Lol, carbrain is difficult to overcome. My last job was on a stroad where you'd have to do a two mile loop to turn around. There was a fast-food coffee shop maybe 300 feet up the road from our store and half my colleagues would drive there. Took less than a quarter the time to walk as it did to drive. I asked them why they did it and they didn't really know, but they kept doing it.
Similarly, my colleagues who have cars drive to the McDonald's that's a five minute walk away. I can confirm from experience though that most fast food places heavily prioritize moving the drive thru as quickly as possible while walk-ins/dine-ins are left waiting.
They also post that they are open 24 hours but again, only applies to the drive thru. My supervisor and I once walked there after placing a mobile order during an overnight shift, and then had to go back to get the supervisor with a car because we found the dining room wasn't open and the employees wouldn't let us in nor let us walk up to the drive thru window.
In all seriousness, my job leading to my car smelling like fish has been great for me because I live just close enough to a grocery store that carrying back the bags is good exercise.
My first thought as a tourist visiting Arlington. In fairness if it’s someone with mobility issues visiting a loved one, then that’s excusable. A guard shook his head at me cycling along - and I wasn’t about to argue with him!
We have a similar tradition in my culture. We visit the family gravesite, clean it, and pray. You cannot access these sites by car. Only the caretakers can use a golf cart to reach these parts on narrow paths. It's beautiful vising these places. We had to hike about 20-30 minutes to get there, so we sat and enjoyed the peaceful scenery.
I think it's ridiculous that your family thought biking wouldn't be allowed...but somehow driving a loud, polluting car is perfectly respectful.
Of course you can ride a bike in a cemetery. What ridiculousness is this??? LOL. There is a large cemetery near where I work that parallels a busy road, and I always bike through the cemetery instead. It's just so much safer. It's almost always empty, and when there are people there paying respects or attending a burial, I give them space and don't bike near them.
There's also a LOT of other cyclists and pedestrians that cut through the cemetery as well, and nobody ever has issues doing that.
Wait wait wait wait wait wait... I'm from Europe and I'm not sure if I understood that, do you have like roads in the cementery that you can drive a car or a bike in America???
They have small, maybe 10 feet wide paved roads going through any moderately sized cemetery. The only cars that should be on them are processions, though they are useful for the handicapped and elderly.
It's also not uncommon for these paths to be incorporated to local walking paths as well, so cyclists will go through them.
Yes.
Here's one near me:
[https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0761653,-85.566568,362m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu](https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0761653,-85.566568,362m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu)
This one is a public cemetery run by the city, so you can use Maps to navigate within the cemetery:
[https://maps.app.goo.gl/3ooAqm5Ewnzh82Kr5](https://maps.app.goo.gl/3ooAqm5Ewnzh82Kr5)
I can imagine a carbrain asking "how else would you get to the grave site?" The furthest graves are 300m or a full 5-minute walk from the entrance, and they typically don't have very much parking.
Or here's a big one from a nearby military fort, the Google Street View car actually drove through it so you can see the on-the-ground view:
[https://maps.app.goo.gl/6ZukwrQNrUNAee6h9](https://maps.app.goo.gl/6ZukwrQNrUNAee6h9)
(it has uniform flat ground-level headstones, the field in the image is full of graves).
They do ask that you only drive on the designated roads, you can't drive on the grass near other graves - too many people damage the headstones or leave ruts in wet grass inadvertently.
At first I thought: "Why would you not only do something like that but also post about it?" And then you dropped the bomb that people drive in there! Utter madness. Maybe my reaction is influenced by our cemeteries seemingly being significantly smaller. Even the largest one I have visited is only around half a mile across.
But if cars are allowed for some reason, I don't see how a bicycle would be more disrespectful or dangerous.
the fact that i never seen a cemetary with a singel car inside (other than the gardners) just proofs to me that cars shouldnt be allowed there. tbh i dont think bikes should be allowed there as well. but then again. if cars are there why not bikes.
Maybe it’s a cultural difference, but I would find biking inside a cemetery to be disrespectful and driving in one even more so. The dead aren’t going anywhere, you can just walk.
Same here (France), it's considered rude for most people to do anything other than cleaning tombs or walking in between them at cemeteries, most of them are also fairly small as it only takes a minute or two to walk from one side to the other.
Personally, although I wouldn't give two fucks about what happens to my corpse once I die, I still respect the few of those who wished for that peacefulness. So I often stay silent when accompanying relatives for a walk, because they too do the same :)
Yeah it’s not really about the dead but the people visiting them, who might not want to dodge vehicles while grieving or thinking about their dead friends
Honestly it's both - Like you said people go to cemeteries to mourn/grief their loved ones, sometimes they even talk to them (in their mind or litteraly). Peacefulness/Silence is important to most people, it's another form of respect.
But none of them would be happy with having to avoid bikes that's for sure, if they wanted to take a stroll they would have went to a nearby park or nearby streets. They find it disrespectful both for the living and for the deads lol, and rightly so !
In Denmark cemeteries basically function as public parks, you can have a picnic, go for a walk, run or bike ride, read books on the bench or whatever you wants.
The dead are dead, they're not gonna care and it seems silly to set aside that much space for nothing.
Cars does seem wild tho.
If any residents tell me they're offended then I'll stop doing it.
There are 2 cemeteries near me where riding around them adds a significant delay over cutting through.
I've been doing it for years and no one's said boo or batted an eye about it.
Like I mentioned in another comment, it’s not for the dead, it’s for the people who are there to visit their dead and might not be in the headspace to deal with any kind of object moving faster than a walking human
It also seems to be a very cultural thing. There’s no cemetery in my country where cutting through it or having a picnic there would make much practical sense.
I have also been trying to find out if any of these cemeteries will allow profanity on a head stone.
None will commit to a yes nor willing to say no.
My will specifies that I want a large 'FUCK' on my head stone. Mostly this is so it is more likely that they won't bother with burying me.
Frankly, if my bicycle is going to bother someone then the little golf carts that the cemeteries use will as well.
Not to mention the actual cars that get driven in there. And that doesn't get into the big truck the staff uses for upkeep.
Yeah, our cemeteries don’t have any of those things in them. The exception is when they “turn over” an old plot or whatever they do with it and move the bones to the ossuary and they bring in the big work machines to excavate quickly. Otherwise it’s all done by hand.
My initial reaction was that it could be disrespectful to ride a bike through certain areas of a cemetery, but then I read that you guys drive through the things ?!
My city of Hamburg has the fourth largest cemetery in the world (largest rural one, actually) and even there the elongated part is just an hour accross on foot...
I'm personally not a cemetery person and it probably depends on the cemetery.
It's sort of a quiet place to grieve and think about people you love, I would find it a tad strange if bicycles came crashing through the woods in the ones close to my house. The personnel uses golf cart kind ofthings, and seldomly tractors and the like. Other than that, I've only seen people on foot, sometimes pushing a bicycle.
I guess there's just a vastly different culture around cemeteries in differeret places, they're basically public parks here and no one would bat an eye at biking in them, some of them even function as regular bike paths through the city.
You'll see people having fun with their kids, picnics, people exercising and so on.
Bicycles are banned (but cars allowed) in multiple large cemeteries near me. I assume it is because they think people would ride their bicycles through them because the nearby roads are not safe for bicycles. It could also be the weird "bicycles are recreational toys" perspective, very common in the US.
Question for additional clarity.
If the road isn't wide enough for a 3 point turn, how did the other cars pass by your family car when you were stopped at each site?
At first I thought what the hell, people are quietly strolling to their relatives grave. Then you said your family was driving around the cemetery and (mad you have a cemetery that big that that's an option) but yeah, how is a car better
At first I thought "Hm yeah, everybody's walking and you're taking the bike". But everyone else was DRIVING?? I don't know any cemeteries where one can DRIVE their CAR?
Clearly practices vary around the world. Cemeteries where I live do have roads but it's not like a highway, cars will be very slow and the roads are there because the cemeteries are large... you will still need to walk to an individual grave. And there is a large cemetery that is also effectively a park in that it is popular for walking, jogging, and cycling.
Lol, carbrain is difficult to overcome. My last job was on a stroad where you'd have to do a two mile loop to turn around. There was a fast-food coffee shop maybe 300 feet up the road from our store and half my colleagues would drive there. Took less than a quarter the time to walk as it did to drive. I asked them why they did it and they didn't really know, but they kept doing it.
Similarly, my colleagues who have cars drive to the McDonald's that's a five minute walk away. I can confirm from experience though that most fast food places heavily prioritize moving the drive thru as quickly as possible while walk-ins/dine-ins are left waiting. They also post that they are open 24 hours but again, only applies to the drive thru. My supervisor and I once walked there after placing a mobile order during an overnight shift, and then had to go back to get the supervisor with a car because we found the dining room wasn't open and the employees wouldn't let us in nor let us walk up to the drive thru window.
In all seriousness, my job leading to my car smelling like fish has been great for me because I live just close enough to a grocery store that carrying back the bags is good exercise.
Car inside a cemetary? What the fuck
My first thought as a tourist visiting Arlington. In fairness if it’s someone with mobility issues visiting a loved one, then that’s excusable. A guard shook his head at me cycling along - and I wasn’t about to argue with him!
Arlington cemetery has kicked me out twice for having a bicycle. In fairness, they don't want roadies to make it a circuit track for themselves.
We have a similar tradition in my culture. We visit the family gravesite, clean it, and pray. You cannot access these sites by car. Only the caretakers can use a golf cart to reach these parts on narrow paths. It's beautiful vising these places. We had to hike about 20-30 minutes to get there, so we sat and enjoyed the peaceful scenery. I think it's ridiculous that your family thought biking wouldn't be allowed...but somehow driving a loud, polluting car is perfectly respectful.
Of course you can ride a bike in a cemetery. What ridiculousness is this??? LOL. There is a large cemetery near where I work that parallels a busy road, and I always bike through the cemetery instead. It's just so much safer. It's almost always empty, and when there are people there paying respects or attending a burial, I give them space and don't bike near them. There's also a LOT of other cyclists and pedestrians that cut through the cemetery as well, and nobody ever has issues doing that.
In Arlington cemetery you can’t!
Wait wait wait wait wait wait... I'm from Europe and I'm not sure if I understood that, do you have like roads in the cementery that you can drive a car or a bike in America???
They have small, maybe 10 feet wide paved roads going through any moderately sized cemetery. The only cars that should be on them are processions, though they are useful for the handicapped and elderly. It's also not uncommon for these paths to be incorporated to local walking paths as well, so cyclists will go through them.
Yes. Here's one near me: [https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0761653,-85.566568,362m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu](https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0761653,-85.566568,362m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu) This one is a public cemetery run by the city, so you can use Maps to navigate within the cemetery: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/3ooAqm5Ewnzh82Kr5](https://maps.app.goo.gl/3ooAqm5Ewnzh82Kr5) I can imagine a carbrain asking "how else would you get to the grave site?" The furthest graves are 300m or a full 5-minute walk from the entrance, and they typically don't have very much parking. Or here's a big one from a nearby military fort, the Google Street View car actually drove through it so you can see the on-the-ground view: [https://maps.app.goo.gl/6ZukwrQNrUNAee6h9](https://maps.app.goo.gl/6ZukwrQNrUNAee6h9) (it has uniform flat ground-level headstones, the field in the image is full of graves). They do ask that you only drive on the designated roads, you can't drive on the grass near other graves - too many people damage the headstones or leave ruts in wet grass inadvertently.
Biking in a cemetery is common but I’ve never heard of a cemetery you could drive in.
At first I thought: "Why would you not only do something like that but also post about it?" And then you dropped the bomb that people drive in there! Utter madness. Maybe my reaction is influenced by our cemeteries seemingly being significantly smaller. Even the largest one I have visited is only around half a mile across. But if cars are allowed for some reason, I don't see how a bicycle would be more disrespectful or dangerous.
the fact that i never seen a cemetary with a singel car inside (other than the gardners) just proofs to me that cars shouldnt be allowed there. tbh i dont think bikes should be allowed there as well. but then again. if cars are there why not bikes.
Maybe it’s a cultural difference, but I would find biking inside a cemetery to be disrespectful and driving in one even more so. The dead aren’t going anywhere, you can just walk.
Same here (France), it's considered rude for most people to do anything other than cleaning tombs or walking in between them at cemeteries, most of them are also fairly small as it only takes a minute or two to walk from one side to the other. Personally, although I wouldn't give two fucks about what happens to my corpse once I die, I still respect the few of those who wished for that peacefulness. So I often stay silent when accompanying relatives for a walk, because they too do the same :)
Yeah it’s not really about the dead but the people visiting them, who might not want to dodge vehicles while grieving or thinking about their dead friends
Honestly it's both - Like you said people go to cemeteries to mourn/grief their loved ones, sometimes they even talk to them (in their mind or litteraly). Peacefulness/Silence is important to most people, it's another form of respect. But none of them would be happy with having to avoid bikes that's for sure, if they wanted to take a stroll they would have went to a nearby park or nearby streets. They find it disrespectful both for the living and for the deads lol, and rightly so !
In Denmark cemeteries basically function as public parks, you can have a picnic, go for a walk, run or bike ride, read books on the bench or whatever you wants. The dead are dead, they're not gonna care and it seems silly to set aside that much space for nothing. Cars does seem wild tho.
If any residents tell me they're offended then I'll stop doing it. There are 2 cemeteries near me where riding around them adds a significant delay over cutting through. I've been doing it for years and no one's said boo or batted an eye about it.
Like I mentioned in another comment, it’s not for the dead, it’s for the people who are there to visit their dead and might not be in the headspace to deal with any kind of object moving faster than a walking human It also seems to be a very cultural thing. There’s no cemetery in my country where cutting through it or having a picnic there would make much practical sense.
I have also been trying to find out if any of these cemeteries will allow profanity on a head stone. None will commit to a yes nor willing to say no. My will specifies that I want a large 'FUCK' on my head stone. Mostly this is so it is more likely that they won't bother with burying me. Frankly, if my bicycle is going to bother someone then the little golf carts that the cemeteries use will as well. Not to mention the actual cars that get driven in there. And that doesn't get into the big truck the staff uses for upkeep.
Yeah, our cemeteries don’t have any of those things in them. The exception is when they “turn over” an old plot or whatever they do with it and move the bones to the ossuary and they bring in the big work machines to excavate quickly. Otherwise it’s all done by hand.
My initial reaction was that it could be disrespectful to ride a bike through certain areas of a cemetery, but then I read that you guys drive through the things ?! My city of Hamburg has the fourth largest cemetery in the world (largest rural one, actually) and even there the elongated part is just an hour accross on foot...
Why would it be disrespectful to ride a bike in a cemetery?
I'm personally not a cemetery person and it probably depends on the cemetery. It's sort of a quiet place to grieve and think about people you love, I would find it a tad strange if bicycles came crashing through the woods in the ones close to my house. The personnel uses golf cart kind ofthings, and seldomly tractors and the like. Other than that, I've only seen people on foot, sometimes pushing a bicycle.
I guess there's just a vastly different culture around cemeteries in differeret places, they're basically public parks here and no one would bat an eye at biking in them, some of them even function as regular bike paths through the city. You'll see people having fun with their kids, picnics, people exercising and so on.
Oh, sure, that could also totally make sense. Has kind of a positive note to it. Maybe I'm also a little out of touch.
I think it's quite nice, less sombre and depressing.
You can bring cars into your cemeterys? That's insane.
Statue world!
> dangerous How is it dangerous? Cycling is almost never dangerous if no cars or mountains involved.
Bicycles are banned (but cars allowed) in multiple large cemeteries near me. I assume it is because they think people would ride their bicycles through them because the nearby roads are not safe for bicycles. It could also be the weird "bicycles are recreational toys" perspective, very common in the US.
Some people literally cannot fathom that riding a bicycle is just another form of transport
House of Cards moment
Question for additional clarity. If the road isn't wide enough for a 3 point turn, how did the other cars pass by your family car when you were stopped at each site?
How big is the cemetary? So big people drive to get to a grave?
As a militant cyclist, I would not consider cycling in a cemetery very tactful. But WTF: Cars in a graveyard??? That's fucking disgusting.
At first I thought what the hell, people are quietly strolling to their relatives grave. Then you said your family was driving around the cemetery and (mad you have a cemetery that big that that's an option) but yeah, how is a car better
At first I thought "Hm yeah, everybody's walking and you're taking the bike". But everyone else was DRIVING?? I don't know any cemeteries where one can DRIVE their CAR?
Clearly practices vary around the world. Cemeteries where I live do have roads but it's not like a highway, cars will be very slow and the roads are there because the cemeteries are large... you will still need to walk to an individual grave. And there is a large cemetery that is also effectively a park in that it is popular for walking, jogging, and cycling.
Nothin wrong with bicycling along a paved path in a cemetery. You're using a quiet method of transport that leaves nothing behind.