this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024
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Fuck Cars

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/33126960

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[–] Humana@lemmy.world 53 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

In my country you can submit a photo of this to the local police with a statement swearing it's a true photo, then your name and tax ID number. Then in 6-9 months the vehicle owner will receive a citation and fee in the mail.

It's fun because you have a serial offender who thinks they are getting away with it like this, but in 6-9 months they will get the first few and correct their behavior but continue to receive the citations. Then they will finally look at the dates of the offense on the citation and realize they have thousands of euros in fees still coming for months of shitty behavior.

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 22 points 4 days ago

Oh, man. We want immediate justice so often, but I almost think the delay is the best part of that.

Still means 6 months of cyclist frustration though…

[–] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 15 points 4 days ago (8 children)

That's the dream. Where do you live?

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[–] kindenough@kbin.earth 20 points 4 days ago (3 children)

We have a suckhead that parks his delivery van on the middle of a cross over (we call it a zebra pad) everytime to deliver goods to our local flower shop. So I tell him he is unlawfully parked, he says I shouldn't worry, it is just for a minute. I tell him it takes only a second for a pedestrian to get hurt. He didn’t care the slightest bit.

[–] Krzd@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago

In Germany, parents cannot be held liable if their child under 12 (or 14?) damages illegally parked cars with their bike.... Just a random fact of the day, nothing to do with your comment.

[–] Etterra@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Call the cops on him. Every. Single. Time.

[–] kindenough@kbin.earth 2 points 3 days ago

Next time I will photograph his license plate along with the zebra crossing. I've seen him doing it twice before. So the third time I talked to him.

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[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 49 points 5 days ago (2 children)

I have to deal with similar issues in my neighbourhood; any service vehicle will have to block the bike lane because that houses driveway is already full of vehicle.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 84 points 5 days ago (28 children)

Service vehicle never "have" to block the bike lane. They could simply block the general purpose lane instead.

In other words, they are making a deliberate choice to fuck cyclists' safety in order to prioritize convenience for car drivers.

[–] HappycamperNZ@lemmy.world 24 points 5 days ago (3 children)

I think you're attributing malice to laziness.

I cant think of a single courier or delivery driver that would actively think "let me take an extra 20 seconds to reverse into this driveway just to fuck with bikes". They just want to get it done and get to the next

[–] Excrubulent 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I think the word "deliberate" might be a little strong, because it's not one person's choice alone. It probably is laziness, but the way the road is made makes the lazy choice the one that screws over everyone else to prioritise cars. They could leave the van in the middle of the road, but drivers would get angry, so they make a subconscious choice.

Cars are large, cumbersome, dangerous objects with horns on them, and the road's design centers them. If you park in the middle of the road, cars are so space-inefficient that you cause a traffic jam and people get upset and honk, but nobody's in much more danger. If you block a pathway for pedestrians and cyclists, they can get around, but it's much more dangerous, especially for children and the disabled, but most of the time the delivery driver isn't forced to deal with that fact. Those people are much less visible.

So the result is that the mode of transport which causes the most problems for the people around it is also prioritised above all others. Decisions were made at the city planning level that put cycle paths together with cars. There are much better ways of doing things, for instance separate paths, with bollards so cars can't just leave the road. You could make delivery vehicles smaller and lighter, with dedicated delivery bays. You could narrow roads and slow them down to disincentivise inner-city traffic, and encourage the use of bypasses, and subtly teach drivers to expect frequent stops in town.

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[–] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 18 points 5 days ago

Curious how it never occurs to them to block the driving lane, or you know, park around the corner.

[–] VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Delivery trucks, full stop, around here. Though some stop on the street instead, which I prefer, but car drivers usually don't.

In the end, I find it hard to be angry at overworked, underpaid people, who have to work around infrastructure that clearly hasn't been planned with their job in mind.

At least UPS is switching to large bike-like vehicles around here. Hope that trend continues.

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[–] cynar@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

That can be both incompetent and arseholes. The 2 aren't mutually exclusive.

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 14 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (7 children)

Don't they have traffic wardens in Cambridge? They'd be fined and possibly towed as well here

[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 days ago

The police very, very rarely do anything about this kind of thing here. It’s not just Amazon; even everyday random people just stop in the middle of the street to pick people up or drop people off.

The worst offender is Uber Eats, which regularly completely blocks up roads near restaurants.

[–] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 9 points 4 days ago (4 children)

You'd think, but there are three levels of responsibility: the city council, the county council, and the local police. Calling any one of them to complain and demand enforcement results in them redirecting you to one of the others.

Basically, unless you're blocking car traffic, no one with power cares.

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[–] frayedpickles@lemmy.cafe 14 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Not the first time, not the last. Amazon delivery drivers are terrible in every area. Urban or rural they will find a way to block traffic, especially when there is a nearby way to not do so.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I suspect it's a selection effect. Amazon is a pain in the arse to work for. Decent drivers are in demand. This makes it easy for good drivers to jump ship to other companies. This leaves the inexperienced or just stupid drivers left to deal with the BS.

If you've not driven a van before, they are intimidating to maneuver, at first. It's takes time and skill to spin them on a dime, and slot them in, with awareness of how much space you are leaving. Novice drivers simply lack that skill.

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