Comment on Is America Really That Bad?

• RemembertheApollo@kbin.social ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The problem is you’d have to tear up a shitton of infrastructure to do it because built-up areas have no room to extend road widths safely to accommodate bike lanes. The driver behind that problem (pun intended) is the car culture and lack of public transportation. They can’t get rid of car lanes to hand them over to walking/biking dedicated areas because there’s too many cars and people that rely upon them to get around. There would never be enough people that would vote for or support such a project. Rural areas DGAF and are too poor to build bicycle infrastructure.

  It’s not that we can’T be bothered, it’s the usual problem of Americans not wanting to pay for anything that they don’t use themselves or that might inconvenience them even though it’s good to get cars off the roads and keep people safe.

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  • XGC75@kbin.social ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It's disingenuous to say rural areas are too poor to install public transportation. It's that there's too much to install (too much space) for any given user. Just economics of rural areas. It doesn't make sense unless we can significantly reduce the capital investment and running costs of public transport.

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• Nemo@midwest.social ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  But riding on the sidewalk is less safe! Not just for pedestrians, for YOU, the cyclist. There are more hazards and less visibility.

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  • STUPIDVIPGUY@sopuli.xyz ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Baseless statement, elaborate

    It’s not more dangerous for pedestrians because I am aware and respectful of them.

    So tell me how it’s more dangerous for me to be on a further-removed pathway, protected by a curb and other objects like light posts.

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    • Nemo@midwest.social ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Not baseless, data-driven. This isn’t, like, my opinion, and this is the reason it’s illegal for adults to ride on sidewalks in many municipalities.

      There are more obstacles on the sidewalk, and sidewalk is more prone to be uneven. Most bicycle accidents aren’t bike vs. car, but now vs. environment: unexpected bumps or drops, debris, obstacles like poles and tree branches.

      But the real problem is visibility. People step out onto sidewalks not expecting a speeding cyclist, risking collisions. But more importantly for your safety, motorists aren’t expecting you there, either. So when you are going across intersections, they cannot see you –because you’re in the wrong place, and because as you point out, there are streetlights and sign poles and other objects between you– and may turn into you .

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      • STUPIDVIPGUY@sopuli.xyz ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        so the only case these apply are when the cyclist isn’t paying attention to their surroundings… which is the real reason it’s dangerous, and when you eliminate that, I would rather have bikes passing next to people than cars passing next to bikes, because the latter is actually deadly when someone does make a mistake

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• ihavenopeopleskills@kbin.social ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I will give you that. The DC area is incredibly cyclable / walkable and it's nice, considering how scarce and expensive parking is.

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