| > If a car were to just park in the car lane because it felt like it, there would be outrage, tickets, and the car would get towed immediately. And drivers of those cars would switch lanes to get around it in the interim. Cars can develop mechanical issues that prevent them from proceeding and if they driver can't get to the side of the road, then they remain in the general purpose traffic lane (which isn't for the exclusive use of cars). > But when a biker says "I don't like using the street because it's dangerous", it's just dismissed like this. What's dangerous about changing lanes after checking for traffic in the adjacent lane? People do this all the time while driving cars, trucks and motorcycles. Why would it be any different when on a bicycle? > There's a reason bike lanes exist in the first place, and it's because the car lanes are dangerous. According to NY state law, they exist so that cyclists do not interfere with traffic[1]. It's not for safety. It's just to keep cyclists out of the way. > Imagine somebody saying this when a car driver complains about somebody else running a red light When I drive a car or ride a bike, I check for approaching traffic when I enter an intersection. This is out of self-preservation. People are going to screw up (whether intentionally or not). But if you can avoid a collision regardless of what someone else did, then that's a far better alternative. > When bikers do all the terrible biker things like roll through stop signs, or "act like pedestrians", or roll to the front of the line, that IS taking our own safety No, that's for the cyclist's convenience. If everyone followed the same set of rules, then everyone's actions are predictable and there would be fewer conflicts and lower risk of collision. Imagine if drivers of motor vehicles started following the same strategy you mentioned. They can justify it by saying they needed to stay out of the way of the bus and they saved time as well. > Plenty of car lanes themselves are near the door zone, not to mention bike lanes themselves ARE the door zone usually. If other lanes are present, then drivers stay out of the door zone. That is always true when there is a door zone bike lane. > I don't mean to be aggressive, but the endless victim blaming Providing advice in order to prevent others from becoming victims is not victim blaming. [1] https://www.dot.ny.gov/display/programs/bicycle/safety_laws/... |
Bike lanes of various types are experimental parallel transport systems dropped into an existing system with which most people have experience and education. The bizarre undertaking on the inside and right-hook problems at intersections are completely predictable.