TIRM
3hr ago
I live in a suburb. Almost all roads are 1 lane each way. A few major roads are 2 lane each way with 3rd turning lanes at intersections. I have never in my life even second hand known someone who died walking around a suburb. American pedestrian deaths due to cars has exploded in the past few years, it has reached a peak of 0.0000220 likelihood per person per year of dying by being hit by a car while walking.
Our road infrastructure is not that overwhelming. The freeways are 4 lanes each way.
TIRM
4hr ago
I've been to China plenty. Their driving norms are hard to take. Someone on a scooter making an illegal left hand turn starting from the right side of the road through multiple lanes of traffic. I'm cringing watch him weave through cars going both ways.
City busses don't slow down for or avoid pedestrians. You need to proactively get out of the bus's way. I've seen a few people almost get hit by busses. They don't have our very American understanding of pedestrian right of way.
People driving with no seat belt and pulling it across their body as they approach the seat belt cameras, then letting it go when past the cameras. More effort than just wearing a seat belt.
Taxi drivers aren't the person on the taxi license. One was clearly underaged and smoking.
TIRM
3d ago
The problem occurs downhill. Every now and then someone goes downhill really fast and partially blocking the road, but not as fast as the cars.
There is a bike lane here. If they kept to the middle or right side of that there would be no problem. But some ride at least part in the road. I don't see this behavior on other bike lanes. This hill has some deranging affect on some people.
TIRM
3d ago
Googling a bit for the West Coast: I see California lacks a bikes on sidewalk law. So it is left up to local governments to regulate. Given how much I see kids on electric bikes on sidewalks: at least in practice they don't much bother regulating them.
TIRM
3d ago
Yep. I'm lean and in the suburbs. I bike as a hobby and fun activity with my family. Good thing to do with kids on Saturday.
I certainly don't bike to work. I'm way too far away. I also need to drive my kid to private school. I'm not doing that on a bike.
TIRM
3d ago
There's a lot of New York City talk in this thread. I accept that maybe for major cities such as that bikes are faster. They sure are not faster than a car anywhere I have lived. Like almost all Americans I don't live in New York City or any place nearly as densely populated. Cars beat bikes on total trip time and it is not remotely close.
TIRM
3d ago
I worked in Shanghai for a few months. Their scooter infrastructure is amazing. A wide lane for scooters separated from the car lanes by a concrete barrier. It goes: sidewalk, scooter lane, concrete barrier, car lanes, concrete barrier, scooter lane, sidewalk.
This would be perfect biking infrastructure, but they seem to be all in on small electric scooters rather than bikes.
TIRM
3d ago
I don’t expect bicyclists to dismount at lonely intersections. And I think rolling stops should be legalized in the absence of cross traffic. Maybe we can't legalize it because people can't be trusted to follow a conditional rule of only rolling through if there is no cross traffic. I wish we could. I'd say legalize it anyway see if accident rates increase.
When I say some bicyclists enjoy blowing through stop signs, I mean in the presence of other traffic. They could do whatever they wanted on lonely roads or empty intersections and I'd never care. Instead they defy traffic controls in ways that make drivers have to move out of their way or hit their brakes. That's my problem. People should drive and ride predictably. That means stopping if there is cross traffic with the right of way. That means not suddenly unexpectedly swerving into the street with much faster cars driving in that lane; like I saw this morning.
the absurd ("speeding is actually safer because a vehicle that isn't keeping up with traffic causes more accidents when people try to pass')
That's just true. If everyone is going 70mph except one person going 55mph, then the 55mph driver is being wildly dangerous by causing people to constantly pass him at 15mph speed difference. Speed differences are dangerous. Driving 60mph in a 60mph zone while everyone else is going 40mph would also be dangerous and I don't recommend it. Speed match the road for safety. Or at least get out of the leftmost lane if you insist on driving slower than everyone else.
TIRM
3d ago
I'm on the West coast. The road I'm talking about is hilly and 2 lanes. It is not safe or practical to pass on it. Instead we get a line of cars following a bicyclist. Not that often really. Not a great burden on me. But that road has a proper bike lane. These people chose to obstruct traffic.
TIRM
3d ago
I've been told my whole life that riding on the sidewalk is illegal. But when a cop visited my school and a parent prompted him to tell us that, he said he's not aware of any such rule. Years later a cop yelled at me to get on the sidewalk when the bike lane was obstructed by cars. Let's say it is very hypothetically illegal.
If I was in that guy's situation I would ride in the bike lane or get on the sidewalk. Anything other than getting into the lane and hoping the driver behind you gets on the brakes on time. That's of course their legal obligation. I wouldn't bet my spine on it.
TIRM
4d ago
Intetesting. I would call out the spandex-clad roadies as the worst of the worst. There's some hills with two lane roads by me. They like riding down hill in the street rather than the bike lane even though they are much slower than cars. I get stuck behind a line of cars following spandex man. I wish those guys were ticketed and had to go to traffic court.
Kids are mostly fine. Maybe ride too fast on sidewalks sometimes. Particularly recently with surprisingly fast electric bikes. But they generally don't suicidally shoot into traffic and they've avoided getting too close to me when walking. They slow down and carefully go around me and my family. Spandex man could learn a lot from middle schoolers how to navigate the world as though other people also occupy it.
TIRM
4d ago
But also: there is an obvious problem with some bicyclists thinking that stop signs, red lights and all other forms of traffic control don't apply to them. I'm glad to hear their terrible behavior is not killing many pedestrians. Which makes sense since I would not expect getting hit with a bike to be commonly lethal. This is unrelated to concern about food delivery scooter people.
This morning I saw a bicyclist veer into the street even though there was a dedicated empty bike lane and an empty sidewalk. He was in one of those bicyclists suits. He was going really fast, but not as fast as cars approaching him from behind. No idea what was going throughout this guy's brain. One of the many bicyclists who seem to think their bike has an integrated forcefield generator. See that kind of baffling behavior with some regularity. I rode my bike to school from 3rd grade to college. I never did stuff like that.
TIRM
4d ago
In Mexico I filled prescriptions by taking the slip of paper to a farmacia of my choosing. Just walk in and get it. Such a better system.
TIRM
4d ago
I bought a house a few years ago. The previous owners gave it a fresh interior paint job. Very wise for selling a house. BUT, they chose medium-grey paint. It was dark and oppressive. My wife and I had to first thing repaint it light cream. I'm not sure we had to use white primer first to block out that overpowering grey, but we did just to be sure you couldn't see it leaking through like some evil stain.
TIRM
4d ago
some griping about it
My work has an internal chat program. It is like slack. More than a little cheerleading on it for pride recently. Also bitter complaint that major companies are not sufficiently showing their support for pride this year.
I'm used to Rainbow Captalism being a subject of mockery. My coworkers really want it. Or at least a portion do and everyone else remains silent on the issue.
TIRM
6d ago
interfering in states where they aren't wanted
Federal law enforcement does not need local permission to enforce federal laws.
TIRM
6d ago
how do you explain to the autist the difference between black people and white people
I like Brazil's solution: a committee looks at you and then states your race. They don't accept one-drop "my grandmother was a quarter [something]" stories and don't need DNA tests. They look and state the obvious truth. If Elizabeth Warren stood before them, they'd yell "she's white" and be done with it. Because it is perfectly clear that she is white. "I share a common ancestor with some modern Guatemalans around 10 generations ago." Yes, yes. That's called being white.
Categories are fuzzy and sometimes you get a perfect wobbler: someone who is mixed race and self-identifies as some Brazilian racial category, but the committee disagrees. Categories being fuzzy doesn't mean they don't exist. This is an acceptable outcome.
New Yorker isn't free to read anymore? Boo.
Anyways: https://old.reddit.com/r/copypasta/comments/jbff9q/libertarian_police/
TIRM
7d ago
I saw a documentary about law enforcement dealing with organized crime. There was some mobster that other mobsters tried to kill by luring him to a meeting and shooting him repeatedly in the back of the head with a 22. The bullets failed to get through his skull and tore up his scalp. He stood up, took the gun out of his would-be-murderer's hand and ran off.
Obligatory I don't advocate "fingers first" bonesawings for anyone, but Khashoggi was an Islamist and his political complaints were there not being enough and the correct kind of Islamic rule. And then Americans lamenting this poor "journalist" as though he wasn't an advocate for something completely incompatible with our way of life.
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