Spare me your "cyclists are dangerous" comments. In my years of parenting as my kids leave the house to play, go to school, go out with friends or do anything outside, I’ve never once had to say Watch out for people on bicycles.
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.. you may want to teach them to avoid accidentally getting in the way of middle-aged men in lycra (MAMILs) and clip-ons who're pretending they're training for the tour de france, as those dudes are mean
I doubt your kids are playing in busy downtown streets where I’ve seen every cyclist accident I’ve seen.
Ive personally seen way more people hurt by cyclists (usually riding on the sidewalk) than hit with cars. I am absolutely on the fuck cars train, but this is definitely an issue in dense cities
I walk every day in a dense city and I've not once feared for my safety from an encounter with a cyclist. But, it is a daily experience with cars. I'd say your experience must be unique but...it's made up. Besides, there's one proven effective solution to riding on the side walk: bike lanes.
Before a bunch of you say the obvious, of course cars kill way more people. Literally no one is debating that. But I’ve seen people get carted off in an ambulance after getting hit by a bike. And worse has happened.
A lot of us are long term residents of dense urban centres as well, so your experience doesn't track for many.
The most carnage I've ever seen in real life has been in motor vehicle accidents, without fail. The last was, you could guess, one of those wall-style pickup trucks vs a Honda.
You must have a very unique experience for sure as a city dweller to see more accidents caused by bikes than trucks and cars. As a New Yorker my experience has been the absolute opposite. Cars and trucks turning (illegally) through crosswalks hit people too frequently, and with way worse outcomes.
I’ve honestly and fortunately have never witnessed a pedestrian hit by a car. That’s absolutely not to say it doesn’t happen all the time, it obviously does. But I have seen quite a few bicycle accents. I would absolutely love to more bike lanes. And bikes just need to stay off sidewalks
I caused a pedestrian to step into a bike in Osaka, while I haven't seen a car crash. But the pedestrian was fine, while cars kill 40,000 people a year in the US.
(Old man and I were standing in a narrow walkway, offset. I saw a bike coming (along busy roads, almost everyone bikes on the sidewalk in Osaka), and stepped forward out of its way. This caused the old man to step back, for some reason. Collision ensued, followed by apologies. No one seemed hurt.)
Ok? And other people have died. NYC alone has hundreds of ER admissions alone because of it. Again, the hundredth time, cars cause way way more. No one is debating that. And this is a smaller, but also real issue
Count yourself lucky. I’ve seen it several times, had a good friend hospitalized, and jumped onto the hood of a car once myself to avoid being plowed under a very nice Mercedes S class who was in a rush to turn right through the crosswalk without looking at all— at 8am in midtown!
It’s absolutely selection bias and I get that. It’s grid locked at lunch when I usually walk around the most. So cars aren’t getting fast enough to do anything and it also probably pushes more cyclists on the sidewalk to get around the traffic
Several trucks on my way home tonight (who had trouble staying in their lanes btw) were so lifted I'm not even sure if they could see me standing on my pedals (5'3 on 20inch fat tires)
Also the pavement beasts are too scared of getting wet/cold to use parking spaces.
Remove the cars, and bikes aren't dangerous at all really. There's like one maybe two minor injuries on our bike trails per year. There are multiple serious injuries and traffic fatalities in cars every year.
The only thing dangerous about bikes is having to ride them near automobiles.
In the UK drivers kill 300 pedestrians per year. 2 are killed by people on cycles. If you want to save lives, deal with the bad drivers robustly. Ban "exceptional hardship" claims.
I get the sentiment, but I have absolutely needed to tell my four year old to watch out for cyclists. She runs on to bike trails! She doesn’t pay attention at the bike skills course! She’s a menace and going to her herself hurt.
Right, it is the cyclists who are dangerous, not the person driving 3 inches behind my bumper, or the person texting in the passing lane, or the person holding the phone and having an animated discussion. Definitely the cyclist.
Just yesterday, a kid on an ebike was blazing down our one-way street the wrong way, popping a wheelie the whole time, no helmet, didn’t bother moving out of my lane. Bikes can be a menace just as cars can be.
I’m honestly not trying to be difficult! Perhaps my neighborhood is unique, but we really do have a serious ebike problem! I’m more likely to be injured by an ebike on my street than a car, hands down, because of how very reckless they are!
What you describe is an illegal motorbike. They are an issue on my local roads/paths. The riders ride without caution and are a dangerous menace. Legal e-bikes are brilliant and pose very little threat to others, especially compared to motor vehicles.
Well theres your problem, you see someone riding an unregistered electric motorcycle and you think its an "ebike" because they hijacked that term, when an ebike is an electrically assisted pedal bicycle.
That there is a big difference in the rate, severity and trends in accidents between pedestrians and cars and pedestrians and bikes such that parents quite rightly worry more about cars than bikes.
I totally get that. But @tomflood.bsky.social said, “I’ve never once had to say Watch out for people on bicycles.” In my neighborhood, you absolutely do need to warn your kids about ebikes. They’re everywhere & not paying any attention at all to rules of the road. It’s become incredibly dangerous!
Do you feel the need to warn your children of every danger every time they walk out the door? By the time you’d got through the list no it would be time to come home. Priorities
most likely 0, but this person is talking about surrons, which are electric dirt bikes that go 75kph. They arent apart of the same conversation were having because dirt bike hooligans hijacked the term ebike to dupe cops.
Lol, I'm quite pro-bicycle, but I'm afraid this is not in the least true in New York City. Pedestrians have been killed by cyclists and I've nearly been hit by a couple myself!
A pro bicycle culture should emphasize both the rights and the responsibilities of cyclists.
i have to whatabout you here i’m afraid. yes, cyclists can be safer and a lot of that comes down to providing safe infrastructure for everyone. but seven people have been killed by cyclists since 2011 in new york. 251 were killed by drivers in 2024 alone and almost half of those were pedestrians
There are a couple hundred injuries a year involving bikes hitting pedestrians. I'm in support of providing safe infrastructure for so no need to whatabout me. But I have a lived experience of dodging out of the way of cyclists illegally riding on sidewalks & careening the wrong way down the street.
I'm a cyclist myself by the way. And of course cars are a greater menace-- they can do so much more damage. But nonetheless I f****** hate cyclists who go against traffic rules and endanger themselves and others. I'm cautious and rule-abiding, myself.
Over the years I have commuted to work using all common forms of transport. It is only when arriving at work by bike that I would text my wife saying "Arrived safe".
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Ive personally seen way more people hurt by cyclists (usually riding on the sidewalk) than hit with cars. I am absolutely on the fuck cars train, but this is definitely an issue in dense cities
The carnage of it all!
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/sep/18/cyclist-charlie-alliston-jailed-for-18-months-over-death-of-pedestrian
The most carnage I've ever seen in real life has been in motor vehicle accidents, without fail. The last was, you could guess, one of those wall-style pickup trucks vs a Honda.
Also the pavement beasts are too scared of getting wet/cold to use parking spaces.
The only thing dangerous about bikes is having to ride them near automobiles.
If you don't include takeaway delivery cyclists.
Everyday I took my kid to nursery, crossing 9 roads, 1 car would always run a red each way. More drivers are dangerously negligent.
Car brains can't fucking stand the idea of a form of transportation being better than their car, it scrambles their whole mind.
https://youtu.be/Pf8g1Lf5oAI?feature=shared
A pro bicycle culture should emphasize both the rights and the responsibilities of cyclists.