Comment by kop316 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kop316 | Hacker News Reader

Since going back to school, I moved close enough to where I can commute to and from school using an electric bike. I recommend it whole heartly if you can do it, but I have noticed a few things as a cyclist (Note I am in the USA in a medium sized city, and the law in my state is if you are on the road, you follow the same laws as a cyclist):

- There are a LOT of cyclists that don't bother respecting traffic laws (e.g. blow past red lights without even stopping, not respecting right of way, etc.). It's to the point that when I stop at a stop sign and let the other person go because they have the right of way, they are actually surprised I do it. I have noticed similar things with pedestrians as well (e.g. walk where there isn't a cross walk, jump out when there isn't a walk).

- There are a staggering amount of motorists that are on their phones texting/checking facrbook/I don't know what they are doing. I really wish this would have a much harsher penealty and it was enforced much more.

> "Slower speed limits and street redesigns such as wider sidewalks, narrow roads and rumble strips are among the group's priorities." A lot of motorists DO NOT care about the speed limit. 25 mph in a neighboorhgood with kids? yeah it's still amazingly common to be cycling at 25 mph on a road to be pasted by a car going 40-50 mph.

I say those things to say I think there are bad actors on both sides, and to be honest, I don't know much of a solution.

Thise priorities are things drivers care about.

You get people doing 40-50 in a 25 when the road is as wide and straight as a 40-50 mph but the speed limit has been reduced because there are homes with kids nearby.

Make the road narrow, add curves to it, and suddenly people will do lower speeds naturally because they don't feel like they have as much of a buffer.

Same reason you're more likely to find someone speeding on a highway than down a narrow side street

> Make the road narrow, add curves to it, and suddenly people will do lower speeds naturally because they don't feel like they have as much of a buffer.

I am not sure how that would be possible where I live. This would involve destroying a bunch of residential homes to add curves (the neighborhood I am in goes back at least to the 1930s, as thats when the house I am in was originally built).

How does narrowing roads lead to destroying houses? You can also add curves to road while narrowing it without changing the overall width of the road. If nothing else works just add speed bumps.

The roads where I live are quite narrow to begin with, and many houses do not have driveways, so street parking is the only choice for many houses. I don't think there is a possiblity of narrowing them in the first place.

"Traffic calming" features are retrofitted to roads all the time. Things like bringing the curb outward (often creating divided bike lanes in the process), speed bumps, and adding center islands to intersections.

It's 2021. There is no reason cars should be able to speed at all if every gimmick drone from Amazon can refuse to fly into protected airspace. Half of HN is expecting that by 2025 they will sell their car and permanently ride on some Waymo taxi; are they going to reach over the separator and push down on the gas pedal, if one exists anymore? No, nobody will give a fuck that the thing is doing 20mph in a 20mph zone. We can have that today even we can't have the autonomous driving part.

Most of those people on their phones are probably using the GPS to get to their destination. I know that some of them are being irresponsible and using Facebook or something, but phone navigation has replaced the map quest printout of my day with everyone young and old in my circle.

That be be so, but having it on your lap or at the transmission shifter so you have to look away from the road to look at it causes the same effect I see: the driver is not paying attention to the road.

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