- cross-posted to:
- fuckcars@lemmy.ca
- cross-posted to:
- fuckcars@lemmy.ca
As more Americans turn to biking for commuting, exercise, and recreation, the roads are growing more crowded and more dangerous as cyclist fatalities have risen sharply nationwide.
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Semaphores are for machines, bikes are for people. It’s funny how some places make bike bells mandatory, when my voice has always been so much more effective. Don’t mechanize yourself on behalf of the driver wrapped in two tons of social alienation.
point to the road/direction you want to go
Driver: what could that possibly mean!?!?
These same drivers also do not use turn signals, and don’t stop for stop signs. They will not follow the rules of the road, and scream at cyclists for doing the same. Even if you do signal, a lot of drivers don’t know what they mean anyway. (As stated in the article)
I’ve had people wave at me, as in to say hello when I’m giving hand signals.
I can kind of understand why people who aren’t used to bikers on their roads are lacking practice. And that becomes a problem when there are more people on bicycles. Another thing that makes this worse is that a significant fraction of bicyclists often disregard traffic code as well.
That being said, this article reads like a subtle way to shift responsibility away from drivers. It’s not their fault per se! It could be the laws. That is some bullshit. If you are unable to read the bicyclists next move unambiguously, keep a safe distance. Done.
A huge problem is the incredibly low bar to receive a driving license. Read a booklet, pass a paper test that barely mentions non-autos, and maybe take a basic practical exam. And there are many ways around the practical exam portion.
Makes me wonder why indicating a right turn, when on a bike or motorcycle isn’t just pointing your right arm, the way lefts are indicated with your left arm. The up for right, down for stop only really makes sense for cars because you sit on the left side of the vehicle and nobody’s right arm can reach out the right side window.
On motorcycles the right hand is generally throttle and front brake. So you’re using it to slow down before the turn and then to throttle up to complete it.
The left hand is usually done with clutch duties before the turn, and not needed again until after the turn is completed.
Also signaling with the right arm might be harder for a car driver to see if you’re riding further to the right in the lane
It’s not just the hand signals, in places without much bike traffic, most people don’t know how to react to bikes in general.
I have a really hard time with hand signals so I’m too scared to ride my bike in public because I had a driver yell at me for getting stop and right mixed up. I don’t know why the car couldn’t just stop at the stop sign and wait an extra second for me to pass regardless of the hand signal. So now even though I love taking to it to my shopping I don’t.
Please don’t let one idiot ruin it for you! One time I was wanting to turn at an intersetion but it was a busy’ish road and I slowed, pulled over, checked behind and then pulled into the centre and signalled my turn. It took some time to do all this. In the meantime a car that was on a STOP sign, pulled out in front of me (they were probably unclear what my intentions were) and stopped in the middle of the road, leaned over to wind down the opposite window and yelled at me. Again, they were on a STOP sign but no, I was the problem!
Did I stop biking forever after? No, I recognised that they were an idiot that massively over reacted to a simple misunderstanding and put everyone at risk to have a tantrum in the middle of the road!
I am going to get a bike trainer so I can ride in my garage safely or take the bus to a park and ride the trails. There was a pretty big accident in my town that killed a cyclist in an RCMP charity ride near me this past summer and it really stuck with me. The drivers will bowl over anyone and you never know who’s intoxicated. I don’t want to ride in traffic anymore.
About the only use for stopping signals is if someone is tailgating you really hard. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen it used.
Otherwise for turning just put your right hand out to turn right and your left hand out to turn left. It’s legally accepted almost everywhere and it’s understood by almost everyone, unlike the left hand signal to turn right.
That weird signal using your left hand to turn right exists because drivers aren’t able to signal with their right hand. It’s not necessary on 2 wheels.
