people who ride bikes on the road are stupid

[AsuraSyn]

xolorus

AsuraSyn

But you can if you have a shotgun and a rottweiler.
Else the terrorists win.

i live in quebec. no one carries shotguns here. i don't even know where you'd buy a shotgun here.

Which is why you have to avoid the rape woods.

[xolorus]

AsuraSyn

xolorus

AsuraSyn

But you can if you have a shotgun and a rottweiler.
Else the terrorists win.

i live in quebec. no one carries shotguns here. i don't even know where you'd buy a shotgun here.

Which is why you have to avoid the rape woods.

and the cyclist have to avoid the roads, cuz the drivers here will run them over, cuz people in quebec don't know how to drive

[AsuraSyn]

xolorus

AsuraSyn

xolorus

AsuraSyn

But you can if you have a shotgun and a rottweiler.
Else the terrorists win.

i live in quebec. no one carries shotguns here. i don't even know where you'd buy a shotgun here.

Which is why you have to avoid the rape woods.

and the cyclist have to avoid the roads, cuz the drivers here will run them over, cuz people in quebec don't know how to drive

Which is why the cyclists should get a hold of guns and solve the problem.

[carmen dior]

I have sidewalks that I ride my bike on or run on, I guess not everyone is as lucky as I am though.

[tista077]

I witnessed a bicylist get hit by a car. It happened in an intersection where the car was making a left turn.
The bicylist flew into the air and did a few flips with his bike before falling onto the road.

[xolorus]

tista077

I witnessed a bicylist get hit by a car. It happened in an intersection where the car was making a left turn.
The bicylist flew into the air and did a few flips with his bike before falling onto the road.

did he live or die?

[tista077]

xolorus

tista077

I witnessed a bicylist get hit by a car. It happened in an intersection where the car was making a left turn.
The bicylist flew into the air and did a few flips with his bike before falling onto the road.

did he live or die?

He was on ground grabbing his head. He looked he was in a lot of pain. A lot of people rushed to him and gathered around him. Traffic in the area had to stop. The ambulance came and took him in about 3-8 minutes later. He was still alive when they loaded him into the ambulance but when I saw him fall, it was awful. He bounce of the ground twice during the accident. I would say he is probably still alive but did not escape the accident without a head or back injury.

[xZaebos]

lord_william_nilsson

xZaebos

lord_william_nilsson

In my country (the netherlands) we have about as many bicyles as we have inhabitants. People are so used to there being cyclists on the road that accidents rarely happen.
My opinion, more people should ride bikes. It's not only healthier and better for the environment, but the more bikes on the road, the less cars that can cause accidents. The more people get on a bike, the safer it becomes.

Quote:

Netherlands:

People: 16,652,800
Bicycles: 16,500,000
Cyclists: ~99.1%

In the Netherlands 27% of all trips and 25% of trips to work are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person per day is 2.5 km. Holland and bicycles go together like bread and jam. Despite the recession the cycle-happy Dutch are still spending a lot of money on their bicycles - nearly 1 billion euros’ worth a year. About 1.3 million bicycles were sold in the Netherlands in 2009, at an average price of 713 euros ($1,008 ) each. Amsterdam (the capital and largest city of the Netherlands) is one of the most bicycle-friendly large cities in the world. It has 400 km of bike lanes and nearly 40% of all commutes in Amsterdam are done on bike. Strangely, most cyclists don’t wear helmets. And bike theft is a big problem, with about one of five (20%) bicycles being stolen each year.

For comparison:

USA:

People: 310,936,000
Bicycles: 100,000,000
Bicylists: ~32,2%

In the USA only 0,9% of all trips are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person is 0.1 km.

source: http://top10hell.com/top-10-countries-with-most-bicycles-per-capita/

Going to college is 32 km and going to a friends house is 8 km. It's not practical in most of the States.

Travel by bus or train to college. Ride your bike for 20 minutes to go to your friends. 20 minutes really isn't that bad, I do it all the time. It's healthy and I can't think of any reason except laziness not to go by bike. If you do it regularly, you get a decent work-out and you actually save time and money by not having to go to the gym. How's that for being practical?
And it's alot better for the environment, but that should go without saying.

FYI, I travel 54 km to work every day using my bike and the train. 32 km should be a walk in the park. Oh yeah, most of my friends live a 15-20 minute bike ride away.

There are no buses or trains, and it's a two hour bike ride. >.>

[imblaine2]

I was under the impression that you weren't suppose to ride bikes on the sidewalks and such.

[Kingstonalloy]

I usually ride my bicycle on the freeway going about 80mph.

[Torus Ragnarok]

Then where are we supposed to ride? The sidewalk?

It's usually illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in certain municipalities. Hell, my dead end middle-of-nowhere hometown didn't allow it.

Also, it's extremely difficult to ride a bike on the sidewalk, in my personal experience, which may or may not be the reason why it's illegal:

* There are people walking around everywhere. You can't get any kind of speed on the sidewalk lest you hit someone. Also, sidewalks usually aren't wide enough to accommodate shared use anyway; you could very easily hit a person exiting a building or a bus. Do you want that person hit to be a small child?
* Motorists don't expect you speeding down a sidewalk. I've nearly been hit so many times on the sidewalk at cross-streets before I quit riding on the sidewalk; motorists love to move very quickly to the intersection, stomp the brakes, and block the crosswalk while waiting. This action from motorists is NOT rare. It's very easy to get hit like this.
* Many sidewalks tend to not have ramps, and even now in the 21st century new ones are being built without ramps.
* Sometimes cars park on the sidewalk, or across it, so you're forced to get into the street anyway. They also drive on the sidewalk for whatever reason. No, this is not rare. At all.
* Guess where maintenance crews put their orange Road Work signs? On the sidewalk. Usually. Those signs are not small; they make the sidewalk impassable, even for pedestrians.
* A lot of people don't trim their bushes, kudzu, or their trees that they grow up against the sidewalk, letting them grow over the thing, making sidewalks inaccessible to everyone.
* Sidewalk damage is far more common and tends to be much worse than any road damage. If something damages a road, it's smoothed out in a heartbeat. If a sidewalk tile is knocked out of place (by an uprooted tree, for example), give it about six months and they'll make an extremely steep little asphalt slope instead of moving the tile back in place.
* Sidewalks are never clear in adverse weather. They are not designed to drain like roads are. In winter, I've seen a bunch of sidewalks completely covered in a thick sheet of ice. And guess where the snow gets pushed when the roads are plowed (if no parallel parking)?
* And, most importantly: There is usually crap all over the sidewalk that is in the way that makes bicycling on the sidewalk dangerous or impossible--Bus stops/shelters. Benches. Trash cans, including the trash that people leave out for collection. Trees. Road signs. Utility poles and street lights (which take up the whole damn sidewalk). Signs for businesses. Restaurants' outdoor tables. Houses' front stairs. Stoplights' control boxes. Fire hydrants.

These problems are exacerbated for the handicapped. There's a reason why one can usually see people riding their power chairs down the street.

I can't speak for other bicyclists who ride on the road, because I know they do some impressively stupid s**t and I don't condone it, but I ride my bike nearly every day, and I do my damndest to both assert my place on the (right side of the) road and to be courteous to traffic that is obviously faster than me (moving over at intersections and letting cars pass, etc.). Just deal with the fact that the road is meant to be shared. Not just with cyclists, either--you have to share it with horse drawn vehicles, tractors, and maintenance vehicles... and buses (which I am fast enough to keep up with).

Meanwhile, YOU motorists have an entire system of roads that trillions of dollars has been pumped into building and maintaining since the 1900s, built entirely for you. You want to be away from slow-moving vehicles? Stay on the freeway.

If you're that upset that you have to suddenly not be completely reckless when you're driving and suddenly come upon a cyclist, then you should probably turn in your license and do the whole road a favor.

[Torus Ragnarok]

Ghosty Pie

I live in an area with windy country roads. Its incredibly stupid to bike on a road that cars have trouble driving on, and that has so many curves if someone were to hit you they would not see you until its too late.

But nope. We're bikers, lets be ******** dumb.

Reasons a cyclist could be using that road:
1) They LIVE ON THAT ROAD
2) Their destination is on, or only accessible from, that road
3) There are no other viable roads in the area for bikes
3a) The curvy road may be the only road there
3b) The only other road in the area is a freeway, which is a motor-vehicle-only facility

Side note: Are pedestrians "******** dumb" if they walk down that road, as well?

[Fire 0ak]

i wouldn't do it personally unless it was a small street. I think people tend to do it because it saves time avoid two stops on an intersection. It is really risky though. There are far too many variables to consider. If anything goes wrong with the flow of traffic it could be potentially dangerous.

[Initiate_Sacred_Demise]

xolorus

Haha Coffee

In my country it's illegal to ride bikes on the path, so while commuting I have to ride on the road.

Also, speak for your own stupid country, by and large moterist's follow the rules of the road very well and I have very few problems with them when I cycle.

If anything it's cyclists who need to learn the ******** what there doing on the road.

my country isn't stupid. . .why are you also so quick to insult people like that? "oh, he's different that me. he's from a different place. he's a different religion. he must be stupid!" that's pretty much how all your posts go.

the cars in my city run reds, drive on the sidewalks, cut off school buses. people are getting killed by them all the time, especially bikers.
everyone thinks you Irish are a bunch of drunks. i bet you don't like how that's the general consensus about you're people. maybe I'll say that to you right now, that everything you say is stupid, because you are a drunk. wouldn't that just be plain rude, uncalled for, and ignorant of me?

They may not be morons for riding bicycles, but maybe they should petition for laws or punishments for that type of reckless driving!