I’ve been the car driver who nearly made jam out of the cyclist in the last panel. I’ve also been the cyclist hit by a car which was driving in the cycle lane.
Bad road users are everywhere and they use all sorts of transportation. Let’s stop with the division and generalisation.
Your anecdotal evidence is noted.
Who can forget the time a cyclist ran a red light and killed sixteen people?
The Telegraph and LBC are both right-wing propaganda mills.
Case in point:
In 2022, Hilda Griffiths, 81, died after Brian Fitzgerald, a Credit Suisse director and member of the Muswell Hill Peloton cycling club, collided with her while riding with other members at about 29mph in the 20mph zone.
Police could not prosecute Mr Fitzgerald because “there were no criminal Acts” which could be applied to cyclists who speed, the elderly lady’s inquest heard.
That’s pure horseshit.
That’s two; fourteen more to go!
ahhh going to the absurd. that’ll work. fuck. cars. fuck bikes who don’t follow the rules, too.
When did a car run a red light and kill sixteen people?
I’m sure the parent whose kid or pet gets mowed down by a cyclist going full speed will appreciate that, hey at least it wasn’t more people who got hurt or killed!
Entitled assholes exist behind many modes of transportation. That cars can cause significantly more damage doesn’t make the others less dickish, like this guy:
(and yes, I drive AND cycle AND like to jog too, depending on what the task at- hand is).
That so many have come out screaming in the manner pretty much showcases the “rules for thee but not for me” attitude.
Fair but think about hitting and killing a cyclist who had run a stop sign or light. That doesn’t just go away. The person has to live with the trauma of killing another person potentially at no fault of their own.
Car drivers love to criticize cyclists, but they don’t realize they’re the real aggressors in traffic. They both do most of the bad behaviors, and have the greater damage potential
All of my worst driving, walking and biking stories are vs a vehicle. I commute in various ways a lot, with tons more opportunities for walkers and other cyclists to be the problem. It is unquestionably drivers in 90% of cases. Most drivers don’t deserve to drive.
Also, their existence necessitates the use of traffic lights/roundabouts at every intersection. Bikes don’t need that kind of infrastructure.
Video from BicycleDutch. Mind you, the video is now 8 years old, and the the traffic just got more.
boomer ass take
That would be your mum’s standards.
Ah yes because every driver obeys every law all the time. It’s only the cyclists that break laws! No driver would ever consider speeding, rolling through a stop sign, or being aggressive!
Won’t someone think of the poor drivers!!
Your point is well taken, but whataboutism aside, EVERYONE should be obeying ALL the traffic laws. I cycle on public roads myself and I do see other cyclists not stopping at red lights. A bicycle IS a vehicle - it doesn’t come with pedestrian rights.
Or we can just keep escalating finger pointing and law-breaking until the traffic laws are meaningless everyone is dead.
I cycle thousands of miles each year, and I haven’t seen a cyclist run a red in years. Depends on where we’re riding, I guess.
So, why are you asking me to deescalate? Have you asked everyone else in this post and the author of the comic itself? Why pick me?
Been in a college town recently? College kids are basically the cyclist in the comic.
They’re also the most dangerous drivers too…
Maybe we should just make everyone walk till the age of 25.
I haven’t noticed anything like that in college towns apart from late at night when it’s cold, there’s barely anyone around and the lights sometimes just don’t change for bicycles because they are too light. (The most common possibly illegal thing I’ve seen is bicycles overtaking cars stopped at lights to get to to the bike spots on a bicycle road where in some cases the cars aren’t even supposed to be.)
Meanwhile drivers almost all seem better but I am also aware that most
That’s fair… I didn’t mean to single you out. There were a LOT of posts, and I suppose the emphatic and sarcastic nature of yours drew my attention.
That said, I meant this as a general statement to all the commenters of this nature, and your comment is just where it happened to land. I don’t have any personal grudge.
Laws are a social agreement, not divine. Breaking stupid laws is not bad, and does not imply that all laws should be broken.
Stupid laws like “stop at a red light even if you’re wearing lycra in public.”
I live somewhere where half the traffic lights don’t have buttons and don’t respond to cyclists. So when there are no cars to trigger the light I just check if it’s safe and go. Meanwhile I have been nearly overrun by cars speeding through red because it was orange 3 seconds ago and see a car going >50kph in my 30kph street almost daily. A bicycle is not a vehicle (at least in france in collisions we are classified as pedestrians). We are way more vulnerable and less harmful and the roads are often not made for us, so we have to adapt our riding to be most safe. Sometimes that means taking a pedestrian green instead of a car green light because it is safer too.
Anyone who runs a red light is a stupid cunt.
Anecdotally, in my lived experience, there are more stupid cunts on bicycles than in cars.
That is all.
LOL I see way more cars running red lights and stop signs that I ever see bicycles doing it. And cars do a fuckton more damage when they hit something.
When a cyclist runs over a driver I’ll give a shit about bicycles running stop signs.
I don’t understand. You’re saying bikes should be allowed to run the red lights because when cars inevitable t-bone them they’ll die?
That seems pretty sick.
Also ignoring that while the impact of a car versus cyclist or heavily in favor of the car, a cyclist can still cause major harm to another person, pet or even another cyclist
Per capita? Really? Where do you live?
Cars run red lights all the time. Also, ignoring train infra, traffic lights are car/motorized traffic infrastructure. I’m not abiding by rules that only needed to be made up to stop feeble car brains from killing each other.
Whatabout, whatabout, whatabout.
The point is that while cyclists often get pissed off about the lack of safe driving by cars, there are many that similarly seem to ignore the rules of the road as applied to them. That may result in a collision with a vehicle whose driver is driving with proper care - with the cyclist tending to be on the losing end -but also other cyclists, pedestrians, etc.
Getting creamed by a cyclist (or scooter, or skateboarder) going at speed down the sidewalk - or one blowing through an intersection against the lights - is not going to be a minor injury, and I’ve narrowly avoided having myself, my kids, and once my dog get taken out in this manner.
Lately it’s been the battery-powered speakers scooters that are the worst culprits, but the cyclists who often bitch the most about cars are often the ones who seem to ride the least safely around here.
So yeah, not every driver obeys every lease every time, but similarly ignoring laws and being an assist is a good way to increase your own odds of having a bad encounter with one of those drivers, or one of the many others who share the streets and sidewalks.
A driver buzzed me and my dog a few days ago. In my own neighborhood, with snow and ice on the roads, and roads narrowed by snow on the sides (we don’t have sidewalks). Probably going 40 mph in a 25 zone. Less than three feet away from me. Idiocy.
Where are the comics about those drivers? Why are you so willing to accept drivers doing illegal things, while getting so bent out of shape about cyclists going illegal things?
Cars are way more dangerous than any cyclist will ever be. I know if I had to pick a vehicle to run into me, it’ll be the cyclist every time.
Safe driving != law abiding. There’s overlap, but they are not the same thing.
My biggest gripe with cyclists is that they act like a car when it’s convenient and a pedestrian when it’s convenient
Cyclists act like a cyclist when it is convenient and like a pedestrian when it is convenient.
Cyclists act like a car when it is the only way to avoid getting killed in car-centric hellscapes.
Yeah basically this. Most cities are not built for cycling, so you gotta just try to survive there how you can
I watch cyclists every day hop right off the road at red lights just to use the pedestrian cross walk out of turn and skip the wait. There is literally no reason to do this other than having a death wish.
Wait what are you mad at here, I’m confused.
Do you even cycle?
There are several reasons to do this:
- Most of the sensors that make the lights change will not sense bicycles, so the light will never change.
- In many places, getting a jump on the car traffic between the light and the next is much safer, because you are getting passed mid-block instead of at the intersection, where you are much more likely to be hit by a turning car.
- Jumping the light usually means being noticed by drivers while you are moving and they are not, which is great because drivers are notoriously bad at noticing at noticing anything smaller than a 7-11 when they are moving. I have been hit 4 times while stopped at stop signs and red lights, three of which while IN MY CAR, because drivers simply cannot be trusted to pay attention.
- Usually waiting at the light with the cars means the car in front of you is belching exhaust right into your face.
I now live in a city with very good cycling infrastructure, and a vast majority of people wait for the light, because when the infrastructure is designed well, it is safer to do so.
Perhaps it is safer cycling across a crosswalk while the only other traffic is pedestrians, instead of going with the flow of cars when cars turning left or right can run you over.
Perhaps you can run over pedestrians if you do so? FFS, just stop making the ashole moves you accuse car drivers of, if you want to be taken seriously! Never went to ER with a kid almost by killed by a 100kg male with a racing bicycle, didn’t you?
No, but I did go to the hospital with by boyfriend who got run over while riding straight on a straight road with right of way by a car turning left without stopping at the stop sign, so if all you want to do is throw around anecdotes be my guest. Statistics say way more people (including kids on sidewalks) get hurt by cars.
I dont want to throw anecdotes, but as a walking parent I see way to much cyclists bevaving like assholes.
Is it really this hard to accept that requesting the right of way on a street ( which I wont debate - don’t get me wrong here!), induces giving it to pedestrians too?
All this comments are full of people whining how the are endagered by cars, while using this to justify endangering pedestrian.
Do you really think thats justified?
I’m saying that statistically cyclists endangering pedestrians is a non-issue because it happens so much more rarely than cars endangering pedestrians or cyclists. Bringing it up all the time only fuels carbrains and car lobbies.
I don’t think you are mature enough to have a driver’s license. You should probably turn it back to where you got it from and leave driving to the adults
Cars kill more cyclists than the other way around.
Hell, cars kills more cars than cyclists do.
Im a cyclist. I know this bugs people.
The thing is the only explanation is envy?
Like if im on the road and then on a path and then back on the road… who cares?
Obviously you need to be sharing the road or the path with other users and not cutting infront of people, obeying laws, being courteous and predictable et cetera.
But what really is so offensive about being a more versatile vehicle?
Bikes need to stop for red lights and stop signs. It’s not envy… I’ve seen cars get T-boned after running a red light, you will not survive that on a bike.
I don’t care if you share the road, as long as you follow the rules. If you switch to a path , be aware of pedestrians just like cars have to be aware of bikes. Safety first.
Bikes need to stop for red lights and stop signs.
How is this relevant to bikes behaving as both cars and pedestrians ?
I said bikes need to obey laws.
Why does it bother you so much that cyclists behave both as cars and as pedestrians?
Perhaps you can run over pedestrians if you do so? FFS, just stop making the ashole moves you accuse car drivers of, if you want to be taken seriously! Never went to ER with a kid almost by killed by a 100kg male with a racing bicycle, didn’t you?
Look im sorry you had that experience, but im not really sure how its relevant here?
Was that guy avoiding an intersection by riding on the foot path? Seems unlikely for a racing bike.
Plenty of people screaming around on bikes unsafely - no doubt about that.
Yes he was doing just that. Switching paths to avoid a red light.
I pretty much just don’t believe you.
Even if this is true, and a big heavy guy on a racing bike was riding on the side walk and collided with your child, that sounds like an awful and dangerous situation but it doesn’t really change things?
Cars have accidents all the time, bikes have accidents too, sometimes bikes and cars have accidents, some times cars and people have accidents, and sometimes bikes and people have accidents.
In a given incident one or more participants may have been reckless or acted unlawfully, but that doesn’t mean that their mode of transport is inherently dangerous.
I’ve seen cars get T-boned after running a red light, you will not survive that on a bike.
Ok, let them earn their Darwin award, that’s their decision to make. Same with riding without a helmet, I don’t really care if someone else has a death wish.
It becomes a problem when they’re endangering other people, that’s why cars running red lights is wrong. A car running a red light is orders of magnitude more dangerous to everyone around it than a bicycle.
As long as you follow the rules
In a lot of places bikes can go through red lights if it’s clear because it’s safer to allow them to get a headstart on the cars and get in front of them where they can see them, instead of waiting for someone to turn right into you once the light turns green because you’re in a cars blindspot.
It literally is just crab bucket “If I have to be stuck in traffic, so should you, its unfair.” Especially in America, its not uncommon for drivers to block motorcycles from filtering at a red light.
I do not care if you want to ride around at 5mph but if you’re at a stop light, do not hop up the sidewalk just to claim pedestrian privileges by running through the intersection because when I hit you and kill you it’ll raise my insurance rates (because you also don’t have insurance). If you want to act like a car, take on the obligations of being one, otherwise stay off the roads.
Why though? There’s no law against it anywhere I’ve ever ridden, and so long as I do so safely and predictably, it’s not your problem.
Bro’s out here just doubling down on the envy lol.
Actually here the bike lanes sweep up onto a separate path at roundabouts, then back into a bike lane after the roundabout.
Its designed this way because being a cyclist on a roundabout is obscenely dangerous.
In this particular case youre not really stealing pedestrian privileges, the bike lane is designed that way.
In other cases, I just cant imagine someone hopping up onto the foot path just to skip a stop sign. It sounds absurd honestly.
It’s because we CAN become a pedestrian. Get off and pick up the bike, tada!
The problem is that it’s very easy to slip into pretending your a pedestrian while ON the bike. It’s mostly fine, as if you are going slow, it’s really not a problem, but some will obviously take it too far.
I get annoyed at cyclists jumping lights, gives us a bad name, it is required sometimes though, bikes don’t set off the under road sensors for traffic lights
Fucking cyclists causing all the traffic and pollution. Get a car you assholes!
This sort of attitude by cyclists is why we lack bike infrastructure in the US. Back in the 70s one weird asshole insisted that bikes be treated like cars and fought against it.
Build bicycle infrastructure.
somebody recently posted a video on one of the fuckcars communities about how using boogle maps in Netherlands was impractical. In the same video they were explaining how they removed traffic lights from no car zones.
traffic lights are necessary because of motorized traffic. When you’re cycling you’re moving less than a hundred kg at about 15kmh, not +1000kg at 50kmh or more
NotJustBikes did a video on that. Really interesting
yes, that was the video i was mentioning, thanks for the name
notJustBikes video ☞ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csHdwHTteOw
It’s not like the cars in my neighborhood are obeying traffic signals or roadway laws in general.
I appreciate that his helmet strap isn’t locked. Accurate.
Removed by mod
Literally my biggest pet peeve.
Personally I think it’s absolutely batshit insane that people ride their bicycles on the roads with cars, if I ride a bike I’m doing it on the fucking sidewalk.
