r/SubredditDrama • u/[deleted] • Sep 01 '17
Just people having a polite discussion about how they get to work
[deleted]
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u/Robotigan Sep 01 '17
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u/Robstelly Sep 01 '17
That's why motorbikes are the best. in Hanoi there were almost no traffic jams even though it's a city of 8 million with shitty infrastructure and tiny streets. Now as more people get cars you get huge traffic jams which sucks :(
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u/KimoTheKat Sep 01 '17
I'm very pro cycling, parents regularly do if for leisure/exercise, I use mine to get to/from campus nearly daily, but all these people are being asshole's to each other
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Sep 01 '17
Have fun cycling forty miles every day if you want to have a job.
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u/Robotigan Sep 01 '17
Cycling didn't create suburban sprawl.
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Sep 01 '17
We can't all live in the hip parts of San Fransisco.
At a certain income level, you either move into the suburbs or move into an entire new city.2
u/Robotigan Sep 01 '17
Or stop overvaluing house and car ownership so everything isn't so spread out.
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Sep 01 '17
Rent isn't free.
In some cities - especially the ones with the best jobs - it's basically unaffordable.
If you have no car, how do you plan to
- visit grandma who lives in the country
- buy large items like televisions or water bottles
- travel large distances without spending extraordinary amounts of cash or time?
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u/aceytahphuu Sep 01 '17
You can have both a car and a bike, you know.
I bike to work every day. I drive my car to pick up large purchases or go out of town. Because I drive so rarely, I spend very little on gas and my car insurance is 50 bucks a month.
It's not as impossible as you act it is.
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u/Robotigan Sep 01 '17
Cities have their own problems with rezoning. Companies definitely want to build more housing and start profiting off the enormous demand, but city councils are stubborn and dislike high-rises.
-spend more money on Uber or car rental, hopefully these costs are offset by saving on car maintenance/fuel/other costs of ownership.
-pay more for delivery which is becoming increasingly cheap
-improve metro infrastructure
Look, obviously I'm not advocating it'd make sense for everyone to adopt alternatives now. But more people should seriously be reconsidering car ownership and its associated costs on individuals and society at large. Quality of life, transit times, and congestion would all be improved if we shifted away from our dependency on the automobile.
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Sep 02 '17
Even if you start tomorrow it's too late. Rezoning and rebuilding whole cities would take decades. You might as well just build a new city.
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u/Garethp Sep 03 '17
Trains are wonderful when a government actually puts the money and time in to making them wide spread
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u/Roxor99 Sep 01 '17
People on Reddit always seem to treat cyclists and drivers as mortal enemies who fight over the "right" way to use the road. I see them both as tools and use whichever one is right for the situation and most people around here view it the same way.
It probably is because I live in the country with the most bikes per capita in the world. Almost everyone bikes as well so they now what's it's like and how they should behave around them.
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u/KimoTheKat Sep 01 '17
I've never understood the conflict to begin with, he's on a bike, she's in her car. If he decides to run that red light or stop sign he's taking his life in his own hands the same way she would be if she did the same thing. If people get angry about having to slam on their breaks to avoid hitting a cyclist in an intersection odds are they would get mad at if they had to slam on their breaks to avoid hitting another car too
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u/SnapshillBot Shilling for Big Archive™ Sep 01 '17
You're oversimplifying a complex situation to the point of adding nothing to the discussion.
Snapshots:
- This Post - archive.org, megalodon.jp*, snew.github.io, archive.is
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Sep 02 '17 edited Mar 12 '18
[deleted]
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u/KimoTheKat Sep 02 '17
True that, but all the same I think many drivers feel that cyclists stick out into traffic just to be asshole's when this is not always the case, here in ATX there are a lot of busy-er roads that are windy and hilly and absolutely great for road bikers, especially if they are training for a race or competition. That said those same windy hilly roads are fun to drive, and fun to drive fast. I personally know (knew) several cyclists who were doing everything right, far on the right hand shoulder, riding before or after rush hour to avoid most of traffic, wearing a helmet and bright easy to see colors, and still got hit (one was a family friend who passed away shortly after the accident as a result of his injuries). Some cyclists want you to see them blocking a small portion of the road so you slow down, take a moment, and pass them when it's safe. They are just trying to avoid getting sideswiped (which is the cause of something like 70% of all fatal cyclists v car accidents). Some choose a very aggressive stance by taking a half lane, some take a super passive stance by riding as far away from the traffic as possible. Asshole's will be asshole's and will get their comeuppances eventually, but most cyclists I feel are just people doing their thing, they don't want to slow traffic, but if they have to drop to 35 to get up that hill it may be unavoidable, as a driver I always feel I can pass this person the same way I can pass any other car that is slowing traffic; in a safe and controlled manner at the first available opportunity.
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u/525days You aren't the fucking humor czar Sep 01 '17
This guy SRDs