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Hyperbowleeeeeeeeeee t1_iuvlwtl wrote

Reply to comment by ExpressiveLemur in Come join /r/camberville! by kjeovridnarn

Expectation of safety is an interesting point. There are definitely generational differences here. When I was growing up, there was really an expectation that I was responsible for my own safety on a bike, but it was still a pretty clearly dangerous way to get around town. It was just down to situational awareness, helmets, and deference pretty much. We had no bike lanes, which are now really well built out over the last 10 years. So that seems to be improving a lot. It is still not a very safe activity fundamentally. There are no safety features on a bicycle whatsoever, so I guess I personally have some expectation when I get on the bike that there's some risk that's a bit higher than, for example, taking the T.

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ExpressiveLemur t1_iv4y6vq wrote

There are so many people driving and so many who don't drive safely even for other drivers, much less for people not in cars, that statistically it's impossible to avoid not running into a dangerous situation in the places where cars interact with people running, walking, or wheeling.

We can try traffic calming and reducing city speed limits, but people driving will still speed (making collisions with cars and people more dangerous), run stop signs and lights and not yield or even look for pedestrians (making street crossing dangerous).

Since it seems impossible to change the minds and habits of every person driving, it seems more effective to reduce the number of interactions between people in cars and everyone else doing anything else. We have sidewalks for pedestrians (though they still get hurt and killed even in marked street crossings). We have "bike" lanes for people wheel (bikes, electric scooters, motorized wheelchairs, etc) though because of the way many are built and protected there's often still a lot of interaction between people driving and people wheeling.

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