The word "cyclist" is dehumanizing

[Andrew NDB]

... and we need to stop using it. According to this article:

http://www.ladbible.com/news/weird-e...ymore-20190327

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

... and we need to stop using it. According to this article:

http://www.ladbible.com/news/weird-e...ymore-20190327

I'm afraid to click that link and get any SJW cookies in my Chrome. Mind spoiling it for us?

[Andrew NDB]

Basically a study shows that there's "an observable and direct link between the aforementioned dehumanisation of cyclists and acts of aggression against them by other road users." If we call them "cyclists" and not, say, "bike riders."

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Basically a study shows that there's "an observable and direct link between the aforementioned dehumanisation of cyclists and acts of aggression against them by other road users." If we call them "cyclists" and not, say, "bike riders."

Oh, okay. I thought this was a feminist thing or LGBTQ thing for some reason.

Yeah, screw cyclists. Get the fvck off the roads; you're a danger to yourself and to people with cars.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Oh, okay. I thought this was a feminist thing or LGBTQ thing for some reason.

Yeah, screw cyclists. Get the fvck off the roads; you're a danger to yourself and to people with cars.

And how did this even start? When I was a kid I'd ride my bike on the sidewalks all the way to Seattle from my house in Tukwila and back... never any problems. Now all cyclists need to be in the streets? Why?

[Candy Kappa]

Eh... sure... or you know, remember that the mid-life crisis spandex-that-shows-every-crack clad doofus that thinks he's as fast as cars is an actual person and don't try to kill him with your ****ing car. But yeah I'm sure the term cyclist is the culprit and not car drivers with aggression issues and holier then thou condoms on wheels

[Prowler]

I knew Andrew made this thread as soon as I read the first 3 words.

[IndigoErth]

But doesn't that make the drivers cyclist? Or would that be cyclerist... cyclist-ist?


Joking aside, I don't really see how that word is dehumanizing if it's a word describing the activity of using a bike. What, are we doing to change it to "motorless bikers"? Manual biker?

They don't really bother me, though probably in large part because this isn't a heavily biked area anyhow. As long as they're to the side and I can just carefully pass them, then no issue. The inconsiderate pedestrians around here are the ones that irk me more.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

And how did this even start? When I was a kid I'd ride my bike on the sidewalks all the way to Seattle from my house in Tukwila and back... never any problems. Now all cyclists need to be in the streets? Why?

If you're not in a neighborhood, you shouldn't be biking. It's really that simple.

You're on 10 pounds of aluminum, and you have literal tons of steel and aluminum roaring past you three or four times faster than you can pedal your bike.

What part of this is a good idea? Accidents are inevitable. And if you're on a bike instead of in an armored bubble that runs on gasoline or diesel, well... you're gonna end up getting hit someday.

[snake]

Cyclist gang rise up.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by snake

Cyclist gang rise up.

Cyclist gang move over.

[Leo656]

Every once in a while we'll get a whole gaggle of these creeps on a major highway over here, holding up traffic in every direction. I'm always amazed that nobody gets sent sailing. Just terrible.

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Yeah, screw cyclists. Get the fvck off the roads; you're a danger to yourself and to people with cars.

And go where, exactly? Roads are the only place for bikes.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

And go where, exactly? Roads are the only place for bikes.

C'mon, man. You're from my state, there's no excuse. I've cycled from Seattle all the way to Kent, and back, many times. Just fine. On the sidewalk.

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.town...size=400%2C282

C'mon, man. You're from my state, there's no excuse. I've cycled from Seattle all the way to Kent, and back, many times. Just fine. On the sidewalk.

And it's illegal as fuuuuuuuuuuux

EDIT: Wait, they changed that in 2000? Okay guess I'm wrong.

[Candy Kappa]

It was illegal to bike on the sidewalk in the US?

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Aaaand there are plenty of towns that largely don't even HAVE sidewalks. Like the one I currently live in. Sidewalks are virtually nonexistant here. To go ANYWHERE on a bike, you HAVE to ride on the streets!

[IndigoErth]

Yeah, likewise here. The nearby highway does, but otherwise they're spotty at best. Some neighborhoods do, some like mine don't.

One of the main roads mine connects to has some stretches of sidewalk here and there (and often just one side), broken up by large stretches of none. (Maybe it all once did but stopped being mandatory for the homes along it to upkeep it?)

They actually tried to put in a little bit of bike lane near me, but it's so brief I don't really see the point. And for one stretch of it they chose to turn a right-hand lane under an overpass into part of it... until of course that lane suddenly becomes for cars again prior to the light because they need to be able to make that right turn. People were already so used to it being a car lane before that I'm always seeing people still driving in it, so I question if that actually made it more dangerous for people on bikes... And note that this rare stretch of bike lane actually does follow alongside a sidewalk, go figure.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

And it's illegal as fuuuuuuuuuuux

EDIT: Wait, they changed that in 2000? Okay guess I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

It was illegal to bike on the sidewalk in the US?

I have NEVER heard it was illegal to ride a bike on the sidewalk in WA. That's not a thing and was never a thing. In the 90s everyone would ride on the sidewalks just fine, never any problems. Cops would even stop me on my bike on the sidewalk and tell me I needed a helmet, but nothing about "you can't ride on the sidewalk." That is absurd.

[Leo656]

I don't know if it was in every single state, but I know plenty of places made it illegal to ride bikes on the sidewalk back in the day. I'unno about now, but when we went over bike safety in school it always went into how it was illegal. Like if a cop was there to give a bike safety lecture he'd definitely mention not to ever ride on the sidewalk because you could get a ticket. They'd have brochures to state it in bold print and everything.

People still did it all the time, of course, but they were definitely not supposed to.

I totally get why, too, because once when I was like 10 I was zipping along and a 50-ish looking couple stepped out of a building without looking where they were going and I damn near ran the guy over. Like I maybe could've been going slower but there was nobody outside, and they totally weren't minding their surroundings either. Blame on both sides, I guess. Nothing came of it but I felt kinda bad for a minute.

Either way, like a lot of things with bicycles, the sidewalk law was most likely one of the many "rarely enforced" ones. You can technically be cited for riding against the flow of traffic, as well as turning or stopping without using hand signals, and be given a ticket just as if you were driving a car and misbehaving. But generally the cop has to be kind of an asshole. Most people don't know these things are illegal because almost nobody has ever been actually given a ticket for any of it in decades, but it can happen. But most likely only if the violation results in some kind of accident or property damage. Otherwise no cop wants to deal with any of that petty sh*t. I used to ride my bike past the police station several times a day, on the sidewalk, with no helmet, without signaling, and nobody ever said anything to me. But I'm sure that if I hit someone I could have gotten in trouble for it.

Kind of a "selective enforcement" thing.