Hacker News Reader

Comment by Ntrails | Hacker News Reader

Cyclists are one of the most (if not the most) vulnerable demographics of road users there is, and it should be the responsibility of other road users to help protect them.

I fall squarely in the camp that says they are just not suitable vehicles to share the road with other occupants. Frankly they make motorbikes look safe. Of course no government is willing to give up the money or the space to dedicated infrastructure.

So as you say, once a month or more a cyclist dies when a lorry turns left. I've watched a cyclist literally crawl from underneath a bus that knocked her off - and it's a contributory factor to my never cycling in London.

View on HN

> I fall squarely in the camp that says they are just not suitable vehicles to share the road with other occupants

Here's the converse:

* Bicycles the cause of essentially 0% of road deaths.

* Motorized vehicles are the cause of essentially 100% of road deaths.

It's not the bikes that are unsafe.

The bikes are extremely unsafe in the environment that they are being used in. That the risk is only to themselves is neither here nor there.

The choices in my mind are pretty much to either remove cyclists into dedicated highways or remove motorized vehicles. I just don't think one of those is even slightly viable.

It's close to the summer holidays, come and spend some time bicycling in the Netherlands, it is a great, safe, and relaxing experience. (Assuming you know how to cycle properly, that is; I've seen foreigners and tourists do very dangerous things on their bikes, such as swaying, riding on the right, looking back when signaled to move out the way, braking instead of overtaking when someone wants to pass, riding too slow, difficulty estimating other traffic and as a form of conflict behavior stopping halfway crossing a road, riding on ill-fitting bikes, and over-all they behave quite insecurely.)

Riding on the right? You have right-handed traffic.

Thanks for correcting me. Yes, they often tend not to keep right, but, I presume, cycle a "safe" distance from the right hand side of the road. Of course, in doing so, they hinder both cars and cyclists who want to pass.

I don't know where you are from, but your assumption about all the world's governments is wrong.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com