Suggestion: (warning probably works in US only) put the sticker on the right rear fender of the vehicle. Most cars in the US have the gas filler cap on the left; and most people get in their car without ever checking anything around the car so it will be there weeks before they see it
I agree that these would be an improvement, but there are reasons why we donāt have them now, and that is that because police work this way by design. They serve an elite, minority interest, so it is worth their while to make up rules as they go along, and for accountability to be one-way. They serve the municipality. The municipality operate nominally upon authority given to them by the public, but this tends to be in bad faith. When the municipality see the public as a resource to be exploited, then this is what the police are used to enforce.
Besides, it is also the municipalities assertion that there is a dedicated group of people to trust with enforcement. I donāt need to agree or trust them myself.
Who said that itās ineffective as a deterrent or means of raising awareness? I donāt have any statistics handy, but I wouldnāt be surprised either way. My experience has been that people do a lot of daft things without being aware, so a reminder doesnāt hurt.
Too bad, those are precisely the people who should be reminded, because they know better than to do that.
I feel like I would run through all 20 putting them on illegally parked police vehicles, before ever having the chance to use one on a private citizenās.
Great.
Now can I have an āI ran a red lightā sticker for the dipshit cyclist?
Nothing like a cycling thread to show just how far removed we are from the comments section of a local news website.
Even down to some supercilious wanker making utterly unhelpful comments like this one.
Your understanding is incorrect.
Cyclist pleads guilty to manslaughter, faces civil suit (San Francisco)
Cyclist successfully sued by driver who ran over his friend (Canberra)
Injured cyclist sued by Mercedes driver (Vancouver)
4- and 5-year old children with training wheels sued by pedestrian (New York)
General bicyclist liability guidelines (U.S.A.)
Unsurprisingly enough, searching CYCLIST CIVIL SUIT overwhelmingly returns cases where the cyclist is plaintiff.
But just to conclude on a high note: SUV Driver Who Killed Cyclist Sues the Dead Teenās Parents (Ontario.) The driverās police officer husband who was escorting her home at the time of the accident did not call an ambulance or perform first aid, and did not administer a breathalyzer to his wife. The cherry on this shit sundae? The suit comes after the victimās grieving brother fatally ODed, likely attempting to self-medicate.
Thatās why many cities have a separate parking control division, aka meter maids, who are unarmed and have no other duties to distract them from collecting revenue.
We have them too. They are merciless, as only a corporation hired to do government work can be.
I would also like to point out that stickering illegally-parked cars is hardly some black bloc guerilla thing. Facilities supply catalogs carry them. They have intentionally hard-to-remove adhesive, and theyāre typically put on the windshield or driverās side window.
The closest Iāve come to hitting a bicyclist was in Cambridge; she got doored and landed squarely in front of me, and I was barely able to stop in time. The real problem is the people who blithely thrown their doors open without bothering to check whether itās safe to do so.
I think the stickers are a great idea. Placed on the driver side window, they cause NO damage, and are only a minor inconvenience, while satisfying a cyclistās desire to remove a side mirror instead.
What makes me pretty sad is the completely predictable turn that every thread on this subject (cyclists vs. motorists) takes. Nobody wins, everybody hates everybody. Nothing improves. Sometimes motorists are assholes, sometimes cyclists are assholes. Until we admit it, and try improve our own behavior instead of blaming someone else for theirs, itāll be the same discussion every single time.
Hashtag: notallcyclists notallmotorists
Iāve seen more than one person hit by a bike on a sidewalk, but Iāve never seen a pedestrian hit by a car. I mean, I know it happens, and when it does itās a lot more dangerous, but if you look at it rationally/statistically Iād say that a pedestrian is more likely to be hurt by a bike than by a car. At least in the places Iāve lived.
I imagine pedestrians are more likely to be killed by a car should a collision take place, but overall the risk from bikes is probably greater. Humans are notoriously bad at evaluating risk, for a variety of psychological reasons (think of the people who worry about āterrorismā when their daily commute ā be it by foot, bike, or car ā presents a much bigger danger)ā¦
Bicyclists on the sidewalk are not being āroad users.ā
Yes, but that is exactly the opposite of the intended purpose. The government (and law enforcement in particular) should be especially careful to protect the vulnerable, since the powerful donāt require its protection.
That a municipal government is not properly representing the public it purports to serve is itself part of problem. However, it does not invalidate the idea of an effective police force.
Itās possible, but I find it rather unlikely. The stickers donāt really explain the situation. Parking in bike lanes is/should be illegal, and itās such an obvious dick move that drivers who donāt realize it already probably wonāt even after being stickered.
As a cyclist and walker (full disclosure: also runner and speed skater), that shit drives me nuts. But when I travel, I see that in some places it seems to be the norm. And even in places where itās not the norm and is even ostensibly against the law, thatās the only way Iāve ever seen cops ride. So I have trouble getting truly mad at people who ride that way, even though I can go on at length with all the reasons they shouldnāt.
Iām one of those cyclists who stops at red lights and stop signs, and never turns or changes lanes without signalling.
And that said, no, many red lights and stop signs should not apply in the same way to cyclists, for the same reasons that they donāt apply in the same way to humans as they do to cars. We absolutely should have a three tiered system instead of two-tiered. Vehicles in between unaugmented human and car/truck should not, logically, be held exactly to the same rules as unaugmented human or cars/trucks.
If the logic underlying that pronouncement is truly not clear to you, then I suggest you spend some time using all three of those modes of transportation for a while. (And no, walking across a parking lot that was really far that one time does not count, nor does that time you rode a bike a couple miles with your kid on that greenway a few years ago). I mean actually do a few hundred miles in this modern world without a mechanized suit of armor. Go on, Iāll wait here.
You (and others) keep using that wordā¦
I would be ALL FOR taxing every class of road user an amount proportional to their actual costs. But I really donāt think youāre gonna like with it costs you to drive to work under that schemeā¦
Yes it would be lovely if it was a three tier system. It would also be lovely if someone would pay me to play video games all day. Alas neither of those situations is reality, so its a bit of a moot point.
As it stands, a bike rider blasting through red kights (note that i am not accusing you or any other individual of doing so) MUST understand that they are behaving in a way that is a) against the law and b) contrary to what other road users, be they cars, trucks, or anything else, are expecting. If someone ignores a red light and they are in a collision, regardless of what vehicle they are using, i will struggle to have sympathy