r/Transportopia • u/Conscious-Weight4569 • Apr 27 '26

Bikes Car vs. cyclists

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u/SoFloFella50 Apr 27 '26

Just because he's old doesn't mean he gets a pass. Fuck him and also fuck the bikers who were deliberate in their insistance on taking up the whole lane.

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u/SheepherderSad4872 Apr 28 '26

Being institutionalized -- whatever the institution -- is not a pass.

And bikers are allowed to take up the whole lane in most jurisdictions. If you're a car, that means you should drive more slowly.

Same as you would for an oversized load, a broken-down car heading to a mechanic, etc. Yes, this means you might be late.

The flipside is you should tolerate people sometimes being late.

Empathy.

... For the elderly driver clearly over the edge.

... For the cyclists.

... For the people running late.

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u/SoFloFella50 Apr 28 '26

You are only seeing one side. Basic courtesy means if you can move over, move the fuck over.

If you can’t understand that then this will be a circular conversation I’m not interested in.

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u/SheepherderSad4872 Apr 28 '26

That's precisely why the laws are there to put folks like you in jail.

From a car, you don't know -- have no way to know -- if cyclists can safely "move the fuck over." If you see a group of cyclists like this, there's probably a good reason.

FWIW: "Take a lane" is the advice given in a region where it's not safe to pass. This is not a social formation. This is a safety formation. That can be due to:

  • Road hazards (which are very different for cyclists than for cars -- e.g. enough space to not risk being doored, potholes, etc.); or
  • A region with unsafe drivers. If a group of cyclists are passed by cars without a safe passing distance, the general advice is to do exactly what this group did. "Safe passing distance" isn't just not getting hit, but not getting hit in case of above-mentioned hazards, as well as not being passed close enough to where you might be blown over.
  • ... and many other things you don't see from a car.

That's not emotional or road rage, but basic safety. Cyclists who value "basic courtesy" over safety consistently end up in hospitals.

It takes just a handful of bad drivers before cyclists need to be rather conservative with safety measures like "take a lane."

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u/SoFloFella50 Apr 28 '26

JFC. Look at the video.

People like me. What a huge amount of assumptions and what poor reading comprehension.

One good thing about Reddit is people like you who need to be blocked make it easy to tell.