hot take: driving a car should also include passing a drivers test every 5-10 years, depending on your age/prior driving history.
This, but also reasonable alternatives for those that can’t bother, like trains, buses, safe cycle paths.
Hot take! And so should a cyclist test, the amount of cyclists I’ve seen recently not using either rear or front lights and wearing all black is insane. Either take responsibility or gtfo off the road. You want me to take a test? so should you to show that we’re all responsible for our lives and the lives of others . Let the downvotes commence from the irresponsible ones.
Yeah, they should have lights, but drivers have no right to dictate people’s clothes while people are still driving around in black cars, especially when some of those have the wrong number of lights or sometimes don’t put the lights on at all.
As for responsibility, let’s be proportionate. A rubbish cyclist might kill themselves, but rubbish drivers can kill everyone and probably damage buildings and other infrastructure too, so it’s probably justified if drivers have to pass stricter tests.
hmm… a cyclist test for bikes that have motors or can go very fast, like e-bikes, sure. but I disagree that a license is neccessary for a bike that only has petals.
theres not much damage someone can do to another person while riding a bike when compared to cars. the amount of damage one can do on a bike that only has pedals goes way down compared to a car.
I tried looking up how many bike accidents happen that dont involve a vehicle. the number is (probably) so low, I couldn’t find any solid numbers lol
The damage of a bike hitting a person is much lower, but that isn’t the only factor. I think there is a disconnect between whether a person on a pedal bike is a pedestrian or a road vehicle. I’ve seen people ride through crosswalks like a pedestrian even though they are technically supposed to dismount here if you’re on the sidewalk. It’s harder for a driver to anticipate a bike since they are generally going much faster than a pedestrian (not a great excuse for hitting one though). You can absolutely break the speed limit in a school zone on a bike and I’ve heard of people getting ticketed for it. On the other hand, I’ve seen people ride on bike lanes on the road act like idiots. I’ve quite a few people riding against the flow of traffic even though there is a clear arrow indicating which direction to ride. It wouldn’t hurt to have more people aware of the laws regarding commuting on bikes. On the other hand, a license could make it more difficult for the people that would normally rely on a bicycle as a form of transportation. Maybe it’s mainly a US thing?
People suck at driving cars. They are entitled shitheads that should be kicked in the head repeatedly. But they are sooooo much better at driving than most people on bikes. Dear Deity!
Not in my town. Cyclists wouldn’t last long if they were as bad as the drivers here. It’s been a long time since I rode into town and saw no driver on their phone or jump a red light (turn through red is illegal here).
Don’t think I’ve ever seen an actual red-light-jump. Different driving culture, I guess. People on bikes here doesn’t seem to understand that there isn’t a rule that says “bikes always go first” and they seem to be clueless about the consequences of being hit. Sure, I’ll feel bad, but not physically. They might be dead or broken.
We have them all: amber gamblers, crossing creepers, jumping the gun, the cautious nighttime non-stoppers, the good old blast through…
There is a rule in the UK that bikes get priority over cars unless markings show otherwise, and another that walkers get priority over both. Some drivers are still in denial and seem to think they won’t get tickets (or education classes if lucky) if they ignore new rules they dislike for long enough!
Why not fine the bitches and let their wallet force them to reconsider driving like an inconsiderate shit next time? They likely know the rules, but think nothing bad can come of ignoring them. Change their mind.
I can only speak for the US and only the states I have lived in or visited, but getting a ticket is like winning a shitty lottery. Driving like everyone else (ubiquitous speeding, yielding at stop signs) is enough to make you eligible for a ticket. Whether or not you get one is based largely on luck and slightly on whether or not you know where cops like to sit. There’s not a ton of motivation to drive legally when our traffic laws are broken, vague, and don’t reflect reality of driving in America and even the people enforcing them regularly violate them. Around here the highway is posted 65-75mph in most places but in my subjective experience, 60-95mph tends to be 80% of drivers. Nobody stops at stop signs unless yielding to other drivers or a police officer is present.
Instead of spot enforcement (like the US) or camera surveillance and ticketing, I think road design (or in a lot of cases redesign) is the superior way to get higher levels of compliance with the law and to increase safety. Older people might not like it, but roundabouts have HUGE safety benefits. Road hierarchy could be better communicated visually or through tactile means with pavers or cobbles to slow traffic on secondary streets. Lights could be moved to the close side to keep people from rolling out into the crosswalk and to put them closer to where pedestrians stand so they’ll be seen.
The real villains, are people who speed in school zones and work zones. “Your speed and inattentiveness could KILL people,” is the message they should be getting, but drivers are so entitled they speed past their own kid’s schools :‘’'-(
Experience strongly suggests they still won’t reconsider driving like an inconsiderate shit. Instead, they whine about the war on cars and say more traffic cops should be fired or reassigned. 🙁
What’s the point of a fine if a cyclist or pedestrian has already been run over?
That’s more than not following traffic laws. That’s vehicular assault. OFC more than a fine is warranted if they hit somebody.
They know what it means. They don’t care.
There’s a fascinating cognitive dissonance that happens with drivers. People will carelessly speed past their own child’s school oblivious to the fact that car accidents are a leading cause of death, yet worry about unlikely events like serial killers or terrorism.
If we paved the road in front of every elementary school with some very bumpy cobblestones and put the crosswalk on a speed table, that would slow people right down. “I don’t want to launch my vehicle into a power line” is somehow easier for Americans to understand than “I don’t want to run over my neighbor’s child”.
