Another great piece from Jalopnik.

  • Inevitable Waffles [Ohio]@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    I’m about five miles from my work with OK bike infrastructure to get there. My problem is every dickhead rolling coal on a lifted F350 seems to think I’m worth 500 points. Until they either protect the biking infrastructure or hit these people driving massive vehicles with some real pentalities for driving like idiots, I’ll have to keep using my car for safety.

    • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      i wonder if the self-driving cars will make bicycling safer or more dangerous? the recent shrug and pray approaches to the software aren’t reassuring enough

    • WalrusDragonOnABike@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I sometimes bike to work (~15 miles each way), but fortunately to have a trail I can take a good chunk of the ride to work.

      Unfortunately I get off after-dark and its closed (I wouldn’t ride it at night even if it were technically open), so stuck riding a sometimes poorly lit stroad for a five-mile stretch home that’s down to 1-lane much of the way because of never-ending construction with no shoulder or bike lane (plus stroads most of the other 10 miles home). I couldn’t recommend the ride to anyone until the construction is gone. Would be great if they’d put some protected bike lanes there though, but given the trails available during the day, non-night riders and non-bike commuters would probably feel like its redundant.

      • andrew@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        I recommend getting some bright lights. I have a 350 lumens rear light that makes my bike more visible than most vehicles.

        • WalrusDragonOnABike@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Switch to using an ebike this year, so it has its built in light, I have another rear light that blinks (not very bright and turned so its not directly facing drivers), and recently got a helmet with a front and rear light. Also wear bright clothes and have reflective stickers on my bike and stripes on pannier. I still don’t trust some of the cars given passing in-lane is the only option for them to pass and the lane is too narrow for that.

          • biddy@feddit.nl
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            1 year ago

            in-lane is the only option for them to pass and the lane is too narrow for that.

            In this case the correct thing to do legally is to take the whole lane, but I get that having cars honking at you is stressful.

      • buckenmuck@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Why is the trail closed?

        We have a portion of a trail that closes for no reasonable purpose at like 5pm. We’ve been fighting to keep it open–lanes of car traffic don’t just close unless it goes through private property. Why should bike trails?

        • WalrusDragonOnABike@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Its an unlit winding trail along a steep drop off with pigs (and I do not mean cops - another part of the trail is directly on their station and I’ve never had any issue riding there at night: its lit, ironically by car dealerships, and not along a steep drop off; it also does have pigs out hunting at night though).

          • buckenmuck@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Huh. Is there a reason a fence doesn’t work there? If pigs were wandering into a road, both the owner and the city would want to eliminate that conflict

            • WalrusDragonOnABike@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Its a nature trail meant for well-off office-workers to go for recreation during the day, so they’re not going to build several miles of fencing for poorer people to commute at night. Pigs are primarily nocturnal, so they’re not an issue during the day.

              Also roads obstructing wildlife migration is already a problem. We shouldn’t be trying to expand that.