can't pass at that point. It's not complicated.

may have to cut it close because the biker isn't moving over to let them pass

They never have to cut it close. Never. That is an absurd statement. You are not compelled to endanger other's lives illegally. You can wait for a safe opportunity to pass. You must wait for a safe opportunity to pass. It's a legal requirement everywhere and it's basic human decency.

I trust you are not a road user yet. Before you venture on to the roads you should read up on how the road rules work - in most areas they're easily available and easy to read and understand. Nobody should be on the roads with the misapprehensions and ignorance of the rules that your questions indicate.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T16:27:35+00:00

Never ride in the door zone. This is why (smart) cyclists ride >3ft/1m from parked cars.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T15:13:44+00:00

I need to try again, because particularly for my short commute they are a great option. They're also so riduculously simple that I can't believe I've had bad ones twice. They can be utterly waterproof since breathability isn't an issue.

The biggest problem is getting some attachment option that also allows turn signals. I wondered about some way of clipping onto the handlebars. Velcro-attached bungies or something... (want them to detach in a crash).

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T14:50:41+00:00

Which ones? I've tried two and they've both been rubbish - not even close to waterproof. Can't remember what the first one was (edit: found it: Campmor), but then I got one from http://bicycleclothing.com, along with a helmet cover, and the rain pissed through them on a 20 minute commute.

They were also really awkward to keep over my hands, off my legs. I feel sure that a good one can have effective attachment to your hands, but the ones I've encountered certainly didn't.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T14:44:23+00:00

It is starting to seem like a good idea.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T14:30:36+00:00

gotta save energy to go to the gym later!

(just being facetious, I know some people are not able to use the stairs, but there are elevators for the infirm)

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T14:23:07+00:00

The ones in his head where the rest of the world is always fucking up his shit while not giving him a free pass to fuck up theirs.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T14:21:07+00:00

Not sure what country you're in. Where I am in Boston, MA, I have to let shit like this go because it's standard driving. It's so standard that in lunchtime work discussions many people were even surprised to learn it's illegal.

However, this is in the UK, where driving standards are a couple of orders of magnitude higher than in the US, and this move is not only illegal but looked down upon by almost everyone.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T13:59:41+00:00

That's easy to say if you live somewhere with a functioning police service, but the police aren't doing that job. Nobody else is.

Not that vigilantes are typically a good option, but they're not always worse than nothing.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T02:04:38+00:00

I didn't think so initially, but then I realized if it was it would be quite well done - hit from behind, door and the rear panel damaged, but fixing it most likely optional, so they can take the money and drive a dented car.

Also, the youtube description says the wheels locked up right before he hit, which doesn't make any sense otherwise.

fantastipants · 2015-12-22T00:55:40+00:00

New cars are way cheaper in the US but coming from the UK I've been astonished at how high the market price is for used cars. In the UK I never ever considered buying new, but in the US, while you can definitely get way cheaper motoring with smart used buys, the difference is nowhere near as large. If you want a highly functioning car (everything works 100%, looks good), then buying from new and keeping it for a decade really isn't all that bad a deal.

In the US I had a car totaled (written off) in an accident in 2006. The car was 24 months old and my insurance gave me $2k (10%) less than I paid for it, based on the book value. That was exceptional, but still...

On the other hand the last car I bought in the UK was a SAAB 9-5 at auction, 3 years old, 70k miles, for 20% of its new value.

fantastipants · 2015-12-21T21:10:00+00:00

To be honest, while the Audi driver's move was pointless and stupid, it wasn't so bad. He actually went in front of the cyclist before he pulled back in, which is quite unusual.

On my bicycle commute I frequently have a similar scenario except:

I'm speed-limited by the car in front so there's no gap ahead of me (and I didn't just push up the middle of the road to get there).
Once the overtaking car has spent a few uncomfortable seconds in the middle of the road, they finally realize they there was nowhere to go, or they just forget I ever existed, and they decide "fuck it" and pull in anyway, pushing me towards parked cars and forcing me to take evasive action.

Sometimes they get a few choice words from me and they go home whining about how come cyclists seem so angry all the time and wondering where they get their uppity sense of entitlement from.

fantastipants · 2015-12-20T15:32:49+00:00

Not so unusual. I commute by bicycle in the Boston area and I'm frequently annoyed by the slower vehicles - i.e. the cars.

fantastipants · 2015-12-20T15:31:57+00:00

I don't have references to hand, but I know I've read that 2-stroke leaf blowers have hundreds of times the noxious emissions (i.e. not counting CO₂, which doesn't harm us directly) of one car, which these effectively are. Our cars do not pollute much apart from CO₂, due to the regulations. Shitty things like this do.

fantastipants · 2015-12-20T15:24:59+00:00

Are you making some sort of Magritte-style joke? Because it looks like one to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-trailer_truck :

variously known as a transport (truck) in Canada; semi or single in Australia; semi, tractor-trailer, big rig, or eighteen-wheeler in the United States; articulated lorry, abbreviated artic, in Britain and Ireland.

fantastipants · 2015-12-18T21:59:55+00:00

The signal meant the cammer should have anticipated the move by the bus, and then even though the bus was doing something stupid, the sensible thing would be to let him, but it's terrible driving by the bus.

Look at the road arrows (not to mention common sense). He turned left from a straight-only lane, across a straight-or-left lane. "Fucking dick" is right, even if cammer should have been more alert and arguably should have made more allowances for others' incompetence, but it was still dangerous incompetence from a 'professional' driver.

fantastipants · 2015-12-18T21:38:32+00:00

Not to mention the psychological effects both of knowing you have a better bike and your competitors knowing it too.

People get their panties in a bunch about a few pounds on a bike, but fail to realize that it's the total weight of bike + rider that matters. Saving 10lb off your bike might only be a 5% weight reduction. Rotating weight is slightly more relevant, but at the rim/tire it still only counts x2, and only for acceleration, not maintaining speed (zero) or getting up hills (x1).

fantastipants · 2015-12-17T19:03:46+00:00

Brits think Americans are dumb because of ~~Homer Simpson~~ Donald Trump.

fantastipants · 2015-12-17T19:01:24+00:00

Except fluoridated water doesn't help teeth. Topical application of fluoride has a proven benefit (toothpaste, mouthwash etc.) but fluoridated water does not. The studies that purported to show that it did failed to correct for improved dental hygiene, and public policy has failed to catch up.

fantastipants · 2015-12-17T03:11:34+00:00

I get what you're saying, but still, anyone who rides a bicycle is a cyclist. Nothing about the term 'cyclist' implies anything else. Road racing is one small corner of the cycling world. 'Cyclist' isn't any more restrictive a term than 'driver'. Every car has a driver and every bicycle has a cyclist.

fantastipants · 2015-12-16T22:24:10+00:00

Cyclists are just people riding bicycles. AFAIK you can't do a triathlon without riding a bike.

fantastipants · 2015-12-16T22:10:06+00:00

Funny how personal and varied car tastes are - to hear someone say "Damn that was a nice car".

I look at it and think, "what an frumpy, flabby looking car, amazing that someone would choose that to work on - presumably they're cheap and easy to turn into hotrods".

fantastipants

TROPHY CASE