Reply to City council voted today to allow bicyclists to ignore stop signs

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Cyclists (versus casual bikers) are a menace to pedestrians. In dense business areas and high volume traffic areas, they should be required to carry a license and registration — probably insurance too.

I’d also like to see cameras on crosswalks. [/quote]

They're a menace to their own children. I saw a cyclist this morning with a small child on the back of his back riding down the middle of New Hampshire, between the two lanes, during rush hour. Spectacularly dangerous. How are people allowed to put children in this situation? [/quote]

In cars, children must be strapped into approved car seats. On bikes, they don't even have to wear helmets. It's a real blind spot in the law. But, sure, let's focus on the real problem...(checks notes)...cars turning right on red after they've stopped?[/quote]

Because *checks notes* they don't actually stop.

THAT is the problem. Since the law has been in place for decades, the aggressiveness of drivers had gotten worse. Since driver abused the freedom, they now lose it.

[/quote]

Of course they stop. The hyperbole on this thread is ridiculous. If as many drivers ignored stop signs as you say, traffic would be completely unpredictable -- they would be *thousands* of accidents every day, the death toll would be staggering and bicyclists would have to be insane to venture out into the streets. Of course none of that is happening because the nearly every driver follows the rules. [/quote]

24 people have died on D.C. streets this year, out of tens of millions of trips. You're much, much, much more likely to be murdered. [/quote]

I don't entirely see what that comparison is supposed to show. We also devote enormous resources in this city to police (even though I know a lot of people think we should be devoting more), including an entire homicide unit. So far there have been 150 homicides in D.C. this year, but I don't think we spend 1/6 as much energy or money on keeping pedestrians and cyclists safe as we do on MPD.[/quote]

It's funny how people act like 24 is a huge number but 150 is a tiny number.

The bike lobby would have you think the streets are drenched in blood and that we're all about to be run over by some crazy driver. Yet no one is particularly concerned about being murdered.

But more than six times as many people are murdered than killed in traffic accidents. And while homicides and basically every violent crime is way, way up this year, the number of traffic deaths is down.

The reality is very different from the rhetoric. [/quote]

But it’s much easier to prevent drivers from killing people than it is to prevent murders. You can make the streets safer for pedestrians and bicycles. We know it works. People just don’t want to do it. There is no similar fix that can prevent homicide.

Also, I won’t pretend to speak for anyone else who supports bike infrastructure, but I don’t think 150 murders is an incredibly small number. I think both figures are unacceptably high. I also don’t think this comparison makes any sense, because one has nothing to do with the other except in the very rare cases of vehicular homicide.

(Finally, you say homicides are way way up this year, but just for the sake of accuracy, I do think it’s worth noting that compared to this time last year, homicide in D.C. is actually down 3 percent.)[/quote]

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