this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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Fuck Cars

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McSweeney's bringing some hard truths with this one. We could all be doing better.

You forgot to go back in time and tell people that subsidizing the oil industry might be a bad idea.
When the oil and auto industries teamed up to bend public policy to their will, making a system of roads and parking lots that now function as a continuous subsidy and magnificent symbol of the normalization of injury and pollution, you had a lot of options. You could have objected. You could have shifted public opinion. Instead, you weren’t even born yet. And, rather than go back in time, all you’ve been doing is riding to get groceries and occasionally saying, “Please stop killing us.” On the effort scale? 1/10.

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[–] Zeke@kbin.social 80 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I was hit on my bike while heading to college. Simply crossing a crosswalk with a stop sign and someone decided they didn't feel like stopping while I was already crossing. I now live with back pain. Drivers can't be trusted to follow traffic signs.

[–] TurtleJoe@lemmy.world 50 points 1 year ago

Yes, but I once saw a cyclist run a stop sign. These two things are obviously exactly equal, and bicycles are just as dangerous as cars. I am very smart.

[–] Adeptfuckup@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Hmm.. Have we tried painting lines?... we should paint lines... let's paint lines. Problem. Solved.

[–] Rusky_900@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago

That's ridiculous. LINES WONT STOP CARS! Only if they paint the ground near the edge a different colour will it be safe to cycle on roads.

[–] rexxit@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

In most states, riding a bicycle in a crosswalk is not legal, and you are not considered a pedestrian that cars are obligated to yield to. I was taught at a young age to dismount the bike and walk it across for this reason.

[–] DigitalAudio@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 year ago

Holy shit, your country is deranged

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[–] xantoxis@lemmy.world 62 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only 66% of drivers commit moving violations? Every instance of speeding is a moving violation, I think that number should be more like 90%.

[–] CaptainEffort@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

*99%

I mean really, who doesn’t speed even a little?

[–] xantoxis@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Meh--old people. People who don't drive very often and are afraid of cars. There are definitely people who drive carefully and timidly because they just don't trust the car or the traffic they're in.

But not too many. Aggressive driving and speeding are the norm.

[–] dnick@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Reasonably sure anyone who doesn’t speed because they are afraid of driving is committing driving violations left right and center out of timidity rather than speeding.

[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah those are THE most dangerous people on the road. They hesitate and make things very unpredictable. Driver predictability, I would say, is a huge part of how I don't end up a red stain on the road on the daily.

[–] Gork@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

I agree. Being safe means being predictable and going with the flow, even if it means speeding a little to match the relative velocities of the cars around you. Being predictable is better than being right.

Turn signal indicator at least a full second before switching lanes or changing directions, braking at a constant deceleration when stopping, not cutting off other drivers or tailgating, and giving yourself a good amount of space behind the vehicle in front of you is all super important.

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[–] Blackout@kbin.social 28 points 1 year ago

In 20 years of commuting by bike I've been hit twice. Both times were from cars exiting driveway without looking. Times cars driving recklessly and nearly merging into me have happened too many times to count. Sure bikes cause accidents but it's got to be 99 cars to 1 bike.

[–] sadreality@kbin.social 26 points 1 year ago

Auto and oil created a country where you pretty much have to be upper income to live in a few high income cities where no car life is possible but you got to pay top dollar for it.

[–] Polymath@gehirneimer.de 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Thank goodness this reads, at least to me, as largely satire. But then again Poe's Law is certainly a thing.

I have been hit twice by motorists/cars while road cycling, and will die on the hill that US motorists are entitled asses, too self-absorbed to care that, LEGALLY, on just about any roadway bicycles are allowed to take up one entire lane, as a full-fledged vehicle.

Drivers can piss off and cry, that the whole world isn't cars like the auto manufacturer lobby and oil magnates/giants have tried to force us all to become dependent upon and addicted to.

[–] dnick@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Well it kind of has to be satire, since it’s suggesting time travel as the shortcoming, but yeah, it is ridiculous how little care motorists pay to cycles. On the other hand, I’ve met plenty of cyclists acting just as entitled, blowing through signs and pedestrian crossing as though they have the same rights as a car, but for in situations where it’s more convenient, as though they don’t have to obey the same rules. And, of course, the situations where they are completely in the right, but so outmatched by tons of steel that being right only matters to their family in court. Operators of cars and bikes can both be distracted or make a mistake, but only one of them is likely to face life ending consequences in an interaction between the two of them.

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[–] Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If cars don't want bicycles on car lanes, then they should build more bike lanes. shrug-emoji.

Bike lanes and sidewalks are car infrastructure that lets cars go faster.

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[–] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 17 points 1 year ago (31 children)

If a car hits a pedestrian or cyclist, the car is always legally at fault. At least here in the Netherlands. Is this not the case everywhere?

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In Iowa they just acquitted a man for driving into protesters blocking traffic.

[–] TigrisMorte@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Was that the one that posted ahead of time that they were going to do so?

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Different guy.

This guy used his wife and child as eye witness testimony to prove he did nothing wrong when he drove into the crowd.

How long before they start selling pedestrian shields to drivers so they don't dent their vehicles when running us over?

[–] pbrisgreat@midwest.social 9 points 1 year ago

If you want a good sense of how bad it is in the states here are two episodes of Freakomomics that do a job of exposing the issue.

"The Perfect Crime": https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-perfect-crime/ (From 2014)

Then a follow-up episode: "Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians?": https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-the-u-s-so-good-at-killing-pedestrians/ (from July 2023)

[–] Thordros@hexbear.net 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh lord, no. Drivers are rarely held accountable for murdering cyclists. The "accountability" usually caps out at weekends in jail, picking up some garbage on the highway, and being real real sorry.

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[–] Thecornershop@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

That would be amazing, but unfortunately not the case in many places, including Australia where instead a bike rider that gets hit by a car gets told that it is too difficult to prove blame on the driver, even when there is clear video evidence and third part witness statements saying the the driver intentionally rammed the rider.

Don't ask me how I know...

[–] Veraxus@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

Your mistake is assuming that places like the US are as rational, practical, just, and/or civilized as the Netherlands.

[–] Adeptfuckup@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Not here in the US. There's so much victim blaming. The victim always being a pedestrian. Not the asshole driving on a walk path.

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[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

When I was riding, I actually found by night it was better to make myself as invisible as possible and assume cars could not see me, since when I went out bright and shiny they were unpredictable and more dangerous.

[–] HeartyBeast@kbin.social 26 points 1 year ago (6 children)

As a daily cyclist - and as a motorist, please don't do this. Being invisible at night on a bike is a bad idea.

[–] brewbellyblueberry@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

I'm from a country where we have no fucking sunlight half the year, and seriously, reflectors etc are a must and we have halfway decent infrastructure for biking. So many people injure and cripple themselves or get killed, just because a driver couldn't see them. Remember, a ton of drivers are not just assholes, they're idiots. Half of them are on the phone or doing shit on their phone or focusing on anything other than driving. It's no more noble to die by an idiot than an asshole.

[–] spitfire@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

And this is the kind of ideas motorists (as you describe it) have to face every day🤦🤦‍♀️

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[–] BidensGranddaughter@hexbear.net 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This tracks, there's actually some evidence that drivers behave more dangerously around cyclists wearing helmets.

Scientists should study carbrains more, and try to understand why cyclists trying to protect themselves seems to attract drivers like moths to a flame.

[–] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ever been in the car with an actual grillman ?

Their road rage ignites the moment they see a cyclist, especially if somehow the cyclist looks gaaaaay to them. grill-broke

[–] BidensGranddaughter@hexbear.net 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I found the most effective, consistent method of triggering grillman into a blind rage is to simply smile and give them a thumbs up. I wonder if it's something about appearing content and happy while they are bound by all the contradictions and inconveniences of owning a car, especially in a city.

I actually had to stop doing it because one guy sped up so much to beat me to the next red light, he first very nearly hit me on the way and then had to slam on his breaks so hard he lost traction and almost spun out - all this in the middle of a city intersection with narrow roads, no less.

[–] UlyssesT@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago

I wonder if it's something about appearing content and happy while they are bound by all the contradictions and inconveniences of owning a car, especially in a city.

You may be on to something.

On a similar trip with a grillman driving, the grillman was rambling about how much he hated "the wife" and how men are always miserable when they are married and other peterson-pill-dinner tier misogynist bullshit.

I responded that I loved my wife, and said so with in a non-confrontational exceptional way to his claim that every man must be unhappy when married.

He got so enraged he swerved and almost hit something. grill-broke

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[–] heavyboots@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago

Cannot upvote this enough…

[–] Auzy@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

I was actually hit by a car on my electric scooter. In my case, it actually was my fault. Actually felt bad for the person who crashed into me (she seemed more affected by the ordeal than me)

lmao McSweeney's consistently knocks it out of the park.

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