Hacker News Reader

Comment by Someone | Hacker News Reader

(Edit: we probably mean the same, but you’re only talking of relatively low-speed streets in Madrid, not roads, where car speed is higher) “Bike lanes are built to kick cyclists off the roads that motorist believe belong to them”

No, they’re built to make cycling safer and more comfortable.

We have motorways for cars (or are you suggesting those should be used by cyclists, too? How do people cycle from Barcelona to Toledo, for example?), sidewalks for pedestrians (at least in many parts of the world), why not have dedicated infrastructure for cyclists?

If what you say is true, the Netherlands is doing it wrong with their “Separate where needed, mix where possible” policy (https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/separate-where...)

That may be true, but (IMO) requires more proof than a comment on HN.

View on HN

If they are built to make cycling safer and more comfortable then why do they care if you use it or not? shouldn't it be your choice? No, what happens is, of course, that you get a lot of harassment if you don't use it. Imagine that you drive a car on a road that you like, then they build another road and people get mad at you because you don't use the new one. That makes no sense right? That's what happens with bike infrastructure, of course it happens because they don't want you to use the regular roads, the motorists want to keep them all for themselves. And obviously, when this happens, security, comfort and convenience are less than an afterthought, in fact they are not thought at all. So, no I do not want special infrastructure when I ride my bike, because then you immediately become a second class citizen. I actively avoid it when I ride.

> So, no I do not want special infrastructure when I ride my bike, because then you immediately become a second class citizen.

When you treat cycling as second class, you get bad infrastructure for sure.

Like I said in my other comment. The Netherlands treats bikes as a priority mode of transportation. As such, cyling infrastructure is continously made with comfort and safety in mind.

Hell, cars tend to be inconviencienced in order to provide safer infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

Because, following your argument, “it is terrible that people equate sidewalks to walking. Sidewalks are built to kick pedestrians off the roads that motorist believe belong to them.”

For inner city streets that historically is correct, but if you ignore that and just look at the end result, you can describe that equally well as parts of the road set apart for pedestrians.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com