Re:Luckily I got hit by a car
by atdrummond on Saturday August 26, 2023 @09:43AM
(#37272842)
OP’s point is that revealed preferences matter and I think they did a relatively decent job expressing the state of those revealed preferences.
That doesn’t make anything in your response less valid about how we actually should treat these resources.
The whole comment shows a locally centered viewpoint that somehow gets blown up into worldwide support. I don't buy that. There are plenty of places where the bicycle is the dominant mode of transportation. And what's with the 'downvote all you want' nonsense.
Compare the population of all bike friendly areas with the global population it’s clear what’s the dominant situation. Overall things are improving, but most of the world isn’t currently particularly bike safe.
Also, it’s a bike friendly thread. I am well aware of the audience reading the post, the point was to encourage discussion rather than unthinking reflexive action.
There are many 'bike friendly areas' outside of the West notably in Asia. Obviously all of this is dynamic but to present it as a 'done deal' because we have made a decision, especially as 'humanity' is ridiculous. And pre-emptive bitching about downvotes is not something to expect from an account as old as yours.
Who said it’s a done deal in the future, things can change. I would personally ban cars, Taxi, Uber etc in NYC, but that’s currently a minority opinion.
Also there are a few bike friendly areas inside the US, it’s just uncommon.
No, humanity has collectively definitely not decided that. Bikes have utility, so do cars. Their domains of utility superficially overlap ('transportation') but both serve well in different contexts. Where it goes wrong is where faulty reasoning such as this is used to prioritize one kind of traffic over another, which especially given that it is nearly impossible for a cyclist to kill a car driver but trivial for a car driver to kill a cyclist (or indeed any other user of the road) is kind of bizarre.
The road is a shared resource and traffic rules and infrastructure should be 100% based on inclusivity and safety for all participants. And if one class of participants routinely endangers the others then they should be held accountable, no matter what the perceived utility.
To speak for all of humanity is ridiculous, humanity isn't that homogeneous and besides you can be a driver today and cyclist tomorrow or the other way around.