While I was just on my bike, I was thinking.. car drivers should be happy with people biking!
It saves a lot of space on the roads so others can keep moving
Luckily the Netherlands is quiete reasonable since it’s forced here, other countries should take an example
Oh and FYI, there are electric bikes these days that are truly amazing! Also for longer distances and uphill
But man, I don't care which vehicle you're in, nobody likes the two vehicle types sharing the road. Cars and bikes are different things. Even Cars and motorcyles are different things, but at least a motorcycle can usually out-accelerate a car.
I'd prefer cyclists be allowed to stay on the sidewalk as long as they're not going excessively fast and not running into anyone.
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@sj_zero @stux No, the sidewalks are for walking, not for riding a bike. Yes a crash at 25kph might not sound like too much but it can be deadly if the bike crashes into a child or an elderly person.
If anything we need to surrender car lanes in order to build more car lanes. One car lane can comfortably fit 2 or even 3 bikes (depending on the size of your car lanes).
Let's stop thinking car-first and start thinking people (and nature) first!
If 25kph is too high, then make the speed limit on bikes slower, and cyclists must dismount on busy sidewalks. They separate pedestrians and motor vehicles for a reason, and they reason applies equally to bicycles.
@sj_zero @stux But the whole idea is to lessen the dependency on cars.
Cars are big, polluting death machines that regularly kill thousands of persons.
Bikes are small, lightweight machines that can even emit less CO2 per kilometer than a person walking.
There is a very clear difference, and the current status of prioritizing cars is due to decades upon decades of carmaker propaganda. We have to fight against this.
And yes, I am terribly biased against cars (and I'm a petrolhead!!!)
@stux @sj_zero I'm based in Madrid (technically the outskirts now but I lived in the city for a decade) and the law here says that cars and bikes are 100% able to share the road within city limits. What's the logical outcome of this? Most people don't even dare to cycle because of reckless car drivers, and the ones that do (me included) are looked at as maniacs who just want to make traffic slower - not as people who just want to cycle a relatively short distance to get to their destination.
It was good until one day some jerk decided to illegally pass on the unpaved shoulder, running me into a ditch.
So the physical separation of sidewalks is also a nice thing for safety. Pass on the sidewalk if you dare, but at least you've got to hit the curb first, and even most jerks won't do that.
@sj_zero @stux Unfortunately this is way too common, same as road rage. We definitely HAVE to separate cars from other road users, and we also have to discourage car use as much as possible. If not, the only logical outcome is to surrender more and more space to cars, and this is not good for anyone.
@stux This also applies to mass transit. I've seen car commuters who appreciate it, but at one meeting I attended about adding tolls to an Interstate (Hiway) people were protesting and the only solution that would accept for how that money would be spent was widening the road. They could not comprehend that if we used the toll money to get people off of the road (mass transit, assisting car pooling, bike lanes) then their drives would be easier.
@stux Here in Montreal people complain when the electric bike racks get installed in parking spaces - like. come on, guys! There are at least 5 bike recharging spaces for every car space - that averages out to 4 fewer cars looking for parking spaces, so you actually end up with MORE car parking if you give up space to bikes! I do envy the minimal snow and relative flatness of the Netherlands for biking, though :D