What happens when bike fanatics push limited mobility on a mobile populace?
85 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Stinking Bike Lanes”
No….that’s what happens when a small vocal self important special interest groups get into bed with municipal politicians who put in laws that the majority do not support.
WE have fanatic bike counselors in Edmonton. Its getting so bad they are allowing bicyclists to even be in major lanes. Cutting them in half. People are getting enraged as the back ups continue. One counselor even said he wants to see the elimination of all cars. This is a city so far north we only get 6 months free of snow. These people are insane. I notice they still drive.In fact most of the “progressives” have personnel drivers. Its making this city that is spread out for miles impossible to move in from these crazy people.
Ive heard folks don’t even care if they hit the morons bicycling in Janeiro any more on tires bigger than a moon rover..
These is for you prostate masseurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdDxjge5hmY
Remember folks always do your civic duty and make sure that cycling on the street is as dangerous and unpleasant as possible. Together we can run these pest off the road.
I hear you. I live about 30 miles south of you and am pretty much up to snuff on the happenings there. Taxes are outrageous. A city where it seems everybody has a government or other union job, and then and wanted open public negotiations on the new arena. Are there open public negotiations on gov’t unions jobs??
Best thing to happen to downtown in decades. Took far too long to get an agreement.
Should be “and then they wanted”
Duh.
“I ride with a forward and rear facing camera.”
Remember folks: after you pancake a prostate masseur make sure that the cameras aer pancaked as well.
It’s “populace.” Geez. Edit: Thank you Thron. Fixed.
Ride on the sidewalk? Absolutely not. A bicycle is a road vehicle. Under Alberta law, it falls under the Motor Vehicles Act. A bike hitting a pedestrian can be devastating, and pedestrians make random direction changes on sidewalks. No, bikes should follow the rules of the road like everyone else, and bicycle riders should be hyper sensitive to the traffic around them (like motorbike riders have to be).
Ah yes, a perfect example of the sort of assholeness that gives drivers a bad name.
IF there were any common sense left there would be no bicycles allowed on busy thoroughfares or city streets, each and every one of them is an accident waiting to happen. Car drivers have enough trouble dealing with the motor vehicle traffic without watching out for cyclists, whether they have their own lanes or not there’s no room for error. In a situation where a car has to move over to avoid a collision with another car with a bicycle in the mix somebody dies or is badly injured.
Here’s what grinds my gears: Paid millions for bike paths, yet cyclists use the roadway anyway even when the bike path runs parallel to it. So, why build more??
See lots of cyclists disobeying the law. One experience: cyclist runs a stop sign, cuts off a car (who luckily was paying attention) and the cyclist gives the driver the finger! Really? You should be grateful you weren’t picked up off the pavement.
Another one: Just me driving on a 4 lane divided road (no other cars), cyclist can’t wait a second until I am out of the way and cuts me off. Another cyclist lucky the driver was paying attention. And he laughed at me.
And those 2 experiences were in the last 2 months.
And Jon, people who do not own a car don’t have insurance.
I commute both by bike and car in Calgary. The distance is 12 km or 6 km depending on the office I’m going to. The time to ride is the same for the longer distance and faster for the shorter distance by bike. The frustration and hate I feel well driving in Calgary is unbelievable, poor drivers, roads, timing of lights, etc. But riding is complete freedom, no delays, no stress, your body is working, your mind is free to think about life, there is no argument in the world to convince me driving a car is better. And as for weather, I ride to -20 C when the paths and roads are not slick. I have zero love for my cars, their expensive, dangerous, stressful cages and I feel sorry and pity for myself and everybody else who is forced to commute using one.
Shouldn’t your mind be on the road?
That’s the big difference Ann, when you ride you are focused on the road its automatic and cars, otherwise you are on your head or a hood, unlike a car, where drivers believe its optional; eating, texting, phoning, reading, drinking, chatting or fighting with passengers. I’ve been riding for 30 years, my close calls are all created by poor drivers who don’t have control of their cars. Some days I take the long way home on bike paths and then its totally awesome. When is the last time you got out of car totally happy, relaxed, feeling wonderful and energized. Just read the hate speech above, cars create sick, co-dependant people who are depressed and frustrated with their commute. Its amazing how much hate drivers have for bikes when in their own words its rare to actually see one on their drive. Traffic delays are not created by bike lanes or bikes, they are created by accidents, road construction, red lights, too many cars, the list is endless. A guy on bike might take some minor skill to drive around, but it doesn’t prevent you from immediately catching up to the long crap line of cars you are already following.
Park your dress at work Ann, ride your bike, and bonus, after a few weeks your butt will look awesome.
I also commute both by cycle and Truck in Calgary. Yes I agree with Matt that riding is a nice experience most days vs. driving and being stuck between Red lights. But on days like today I’m really happy I have a Truck to drive or a bus to take vs sharing dangerously slippery roads with vehicles that could easily end my life. I bike to work almost entirely to save money on parking and gas. As for commuting to work being healthier and a very physical activity, come on it’s not like your biking the glacier parkway, and the homeless guy on the stolen bike doesn’t look all that healthy to me anyways.
Along with that, there are a few things that I feel need to be noted.
1. The self righteous and entitlement attitude of Calgary cyclists is embarrassing for me as a fellow biker/cyclist. I am going to assume that attitude is not just limited to Calgary as it is on full display in this thread by every pro cyclist posters.
2. Every day I cycle to work I see at least 2 major traffic violations by other cyclists. Mostly running Solid Reds (Not a Speed up through a Yellow/Red) or switching between being a motorist and a pedestrian depending on what is the most convenient place to be for the rider. I can’t say the same about when I am driving to work. I can’t recall the last time I saw a Vehicle run a Solid Red or drive up on the sidewalk to jump ahead of a few cars.
3. The main issue of the original post is the dedicated bike lanes issue. The dedicated bike lanes in Calgary so far are a complete failure in my opinion, and although I don’t have official stats, from my experiences I don’t think they have led to the increase in new bike commuters or shorter commute times for either cyclists or auto commuters. For a majority of downtown workers it is still a requirement to be on shared roads to get to where you need to go. Therefore I don’t see any benefit of removing a lane or two of shared traffic inconveniencing the vast majority of auto commuters to provide me about 1 km of a 15 km commute of dedicated bike lanes? Can any cyclist please provide anything that shows how dedicated bike lanes are better for the majority of people?
4. I spent a good chunk of a year living in the Netherlands where biking and Trains are the main form of transportation. During that time I think I probably was in a car 3 times. This made sense as the infrastructure, geography, population density, climate and the culture catered to that form of transportation. Canada is nothing like the Netherlands in any of those respects and it never will be no matter how much you might want it to be, so lets stop wasting our time and money trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Matt – I never text, use phone, eat or whatever when I drive. That’s probably why I have never in my 40 years of driving have had an at fault accident and why the cyclist who cut me off lived to see another day.
And, FYI, my butt is already awesome!
“I’d also like to note that it’s funny seeing a rabid pack of law and order conservatives disregarding the law because it’s not convenient for them.”
That’s because you have no idea who we are or what we’re about.
“Gives drivers a bad name” in the eye’s of who? Prostate masseurs? Screw them. Bikes don’t belong on road, bikes do not belong on a sidewalk. Bikes belong on a playground, and on same occasions maybe in a park.
Matt said: “I have zero love for my cars, their expensive, dangerous, stressful cages and I feel sorry and pity for myself and everybody else who is forced to commute using one.”
Dude, you need a nicer car. Get a Ford F-150 or better yet F-250, it makes a crappy drive better.
I drive an hour from the sticks to Oakville down the QEW, I’ll stack that drive up for awful against anything in the country. The truck makes it bearable, anything smaller and I’d be freaking out.
The truth about bicycles on the road is that they travel at half the speed of normal traffic or less. This speed difference creates an inherently unsafe condition, no different than when the blue-hair in the Caddy drives at 50mph in the fast lane of the QEW. Everybody gets mad, everybody tries to get around, they try to speed Blue-Hair along by tailgating her, other morons slow down to gawk, etc. and it becomes a furball moving at fifty miles an hour. Same thing with -any- bicycle. You can whine about this phenomenon, but whining doesn’t change reality.
You cyclists, think about how close you want to get to tree trunks and bollards when riding at speed. Real close, like inches? Nuh uh, right? You want minimum two feet, because the speed difference between you and Mr. Tree Trunk is large, and that translated to OUCH if you screw up.
What causes accidents isn’t the speed of the traffic, its the difference in speed between the fastest and the slowest. The larger the difference, the larger the danger. When bicycles are involved, that difference is very large indeed. Bikes on streets are an accident looking for a place to happen. Same as bikes on sidewalks are an accident looking for a place to happen.
Putting a “bike lane” consisting of a line of paint on the side of a road is insanity, and everybody knows it. A bike lane is a place where there are NO pedestrians and NO cars, where everybody goes roughly the same speed, and where there’s enough room to pass. That is a safe condition for bikes.
We don’t have that. We have a line of paint and some regulations that defy the physical laws of motion, not to mention running counter to human nature. We also have cities based on the use of cars, cities that stretch for 30 miles or more. Adding proper bike lanes to that would be idiotic, because how many of us are hard men that can bike 20 miles a day to work and back? I can’t. Not a chance.
And finally, we have SNOW. Bicycles are inherently unsafe in freezing conditions, as are motorcycles. Minimum THREE wheels for safe functionality in winter, four is infinitely better. Ask my scars how I know that.
But then we have Jon, defying physics, human nature and the climate to demand we all fork over so he can enjoy his little physical fitness hobby. Jon is numerous enough in governing circles that he can get plastic bollards put up to shrink a road too small for cars to pass side by side.
And you wonder why we mock you.
Excellent post.
Perhaps a quibble, if those in governing circles were forced to commute on a bicycle, they’d change their tune.
What really grates for me, is that our governors not only drive or are driven to city hall, they also have convenient parking spots right there at city hall(at our expense) while at the same time their agenda is to reduce parking and raise the cost of parking for the rest of us.
Same thing with insisting the rest of us use mass transit. If our governors had to use mass transit, it would either improve greatly or, the volume of their insistence would reduce.
Phantom,
I know exactly who you are. I’ve been a semi-regular here for almost 10 years.
You simply forget that having a bicycle is one of the most inexpensive and base freedoms there is. Then you forget what a conservative is supposed to be. Then finally you let your rage convince you that it’s ok to hit someone so long as they’re on a bike.
I know exactly who you are, and I’ve never been impressed. For someone who pretends to be an engineer, sometimes you forget your logic.
I also note that you can’t read.
I didn’t ask for any of “your” money. I just made it clear that I and most other cycling commuters have insurance (exposing the first smalldeadminds lie) and then I said, I don’t want a special lane, I want people to learn to read the laws and understand that a bicycle is a vehicle until such a point that you get the law changed, but not before.
Like I said, you’re either a liar or the worst engineer ever.
I’ve been here for years too and I’m fairly sure the Phantom is a therapist who helps people recover from brain injury, you know the kind that cyclists get when they’re hit by a motor vehicle and survive, but maybe I’m misremembering.
Jon, unless you have a stand-alone policy that covers your bicycle travel, you are being subsidized by those who are also insured by that company.
I could be wrong, but I would likely not be able to opt out and get a discount if I did not use a bicycle on the roadways.
Therefore, we are all subsidizing your insurance and the pavement that you ride on.
Yet you want more … and you deserve it because you are saving the planet for the children.
You sir are an astounding moron.
I did not say that it is “okay” to hit cyclists. I said that it is INEVITABLE. Because PHYSICS.
I don’t care that you don’t want a bike lane. You NEED a frigging bike lane, for the same reason that pedestrians have sidewalks instead of walking the edge of the road. Because PHYSICS.
It doesn’t matter what the law says bicycles are. When they are going 15 mph on a street where the cars are going 30mph, no matter what the law says and no matter how careful drivers are, cyclists are going to die. Because PHYSICS.
A conservative is someone, at base, who realizes that Physics trumps wishful thinking and politics every single time and can’t stand people like you Jon who insist otherwise.
And yes, as Oz says my perspective on the outcomes of wishful thinking and Greenie politics is shaped by teaching people with massive brain and spinal cord injuries how to walk again. And how to eat, how to wipe their butts, how to put on socks, all of that. They would be the ones who survived. Not all do. Not all have both legs to work with either. Try teaching a brain injured patient how to put on and use a prosthetic limb sometime Jon. If I never see another pretty girl with her skull caved in, or her spine crushed, or her pelvis mangled, or just cut up like hamburger, it will be too soon.
Physics is an unforgiving b1tch. It p1sses me off watching you lie about it, Jon. Bike lanes made of paint and hope lead to full hospitals and broken kids. Broken forever too, they don’t actually get better most of the time.
Really Jon, if you want to play Russian Roulette its your brain. You go ahead. But don’t expect me to buy your BS on why its a great idea and I should be proud to have my tax money pay for it. Its a stupid idea. You’ve been -lucky- so far. You moron.
All commuters should be subjected to equal traffic regulations:
1)Mandatory seatbelt enforcement;
2)Speed zones- ie: 100 or 60 kph for all, without exception;
3)Violators shall be forced to wear nerdy helmets and nut-crushing bicycle shorts.
Besides, those greenies seem to be expelling an inordinate amount of CO2 as they huff n puff, while I barely raise my heartbeat behind the wheel of my F150!
4. Every vehicle using a given road must be able to maintain the maximum legal speed on that road (weather and congestion permuting). So yes certainly you can massage your prostate in public as long as you can keep doing it at 60km/h.
I have an example: I hit an inattentive cyclist with my truck…quite hard, too. Besides the shattered windshield, a front quarter panel was badly damaged, as well as the lights and grill on that side. The hood was bent a bit, but still closes ok. There were a few other things too, but as it is an old truck (probably worth less than the guy’s bike, which was crushed) I chose to not get it fixed. All totaled, it probably would have been around $1500 to get everything back to normal. But since the guy was pretty badly injured and found to be at fault, I decided not to add insult to injury.
are people who ride bicycles inherently stupid? there sure was a lot of that posted here during the last couple of days.
Some of them certainly appear to be. Jon, ferinstance.
It takes a special kind of stupid to ride a bicycle in traffic and think that its up to the guys with the two ton cars to keep you safe, as they whiz by at triple your speed, inches away. Blaming those eeeevile car drivers as you lie there in traction is sure to make things heal faster, right?
I ride my bicycle all the time. I ride on trails, quiet country roads, through the woods, places like that. I do not ride down the side of Highway 54 with 18 wheelers passing inches away at 95K, militantly insisting that everyone accommodate ME! ME!! ME!!! and generally creating a bloody nuisance of myself.
Because physics.
So based on Colon..’s theory, every semi, motor home and F150 pulling a 30 ft trailer, traveling at 80km on the highway, would have to be parked. Brilliant! And people who ride bikes are stupid?
It takes a special kind of stupid to believe that I was being serious and not merely flaming the prostate masseurs.
No….that’s what happens when a small vocal self important special interest groups get into bed with municipal politicians who put in laws that the majority do not support.
WE have fanatic bike counselors in Edmonton. Its getting so bad they are allowing bicyclists to even be in major lanes. Cutting them in half. People are getting enraged as the back ups continue. One counselor even said he wants to see the elimination of all cars. This is a city so far north we only get 6 months free of snow. These people are insane. I notice they still drive.In fact most of the “progressives” have personnel drivers. Its making this city that is spread out for miles impossible to move in from these crazy people.
Ive heard folks don’t even care if they hit the morons bicycling in Janeiro any more on tires bigger than a moon rover..
These is for you prostate masseurs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdDxjge5hmY
Remember folks always do your civic duty and make sure that cycling on the street is as dangerous and unpleasant as possible. Together we can run these pest off the road.
I hear you. I live about 30 miles south of you and am pretty much up to snuff on the happenings there. Taxes are outrageous. A city where it seems everybody has a government or other union job, and then and wanted open public negotiations on the new arena. Are there open public negotiations on gov’t unions jobs??
Best thing to happen to downtown in decades. Took far too long to get an agreement.
Should be “and then they wanted”
Duh.
“I ride with a forward and rear facing camera.”
Remember folks: after you pancake a prostate masseur make sure that the cameras aer pancaked as well.
It’s “populace.” Geez.
Edit: Thank you Thron. Fixed.
Ride on the sidewalk? Absolutely not. A bicycle is a road vehicle. Under Alberta law, it falls under the Motor Vehicles Act. A bike hitting a pedestrian can be devastating, and pedestrians make random direction changes on sidewalks. No, bikes should follow the rules of the road like everyone else, and bicycle riders should be hyper sensitive to the traffic around them (like motorbike riders have to be).
Ah yes, a perfect example of the sort of assholeness that gives drivers a bad name.
IF there were any common sense left there would be no bicycles allowed on busy thoroughfares or city streets, each and every one of them is an accident waiting to happen. Car drivers have enough trouble dealing with the motor vehicle traffic without watching out for cyclists, whether they have their own lanes or not there’s no room for error. In a situation where a car has to move over to avoid a collision with another car with a bicycle in the mix somebody dies or is badly injured.
Let’s all have a sing along
Here’s what grinds my gears: Paid millions for bike paths, yet cyclists use the roadway anyway even when the bike path runs parallel to it. So, why build more??
See lots of cyclists disobeying the law. One experience: cyclist runs a stop sign, cuts off a car (who luckily was paying attention) and the cyclist gives the driver the finger! Really? You should be grateful you weren’t picked up off the pavement.
Another one: Just me driving on a 4 lane divided road (no other cars), cyclist can’t wait a second until I am out of the way and cuts me off. Another cyclist lucky the driver was paying attention. And he laughed at me.
And those 2 experiences were in the last 2 months.
And Jon, people who do not own a car don’t have insurance.
I commute both by bike and car in Calgary. The distance is 12 km or 6 km depending on the office I’m going to. The time to ride is the same for the longer distance and faster for the shorter distance by bike. The frustration and hate I feel well driving in Calgary is unbelievable, poor drivers, roads, timing of lights, etc. But riding is complete freedom, no delays, no stress, your body is working, your mind is free to think about life, there is no argument in the world to convince me driving a car is better. And as for weather, I ride to -20 C when the paths and roads are not slick. I have zero love for my cars, their expensive, dangerous, stressful cages and I feel sorry and pity for myself and everybody else who is forced to commute using one.
Shouldn’t your mind be on the road?
That’s the big difference Ann, when you ride you are focused on the road its automatic and cars, otherwise you are on your head or a hood, unlike a car, where drivers believe its optional; eating, texting, phoning, reading, drinking, chatting or fighting with passengers. I’ve been riding for 30 years, my close calls are all created by poor drivers who don’t have control of their cars. Some days I take the long way home on bike paths and then its totally awesome. When is the last time you got out of car totally happy, relaxed, feeling wonderful and energized. Just read the hate speech above, cars create sick, co-dependant people who are depressed and frustrated with their commute. Its amazing how much hate drivers have for bikes when in their own words its rare to actually see one on their drive. Traffic delays are not created by bike lanes or bikes, they are created by accidents, road construction, red lights, too many cars, the list is endless. A guy on bike might take some minor skill to drive around, but it doesn’t prevent you from immediately catching up to the long crap line of cars you are already following.
Park your dress at work Ann, ride your bike, and bonus, after a few weeks your butt will look awesome.
I also commute both by cycle and Truck in Calgary. Yes I agree with Matt that riding is a nice experience most days vs. driving and being stuck between Red lights. But on days like today I’m really happy I have a Truck to drive or a bus to take vs sharing dangerously slippery roads with vehicles that could easily end my life. I bike to work almost entirely to save money on parking and gas. As for commuting to work being healthier and a very physical activity, come on it’s not like your biking the glacier parkway, and the homeless guy on the stolen bike doesn’t look all that healthy to me anyways.
Along with that, there are a few things that I feel need to be noted.
1. The self righteous and entitlement attitude of Calgary cyclists is embarrassing for me as a fellow biker/cyclist. I am going to assume that attitude is not just limited to Calgary as it is on full display in this thread by every pro cyclist posters.
2. Every day I cycle to work I see at least 2 major traffic violations by other cyclists. Mostly running Solid Reds (Not a Speed up through a Yellow/Red) or switching between being a motorist and a pedestrian depending on what is the most convenient place to be for the rider. I can’t say the same about when I am driving to work. I can’t recall the last time I saw a Vehicle run a Solid Red or drive up on the sidewalk to jump ahead of a few cars.
3. The main issue of the original post is the dedicated bike lanes issue. The dedicated bike lanes in Calgary so far are a complete failure in my opinion, and although I don’t have official stats, from my experiences I don’t think they have led to the increase in new bike commuters or shorter commute times for either cyclists or auto commuters. For a majority of downtown workers it is still a requirement to be on shared roads to get to where you need to go. Therefore I don’t see any benefit of removing a lane or two of shared traffic inconveniencing the vast majority of auto commuters to provide me about 1 km of a 15 km commute of dedicated bike lanes? Can any cyclist please provide anything that shows how dedicated bike lanes are better for the majority of people?
4. I spent a good chunk of a year living in the Netherlands where biking and Trains are the main form of transportation. During that time I think I probably was in a car 3 times. This made sense as the infrastructure, geography, population density, climate and the culture catered to that form of transportation. Canada is nothing like the Netherlands in any of those respects and it never will be no matter how much you might want it to be, so lets stop wasting our time and money trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Matt – I never text, use phone, eat or whatever when I drive. That’s probably why I have never in my 40 years of driving have had an at fault accident and why the cyclist who cut me off lived to see another day.
And, FYI, my butt is already awesome!
“I’d also like to note that it’s funny seeing a rabid pack of law and order conservatives disregarding the law because it’s not convenient for them.”
That’s because you have no idea who we are or what we’re about.
“Gives drivers a bad name” in the eye’s of who? Prostate masseurs? Screw them. Bikes don’t belong on road, bikes do not belong on a sidewalk. Bikes belong on a playground, and on same occasions maybe in a park.
Matt said: “I have zero love for my cars, their expensive, dangerous, stressful cages and I feel sorry and pity for myself and everybody else who is forced to commute using one.”
Dude, you need a nicer car. Get a Ford F-150 or better yet F-250, it makes a crappy drive better.
I drive an hour from the sticks to Oakville down the QEW, I’ll stack that drive up for awful against anything in the country. The truck makes it bearable, anything smaller and I’d be freaking out.
The truth about bicycles on the road is that they travel at half the speed of normal traffic or less. This speed difference creates an inherently unsafe condition, no different than when the blue-hair in the Caddy drives at 50mph in the fast lane of the QEW. Everybody gets mad, everybody tries to get around, they try to speed Blue-Hair along by tailgating her, other morons slow down to gawk, etc. and it becomes a furball moving at fifty miles an hour. Same thing with -any- bicycle. You can whine about this phenomenon, but whining doesn’t change reality.
You cyclists, think about how close you want to get to tree trunks and bollards when riding at speed. Real close, like inches? Nuh uh, right? You want minimum two feet, because the speed difference between you and Mr. Tree Trunk is large, and that translated to OUCH if you screw up.
What causes accidents isn’t the speed of the traffic, its the difference in speed between the fastest and the slowest. The larger the difference, the larger the danger. When bicycles are involved, that difference is very large indeed. Bikes on streets are an accident looking for a place to happen. Same as bikes on sidewalks are an accident looking for a place to happen.
Putting a “bike lane” consisting of a line of paint on the side of a road is insanity, and everybody knows it. A bike lane is a place where there are NO pedestrians and NO cars, where everybody goes roughly the same speed, and where there’s enough room to pass. That is a safe condition for bikes.
We don’t have that. We have a line of paint and some regulations that defy the physical laws of motion, not to mention running counter to human nature. We also have cities based on the use of cars, cities that stretch for 30 miles or more. Adding proper bike lanes to that would be idiotic, because how many of us are hard men that can bike 20 miles a day to work and back? I can’t. Not a chance.
And finally, we have SNOW. Bicycles are inherently unsafe in freezing conditions, as are motorcycles. Minimum THREE wheels for safe functionality in winter, four is infinitely better. Ask my scars how I know that.
But then we have Jon, defying physics, human nature and the climate to demand we all fork over so he can enjoy his little physical fitness hobby. Jon is numerous enough in governing circles that he can get plastic bollards put up to shrink a road too small for cars to pass side by side.
And you wonder why we mock you.
The Future for commuting for common guy or gal who doesn’t like to pedal and won’t be able to afford $5 a liter for gas and $50,000 for F150.
http://www.electricbike.com/10-ebikes-of-the-future/
Excellent post.
Perhaps a quibble, if those in governing circles were forced to commute on a bicycle, they’d change their tune.
What really grates for me, is that our governors not only drive or are driven to city hall, they also have convenient parking spots right there at city hall(at our expense) while at the same time their agenda is to reduce parking and raise the cost of parking for the rest of us.
Same thing with insisting the rest of us use mass transit. If our governors had to use mass transit, it would either improve greatly or, the volume of their insistence would reduce.
Phantom,
I know exactly who you are. I’ve been a semi-regular here for almost 10 years.
You simply forget that having a bicycle is one of the most inexpensive and base freedoms there is. Then you forget what a conservative is supposed to be. Then finally you let your rage convince you that it’s ok to hit someone so long as they’re on a bike.
I know exactly who you are, and I’ve never been impressed. For someone who pretends to be an engineer, sometimes you forget your logic.
I also note that you can’t read.
I didn’t ask for any of “your” money. I just made it clear that I and most other cycling commuters have insurance (exposing the first smalldeadminds lie) and then I said, I don’t want a special lane, I want people to learn to read the laws and understand that a bicycle is a vehicle until such a point that you get the law changed, but not before.
Like I said, you’re either a liar or the worst engineer ever.
I’ve been here for years too and I’m fairly sure the Phantom is a therapist who helps people recover from brain injury, you know the kind that cyclists get when they’re hit by a motor vehicle and survive, but maybe I’m misremembering.
Jon, unless you have a stand-alone policy that covers your bicycle travel, you are being subsidized by those who are also insured by that company.
I could be wrong, but I would likely not be able to opt out and get a discount if I did not use a bicycle on the roadways.
Therefore, we are all subsidizing your insurance and the pavement that you ride on.
Yet you want more … and you deserve it because you are saving the planet for the children.
You sir are an astounding moron.
I did not say that it is “okay” to hit cyclists. I said that it is INEVITABLE. Because PHYSICS.
I don’t care that you don’t want a bike lane. You NEED a frigging bike lane, for the same reason that pedestrians have sidewalks instead of walking the edge of the road. Because PHYSICS.
It doesn’t matter what the law says bicycles are. When they are going 15 mph on a street where the cars are going 30mph, no matter what the law says and no matter how careful drivers are, cyclists are going to die. Because PHYSICS.
A conservative is someone, at base, who realizes that Physics trumps wishful thinking and politics every single time and can’t stand people like you Jon who insist otherwise.
And yes, as Oz says my perspective on the outcomes of wishful thinking and Greenie politics is shaped by teaching people with massive brain and spinal cord injuries how to walk again. And how to eat, how to wipe their butts, how to put on socks, all of that. They would be the ones who survived. Not all do. Not all have both legs to work with either. Try teaching a brain injured patient how to put on and use a prosthetic limb sometime Jon. If I never see another pretty girl with her skull caved in, or her spine crushed, or her pelvis mangled, or just cut up like hamburger, it will be too soon.
Physics is an unforgiving b1tch. It p1sses me off watching you lie about it, Jon. Bike lanes made of paint and hope lead to full hospitals and broken kids. Broken forever too, they don’t actually get better most of the time.
Really Jon, if you want to play Russian Roulette its your brain. You go ahead. But don’t expect me to buy your BS on why its a great idea and I should be proud to have my tax money pay for it. Its a stupid idea. You’ve been -lucky- so far. You moron.
All commuters should be subjected to equal traffic regulations:
1)Mandatory seatbelt enforcement;
2)Speed zones- ie: 100 or 60 kph for all, without exception;
3)Violators shall be forced to wear nerdy helmets and nut-crushing bicycle shorts.
Besides, those greenies seem to be expelling an inordinate amount of CO2 as they huff n puff, while I barely raise my heartbeat behind the wheel of my F150!
4. Every vehicle using a given road must be able to maintain the maximum legal speed on that road (weather and congestion permuting). So yes certainly you can massage your prostate in public as long as you can keep doing it at 60km/h.
I have an example: I hit an inattentive cyclist with my truck…quite hard, too. Besides the shattered windshield, a front quarter panel was badly damaged, as well as the lights and grill on that side. The hood was bent a bit, but still closes ok. There were a few other things too, but as it is an old truck (probably worth less than the guy’s bike, which was crushed) I chose to not get it fixed. All totaled, it probably would have been around $1500 to get everything back to normal. But since the guy was pretty badly injured and found to be at fault, I decided not to add insult to injury.
are people who ride bicycles inherently stupid? there sure was a lot of that posted here during the last couple of days.
Some of them certainly appear to be. Jon, ferinstance.
It takes a special kind of stupid to ride a bicycle in traffic and think that its up to the guys with the two ton cars to keep you safe, as they whiz by at triple your speed, inches away. Blaming those eeeevile car drivers as you lie there in traction is sure to make things heal faster, right?
I ride my bicycle all the time. I ride on trails, quiet country roads, through the woods, places like that. I do not ride down the side of Highway 54 with 18 wheelers passing inches away at 95K, militantly insisting that everyone accommodate ME! ME!! ME!!! and generally creating a bloody nuisance of myself.
Because physics.
So based on Colon..’s theory, every semi, motor home and F150 pulling a 30 ft trailer, traveling at 80km on the highway, would have to be parked. Brilliant! And people who ride bikes are stupid?
It takes a special kind of stupid to believe that I was being serious and not merely flaming the prostate masseurs.
http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/car-drives-right-into-cyclist/2gvz7gfmf?from=en-ca-infopane&cpkey=f8a374fa-a4a1-472a-93a4-6ff7887e9a9d%257c%257c%257c%257c
The reality of riding on streets, this why you can’t trust drivers, and why I avoid busy roads like the plague.