I remember reading in Lance Armstrong book that in the US its not uncommon for truck drivers to push cyclists off the road and people are generally hostile to them.
Imagine being born in the us.
this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
159 points (97.0% liked)
Fuck Cars
9579 readers
604 users here now
A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!
Rules
1. Be Civil
You may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.
2. No hate speech
Don't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.
3. Don't harass people
Don't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.
4. Stay on topic
This community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.
5. No reposts
Do not repost content that has already been posted in this community.
Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.
Posting Guidelines
In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:
- [meta] for discussions/suggestions about this community itself
- [article] for news articles
- [blog] for any blog-style content
- [video] for video resources
- [academic] for academic studies and sources
- [discussion] for text post questions, rants, and/or discussions
- [meme] for memes
- [image] for any non-meme images
- [misc] for anything that doesn’t fall cleanly into any of the other categories
Recommended communities:
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
They never push me off the road, 'course I've always got my trusty WWII flamethrower aimed and ready to defend my family and property. The way god intended.
Hostility towards cyclists isn't uncommon in the UK either. The attitude of the general public really needs to be changed.
I will say though that there was some rules introduced a year or two ago to make drivers give more room when overtaking and a good portion of the public actually do this now. But you still get some that will pass closely.
As a driver, I’m terrified of cyclists and treat them like a really slow moving car or bus - give them all the room and don’t overtake unless they’re stopped or the opposite side lane is clear. But then I’m probably an annoying driver.
There's no need to be terrified. Giving plenty of space is sufficient.
I do get some cars who are scared to pass and sometimes that ends up creating more hostilities as the cars behind that car end up getting frustrated and pass with anger.
It's great to be cautious but you can also be too cautious.
Happens from time to time in Canada, too. In the middle of the city!
Is this law site accurate?
Only 2-6 years for murdering someone with a car in Colorado?
Same in canada. As long as you're not drunk, you can murder people with your car as long as you say "whoops! Accident!" right away
It's up to 10 years, no parole, in Canada for vehicular manslaughter (whoops, accident). Vehicular homicide has the same maximums as any other homicide.
Yes but when was the last time anyone got the maximum sentence?
Usually demerit points and fine
I usually see 3-5 years in the news, but these cases are rarely publicised.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/devin-edmiston-yukon-fatal-crash-sentence-1.6872203
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-police-passenger-manslaughter-sentence-1.6330001
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/behchoko-drunk-driving-sentencing-1.6861499
I've seen 10-20 years, but there are usually multiple victims and/or egregious circumstances.
And the most famous in recent memory:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada/humboldt-broncos-crash-driver-sentenced-to-8-years-1.4347220
I think part of our collective memory issue is that there is usually 2+ years before the event and the sentencing.
That's broadly true worldwide. If you want to kill people, a car (or some motorised equivalent) is the way to go.
Here is a great recent podcast on this subject. FREAKONOMICS RADIO: Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians?
Nothing I hadn't seen before in there, but it was very well presented.
If a cyclist dies, it's almost guaranteed it was a driver's fault.
Man that sucks.