Also drivers: Wow bikers are so disrespectful by existing I can't believe they would do this

    • Infamousblt [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Okay so I read a story a long time ago in an aviation magazine. The concept was every pilot should have a golden gun with one bullet. This bullet would never miss it's target but you only ever get one and you can use it no questions asked as long as you're in the air.

      The theory was that this is like flying; if you see a pilot doing something that's going to get someone killed you should be allowed to kill them first. And every pilot will always wonder if some other pilot can see them and think twice about being stupid because it might get them killed.

      I think about this a lot.

    • ProfessorOwl_PhD [any]
      ·
      7 months ago

      I'm gonna need you to up that to at least 3. The cyclists tend to be better at sharing the road/path than drivers and pedestrians, but there are a lot of spandex coated 50 year old men that need to get the fuck off my commute.

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    7 months ago

    i almost get killed as a pedestrian about once a week while crossing at a crosswalk with the walk signal, because some cager is not looking where they are aiming their overpriced petroleum chariot before they hit the gas.

    when i get their attention and they stand on the brakes to avoid hitting the 3 pedestrians in their path, 50% of the time they flail their arms around and try to look tough and mad like it's my fault that they almost maimed some people.

    i loathe how tough and aggressive cars make drivers. like you know if i even slapped their hood, probably a third would interpret that as battery on their person, feel justified in pulling out a concealed handgun to shoot me, and claim self-defense.

    • Des [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      7 months ago

      cool thing is you can take cover outside their LOS and duck and weave, they are strapped into position. you know exactly where your target is. and vehicles provide very limited ballistic protection.

  • GrouchyGrouse [he/him]
    ·
    7 months ago

    If driving a car turns you into a sociopathic murder fiend maybe we should just get rid of the cars

  • SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    7 months ago

    It's not just bikers, drivers do not be giving two shits about road laws anymore. There's a stop sign down the road from me and a few times a day people will run it, and run it fast, not just a rolling stop.

    • Infamousblt [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      7 months ago

      So true. Cars don't give a flying fuck anymore. The speed bump in front of my place gets a LOT of action these days

      • fox [comrade/them]
        ·
        7 months ago

        I have a running theory that long COVID neurological symptoms are severely underestimated as a cause for maniac drivers

        • spectre [he/him]
          ·
          7 months ago

          I think a good chunk of it is the decay in social bonds by isolation, and also divisions created by anti-mask anti-vaccination (etc) sentiment.

        • nothx [he/him]
          ·
          7 months ago

          My partner and I have had multiple conversations about this specifically, as well as all the other shit that goes on in public.

          • un_mask_me [any]
            ·
            7 months ago

            100% have had this thought as well. That and it seems like half the people on the road are not sober, at least in my city.

            • nothx [he/him]
              ·
              7 months ago

              Yeah I assume most people swerving around are drunk. Many people really didn’t handle the “lockdowns” very well. So many people either didn’t handle isolation well, or realized that they don’t like their spouses or kids as much when they had to be around them.

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]
    ·
    7 months ago

    I almost got sideswiped by a couple of jerks when I used a moped in the city

    Started carrying ninja rocks and a blackjack and the last time someone tried, I showed it to them and it changed their mind real quick

    • Infamousblt [any]
      hexagon
      ·
      7 months ago

      I wish I was brave enough to do more than yell and be a nuisance to them

  • TheDoctor [they/them]
    ·
    7 months ago

    A woman in my town hit a kid inside a crosswalk in front of a school as school was getting out and had the audacity to go on Facebook and complain about how kids don’t watch where they’re going. This kid was 11 and was being waved through by a crossing guard. Car brain isn’t terminal but it should be.

  • FnordPrefect [comrade/them, he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    grillman "'Look twice, save a life' bikers are everywhere!"

    "Wow, I wouldn't have thought you cared about people on bicycles"

    grill-broke "What?! No! Motorcycles! I only care about motorcycles! I aim for, scoff, cYcLiStS."

  • Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml
    ·
    7 months ago

    I love cyclists, but not sport cyclers. Every weekend hundreds of them drive their cars to my rural neighborhood, take up all the sides of the roads with their cars, and then take up the entire road riding in packs of dozens of them while ignoring all road laws and getting mad at you if you try to pass them. Makes my work commute oh so much more fun.

    • Thordros [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      How do those weekend cyclists mess up your commute? You live in a rural area. What commute are they messing up every day only on the weekends?

      • Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.ml
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        Not everyone only works on weekdays. I frequently do 6 or 7 day weeks, though thankfully the weekend shifts are usually relatively short. I have flex schedule, so when I have to help out my family during the week, I come in on the weekends to make up the time, and since I have young brothers I help care for, I often have to cut days during the week short, whether to pick up a brother from school or take them to a sport, etc.

  • AmarkuntheGatherer@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    7 months ago

    Meanwhile european cyclists: What the fuck are these pedestrians doing on the street? Can't they see me riding erratically all over the pavement?

    Literally anything is better than usian drivers but these arseholes get on my nerves sometimes.