Bicycle-Riding Motorist
Lucy MBike lanes are DRIVER infrastructure. Without cars there's no need for bike lanes - the whole reason for bike lanes is to protect people from drivers. The cost of bike lanes is part of the cost of driving.
Elisabeth Anderson 
@Lucyincanada I keep on saying exactly this to drivers who are angry about cycle lanes. I remind them that if they drive then the lanes are there because of them. Not because of cyclists.
Amelia Bellamy-Royds 
@velobetty @Lucyincanada This is definitely the way to frame the argument! Specifically: Without bike lanes, the cyclists would be driving in the main lane, and cars would have to wait behind them until it is safe to pass (by law in Canada, anyway, if not in practice.)
In other words: you're not angry about the bike lanes, you're angry about the cyclists, and the fact that you can't scare them onto the sidewalk (or into staying home) anymore.
Reverend Blair@Lucyincanada Not only that, but as a truck driver anything that gets bikes off the road is beneficial.
Putting the largest vehicles on the road in the same lane as the smallest vehicles was something that always baffled me.
Putting the largest vehicles on the road in the same lane as the smallest vehicles was something that always baffled me.
Rod Spurrier@Reverend_Blair @Lucyincanada
Unfortunately there largest vehicles have, over the last 40 to 50 years, got considerably larger. As have motor cars. The shift of freight from rail to road exacerbated the problems of road system. Lack of investment in the right infrastructure.
Unfortunately there largest vehicles have, over the last 40 to 50 years, got considerably larger. As have motor cars. The shift of freight from rail to road exacerbated the problems of road system. Lack of investment in the right infrastructure.
@rrspur @Lucyincanada Well, yes and no.
I've been in a 1947 3 ton with a 16 foot bed from back in the times you are talking about. It still took 3 lanes to get around a corner. It also wandered a fair bit, so you needed the whole lane (no power steering) and was just as wide (102 inch deck) as a modern truck. The mirrors and overall visibility sucked. You had to be a witch to shift gears. It was harder to drive than a modern semi. I liked it a lot.
(1/2)
@rrspur @Lucyincanada
There was a lot less traffic back then though, and more people understood how large vehicles moved.
Also, the guy driving it hadn't just pulled into a strange town, not knowing where he was going or how the city worked.
I agree we need to get back to rail more, but I don't see that addressing the trucks on the city roads issues very much because there's still that final mile problem.
@Reverend_Blair @Lucyincanada
In 1957 the speed limit for goods vehicles was increased from 20 mph to 30 mph. In the same year the film Hell Drivers was released. Traffic speed was much more forgiving in those days. In the late 50's I would, at the age of 12, cycle down the A49 into Shrewsbury with little worry about thundering lorries.
https://g.co/kgs/PnWtDp
In 1957 the speed limit for goods vehicles was increased from 20 mph to 30 mph. In the same year the film Hell Drivers was released. Traffic speed was much more forgiving in those days. In the late 50's I would, at the age of 12, cycle down the A49 into Shrewsbury with little worry about thundering lorries.
https://g.co/kgs/PnWtDp
SyöminenJaPyöräilyOh, I thought the reason for bike lanes was to get them fucking cyclists out of the drivers' way?
Rimu@Lucyincanada I feel the same about traffic lights - we only need them because of the danger posed by cars. Yet car drivers get angry when cyclists ignore them...
TheFatCyclist@Lucyincanada here in Sheffield and Rotherham we have bike lanes....and people are allowed to park the cars in them...🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦
...hukka@Lucyincanada - I must disagree. ...at least to some degree.
Bike lanes sometimes add routes that are not allowed for cars.
Sometimes bike lanes are used to separate pedestrians from cyclists.
looopToolsThey and intersection lights are also meant to protect cyklists from other cyclists, and before you say no. Yes, it is. I have now twice been rammed from the side because someone ran a red light on bike. One of the times it went really bad, I got a small concussion but the cyclist who hit me, broke his collar bone and got a really bad concussion.
Keith@Lucyincanada think about all of the land, pollution and noise that we all have to deal with so people can drive cars. If we all road bicycles, wow, what a different world we would live in now.
Yaoi Box Balloon@Lucyincanada Same with sidewalks/footpaths.
Botch Frivarg@Lucyincanada as someone who live in the Netherlands and both bikes and drives, I can honestly say that proper infrastructure makes driving so much easier. Proper grade separation is not only an improvement for bikes (and mobility scooters, and wheel chair users (you can get hand bike mods for wheel chairs)), but also for people using cars!
Paul Wermer, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0@Lucyincanada Interesting framing of the problem. And it makes a lot of sense.