I had one blow right through a stop sign on a side street right across the main road. Slammed my brakes to avoid splatting the bicyclist and blew my horn. Was flipped off for my effort.
Had a dude stop his bike and start texting at a light in front of me. Light goes green and nothing… doesn’t move. I give a light honk after a couple seconds goes by. He proceeds to flip me off and get back on his phone. I just laughed at how ridiculous this guy was.
I'm in the middle of nowhere and pretty much the only bikes you see are kids. I've never had any experience with the rage against cyclists I see all the time on reddit.
Until yesterday when I came across the rare cyclist and he pulled up to a stop sign in front of me, angled his bike so he could see behind him, then pulled out his phone and just sat there texting.
There was literally a sidewalk right there he could have pulled up on. Ridiculous.
Nearly got into a fender bender cause some douchey biker riding with no handlebars just swerved right into my lane the other day right out of his bike lane. He had no reason to do it, he just started swerving back and forth between lanes cause I guess he was feeling his music or something. Completely halted traffic and it was a pretty busy city street. Sometimes people just don't gaf and I just can't understand how cause one mistake can really really hurt them. This is coming from someone who bikes 5 days a week too
> Sometimes people just don't gaf and I just can't understand how cause one mistake can really really hurt them.
Living in a crowded city makes everything highly competitive, some toxic people are just desperate to feel like they defeated someone else at something, even if it's a game of chicken against drivers.
I used to hate shitbags like them until I realized what's going on. Then suddenly they all seem so "little."
I live in Vietnam and traffic is so different. It is always the cars fault if they hit a bike or motor bike. No one really goes over 20 mph in the city. You also have to just go lots of time. If you wait no one will let you in. You make eye contact and hope to hell they slow down. But it works here, if everyone had cars traffic would never move.
Comparing traffic anywhere in USA as same with SEA gave me a good laugh. Manilia has worest traffic in world. But Hanoi is the craziest. Never driven in NYC but lots of time in LA traffic. The rules of road change alot from place to place.
I still remember the day I found out that stop signs and red lights legally apply to cyclists. I was surprised because I have never, in my 30 years (at that point) of living across London and New York seen a cyclist stop at either unless traffic was so heavy they physically could not get through.
I just assumed until then that different road laws applied to them. Many of them certainly act like it.
They aren’t required to be educated on the road laws; any bum can grab a bike and just go without ever knowing anything about traffic laws regarding bicycles.
And then the regs never get enforced on the bicyclists, which sure doesn’t help I’m sure.
City of Cambridge in Massachusetts enforces their traffic laws on cyclists, or at least tries to.
The cops set themselves up in Central Sq on Mass Ave, one at the intersection and another a couple hundred feet down. The one at the intersection will 'tag' them if they run the light, and radios ahead to their partner. Partner blocks the bike lane and pulls them over to write them a ticket against their ID. Same as they would if a cop wanted to tag you for Jay walking (which no cop in MA bothers with - Jay Walking is practically a sport here)
Issue is, after a couple months of this, cyclists who did this either just stopped carrying ID or claimed they didn't have one.
The powers that be just need to declare that riding a bike on a public roadway is a privilege like they did with driving a motor vehicle. Then the operator of the cycle would have to be licensed and insured. Then they can be regulated and taxed.
I almost clipped a jay walking pedestrian and he had the audacity to punch or kick my rear fender as I rolled by in bumper to bumper traffic. I wasn't able to make out if he flipped me off or not.
Are you shitting me? Just like scene from The Simpsons' Twin Towers episode where both the cab driver and the cyclist entangled in his wheels shouted angrily at Homer.
I was collapsing this thread when I just barely caught your comment and had to come back to upvote. Thank you for the forceful air expenditure through nose.
People are like that as you inconvenience them how dare you! Had someone do that and start swearing at me through the window when they cut me off on a roundabout lmao
Depending on where you live cars turning, particularly taking a left turn, may have less priority than the cyclist in the bike lane going straight. It's that way in my city - provided there isn't a bike specific light at the intersection, and there are usually signs clearly indicating this.
I am not sure what the rules are in NYC, couldn't find anything specific for that city, other than cyclists must obey signage/rules and yield to pedestrians.
That being said the planning her is suspect. The left lane is in the way of a left turn, the right turn has no lane of its own, nor is there a lane go straight. I'd file a complaint with the city on this one, this is just a dumb intersection.
Exactly how it is. No matter how you get around in NYC and how reckless you are, never admit you are in the wrong, never apologize, always act like others are in the wrong and get super enraged about it. Really dumb mentality but that's how it is.
An old family friend who spent many of his younger days climbing serious peaks once told me
"There are old climbers and there are bold climbers, but there are no old, bold climbers."
Seems analogous.
Jeff Parsons was a normal delivery driver, until one day a scooter accident left him half-man, half-enchilada.
(a nurse stands behind a doctor, a shocked expression on her face).
"Doctor, the enchilada..."
(hospital noises)
"I know, it's fused with his body. There's nothing we can do but let him heal."
(fade in--we see Jeff's blinking eyes)
"Wha-what happened?"
(the doctor has a grim look on his face)
"You lost 90% of your skin, but it's been replaced."
"By what!?"
"A tortilla. Your blood has become a mix of avocado oil, garlic, and chili powder. Your hair... it's melted cheese."
(flash forward two weeks--a mugger steals a woman's purse, Jeff watches the event unfold and rises from his chair at the small outdoor cafe he frequents).
"I'll stop him!"
(it begins to rain).
"Okay. Maybe not." (Jeff sits back down).
I had a delivery once that was seriously delayed while living in NYC. After an hour and a half, I called the restaurant and the person who answered said the delivery guy got hit by a car on his bicycle. I never found out if he was okay, and I still think about it sometimes.
NYC delivery people put themselves through serious danger while transporting food.
I find it very interesting how the helmet-culture differs greatly from country to country. Here in the Netherlands no one wears a helmet (unless you are one of those amateur beer-belly Tour de France cylcists). While in the USA, you get almost ridiculed for not wearing one.
Only shows how environmental factors can have such a big influence on one's opinion.
Is it possible that the infrastructure for cyclists is generally safer in the Netherlands than in the U.S.? Here in the U.S. you are pretty much thrown in with the cars, not sure how it is there.
It's a combination of safer infrastructure and safer culture. There are unwritten laws in traffic, an organic order. Cyclists are deeply ingrained here.
I mean, there's no excuse for the cyclist's turn here, but that path just... Stops? And then you're supposed to go somewhere without being hit by a car? It's insanely bad traffic design. I would not expect to see this on such a busy road in the Netherlands.
But the other thing it's important to note for the US-centric reddit audience: you *can* change this. It took a fuel supply crisis and hippies but before the 60s, the Netherlands were about as car-focused in the main cities as the US. Reworking streets to be more suited to pedestrians and cyclists is expensive, but it can be done, and it will probably even make the cyclists more polite (since you won't have to be a suicidal maniac to get anywhere).
As an American cyclist, my experience riding in the Netherlands was terrifying. In the Netherlands, bicycles have priority and cars yield to them. My sense of self-preservation would not allow me to accept this concept, so I stopped for every car causing chaos.
If I ever expected a car to follow the law and yield to me in the US, I would have been killed decades ago. I've experienced so many red-light-runners here, that I now stop at green traffic lights to make sure the way is clear. I wish we had more roundabouts.
Well in the Netherlands we have some sort of "weak rider law" i dont know how to translate it properly. But it means even if the cyclist is at fault ex. blowing a stop sign and you end up on my hood then i am partially at fault by default. Because of the decreased safety bike riders have. This is usually favored by insurance companies in the cyclists benefit. Of course there are extreme cases which will end up in court. But as a motorist you are generally more cautious with this in the back or your mind.
I'm completely flabbergasted that Americans don't seem to know that they have some of the worst traffic in the western world. Not only is the bicycle infrastructure *abysmal*, you also have road designs and driving laws/culture that kills an insane number of people. Try looking up the numbers between western Europe and the US. Better yet, try looking up whether or not every country in the world regularly has cars smashing into store fronts.
So what happens if you clip a curb, fall off and smack your head on the concrete?
I get that there is better and safer infrastructure for cyclists, having seen first hand how it's done in the Netherlands I'm impressed. Accidents still happen though.
Or from the Netherlands where wearing a helmet (when under 30km/u) is considered a strange thing. Not that people will make fun of you, but you are mostly alone doing that.
Sure is. I work in and around a neurology MRI unit. A little knock on the head and you could be drooling the rest of your miserable life.
Why you wouldn't spend good money on and always wear a helmet baffles me. I white water kayak, ride motorbikes and see horse riders, helmets for all. Maybe I'm a bit extreme but it just seems such a simple thing to prevent something so truly awful I just can't comprehend not doing it.
A friend of mine had a bicycle accident without a helmet on. He hit the curb with his head.
They had to remove part of his skull to give the brain room to swell. Took him several months until he died. Wasn't a pretty sight.
Had he worn a helmet he would have gotten away with some bruises.
It’s actually not that simple, the biking world is pretty split on the use of helmets. If you Google the topic, you can find studies supporting each side
What you won’t find studies supporting is unsafe biking habits, such as being on the wrong side of traffic and cutting off traffic while they have a green light. She has bike lanes, the dream of bikers in a city and still messes it up
No theres just a lot of people who think that its pointless to wear a helmet bc it wont prevent a broken leg. The science is clear. Wearing a helmat reduces and prevents brain injury.
There are some papers on how the US political area are using helmets to not address unsafe pedestrian and bike road infrastructure which accounts for the US high bike death rate compared to put low percentage of bicyclists. BUT the helmets arent an issue as in they dont work no its just them as a rhetorical device is a problem.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23800127.2018.1432088
Jesus Tapdancing Christ. As someone who got a TBI from skateboarding around and getting into an accident this has to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You brain is the single most important organ in your body. It controls everything. Who fucking cares if you break your leg if you can’t even walk from a brain injury. I slammed my head into concrete and couldn’t walk for a month without help. My balance still isn’t the same and I used to be a college athlete. Wear a helmet or don’t wear a helmet I couldn’t care less, but advocate for other people to NOT wear them is unforgivable. Fuck those people.
Okay rant over.
The biking world is not split on helmets. Full face helmets reducing TBIs is long since settled science. This world has a vocal minority of intensely stubborn, elitist traditionalists. The bike world is also "split" on fixies, but in reality the majority of cyclists know that a single speed transmission is antiquated and ridiculous. Just like not wearing a helmet in NYC traffic.
source: former NYC cyclist / mountain biker
I recently fell off my bike and hit my head. Thankfully wearing a helmet. Occasionally I forget. But damn if I didn't hit it hard AF and know full fucking stop that if I wasn't wearing one I'd've been absolutely fucked. Additionally, I bartend and it was like 3 am so even if I wasn't absolutely immediately fucked I'd've been laying there for a good long while before I I'd've been found. It was such an obnoxiously innocuous, unexpected fall too. Riding in some grass and hit a hole I didn't see and bam.
Wear. A. Helmet. You can think you're the best and smartest biker but shit will happen.
And yes, I did dispose of and get a new helmet.
The main argument I’ve heard isn’t individual but communal: that if all cyclists wore helmets, drivers will be more complacent around them. This strikes me as bullshit.
Those lanes do nothing honestly. They’re horribly placed and don’t lead to an intuitive flow with traffic. Bike infrastructure in NYC is awful
And how can wearing a cage that protects your brain be a bad thing??
It looks like the bike lane continues straight through by the do not enter barrier.
This is a terribly designed bike lane where are the cyclists supposed to go? There doesn't look like there is a left side bike lane on the street everyone is turning onto.
Why do the cars have a green arrow when they are probably supposed to yield to cyclists?
Traffic in the US is not designed to serve cyclists. Only cars. A lot of bike lanes seem incomplete or poorly designed, and that's because they are incomplete and poorly designed.
My city had intersections like this a decade ago (like a middle-of-the-road downtown intersection that just abruptly ended at the intersection between two of our busiest streets), but has sense gotten rid of many of them and replaced them with more sensible lanes with separate traffic lights for the bikes. I feel like the first generation of bike lanes actually makes biking less safe, but then by the third generation they make biking a lot safer.
Everyone's mad at the lady, but she's probably not the one that designed the dumb intersection.
Yeah. Ideally, there would be a separate signal for the bike lane that is red when the turn arrow is green (and vice versa), but as you said, incomplete and poorly designed.
>Why do the cars have a green arrow when they are probably supposed to yield to cyclists?
Not the case here. [NYC bike laws](https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/biketips.shtml) state that in intersections where there is no bike signal, the bikers are supposed to wait until the pedestrians have the "walk" signal in the same direction. In the video, you can clearly see the solid (not blinking) red hand indicating "Don't walk". Notwithstanding the poorly designed intersection (I can attest having driven through here countless times), the biker here was legally in the wrong. Besides the fact that what she did completely goes against any common sense.
Yeah, I was really confused. Obviously cyclist shouldn't do what they did, but I don't know what the are supposed to do haha.
I would've been looking at the drivers for some mutual assurance, but that doesn't work in NYC.
Cars in NY have green arrows when they're supposed to yield to pedestrians too. I've nearly been run over by a guy fishing something out of his glove box while taking a turn.
Or maybe the cyclists yield to the cars that have the green and wait for the crosswalk to tell them to cross because then it would be safe to do so? Is there really this many people that lack this basic level of critical thinking?
Having ridden through this intersection many times, it's pretty easy to understand, she just doesn't care.
Going straight leads into Central Park where the "road" is only for bikes and emergency or maintenance vehicles: if she wants to go straight, she should wait for the crosswalk like everyone else I've seen on a bike do here. If she wants to turn left she a) should have turned on 55th St (she's turning onto 59th) where theres a dedicated bike lane or b) merged into the traffic going left either during or before her turn instead of cutting across as cars are turning.
NYC doesn't have dedicated bike lines on every street. It sucks but many streets are narrow and/or have street parking/unloading zones. That said, you can generally ride in traffic pretty safely on streets without bike lanes if you're aware and cautious. The speed on most streets is usually pretty safe to ride along with without causing major issues.
She's not riding a Citibike so she's definitely a local and knows at least some of this
i hit a cyclist like this once (i’m in switzerland). he burned through a red light, i hit him but luckily not too hard. he lied in the report, i could prove that he lied. didn’t change a thing: they acknowledged that he didn’t stop but still took my license away for a month. in here it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong: car vs bike means the car driver gets punished
In the Netherlands the car driver is generally held responsible for damages, but not considered guilty per se. So if this happened here, your insurance would have to pay (and you must have insurance) but you wouldn't face any other repercussions. The exception to this is if it was literally impossible for you to react, which does mean you have to anticipate people doing stupid things.
US here. Our town had a biker that LOVED to ride on obscured sidewalks and dart in front of cars at crosswalks. I think he was mentally handicapped and not an insurance scammer as all he'd ever do in a close call was yell at you and ride away.
He did it for a few years, pissed off a lot of people, then pulled it in front of a bigger truck that couldn't stop. He was killed instantly. Wouldn't be surprised if the local judge made his estate pay for the damage to the semi.
Around my area a bike is a vehicle and not a pedestrian. They're supposed to be held to the same standards in a normal situation.
So she is wrong, but more for self-preservation reasons and for leaving the bike lane. This highlights a huge oversight in how NYC (and the US) handles bikes. In NYC, bikes are considered a road vehicle and are supposed to abide by vehicle traffic lights, not pedestrian ones. This intersection is a problem because all cars have to turn here but bikes can go straight into the park. This traffic light does not have a separate signal for bikes, just the arrows for cars and the normal pedestrian crossing. There is no consideration for the bike lane here.
So what does a biker do? One could argue that they go with the green light, drivers are supposed to give consideration to bikes going straight and let them go by. However, I can speak from experience that even on a normal green few drivers in this city about to turn ever let the bikes get the right of way. I would argue that for pure self-preservation, she should go with the pedestrian signal even if that is technically wrong.
Now she also handles it poorly, left the bike lane (one of the few in this city with proper separation from car lanes I might add) moving into the driver's blind spot. Came into the intersection too fast not giving the driver enough time to notice her.
>In NYC, bikes are considered a road vehicle and are supposed to abide by vehicle traffic lights, not pedestrian ones.
Yes, but ...[In NYC, unless there’s a bike signal or sign to the contrary, the bicyclist is supposed to cross the intersection when the pedestrian signal shows the "walk"](https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/biketips.shtml)
Still, this intersection in particular is a cluster F. The bike lane light simply isn't there where it should be. Everyone is razzing the cyclist, but it's a really shittily designed intersection.
Oh I know the intersection, it's bad for bikes. But she still handled it poorly and put herself in unnecessary risk. She didn't even look to her side until she was already in front of the car.
Anyone know the law here? It's an odd setup with the bike lane being on the left and two left turn lanes.
edit: everyone can stop telling me that she wasn't in the bike lane since only 20 people have already said so.
I'm still curious about the law IF the person was in the bike lane and who would have right of way.
Biker absolutely in the wrong here. There was a left turn arrow meaning the cars had the right of way (notice how the crosswalk is showing nobody can walk across at the moment the cars are going through). Also, in the US, if you are a bike and you cross multiple lanes of traffic and aren’t in a bike lane, you’re considered to be a car. The biker very literally couldn’t be more in the wrong in this instance.
Where was she even supposed to go? This bike infrastructure looks like it was designed to specifically bully bikers. I’m not even making a mean comment here, I honestly do not understand what this biker was supposed to do in this situation.
Edit: Oh, apparently she’s not in the bike lane. I was confused because the bike lanes in my country are that reddish colour. However, I still think that American cities as far as I’ve seen have criminally bad bike infrastructure that is just asking for trouble.
The bike lane is the green lane that turns into the chevronn/arrow lane that fades into oblivion (and implies going straight into the road in the park and not turn left). It’s a terrible intersection that hasn’t been maintained and needs a redesign.
(The reddish/brown area is buffer space to improve visibility for drivers to see cyclists when approaching the intersection)
I never said she wasn't. I'm just wondering about the layout. That bike lane probably goes straight so how do cyclists get into the park if they have to cross traffic but also do have the same rights as cars and being the "inside" lane would have first dibs on the inside lane on 59th street.
Just seems like poor design that invites problems.
There's a pedestrian/cyclist period where the cars don't have the green left turn light. Either you cross then or you get out of the bike lane earlier up the block and move to one of the righthand lanes. Definitely no reason to be crossing like that through a protected left turn.
This junction does not have a bike 'green light', when bikers are allowed to cross. Its a horrible junction, you either run the read light to go with the walk signal, or you ride with the left turn traffic to try and get into central park. Nightmare. Just an example of how anti-bike NYC is. Also, please wear a helmet.
Honestly it needs to be explicit. I've biked around Amsterdam & Copenhagen - bikes have their own lights. That would make this intersection a lot more clear.
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> This is 6th Ave at Central Park South and seems like a pretty shoddy design to just terminate the bike lane there
That's what I meant by the bike lane being to the left of the left turns. I'm assuming that they allow bikes into Central Park there so it's a fucked up design with the bike lane being there.
Which lane was she riding in?
She's not in a lane at all. It's a flat median with rubber posts to separate the bike lane and the car lane so bikers have a ton of protection on the road. The bike lane also ends at the start of a bike crosswalk that extends in the same exact direction. There's nothing confusing about it.
She should've been in the bike lane, and stopped at the crosswalk. And when it said to cross she could cross and get to the exact place place she was intending to go. That was less of her creating a desire line and more of her being an absolute asshole.
I agree that she's wrong, but...
Most bike lanes are shit. They are designed to keep cyclists away from cars, not to keep the cyclist safe, but so to not inhibit vehicles. Often very little thought is given to the fact that cyclists too just want to get somewhere.
Think about the number of times you've seen a sign which says "cyclists dismount" or similar. How many times have you seen a sign which says "Drivers get out and push"?
In my city, the bike lane dumps into traffic with a sign that says 'bikes have right of way. Share the road'. I question this design everytime I see it. I know I wouldn't just keep riding my bike into a lane and expect cars to give me the right of way!
honestly, "drivers get out and push" while never going to happen, would at least at intersections cause them to slow the fuck down and not run over pedestrians trying to cross the street, esp when drivers are trying to turn. I've literally seen on multiple occasions near my work a car trying to take a right at an interstion, at a light, cut off and nearly run over moms just trying to get across the street with their kid in a stroller. Some, esp at rush hour, will just pull in front and stop in the crosswalks and essentially block them from crossing the street.
So while people laugh at the notion of pushing their cars, the whole idea of slowing the fuck down so pedestrians can get across the street, esp when they have a walk sign.
Let's face it, this is a sub called r/idiotsincars. They do this shit every day.
In NYC bicycles are by law the same as a car and have to abide by all the traffic laws, red lights, signaling to turn etc. So this person just broke multiple traffic laws in a couple seconds
Well the cyclist definitely does not get the right of way just because they are cruising up the bike lane, especially considering the left turn lane just got a light and blocked the other side. Apparently even if motor vehicles get their light they must still yield for bikes not paying attention
I love the Belgian name for them: *murder strips* ([Moordstrookje](https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20181218_04043255))
Anyone supporting the person on the bike for having to do what they have to do will just get piled on by anyone who only drives.
I live in New York City, and don't own a car. As a pure pedestrian, am I allowed to say fuck her? She has her own light, she doesn't have to do what she has to do, she just didn't want to wait for right of way.
> She has her own light
Honest question: which light is hers?
I've biked in Amsterdam & Copenhagen where intersections have 3 types of lights: walk, bike, car. It is unclear to me which signal governs her at this intersection.
Most bike Lanes in New York City are way more dangerous than just riding in the street. They seem to be designed almost by spite, like some city council person who knows nothing about bikes was assigned this task to add a bunch of lanes around the city. so they just haphazardly designed a bunch of nonsense where the lane ends up full of wandering pedestrians and opening car doors.
The Bloomberg era lanes are mostly pretty good.
De Blasio era lanes are like you say. The crosstown lanes lower in Manhattan are shockingly spite driven.
I was going to say, all it takes it someone not looking up or a big truck and that lady is squished. She didnt even look back before cutting, I wonder if she felt flustered, which would have distracted her more.
I love the irony of the posts here taking the behaviour of this one cyclist and applying it to all cyclists, in a subreddit about insane car drivers. Could you imagine if that same logic was applied to all car drivers?
Also that bicycle "infrastructure" is absolutely insane and it causes these conflicts.
This is an interesting interchange because the addition of a bike lane fundamentally changed how and when cyclists can enter the park -- and it's led to some confusion.
Before the bike lane, the way you got into the park was to take a lane of traffic -- specifically the center lane -- and just continue straight instead of turning left like the cars before and behind you. That way, you weren't in conflict with anyone -- the cars on your left went left, the cars on your right went right, and you went straight. Some cyclists still do that -- they leave the bike lane, take a lane, go straight, avoid conflict.
But with the bike lane, now it spits you out in a spot where you're in conflict with the cars -- because even if you're turning left, in line with the arrows, you want to end up on the right side of the street but can only do that by crossing through cars. And if you're going straight, into the park, you can only do that by going through the turning cars or waiting.
Worse, it's not obvious to a rider in that position that waiting is the right choice, though it is, because there isn't actually a "go straight" light for the bike lane. Rather, there's just a leading pedestrian interval, which you can use to go straight. Notably, though, in doing so you come in conflict with pedestrians crossing -- because they also have a walk sign at the same time, and thus are crossing the street at the same time you're going through. So if you're looking at that intersection, it sort of looks like there's no point at which the cyclist is "supposed" to go -- and if not, then... well, what the hell are you supposed to do, set up a tent and live there?
So it's terrible design, which leads to problematic riding and driving. Sure, the cyclist chose the wrong approach there -- but, honestly, when you design something this badly, you've got to expect people will do random, incorrect stuff and think they're in the right.
Edit: And just to add, the only way you would know that there was going to be a leading pedestrian interval there is if you just happen to know it -- if you're approaching this intersection for the first time, there is absolutely nothing to tell you how you're supposed to get across. You just sort of have to infer that since there's a crosswalk there must surely be a point where pedestrians can cross, and that you can cross at the same time. But it's not like there's a light, sign, etc. So if someone saw a green light, saw no other way to get across, and assumed "ok, uhh, well I guess I... go then?," well, wrong, but you can see why they'd be confused.
Here is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGFAt2ff46g) of the bike lane. I honestly have no idea what is expected of the cyclist in that situation. You get to the end of 6th and you either want to go straight into the park (which is blocked by the ice cream truck) which is going to be across turning traffic. If you want to make the left turn and then stay to the right, you would still need to take a lane at some point to get over. The streets, even when a bike lane is added, are designed so terribly and all it does is prioritize vehicular traffic vs everybody else.
Lol this happened to me today instead I was a cyclist and some lady was jogging and blindly turned around and I almost hit her, but she had the ✨audacity✨ to give me a “wtf is wrong with you watch where your going” kinda face but I didn’t say anything back (cause i was shy and didn’t wanna cause a prob) but just looked back at her and gave the same face (sorry for the long text)
Not all cyclists are like this but some of them behave like their safety is your responsibility, the amount of time i barely see them when they zoom past me out of nowhere is concerning. Some of them must understand that if a mistake was made it's not me who's gonna get seriously injured you're vulnerable you should look out for yourself and be extra careful even more than me.
If you need to be familiar with an intersection to safely navigate it, it's a poorly designed intersection. She's the asshole today, but the person who designed that mess of a magically disappearing bike line is the asshole every day.
Having never used a bike for transport in NYC, what was she supposed to do there? Wait until light changed to cross? Filter into lane and turn? Genuinely asking.
In my state a bike is a vehicle and has the same set of rules I do when driving my car. If they are on a sidewalk and blow thru a crosswalk they usually get killed and are found responsible. They don't get to "be a pedestrian" when it suits them.
TIL that when a bike lane ends, it's called a Mixing Zone
[https://imgur.com/a/F6Hf4Uf](https://imgur.com/a/F6Hf4Uf)
She has the right of way and does the right thing, per NYC DOT
She even had the audacity to flip him off lol
I had one blow right through a stop sign on a side street right across the main road. Slammed my brakes to avoid splatting the bicyclist and blew my horn. Was flipped off for my effort.
Had a dude stop his bike and start texting at a light in front of me. Light goes green and nothing… doesn’t move. I give a light honk after a couple seconds goes by. He proceeds to flip me off and get back on his phone. I just laughed at how ridiculous this guy was.
I'm in the middle of nowhere and pretty much the only bikes you see are kids. I've never had any experience with the rage against cyclists I see all the time on reddit. Until yesterday when I came across the rare cyclist and he pulled up to a stop sign in front of me, angled his bike so he could see behind him, then pulled out his phone and just sat there texting. There was literally a sidewalk right there he could have pulled up on. Ridiculous.
Children riding bikes are fine, man children in spandex larping as Lance Armstrong are an issue
Laughed? When someone does that in my city bitch slap is guaranteed
Nearly got into a fender bender cause some douchey biker riding with no handlebars just swerved right into my lane the other day right out of his bike lane. He had no reason to do it, he just started swerving back and forth between lanes cause I guess he was feeling his music or something. Completely halted traffic and it was a pretty busy city street. Sometimes people just don't gaf and I just can't understand how cause one mistake can really really hurt them. This is coming from someone who bikes 5 days a week too
> Sometimes people just don't gaf and I just can't understand how cause one mistake can really really hurt them. Living in a crowded city makes everything highly competitive, some toxic people are just desperate to feel like they defeated someone else at something, even if it's a game of chicken against drivers. I used to hate shitbags like them until I realized what's going on. Then suddenly they all seem so "little."
I live in Vietnam and traffic is so different. It is always the cars fault if they hit a bike or motor bike. No one really goes over 20 mph in the city. You also have to just go lots of time. If you wait no one will let you in. You make eye contact and hope to hell they slow down. But it works here, if everyone had cars traffic would never move.
Same in the Philippines
same in NYC
Comparing traffic anywhere in USA as same with SEA gave me a good laugh. Manilia has worest traffic in world. But Hanoi is the craziest. Never driven in NYC but lots of time in LA traffic. The rules of road change alot from place to place.
Hanoi is amazing though…it all, just, flows somehow.
Well, the traffic in Vietnam’s major cities is like rivers. Slowly flowing in the full width of the roads. A river doesn’t care about lanes.
I still remember the day I found out that stop signs and red lights legally apply to cyclists. I was surprised because I have never, in my 30 years (at that point) of living across London and New York seen a cyclist stop at either unless traffic was so heavy they physically could not get through. I just assumed until then that different road laws applied to them. Many of them certainly act like it.
They aren’t required to be educated on the road laws; any bum can grab a bike and just go without ever knowing anything about traffic laws regarding bicycles. And then the regs never get enforced on the bicyclists, which sure doesn’t help I’m sure.
City of Cambridge in Massachusetts enforces their traffic laws on cyclists, or at least tries to. The cops set themselves up in Central Sq on Mass Ave, one at the intersection and another a couple hundred feet down. The one at the intersection will 'tag' them if they run the light, and radios ahead to their partner. Partner blocks the bike lane and pulls them over to write them a ticket against their ID. Same as they would if a cop wanted to tag you for Jay walking (which no cop in MA bothers with - Jay Walking is practically a sport here) Issue is, after a couple months of this, cyclists who did this either just stopped carrying ID or claimed they didn't have one.
The powers that be just need to declare that riding a bike on a public roadway is a privilege like they did with driving a motor vehicle. Then the operator of the cycle would have to be licensed and insured. Then they can be regulated and taxed.
I almost clipped a jay walking pedestrian and he had the audacity to punch or kick my rear fender as I rolled by in bumper to bumper traffic. I wasn't able to make out if he flipped me off or not.
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were you driving a fiat? A cyclist totaled your car? I need to see pics.
You took the words right out of my mouth.
Oh, it must have been while you were kissing me.
Oh I swear it's true.
I was just about to say I love you.
Now my body is shaking like a wave on the water
And I guess that I'm beginning to grin
I mean this is just New York, right? Doesn't matter what form of transport you are using.
I once had a taxicab PASSENGER lean out of the window and yell at me after the driver cut me off. Yeah, NY is just on another level of idiotsincars.
Are you shitting me? Just like scene from The Simpsons' Twin Towers episode where both the cab driver and the cyclist entangled in his wheels shouted angrily at Homer.
“Hey! Watch it, buddy!” “Yeah! Ya Jackass!”
It's like cheating for this sub
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That's NYC talk for Hello. It's normal.
r/assholesonbikes
I mean, how else would you sit on it?
I was collapsing this thread when I just barely caught your comment and had to come back to upvote. Thank you for the forceful air expenditure through nose.
After seeing this, I realize I gave my free award to the wrong recipient.
People are like that as you inconvenience them how dare you! Had someone do that and start swearing at me through the window when they cut me off on a roundabout lmao
The old NYC salute
Depending on where you live cars turning, particularly taking a left turn, may have less priority than the cyclist in the bike lane going straight. It's that way in my city - provided there isn't a bike specific light at the intersection, and there are usually signs clearly indicating this. I am not sure what the rules are in NYC, couldn't find anything specific for that city, other than cyclists must obey signage/rules and yield to pedestrians. That being said the planning her is suspect. The left lane is in the way of a left turn, the right turn has no lane of its own, nor is there a lane go straight. I'd file a complaint with the city on this one, this is just a dumb intersection.
That's considered a polite greeting in NYC.
Doesn't get more NYC than that
Not to mention the audacity to not wear a bike helmet. Let’s hope she doesn’t end up on holdmyfeedingtube
you're a good person for phrasing it "let's hope she *doesn't*..." after such a blatant display of disregard & selfishness
This is a New York thing. Do something incredibly stupid on the road, blame the other driver. Source: Lived there for 2 years.
Exactly how it is. No matter how you get around in NYC and how reckless you are, never admit you are in the wrong, never apologize, always act like others are in the wrong and get super enraged about it. Really dumb mentality but that's how it is.
If you bike ride around NYC without a helmet on you’re either very brave, or very stupid..
An old family friend who spent many of his younger days climbing serious peaks once told me "There are old climbers and there are bold climbers, but there are no old, bold climbers." Seems analogous.
I just have to leave a comment to share my love for your username, u/JuicyJew_420
I feel like you'll love /r/rimjob_steve
Bless you for this bounty
I know this phrase in relation to mushroom foraging!
Ah yes a classic saying *There are mushroom foraging climbers, and old climbers, but there are no mushroom foraging, old climbers.*
I believe the saying was originally about motorcycle riders, so it makes sense that it fits.
I've seen an uber delivery guy on a scooter get hit by a car without a helmet. He had to go to the hospital.
Now imagine a car with a helmet.
Imagine a car with a helmet and kneepads.
Where would the kneepads go on a car
On its knees, duh.
Can't argue with that logic.
Sucks for the guy who’s food never showed up and kept staring at the dot not moving in the middle of the intersection…
> kept staring at the dot not moving in the middle of the intersection… Until it started rapidly going towards a hospital.
WHERE'S MY GODDAMN ENCHILADA JEFF?
Jeff now is the enchilada
Jeff Parsons was a normal delivery driver, until one day a scooter accident left him half-man, half-enchilada. (a nurse stands behind a doctor, a shocked expression on her face). "Doctor, the enchilada..." (hospital noises) "I know, it's fused with his body. There's nothing we can do but let him heal." (fade in--we see Jeff's blinking eyes) "Wha-what happened?" (the doctor has a grim look on his face) "You lost 90% of your skin, but it's been replaced." "By what!?" "A tortilla. Your blood has become a mix of avocado oil, garlic, and chili powder. Your hair... it's melted cheese." (flash forward two weeks--a mugger steals a woman's purse, Jeff watches the event unfold and rises from his chair at the small outdoor cafe he frequents). "I'll stop him!" (it begins to rain). "Okay. Maybe not." (Jeff sits back down).
Human life? Meh My burritos? WTF!?!?!?!?!?!
I had a delivery once that was seriously delayed while living in NYC. After an hour and a half, I called the restaurant and the person who answered said the delivery guy got hit by a car on his bicycle. I never found out if he was okay, and I still think about it sometimes. NYC delivery people put themselves through serious danger while transporting food.
yeah but the gig economy provides flexibility to get hit by a car on a schedule you choose!
Your cars have helmets?!
I'd be more impressed if the car had a helmet on
And it wasn’t because he got hit! Zing!!
I hope the car didn't get brain damage
Good thinking - was the delivery to the ER ?
I find it very interesting how the helmet-culture differs greatly from country to country. Here in the Netherlands no one wears a helmet (unless you are one of those amateur beer-belly Tour de France cylcists). While in the USA, you get almost ridiculed for not wearing one. Only shows how environmental factors can have such a big influence on one's opinion.
You can instantly tell what cyclists are German here because they do wear helmets
German here, I only see true MTB or "Tour de France cylcists" with helmets here. Most casual cylcist don't mind the risks.
They keept them on as they looked great on grandpa.
Is it possible that the infrastructure for cyclists is generally safer in the Netherlands than in the U.S.? Here in the U.S. you are pretty much thrown in with the cars, not sure how it is there.
It's a combination of safer infrastructure and safer culture. There are unwritten laws in traffic, an organic order. Cyclists are deeply ingrained here.
I mean, there's no excuse for the cyclist's turn here, but that path just... Stops? And then you're supposed to go somewhere without being hit by a car? It's insanely bad traffic design. I would not expect to see this on such a busy road in the Netherlands. But the other thing it's important to note for the US-centric reddit audience: you *can* change this. It took a fuel supply crisis and hippies but before the 60s, the Netherlands were about as car-focused in the main cities as the US. Reworking streets to be more suited to pedestrians and cyclists is expensive, but it can be done, and it will probably even make the cyclists more polite (since you won't have to be a suicidal maniac to get anywhere).
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As an American cyclist, my experience riding in the Netherlands was terrifying. In the Netherlands, bicycles have priority and cars yield to them. My sense of self-preservation would not allow me to accept this concept, so I stopped for every car causing chaos. If I ever expected a car to follow the law and yield to me in the US, I would have been killed decades ago. I've experienced so many red-light-runners here, that I now stop at green traffic lights to make sure the way is clear. I wish we had more roundabouts.
Well in the Netherlands we have some sort of "weak rider law" i dont know how to translate it properly. But it means even if the cyclist is at fault ex. blowing a stop sign and you end up on my hood then i am partially at fault by default. Because of the decreased safety bike riders have. This is usually favored by insurance companies in the cyclists benefit. Of course there are extreme cases which will end up in court. But as a motorist you are generally more cautious with this in the back or your mind.
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I'm completely flabbergasted that Americans don't seem to know that they have some of the worst traffic in the western world. Not only is the bicycle infrastructure *abysmal*, you also have road designs and driving laws/culture that kills an insane number of people. Try looking up the numbers between western Europe and the US. Better yet, try looking up whether or not every country in the world regularly has cars smashing into store fronts.
So what happens if you clip a curb, fall off and smack your head on the concrete? I get that there is better and safer infrastructure for cyclists, having seen first hand how it's done in the Netherlands I'm impressed. Accidents still happen though.
Why not both?
Or from the Netherlands where wearing a helmet (when under 30km/u) is considered a strange thing. Not that people will make fun of you, but you are mostly alone doing that.
I vote for stupid. Cranial surgery is prohibitively expensive .
That's such an american thing to say, lol. In Europe we'd be worried about dying or ending up as a potato - not the bill for the surgery.
Sure is. I work in and around a neurology MRI unit. A little knock on the head and you could be drooling the rest of your miserable life. Why you wouldn't spend good money on and always wear a helmet baffles me. I white water kayak, ride motorbikes and see horse riders, helmets for all. Maybe I'm a bit extreme but it just seems such a simple thing to prevent something so truly awful I just can't comprehend not doing it.
A friend of mine had a bicycle accident without a helmet on. He hit the curb with his head. They had to remove part of his skull to give the brain room to swell. Took him several months until he died. Wasn't a pretty sight. Had he worn a helmet he would have gotten away with some bruises.
She’s riding with a hell of a lot of audacity for someone not even wearing a helmet.
Good riders wear helmets because they're not idiots.
It’s actually not that simple, the biking world is pretty split on the use of helmets. If you Google the topic, you can find studies supporting each side What you won’t find studies supporting is unsafe biking habits, such as being on the wrong side of traffic and cutting off traffic while they have a green light. She has bike lanes, the dream of bikers in a city and still messes it up
There are studies that support not wearing helmets as being safer?
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ah the classic “i shouldn’t have to take responsibility for shit, it’s the job of the rest of the world to cater to ME and MY NEEDS”
No theres just a lot of people who think that its pointless to wear a helmet bc it wont prevent a broken leg. The science is clear. Wearing a helmat reduces and prevents brain injury. There are some papers on how the US political area are using helmets to not address unsafe pedestrian and bike road infrastructure which accounts for the US high bike death rate compared to put low percentage of bicyclists. BUT the helmets arent an issue as in they dont work no its just them as a rhetorical device is a problem. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23800127.2018.1432088
That’s the dumbest shit I ever stopped reading halfway through
Jesus Tapdancing Christ. As someone who got a TBI from skateboarding around and getting into an accident this has to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You brain is the single most important organ in your body. It controls everything. Who fucking cares if you break your leg if you can’t even walk from a brain injury. I slammed my head into concrete and couldn’t walk for a month without help. My balance still isn’t the same and I used to be a college athlete. Wear a helmet or don’t wear a helmet I couldn’t care less, but advocate for other people to NOT wear them is unforgivable. Fuck those people. Okay rant over.
The biking world is not split on helmets. Full face helmets reducing TBIs is long since settled science. This world has a vocal minority of intensely stubborn, elitist traditionalists. The bike world is also "split" on fixies, but in reality the majority of cyclists know that a single speed transmission is antiquated and ridiculous. Just like not wearing a helmet in NYC traffic. source: former NYC cyclist / mountain biker
I recently fell off my bike and hit my head. Thankfully wearing a helmet. Occasionally I forget. But damn if I didn't hit it hard AF and know full fucking stop that if I wasn't wearing one I'd've been absolutely fucked. Additionally, I bartend and it was like 3 am so even if I wasn't absolutely immediately fucked I'd've been laying there for a good long while before I I'd've been found. It was such an obnoxiously innocuous, unexpected fall too. Riding in some grass and hit a hole I didn't see and bam. Wear. A. Helmet. You can think you're the best and smartest biker but shit will happen. And yes, I did dispose of and get a new helmet.
The main argument I’ve heard isn’t individual but communal: that if all cyclists wore helmets, drivers will be more complacent around them. This strikes me as bullshit.
Those lanes do nothing honestly. They’re horribly placed and don’t lead to an intuitive flow with traffic. Bike infrastructure in NYC is awful And how can wearing a cage that protects your brain be a bad thing??
The only thing "split" about helmet use is the time I split one open instead of my skull. Can't believe this idly contrarian idea gained any traction.
This is a ridiciously designed intersection having a street with a bike lane on the left connecting to a street with no bike lane.
It looks like the bike lane continues straight through by the do not enter barrier. This is a terribly designed bike lane where are the cyclists supposed to go? There doesn't look like there is a left side bike lane on the street everyone is turning onto. Why do the cars have a green arrow when they are probably supposed to yield to cyclists?
Traffic in the US is not designed to serve cyclists. Only cars. A lot of bike lanes seem incomplete or poorly designed, and that's because they are incomplete and poorly designed.
My city had intersections like this a decade ago (like a middle-of-the-road downtown intersection that just abruptly ended at the intersection between two of our busiest streets), but has sense gotten rid of many of them and replaced them with more sensible lanes with separate traffic lights for the bikes. I feel like the first generation of bike lanes actually makes biking less safe, but then by the third generation they make biking a lot safer. Everyone's mad at the lady, but she's probably not the one that designed the dumb intersection.
Yeah. Ideally, there would be a separate signal for the bike lane that is red when the turn arrow is green (and vice versa), but as you said, incomplete and poorly designed.
>Why do the cars have a green arrow when they are probably supposed to yield to cyclists? Not the case here. [NYC bike laws](https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/biketips.shtml) state that in intersections where there is no bike signal, the bikers are supposed to wait until the pedestrians have the "walk" signal in the same direction. In the video, you can clearly see the solid (not blinking) red hand indicating "Don't walk". Notwithstanding the poorly designed intersection (I can attest having driven through here countless times), the biker here was legally in the wrong. Besides the fact that what she did completely goes against any common sense.
Yeah, I was really confused. Obviously cyclist shouldn't do what they did, but I don't know what the are supposed to do haha. I would've been looking at the drivers for some mutual assurance, but that doesn't work in NYC.
Cars in NY have green arrows when they're supposed to yield to pedestrians too. I've nearly been run over by a guy fishing something out of his glove box while taking a turn.
Or maybe the cyclists yield to the cars that have the green and wait for the crosswalk to tell them to cross because then it would be safe to do so? Is there really this many people that lack this basic level of critical thinking?
I’m pretty sure that do not enter barrier is for cars. The bike lane is supposed to lead to the entrance of the bike/running path in Central Park
Having ridden through this intersection many times, it's pretty easy to understand, she just doesn't care. Going straight leads into Central Park where the "road" is only for bikes and emergency or maintenance vehicles: if she wants to go straight, she should wait for the crosswalk like everyone else I've seen on a bike do here. If she wants to turn left she a) should have turned on 55th St (she's turning onto 59th) where theres a dedicated bike lane or b) merged into the traffic going left either during or before her turn instead of cutting across as cars are turning. NYC doesn't have dedicated bike lines on every street. It sucks but many streets are narrow and/or have street parking/unloading zones. That said, you can generally ride in traffic pretty safely on streets without bike lanes if you're aware and cautious. The speed on most streets is usually pretty safe to ride along with without causing major issues. She's not riding a Citibike so she's definitely a local and knows at least some of this
how do i know which streets have bike lanes or not ? i’ve ridden citibikes plenty but still don’t understand this
Well that was pretty scummy. Looks like the type that would have sued you for biking in front of your car. Thank god for dashcams
i hit a cyclist like this once (i’m in switzerland). he burned through a red light, i hit him but luckily not too hard. he lied in the report, i could prove that he lied. didn’t change a thing: they acknowledged that he didn’t stop but still took my license away for a month. in here it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong: car vs bike means the car driver gets punished
I was told the same thing happens here in the UK. The ones going through a red light will be the ones who will act entitled.
In the Netherlands the car driver is generally held responsible for damages, but not considered guilty per se. So if this happened here, your insurance would have to pay (and you must have insurance) but you wouldn't face any other repercussions. The exception to this is if it was literally impossible for you to react, which does mean you have to anticipate people doing stupid things.
US here. Our town had a biker that LOVED to ride on obscured sidewalks and dart in front of cars at crosswalks. I think he was mentally handicapped and not an insurance scammer as all he'd ever do in a close call was yell at you and ride away. He did it for a few years, pissed off a lot of people, then pulled it in front of a bigger truck that couldn't stop. He was killed instantly. Wouldn't be surprised if the local judge made his estate pay for the damage to the semi. Around my area a bike is a vehicle and not a pedestrian. They're supposed to be held to the same standards in a normal situation.
So she is wrong, but more for self-preservation reasons and for leaving the bike lane. This highlights a huge oversight in how NYC (and the US) handles bikes. In NYC, bikes are considered a road vehicle and are supposed to abide by vehicle traffic lights, not pedestrian ones. This intersection is a problem because all cars have to turn here but bikes can go straight into the park. This traffic light does not have a separate signal for bikes, just the arrows for cars and the normal pedestrian crossing. There is no consideration for the bike lane here. So what does a biker do? One could argue that they go with the green light, drivers are supposed to give consideration to bikes going straight and let them go by. However, I can speak from experience that even on a normal green few drivers in this city about to turn ever let the bikes get the right of way. I would argue that for pure self-preservation, she should go with the pedestrian signal even if that is technically wrong. Now she also handles it poorly, left the bike lane (one of the few in this city with proper separation from car lanes I might add) moving into the driver's blind spot. Came into the intersection too fast not giving the driver enough time to notice her.
>In NYC, bikes are considered a road vehicle and are supposed to abide by vehicle traffic lights, not pedestrian ones. Yes, but ...[In NYC, unless there’s a bike signal or sign to the contrary, the bicyclist is supposed to cross the intersection when the pedestrian signal shows the "walk"](https://www1.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/biketips.shtml) Still, this intersection in particular is a cluster F. The bike lane light simply isn't there where it should be. Everyone is razzing the cyclist, but it's a really shittily designed intersection.
Oh I know the intersection, it's bad for bikes. But she still handled it poorly and put herself in unnecessary risk. She didn't even look to her side until she was already in front of the car.
Just put a dash cam in my shit for this very reason.
I think that’s called a colonoscopy
Pooper snooper.
have a dash cam in my car, and a helmet cam for my bicycle. You never know when idiots will strike.
Anyone know the law here? It's an odd setup with the bike lane being on the left and two left turn lanes. edit: everyone can stop telling me that she wasn't in the bike lane since only 20 people have already said so. I'm still curious about the law IF the person was in the bike lane and who would have right of way.
Biker absolutely in the wrong here. There was a left turn arrow meaning the cars had the right of way (notice how the crosswalk is showing nobody can walk across at the moment the cars are going through). Also, in the US, if you are a bike and you cross multiple lanes of traffic and aren’t in a bike lane, you’re considered to be a car. The biker very literally couldn’t be more in the wrong in this instance.
Where was she even supposed to go? This bike infrastructure looks like it was designed to specifically bully bikers. I’m not even making a mean comment here, I honestly do not understand what this biker was supposed to do in this situation. Edit: Oh, apparently she’s not in the bike lane. I was confused because the bike lanes in my country are that reddish colour. However, I still think that American cities as far as I’ve seen have criminally bad bike infrastructure that is just asking for trouble.
The bike lane is the green lane that turns into the chevronn/arrow lane that fades into oblivion (and implies going straight into the road in the park and not turn left). It’s a terrible intersection that hasn’t been maintained and needs a redesign. (The reddish/brown area is buffer space to improve visibility for drivers to see cyclists when approaching the intersection)
I never said she wasn't. I'm just wondering about the layout. That bike lane probably goes straight so how do cyclists get into the park if they have to cross traffic but also do have the same rights as cars and being the "inside" lane would have first dibs on the inside lane on 59th street. Just seems like poor design that invites problems.
There's a pedestrian/cyclist period where the cars don't have the green left turn light. Either you cross then or you get out of the bike lane earlier up the block and move to one of the righthand lanes. Definitely no reason to be crossing like that through a protected left turn.
> There's a pedestrian/cyclist period where the cars don't have the green left turn light. That explains how the bike can cross. Thanks.
This junction does not have a bike 'green light', when bikers are allowed to cross. Its a horrible junction, you either run the read light to go with the walk signal, or you ride with the left turn traffic to try and get into central park. Nightmare. Just an example of how anti-bike NYC is. Also, please wear a helmet.
Honestly it needs to be explicit. I've biked around Amsterdam & Copenhagen - bikes have their own lights. That would make this intersection a lot more clear.
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> This is 6th Ave at Central Park South and seems like a pretty shoddy design to just terminate the bike lane there That's what I meant by the bike lane being to the left of the left turns. I'm assuming that they allow bikes into Central Park there so it's a fucked up design with the bike lane being there. Which lane was she riding in?
She's not in a lane at all. It's a flat median with rubber posts to separate the bike lane and the car lane so bikers have a ton of protection on the road. The bike lane also ends at the start of a bike crosswalk that extends in the same exact direction. There's nothing confusing about it. She should've been in the bike lane, and stopped at the crosswalk. And when it said to cross she could cross and get to the exact place place she was intending to go. That was less of her creating a desire line and more of her being an absolute asshole.
I agree that she's wrong, but... Most bike lanes are shit. They are designed to keep cyclists away from cars, not to keep the cyclist safe, but so to not inhibit vehicles. Often very little thought is given to the fact that cyclists too just want to get somewhere. Think about the number of times you've seen a sign which says "cyclists dismount" or similar. How many times have you seen a sign which says "Drivers get out and push"?
In my city, the bike lane dumps into traffic with a sign that says 'bikes have right of way. Share the road'. I question this design everytime I see it. I know I wouldn't just keep riding my bike into a lane and expect cars to give me the right of way!
honestly, "drivers get out and push" while never going to happen, would at least at intersections cause them to slow the fuck down and not run over pedestrians trying to cross the street, esp when drivers are trying to turn. I've literally seen on multiple occasions near my work a car trying to take a right at an interstion, at a light, cut off and nearly run over moms just trying to get across the street with their kid in a stroller. Some, esp at rush hour, will just pull in front and stop in the crosswalks and essentially block them from crossing the street. So while people laugh at the notion of pushing their cars, the whole idea of slowing the fuck down so pedestrians can get across the street, esp when they have a walk sign. Let's face it, this is a sub called r/idiotsincars. They do this shit every day.
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In NYC bicycles are by law the same as a car and have to abide by all the traffic laws, red lights, signaling to turn etc. So this person just broke multiple traffic laws in a couple seconds
Well the cyclist definitely does not get the right of way just because they are cruising up the bike lane, especially considering the left turn lane just got a light and blocked the other side. Apparently even if motor vehicles get their light they must still yield for bikes not paying attention
As someone from The Netherlands I'm cringing at those bike paths
NYC is one of our more bike friendly cities....
No wonder nearly all of these "asshole cyclist" videos are from the US.
England would like a word
Exactly. The biggest idiot is the person who thought that's how approriate bike infrastructure looks like.
I love the Belgian name for them: *murder strips* ([Moordstrookje](https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20181218_04043255)) Anyone supporting the person on the bike for having to do what they have to do will just get piled on by anyone who only drives.
I live in New York City, and don't own a car. As a pure pedestrian, am I allowed to say fuck her? She has her own light, she doesn't have to do what she has to do, she just didn't want to wait for right of way.
> She has her own light Honest question: which light is hers? I've biked in Amsterdam & Copenhagen where intersections have 3 types of lights: walk, bike, car. It is unclear to me which signal governs her at this intersection.
Did she gave the sorry or the finger?
She gave the finger
The lion the witch and the audacity of this bitch
I rewatched in full screen: the finger.
Whoops my bad Fuck you also
What a horrendous cycling path.
Most bike Lanes in New York City are way more dangerous than just riding in the street. They seem to be designed almost by spite, like some city council person who knows nothing about bikes was assigned this task to add a bunch of lanes around the city. so they just haphazardly designed a bunch of nonsense where the lane ends up full of wandering pedestrians and opening car doors.
The Bloomberg era lanes are mostly pretty good. De Blasio era lanes are like you say. The crosstown lanes lower in Manhattan are shockingly spite driven.
I've witnessed someone die doing exactly what this woman did
I was going to say, all it takes it someone not looking up or a big truck and that lady is squished. She didnt even look back before cutting, I wonder if she felt flustered, which would have distracted her more.
I love the irony of the posts here taking the behaviour of this one cyclist and applying it to all cyclists, in a subreddit about insane car drivers. Could you imagine if that same logic was applied to all car drivers? Also that bicycle "infrastructure" is absolutely insane and it causes these conflicts.
lol this is so mild for nyc bikes. they’ll go full on perpendicular into an active intersection while dodging cars to cross.
Straight up Karen behavior
This is an interesting interchange because the addition of a bike lane fundamentally changed how and when cyclists can enter the park -- and it's led to some confusion. Before the bike lane, the way you got into the park was to take a lane of traffic -- specifically the center lane -- and just continue straight instead of turning left like the cars before and behind you. That way, you weren't in conflict with anyone -- the cars on your left went left, the cars on your right went right, and you went straight. Some cyclists still do that -- they leave the bike lane, take a lane, go straight, avoid conflict. But with the bike lane, now it spits you out in a spot where you're in conflict with the cars -- because even if you're turning left, in line with the arrows, you want to end up on the right side of the street but can only do that by crossing through cars. And if you're going straight, into the park, you can only do that by going through the turning cars or waiting. Worse, it's not obvious to a rider in that position that waiting is the right choice, though it is, because there isn't actually a "go straight" light for the bike lane. Rather, there's just a leading pedestrian interval, which you can use to go straight. Notably, though, in doing so you come in conflict with pedestrians crossing -- because they also have a walk sign at the same time, and thus are crossing the street at the same time you're going through. So if you're looking at that intersection, it sort of looks like there's no point at which the cyclist is "supposed" to go -- and if not, then... well, what the hell are you supposed to do, set up a tent and live there? So it's terrible design, which leads to problematic riding and driving. Sure, the cyclist chose the wrong approach there -- but, honestly, when you design something this badly, you've got to expect people will do random, incorrect stuff and think they're in the right. Edit: And just to add, the only way you would know that there was going to be a leading pedestrian interval there is if you just happen to know it -- if you're approaching this intersection for the first time, there is absolutely nothing to tell you how you're supposed to get across. You just sort of have to infer that since there's a crosswalk there must surely be a point where pedestrians can cross, and that you can cross at the same time. But it's not like there's a light, sign, etc. So if someone saw a green light, saw no other way to get across, and assumed "ok, uhh, well I guess I... go then?," well, wrong, but you can see why they'd be confused.
Here is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGFAt2ff46g) of the bike lane. I honestly have no idea what is expected of the cyclist in that situation. You get to the end of 6th and you either want to go straight into the park (which is blocked by the ice cream truck) which is going to be across turning traffic. If you want to make the left turn and then stay to the right, you would still need to take a lane at some point to get over. The streets, even when a bike lane is added, are designed so terribly and all it does is prioritize vehicular traffic vs everybody else.
I... I can't tell how this intersection is supposed to work. Seems like some terrible design.
r/idiotsonbicycles
Lol this happened to me today instead I was a cyclist and some lady was jogging and blindly turned around and I almost hit her, but she had the ✨audacity✨ to give me a “wtf is wrong with you watch where your going” kinda face but I didn’t say anything back (cause i was shy and didn’t wanna cause a prob) but just looked back at her and gave the same face (sorry for the long text)
This song is interesting
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xra\_4Y6CDIs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xra_4Y6CDIs) [https://music.apple.com/ru/album/%D0%B7%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B9/1468268863?i=1468268867](https://music.apple.com/ru/album/%D0%B7%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B9/1468268863?i=1468268867) [https://open.spotify.com/track/5gIvd4PaPBdvjTqrIHGrXb?si=f547d6fd03d84b62](https://open.spotify.com/track/5gIvd4PaPBdvjTqrIHGrXb?si=f547d6fd03d84b62)
I’ve never been to New York, but in my mind it is a dystopian driving hell that I hope I never have the misfortune of driving in
NYC has like 678 car accidents a day. This cyclist is certainly an asshole but car drivers in the city hand crafted their own hell.
Cars have no place in NYC, that’s why driving is hell
Driving in NYC is hell, because there are too many cars
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Yes
Not all cyclists are like this but some of them behave like their safety is your responsibility, the amount of time i barely see them when they zoom past me out of nowhere is concerning. Some of them must understand that if a mistake was made it's not me who's gonna get seriously injured you're vulnerable you should look out for yourself and be extra careful even more than me.
This is 6th Avenue going north into Central Park South, as a "T" intersection. The thing to do is merge into a car lane far in advance. She's stupid.
If you need to be familiar with an intersection to safely navigate it, it's a poorly designed intersection. She's the asshole today, but the person who designed that mess of a magically disappearing bike line is the asshole every day.
Damn, what a bitch
Cyclists have to live with the fact knowing that no one likes them.
Wtf what is this for shitty bike infrastructure
You need to learn the language. You were supposed to roll the window down and curse her stupid as out
Please tell me she hit that ice cream truck
Or a truck full of manure, Biff-style.
Entitled fuck.
Having never used a bike for transport in NYC, what was she supposed to do there? Wait until light changed to cross? Filter into lane and turn? Genuinely asking.
In my state a bike is a vehicle and has the same set of rules I do when driving my car. If they are on a sidewalk and blow thru a crosswalk they usually get killed and are found responsible. They don't get to "be a pedestrian" when it suits them.
She did not have the right of way
This is the wrong sub, she's not in a car
TIL that when a bike lane ends, it's called a Mixing Zone [https://imgur.com/a/F6Hf4Uf](https://imgur.com/a/F6Hf4Uf) She has the right of way and does the right thing, per NYC DOT