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Metropolitan DC Local Politics
Oh please, if you are going 8 miles and hour and a kid jumps in front of you between cars, with three feet of lead time, there isn't much you can do about it. |
That’s rich coming from a “they came out of nowhere!” driver, as if every bicyclist and pedestrian was some Harry Houdini disciple. You’re so bad at taking responsibility that the government has to mandate minimum liability insurance. |
So where do those anti-cyclist feelings come from? Here's my theory: humans are social animals, and all social mammals have the notion of a hierarchy, a pecking order. It's hard-wired, it's not in the rational part of our brains but in the instinctual part. And there are some people who feel that when they're driving their four-ton Canyonero and they come upon a cyclist upon a 20-pound bicycle, that person ought to be their social inferior because they are physically smaller. And deeply rooted in that mammalian notion of hierarchy is the idea that lower-status members of the tribe have to get out of the way of higher-status members. So when they're driving along and some cyclist not only doesn't get out of their way, but goes around them, they feel a righteous indignation. And when those low-status members of society are treated not like the low-status members they are but as equals or even superiors -- with their own facilities and special rules -- that's just a bridge too far. And the thing about the mammalian, instinctual part of the brain is that it triggers strong emotional reactions. Now, in our political culture we cherish the fiction that all men are equal, so you can't just go around saying "low status people are being treated like equals!" There are some cultures where that would be sufficient, but ours isn't one of them. In our political culture, you have to cloak your self-interest by professing concern for the common good. So if you're against something, it's because you care about "safety," or "the environment" or "equity." So this is why you get these ridiculously convoluted arguments from the bike haters. They know they can't just say, "I hate them because I'm bigger than them and they don't get out of my way." (Although some will resort to that when the veil of their arguments is pierced.) So they rail against cyclists and how cycling is unsafe, bad for the environment, unfair to minorities, bolloxes up traffic, whatever. And as other posters have noted, facts and logic don't get them out of that position, because it was the mammalian brain, not facts and logic, that got them into it. |
This is correct. The fact that the cyclist needed to crash instead of cause a collision indicates that they were traveling at speeds unsafe for the conditions. |
Uh, no, it means that stopping quickly on a bike without swerving into traffic or hitting a stopped car sometimes means you fall down. I'd rather have been on my bike going 9 mph that day than in my car going 20 -- or, honestly, going 9. |
There's nothing really to take responsibility for in this case -- I didn't hit anyone, I didn't damage anything, and I didn't need or seek medical attention. Any comment on the time the driver hit me and explained it was because he hadn't looked to see if I was there? |
I would say that crashing rather than hitting a child is the ultimate in taking responsibility for your actions. |
Parked car, that is, not stopped car. |
I’m not sure I understand the point here. You want credit for not hitting a kid on your bike? |
The child stepped into traffic without looking. The cyclists crashed his bike deliberately rather than run into him. What would you rather the cyclist had done? |
As a road user, just as with cars, you should be riding defensively to anticipate risks and conditions to avoid injury to more vulnerable road users. You should have been riding slower to provide sufficient stopping distance for more vulnerable road users. It is not illegal for a pedestrian to enter or cross the street outside of intersections. Your expectations that the street should be for your sole use and not shared with other users is telling. You share the same mindset as dangerous car drivers. |
In DC it is illegal for a pedestrian to step into traffic. Your obligation to anticipate risks is limited to the legal actions of others. How could it be otherwise? Wouldn't you then have to anticipate every possible action? How would anyone ever go anywhere? |
I can't tell if PP is trolling but he's really stretching. |
First, this is false. Second, streets should be safe for everyone. Third, you again sound just like dangerous car drivers that rightfully should be taken off the road. How would we get anywhere? Safely for everyone, that’s how you will get where you are going. |
DP: but no need to continue responding to this troll. Alternatively they could just be bad at debates |