Cars need required communication systems. People need to be able to yell “fuck you” at each other for being rude. It sounds like a bad idea, until it isn’t. Yes, it may make some people road rage … but let’s be honest, those people will just be road raging anyway.
With a comm system that is always on (ticketable offense for turning it off), people would slowly start becoming more courteous. Why? Because they would get sick of being yelled at.
That guy that drives beside the semi and blocks traffic on the interstate will get screamed at by dozens of people behind him.
The asshole speeding down the road and cutting people off would get yelled at over this local broadcast… people could be warned and given a “jerk alert”, maybe a cop would hear and head that way.
Driving would become like walking on a sidewalk again. Yea, it could trigger fights … but those people were going to fight anyway.
Mandatory cb radio. That easy. Don’t even require people to talk, just make it a requirement that a cb radio capable of transmitting be kept on in every vehicle. Dedicated band for this so you don’t clog other traffic ofc, and very low tx power maybe 200mW
Little Kevin modding his radio to blast shitty music at everyone within line of sight
True. Very likely that channel would be jammed into hell pretty quick. My suggestion: have a digital callsign related to your VIN built into the radio. And as much as I hate proprietary hardware, make the radio not work without it. If you tx without it, same or worse penalties as ie jamming a ham band.
That said I’m totally putting a botnet on the inter-car network and using it for a distributed pirate radio station lol
Yes, that would need to be ticketable or result in a fine.
The channel would not just be for yelling at each other. You could get traffic warnings, ask directions when the GPS is being weird, or … you know … just talk to people.
Of course. Im thinking of something like cb, but more casual. Keep using CB as-is for longer range important stuff with proper radio etiquette, but require the super short range yap network as basic local comms. And yeah gov’t could have a dedicated channel with high power for traffic alerts, give NOAA a channel, etc. Have the receive function work passively like a scanner.
Yes. This would put the “person” back into driving. People would no longer be in their car sanctuary while driving. If someone was on their phone you could call them out.
We ARE meant to communicate with each other while driving. Brakes, turn signals, horns … this would just be an extra safety step.
That would be ticketable or result in a fine. Also, yes, they could easily find who is broadcasting that.
Even in the UK, it often feels like drivers are slightly bloodthirsty for bikers. I’ve largely just gone over to walking as it feels not worth the extra speed to paint a target on my back.
As a person in the USA the hate seems regional. Large cities and more urban suburbs tend to be better about it.
I don’t think cities have anything to do with it. I live in an area with nearly a million people that has bike lanes people regularly use as turn lanes despite the signs.
I think it has to do more with multimodality, i.e., using multiple modes of transportation. I use the car for some things, the bike for others, transit for others. That makes me appreciate the dangers and frustrations of each whenever I use each. For example, when I cycle, I know what a driver can’t see; when I drive I know that a cyclist can be startled or that a bus should go ahead of me at a light. A city has a higher chance to give people the opportunity to experience multimodality, that’s all. Depends where of course, but on average, city means more options than not city.
UK has a car first culture where everyone driving thinks they are above anyone else who isn’t driving. They believe they have a right to move at their maximum allotted speed without being interrupted by another human. I constantly have people speeding up into me when I cross the road or veering into incoming traffic while I’m on my bicycle to scare me with my life.
Other European countries I visit are not like this, not sure how it happened
When I was younger I used to road rage and break car rear windscreen wipers who played chicken with my life and cycle off while they were in traffic. I wish I was fit enough to continue doing that
I was in Dorset yesterday and the difference between drivers there and here in London is big. Here they’re happy to risk anyone’s life to shave a few seconds off their journey. In Bournemouth, they were stopping at green lights to let us cross, even when there were no other cars behind them. I was keeping an eye out for cyclists too and the drivers were giving them room and stopping to let them turn, etc.
I was in a taxi last week and the driver sped up at a crossing pedestrian. I wanted to throttle him.
I like to bike and think cars are a net negative to our society. I still get frustrated when a biker is legally using the lane.
What is wrong with me.
Nothing wrong with being frustrated at a slow moving vehicle ahead of you.
But you should be more frustrated that the cyclist doesn’t have a dedicated and protected lane where they can go their own speed, and instead they’re forced to contend with 2 ton SUVs driven by (typically) the most high-strung Karens with murderous intent.
I agree. I think we should take over multi-lane thoroughfares in towns and give a dedicated bike lane with green space for shade.
Plus if I know driving is gonna be a nightmare I will bike note or take public transit.
Never going to happen though
Christine is a fantastical horror novel that depicts a car whose innate bloodlust is not hindered by the need of a driver.
Politicians here have been stoking this anger for years now. Drivers feel entitled to do shit like this all the time (I speak from many personal experiences). He probably didn’t mean to kill the guy, but likely felt totally justified in jumping the curb and “trying to scare him”. They forget they’re driving fucking tanks around and justify their aggression with platitudes like “well I’m bigger, he should get out of the way”.
He probably didn’t mean to kill the guy
Are you his lawyer?
When you run someone over, you DO NOT have the defence of “I didn’t mean to kill anyone”, and if you have to ride over a curb to do it, you will never be able to convince me that wasn’t the plan from the start.
Running this man over wasn’t an accident. It wasn’t an oopsie-doodle where someone got mildly hurt by an inattentive or incompetent driver.
This was “I’m big and I don’t like this person for X reason, hahahaha run little man. Wait did that motherfucker just tap my car with his fist? OH HELL NO GET STOMPED ON BITCH”
I’m stereotyping the internal monologue, but the point is the same. “jumped curb, injured cyclist, cyclist hits car, driver decides to run him over in response” there is no way to spin that as “it wasn’t intentional”
Idk if you bike on roads often, but I do, and I have heard this argument so many times after almost being hit (or ACTUALLY being hit) and it just pisses me off when I hear it. Nothing against you.
Woah woah there friend. We’re on the same side here. I cycle my kid to school and then onto work nearly every day and I’m regularly on the receiving end of some seriously scary and dangerous assholes behind the wheel. They feel entitled to the whole damned road, and I’m sure they fantasise about running us over. I’ve been tailgated, screamed at, nearly clipped multiple times by people “just wanting to catch the light” or some nonsense. They are dangerous assholes and should be banned from the city.
I’m just saying that if you’re going to pretend that everyone behind the wheel of a car is fully aware that they’re pushing two tonnes of steel and glass around at high speeds, then you’re not working with facts. Cars are literally designed to stoke the illusion of comfort and immobility, that you’re just “on the road” without a Giant Metal Cage around you. You take a human and put them in that situation they will inevitably drive like fucking psychopaths. That doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t go to prison forever, but it’s important to understand where this coming from.
The problem is the normalisation of a dangerous pattern.
the audacity to lie after all that
At least driver was charged with murder.
If this happened in North America, the driver might have only gotten a minor ticket for a traffic violation, and the cyclist blamed for (insert bullshit shift-blaming reason here).
In my city you don’t get a ticket for murdering a cyclist
https://www.thewhig.com/feature/kingston-ontario-cyclist-fatality-police
An incredibly frustrating read, especially as somebody living in this province. Thanks for sharing.
Welcome to Ontario!
Even repeat offenders who kill cyclists don’t get in trouble. Ask this guy.
Or even with a North American in the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Harry_Dunn
Wasn’t driving on the left, killed a guy, then hightailed it while claiming diplomatic immunity.
His lawyer can go eat a cock.
The defense attorney is doing their job. It can be ugly. But it’s so important.
Our legal system was built in the principal, that it’s better for the guilty to go free, than for the innocent to be punished.
The defense attorney is the hero in our system. They protect us from the the police and prosecutors locking just anyone up out of laziness, vindictiveness, or just apathy.
While it’s perfectly reasonable to defend the importance of lawyers and a defendant’s right to a representation and a fair trial, arguing that he “might have lost control” isn’t a defence, it’s a lie. Telling a liar to get fucked is a reasonable position to take.
“May have”. It’s an alternate explanation that’s plausible.
We don’t know it’s a lie. We only read an article. We weren’t there.If that’s not what happened, it’s the prosecutions job to prove it in court. As again “It’s better for the guilty to go free, than the innocent be punished.”
Yeah well, if cops and the prosecutor are allowed to do it then so can the defense attorney. Like homie said, it’s messy and you may not like it but this is the system they operate in.
someone tell that to the kripsy gnome, or whatever her name is…and the trump administration…
They’re currently at the top of a long list that needs to be reminded of that.
Why is anyone driving in a bike lane that has a curb?
“Because he lost control”.
Shout out to the lawyer who came up with that argument. It’s completely braindead, but he was obliged to come up with something.
Unfortunately lawyers are not allowed to just say “my client is a fuckwit, m’lud”.
Well, I suppose they are, and probably often wish to do so, but they also have to defend their client, so…
Or a kerb, for that matter (wtf is that spelling?!)
That is the English spelling of a word.
British
I mean, I did see that the source was the BBC, but they should really quit using that as a crutch at this point.
because lanes “here” are not drawn for those fat SUVs. I see it everyday and i too tap the cars to remind them to get back into car lanes. When they free the bike lane they start bulging into the next car lane 🤦
These lanes have concrete curbs though?
it’s surprising to see that, yes, even those concrete curbs can’t prevent some drivers from driving in bike lanes or parking on bike lanes 🤷
When you drive an SUV, and you don’t use it go over the curb and block the handicapped spot, are you really driving one?
To convince himself that driving a SUV in a city is a sensible choice.
Y’all Brits wild for spelling curb like that
You mean kerb?
Wendy Kerby is off limits!
To the mun you say?
With enough struts, all things are possible.
Right? Kerb isn’t even the original, not by a hundred years. Apparently. I just read it & assumed the author was having a stroke.
There’s supposedly less lead around now, what do we blame for all the idiots and psychopaths around now?
There is something inherently anti-social about a car. Almost any method you have to communicate with those around you will be seen as aggressive.
If someone is sitting at a light too long, you honk at them. There aren’t a lot of other good options. But even a honk sounds aggressive. You could be as polite a person as can be in any other situation, but making the completely reasonable choice to honk at them makes it sound like you’re calling their mom fat.
It only gets worse from there.
The lead is concentrated around cars
Well hopefully not from the fuel anymore
I know people who put 1000 rounds of shit dirty wolf ammo through their AR pretty much every weekend. These are people who say shit like “my dick is clean why would I wash my hands after I piss?”
I can pretty much guarantee you that there is a fine layer of lead dust on everything they own.
I would open carry if I rode a bike on roads.
Doesn’t matter. I was a bike messenger for 5 years. We all carried our U-Locks, some carried crowbars, batons, pistols, bear mace, stun guns… None of that matters when someone in a 2 ton death missile can basically light you out from behind faster than you can react.
The problem is and forever will be drivers.
In the US, that’s the only sane way to ride a bicycle.
jesus christ, no it’s not. The last thing you want to do is pull a gun on someone who can also have a gun but has a several thousand pound death machine that can outrun you.
I’ll just shoot the tires…
But in all seriousness, yes, you’re right. I don’t know what it is with those gigantic climate-changing-machines that makes their drivers feel so entitled.
Read this as Cat Brain the first time
“He may have lost control of the vehicle, hence why he hit someone, reversed, then hit them again, with fatal results. Its totally not his fault for being an impotent little man waving around a 2 ton dick”
The psychopath needs to be separated from the road by a prison
I think we should just tie them to the middle of the road on the route of the Tour de France.
Look man, you’re allowed to dislike sports but why disrupt the race? Let people enjoy things.
Just give the riders a warning and they’ll just treat the obstacle like a speed bump.
Gotta give the racers a challenge. Spice things up a bit.
racers have enough challenges already
It was something of a tradition among drunk fans at the Alpe’s Dutch corner to throw beer at advance Tour vehicles, but beer was only the half of it. In 2013 at the Mont Saint-Michel time trial, Mark Cavendish complained of having urine thrown at him, while in 2015 Chris Froome made a similar complaint, and teammates claimed they had been spat at and punched as they rode through the mountains.
My comment was more of a joke but yikes. That’s pretty sad.
That would hurt the cyclists as much as the psychopath.
Cycle path*
Rough terrain ahead!
Much better to use a mountain bike track, those skinny road bike tires are no good for riding over big bumps.
“The driver ran over Paul’s foot.”
So was Paul stationary, stopped with his foot on the ground? Or was he riding? Is this a case of “indignant cyclist thinks he can stop a 2 ton motor vehicle?” Remember kids, the graveyards are full of people who were right.
Edit: I don’t like cars, and I’m not implying the driver was justified. Simply saying that it’s always best to gtfo the way and not assume other people will do the correct thing.
Wasn’t he stopped at an intersection? He also probably wasn’t looking for expecting cars to be in the semi-protected bike lane.
is this about Paul Varry ☞ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/18/paris-suv-driver-charged-with-after-cyclist-run-over
“The drivers teenage daughter was in the car at the time” Jesus H. Christ
I bet you the banging of the fist on the bonnet is what sent him on a rage. Advertising has made cars into a personal status symbol, but it is an expensive and fragile thing to move around a city with an expectation that it remains immaculate. This guy’s brain probably short circuited right when his expensive status symbol was threatened.
