First off eff every cyclist that doesn’t follow the rules. Not talking about them. I’m talking about the ones who actually follows the rules of the road. The amount of times I’ve been yelled at “GET ON THE SIDEWALK” by random ppl when i’m following the same traffic laws you are is crazy.
If you can’t pass a cyclist that is following the rules; you shouldn’t be allowed to drive at all. How hard is it to pass a cyclist? if you can’t do that; use public transportation
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Yes!
Being passed by a car as a cyclist should be part of it. There is that video of bus drivers having to be passed by a bus speeding
True unpopular opinion: there should be a requirement for cycling licenses to use the most dangerous roads.
There have been cars in our town that try to hit cyclists by opening their doors or with the mirror as they drive past.
I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for bikes to be on the sidewalk. I could be wrong but this is the case where I live, according to cops.
A genuinely unpopular opinion. I agree, but most drivers see cyclists as “the enemy” and hate any type of bike infrastructure or concessions.
And how am I supposed to just randomly find a cyclist? I live in a low population area.
CDL test you have to pass someone going 0.5mph faster than them. It’s to get you used to the limiter. /j
The cyclists around here don’t obey any traffic laws, and they’re total douchebags to runners, so nah.
(Road cyclists only. MTB guys generally respect the trail and other trail users.)
Good idea in theory, but in practice it’s not always possible.
In the UK it’s illegal for bikes to go on the pavement, but yeah its really not that hard to pass a cyclist idk why people get so worked up about it
Stay off my roads bike boy
Just as long as the cyclist actually follows the traffic laws sure. Seen plenty of cyclists around here who will pick the busiest roads, and then go against the flow of traffic even though legally they are supposed to go with the flow of traffic here. Or my favorite where they think stopping at red lights or stop signs is optional. Nearly hit one a while back because he decided red lights were optional. Came out of a blind spot thankfully my wife spotted him, and said something before I pulled out. Personally I have no problem passing a cyclist, or even sharing the road with them. What I do have a problem with is them ignoring the rules of the road just because they think they are optional I guess. Especially the ones on E-bikes. Just pretend like they are a bike or a motor vehicle depending on which one is more convenient for them at the time.
>First off eff every cyclist that doesn’t follow the rules
Thank you for acknowledging this. I get how shitty some drivers are to cyclists and how scary it is to be out there unprotected sharing the road with thousand-pound death machines, but it feels like none of yall want to acknowledge the number of cyclists out there just being the biggest hazards they can possibly be. We all belong on there we all just also need to follow the rules.
You mean the cyclist blowing through intersections?
First off 90% of cyclists don’t follow the rules of the road. I’m not talking about the dude going somewhere or a kid out for a ride. I’m talking a about the pos that dresses like he is about to be inserted up an elephant’s arse, behaves like he’s busy with the “Tour de Fart”, rides a bike worth more than my car, travels in a pack and thinks that the whole fucking world needs to get off “his” road.
Fuck you guy, (hypothetical cyclist wanker, not op) the road doesn’t exist for your hobby. Go practice in the gym you fucking entitled wanker.
We do very little strategic, long term planning. What we should be doing is working towards structural changes that make it so people can bike safely. Having bikers and drivers together is inherently dangerous and the bikers will lose out. Sure, everyone should be able to act safely independently, but we’re not the best creatures at even paying attention for long periods.
Cyclists should need to pass an exam to use their bike on the road as well.
They need to know the rules of the road, just like vehicle operators.
They share the road with vehicle operators.
They can be obstacles that are oftentimes more dangerous than other cars due to their rate of speed. They cannot accelerate as quickly as cars and oftentimes cannot travel at the posted speed limits.
Their size and positioning(riding on the shoulder) make them harder to see than other vehicles on the road.
Now, here is my really unpopular opinion: they should be required to carry insurance for riding their bike on the road. Bye
I completely agree! I only get passed lawfully about 10 percent of the time. Being required to do this could save lots of lives. Plus they might learn to look and respect people that don’t drive cars a little more. At least I can dream
First you are not talking about having nice strolling through a park or biking in the suburbs to visit your friends. You are talking about moving in a city.
A bike is not a motorized vehicle, yet it is a vehicle. Too slow for the roadways, too dangerous for the sideways, and thus always a problem.
The solution depends on the society, but the only thing that makes a perfect sense in general is that the bikes must be only allowed in paths separated from both the roadways and sideways. In the Nordic countries bikes and cars coexist in a chaos that it’s not for the faint of heart, but they do. I tried as a biker and I almost died. I didn’t try to drive a car.
There should be a lot more to the driving test period. We probably wouldn’t have such an absurd accident rate if we didn’t let idiots drive.
The knowledge of the laws and how to do it is mandatory.
This isn’t even unpopular, it’s just stupid. There is no way to implement this especially with the random chance of finding a cyclist in the time for a test. Not to mention what is the northern half of the US supposed to do… not take a driver’s test for the cold part of the year?
It should be compulsory for cyclists to take a test to be allowed to cycle on the road
Is the cyclist going to follow the law as well? Other wise this is a moot point.
That sounds cost efficient…
>First off eff every cyclist that doesn’t follow the rules. Not talking about them.
99% of cyclists in shambles
Maybe they need to require cyclists to have licenses and part of their test should be interacting with cars
We don’t have cyclists here. Hell, not all our roads are even a full two lanes and there’s a LOT of blind curves in n the edge of cliffs with no guardrail. But good luck to anyone who tries to cycle here, hope you don’t come across a farmer hauling hay or cattle.
Drivers should be required to cycle through a busy town before they pass their test
*Learning how to wait for a safe time and place to pass a cyclist…
FTFY
I’ve never seen a cyclist that follows the rules so we might as well add in how to pass a unicorn as well.
It can be very hard when they think they get a whole traffic lane while doing 20. They are often the most entitled people.on the road, blowing stops signs, riding through crosswalks etc. You have to have an insured plate to ride you bike on the road.
Would you sign up to be the designated cyclist for the road test? Can’t even imagine the workers comp ins. premium for that job,
I’m a little worried about the cyclist.
SAFELY passing a cyclist should be mandatory as with demonstrating sufficient hours and distance riding a bike on busy car traffic streets.
You seem to be vastly overestimating both the quantity of cyclists and the quality/availability of public transport
Number of times*
On a side note: there should be some type of exam and registration for cyclists who plan on riding alongside vehicles on the road.
Too many cyclists break laws and act like they own the road regardless of if they’re riding in the bike lane or not.
I’ve seen cyclists run stop lights and stop signs, not signal properly, have no equipment for visibility at night and some have even rode in the road instead of the designated bicycle lane.
And you should get a ticket for not having said registration for your bike if you don’t have it and are on the road.
The driving exam is too damn easy in general. Drive like six blocks, don’t run any stop signs/lights, maintain the speed limit and stay on the road then boom you’re cleared to drive like you’re an expert. They should be done on a simulator at this point. The simulation includes standard things that you run across while driving including bicyclists that don’t follow the rules.
Depends of the situation. I would say most cyclists are usually breaking the law themselves most of the time.
Like in lot of places cycling on a fast roads is illegal and for the city, its also illegal to cycle on the road if there is a bike lane next to it.
I am someone who is using a bike 90% of the time for transportation and I am familiar with shitty drivers and shitty cyclists.
Also I assume you don’t have a driving license because it’s almost impossible to pass a cyclist on the road legally if it’s one lane as you need to do it with 1.5m distance. So I can get why they will get annoyed by shitty cyclist that are basically blocking the road.
Maybe cyclist should take a test before they can use roads.
It is part of the exam if you come across one. My instructor (here in Ireland a few years ago) was very keen on giving cyclists space if passing and not passing of dangerous, staying back.
They should also summon inclement weather to test how a student driver performs in less than ideal conditions.
You lost me at “ones who actually follow the rules of the road.” I thought those were like pegasi, 100% imaginary.
Your idea would have merit if it was possible to find one of these elusive creatures, but I have never once seen one, and have never met someone who has.
Can’t get cars to avoid a motercycle on the road, I think trying to get them to not hit a cyclist is great but never going to happen until we decide to make lanes for them. Which would be great in states small enough to make that happen impossible in others. *shrugs*
I feel like it’s probably redundant though to add it to the test. Only because if you are getting your license in a city flush with cyclists you already take a driving test and they’ll be on the road when you do. If you don’t they won’t but it will be a one time thing they’ll likely forget since it only happened once.
Maybe they should spend more time on the subject on the written part. Make an entire section dedicated to that and maybe toss in some stuff about motorcycles as well.
I think we should invest in bike lanes heavily wherever possible. But I also think there’s roads that cyclists love to use for recreational activities that are just not safe for them and it’s not discrimination to say they shouldn’t be on those roads just like they shouldn’t be on the freeway for example.
If there’s space passing a cyclist shouldn’t be hard and if someone can’t do it safely they shouldn’t be driving. But on highway 9 for example there’s no room and bikes should be banned not catered to.
In my area, there a lot of tight winding roads that bicyclists seem to really like. It’s hard to pass a cyclist when you cant see oncoming traffic. It makes it dangerous for all involved, even though its perfectly legal to be there.
ETA: these roads typically have paved bike sidewalks with bike icons painted on them, and yet they still choose to put themselves and others in danger. They’re following road laws, but COME ON, just use the bike path ffs
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Shout out to the guy who screamed at me for being in the edge of center lane, since I was going straight at the light, instead of on the shoulder of the road in the right hand turning lane, when I was NOT TURNING RIGHT. I had also signaled repeatedly that I was going straight and not right.
> First off eff every cyclist that doesn’t follow the rules. Not talking about them.
As a driver, I drive around to pass cyclists, pedestrians, runners, and motorcyclists. In bike lanes and traffic lanes, at cross walks, etc. It’s my responsibility to do it in a safe manner for all of them, regardless of whether they follow the rules or not. People walk across the street against red lights and in the middle of blocks here in Seattle, I still have to stop. That’s my responsibility, I can’t kill or injure other people.
Cyclists should demonstrate ability to safely ride on a roadway for their licenses as well.
As loudly as possible!
And don’t hate me. I drive a minivan. It’s slow. It’s quiet. And dodge killed the muscle car.
How bout cyclists should have an exam.
We should add rules to everything I think people should do!
Are you following the same rules? If you are in a bike lane, cool beans keep on trucking. Are you doing 35 in a 35? Or are you going 10-15 and slowing the flow of traffic? If that’s the case, then ya, get out of the road.
I get your point, but good luck finding cyclinst in the winter in smaller town.
I don’t know where you live, but in my country, our driving test involve pre designated routes in real traffic, so if you pass a cyclist you do, if you don’t you don’t.
> I’m talking about the ones who actually follow the rules of the road.
So, none of them?
cyclists should only be on the sidewalk if they’re walking alongside their bikes.
My unpopular opinion is cyclists shouldn’t be ALLOWED on the roads. They are extremely fucking dangerous and even when following traffic laws pose a threat to drivers which today is WHAT ROADS ARE FOR. If you can’t afford a car, as you said, use public transportation.
Cyclists are so fucking annoying.
Bikers online are so funny to me. They get so defensive over their hobby😂😂.
Go find a trail or a private area to ride if you must ride your bike, or go to the gym and use a stationary bike. But the fact that cyclists expect the most perfect conditions to apply for them when sharing the road with a cars/trucks/busses is ridiculous and dangerous.
And I know I’ll be hated for this, but cyclists will downvote anybody who isn’t 100000% “pro bike”.
Counterpoint, bicycle riders should be required to get off the road to allow motor vehicles to pass, and maybe shouldn’t be allowed on roads with a speed limit over 30mph at all
The real unpopular part is how do you implement this lmao. Just find a random cyclist to overtake and pray he’s one of the few competent ones? Hire someone to be the cyclist?
Man I yell at cyclists to get OFF the sidewalk (in proper jurisdictions). That’s for pedestrians!
I will absolutely support any initiative for better cyclist safety laws or bike lanes. But get off the sidewalk. (Unless you’re somewhere where sidewalk riding is appropriate)
Or better yet, pass laws moving cyclists to sidewalks. Any time it’s an accident of car vs cyclist the cyclist is gonna lose, far less damage can be done in cyclist vs pedestrian accident. It’s just plain safer
Cyclists should have to have a license and pass an exam before they’re allowed on
non residential roads with speeds of greater than 30-35mph.
If there are more than a couple cars behind you on a two lane road that can’t pass because of opposing traffic, you should pull your bike off the road and resume after traffic passes. Especially if you are not able to do the flow of traffic.
My problem with cyclist stems from the fact that 7 years ago, my town had like an 10 or 11 million dollar surplus in the budget. I had just moved there so I don’t remember why. And there was a vote, what do we we want to spend this money on, so we don’t lose it next year. They voted on a bike path. I’m not just talking about a dirty path cleared off surrounded by trees, I’m talking 25-30 foot wide, leveled out (to include a 20 ft tall, 150-200 ft long bridge over a river so people didn’t have to ride down down the little valley and back up the other side. To boot, this is about a 10 mile long trail that connects both ends of the town, two major road ways, and runs perpendicular (not further than 25 or 30 ft away so you can’t get lost) to a a 2 lane 55 mile an hour road wind road. It’s wide enough for people to walk on it, they have benches that you can rest on, all super clean and well taken care of. Markings for which side of traffic to be on also.
But do you wanna take a guess what most bikers favor more and tend to ride 2-3 abreast on during rush hour traffic in the morning causing miles of back up because it’s a no passing road full of blind spots for almost those entire ten miles?
Man regardless of whether it’s fair or not, you’re bringing a Honda civic to an f1 track. Just stick to side walks; I don’t even drive a four wheeler and still think bicycle riders on the asphalt are a god damn nuisance. The rings been repurposed for gun fights please stop bringing knives to it!
I ride bicycle for about 20 miles twice a week. And yes this is a problem sometimes. Some cars want me to stop so they can pass on a country road. Giving me a dirty look because I rarely stop. I’ve had soda and beer cans thrown at me by people that think I shouldn’t even be there. I’ve also gotten to catch up with one at a stop light and get my ass whipped because the dude could fight. Oh ya that was embarrassing. Majority of cars out there have drivers that know how to pass a cyclist. They just don’t care
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Is going 20mph on a bike on a 45 mph road following the rules? because that’s what I see all the time where I live.
Why do cyclist not acknowledge they hold up traffic.
Sorry, but bicycles shouldn’t be allowed on the street at all.
It should be mandatory for Cyclist not to be entitled(at least they are in my area) assholes.
Then match the speed limit, going too fast or too slow compared to the speed limit are both traffic infractions
running over… Jk
Where are you going to get all of these cyclists? I only see a couple cyclists a month.
Cyclists should have a license plate and ID to ride on a non-residential public street. That way when they’re trying to be human speed bumps, I know who to call about.
Plenty of practice for cyclists when I have to doge horses fairly often
In my city, it is illegal for a cyclist to ride on the sidewalk. When I ride on the road I get honked at, clipped, followed, etc. But if I ride on the sidewalk I get a $200 fine. So either I risk my safety or I risk my grocery money
It wouldn’t make a difference, you have to use your turn signal during the test, see how well that is followed?
You guys had a driver’s exam?
Bicyclists shouldn’t be allowed on the street unless they have gone through training. Half of them don’t even know where the bike lane is, they think it’s a bike “line” and ride on the line with half the bike hanging into the vehicle lane. They ride side by side and block traffic. They run red lights and stop signs. They cause chaos and piss people off by holding up dozens maybe hundreds of cars.
For my driving test I had to circle one block, and go back to the DMV. Whole thing took less than 5 minutes. There’s a lot more that they should add.
Rewarding a full license to anyone who aids the community by making a cyclist pass on to the next world is definitely a good incentive system.
And if the 3-4 cyclists in the world who follow all the rules don’t want to be caught up in this bounty then there’s an easy solution for them; use public transportation.
I don’t understand drivers who can’t pass cyclists. Also a lot of people don’t know how to pass on 2 lanes roads so I guess I should not be surprised
You are probably too far into the road. It’s easy to be right over someone’s right tire.
If it bothers you so, you should just ride on the sidewalk.
Pretty sure it is on our exams.
I also think cyclists should have to pass an exam and have registration/insurance.
Stop biking in the middle of the road at 20mph expecting people not to pass you. Just move over
cyclists act like cars need to leave them the whole fucking lane if they want it, and act like pedestrians have to get out of their way.
and they don’t walk their bike across the intersection like you are supposed to
Any vehicle that is incapable of reaching the speed limit should not be on that road. A bike is far less dangerous to a walking pedestrian than a car is to a bike. Widen sidewalks, don’t put bikes in the same lane as cars going 10 times as fast.