1005
submitted 1 year ago by mondoman712@lemmy.ml to c/fuck_cars@lemmy.ml

We're all in on the culture war now

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world -4 points 1 year ago

As someone whose aunt was hospitalised because a young (early 20s) cyclist hit her on the pavement and sped off, I disagree.

Never caught, she ended up with a fractured hip. While it's easy to believe "all cyclists are good people like me", the reality is that every group of transit users has its problem members.

I do agree, cars can cause a lot more damage (and injuries are almost always MUCH more serious), which is why you'd set a lower premium rate for cyclists. They're covered, so you are covered.

If I am ever in a position to cycle in to work, I'd feel a lot more comfortable knowing that if someone hits me and damages my bike, I won't be relying on their goodwill or just footing the bill.

[-] octochamp@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago

Sure, that's why I qualified that harmful accidents do happen, though relatively rarely compared to car accidents, and relatively rarely anywhere near as harmful as a similar incident if it was caused by a car.

Similar anecdotal incident - I know someone who was hospitalised and got multiple fractures while riding his bike on a cycle path because someone was walking their dog without a lead and the dog ran in front of his bike. These things can and do happen, they're not unusual - but it's also a weak argument for, say, mandating that all dog owners get liability insurance for their pets.

[-] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Apples and oranges friend.

You're not campaigning to increase the number of dogs on the road, you are aiming to increase the number of cyclists.

At the moment, the main worry is car/cycle interactions and car/person; however let us say all cars vanish and everyone who drove now cycles. You're now going to have a LOT more cycle/cycle and cycle/person interactions. Indeed, without the requirements of formal road training (I.e. a license) you're going to see injuries from cycle incidents in every city daily. It's a matter of probability, more so an increasing one.

Then again, "dog causes 50 person pile up" might well mandate stronger laws for dog owners, with cyclists pushing for it. So perhaps it isn't so much apples Vs oranges and more failing to appreciate scale - that the issue isn't the apples and oranges, but the sheer number of them!

[-] octochamp@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

You're really hitting the nail on the head with this analogy. If you replaced all the cars with cyclists then yes you'd increase the number of cycle accidents, but no one of those cyclists would be capable of causing anywhere even remotely near the level of carnage one car driver can cause. In fact, the amount of damage a single cyclist can cause would decrease with fewer cars on the road, given that at present the worst damage a cyclist can cause is by indirectly causing a car driver to crash.

[-] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Yes and no.

We'd see more minor injuries (remember, all commuters are tired cyclists, so they're more likely to have minor bumps), but many less majore ones (at least among young cyclists, older ones in collisions I do not know enough about to comment reliably).

Let's not forget, pedestrians exist as well, and are just as unobservant as cyclists (pedestrians usually have right of way, though no cyclist I know respects that!).

[-] octochamp@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

these are some absolutely wild generalisations and honestly daft assumptions but I doubt there's much to be gained arguing this point any more

this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
1005 points (97.2% liked)

Fuck Cars

9817 readers
51 users here now

This community exists as a sister community/copycat community to the r/fuckcars subreddit.

This community exists for the following reasons:

You can find the Matrix chat room for this community here.

Rules

  1. Be nice to each other. Being aggressive or inflammatory towards other users will get you banned. Name calling or obvious trolling falls under that. Hate cars, hate the system, but not people. While some drivers definitely deserve some hate, most of them didn't choose car-centric life out of free will.

  2. No bigotry or hate. Racism, transphobia, misogyny, ableism, homophobia, chauvinism, fat-shaming, body-shaming, stigmatization of people experiencing homeless or substance users, etc. are not tolerated. Don't use slurs. You can laugh at someone's fragile masculinity without associating it with their body. The correlation between car-culture and body weight is not an excuse for fat-shaming.

  3. Stay on-topic. Submissions should be on-topic to the externalities of car culture in urban development and communities globally. Posting about alternatives to cars and car culture is fine. Don't post literal car fucking.

  4. No traffic violence. Do not post depictions of traffic violence. NSFW or NSFL posts are not allowed. Gawking at crashes is not allowed. Be respectful to people who are a victim of traffic violence or otherwise traumatized by it. News articles about crashes and statistics about traffic violence are allowed. Glorifying traffic violence will get you banned.

  5. No reposts. Before sharing, check if your post isn't a repost. Reposts that add something new are fine. Reposts that are sharing content from somewhere else are fine too.

  6. No misinformation. Masks and vaccines save lives during a pandemic, climate change is real and anthropogenic - and denial of these and other established facts will get you banned. False or highly speculative titles will get your post deleted.

  7. No harassment. Posts that (may) cause harassment, dogpiling or brigading, intentionally or not, will be removed. Please do not post screenshots containing uncensored usernames. Actual harassment, dogpiling or brigading is a bannable offence.

Please report posts and comments that violate our rules.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS