People will always drive at the speed that feels safe, it’s not just Americans. Gradually here this is being recognized, and roads narrowed, speed bumps added, etc. in places where we need to go slowly. At my work complex the stated limit is 10 mph and even on my bike I am speeding, and cars are passing me, but it doesn’t feel unsafe at all.
Right, this is one of those things where I seemed to have a very different experience than many Americans …. But we have older roads that are narrow and winding. The towns were all built out before cars and never really got to the “stroad” stage of dystopia. All those “design elements” come for free
Behavioral engineering is way more effective than posted speed limits that often didn’t seem to correlate with reality.
If you give me a five lane stroad with wide lanes and lights only every 1/4-1/2 mile, I don’t care what the speed limit is, I’m doing 60+ because it feels right, and if someone does the speed limit in front of me I’ll probably be annoyed.
But if I was going down the same street, doing the same thing, with the same amount of time available, but the lanes were narrowed to add protected bike lanes, the center lane was replaced with a median with trees and occasional left turn/u-turn spots, and crosswalks were added between the lights, I’m going to do around 35 because that feels right, and I won’t even be mad about it. I’ll just cruise down the street chilling.
Give people a street where it seems like you should be going fast and people will go fast, and get aggressive/angry when they can’t. Give people a nice street to roll down and chill and that’s what they’ll do. It looks nicer and is more walkable/rideable too.
This. My city keeps putting in more and more traffic cameras, but it doesn’t slow cars down; it just generates revenue. If they actually wanted people to slow down, they’d reconsider having the main road look like a pin-straight four-lane highway.
Just to troll …… when I used to cycle regularly, they did care. All the cars were too damn slow and wouldn’t get out of the way. I hated some sections of towns where I had to slow down
My closest call was an elderly woman who misjudged my speed. She passed me but then immediately slowed for a turn without realizing I was there and couldn’t brake as sharply. Worked out though: I was able to brake enough to turn inside her and avoid the accident, and my brakes shrieked like a banshee so she knew what she did
Lol how wrong can you be, if you are fraction slower than the person behind you (type of vehicle doesn’t matter) you get cussed out in America. I literally was going 20 mph up a hill with an ebike and some gobsmacked asshole has the nerve to tell me to yield to cars behind me because according to him I don’t have a “real” ebike 😤🥱. This happens everywhere in my city, jokes on them I don’t need to go 60 mph to get to my job in less than 10 min, sounds like poor planning on drivers end to live so far away and have the audacity to tell locals not to use our roads.
Oof that’s rough. I do pull over to the side & let cars pass when I ride in the 35mph road on the way to work (there is a sidewalk I can use, it’s allowed but sometimes there are pedestrians using it or work trucks parked over the entire sidewalk -fuck those guys in particular, then I use the road) but once on a different 35 with no good sidewalk I had a Prius follow slowly and at a safe distance for so so far even though there was plenty of room to pass. Honestly I can get to 35 on the electric bike but don’t want the cops to know, and it wouldn’t help because as the whole point of this thread is - on the road to work it’s smooth and easy so people do 45.
Yeah, technically I have the same right to be in the car road, there is no bike lane or path, but it’s not something I’m willing to die for, I am slower traffic and keep right. There are lights so if I walk it across an intersection and wait I can get a very light traffic situation for a couple of blocks.
Wrote the city to complain about the road though, to ask them to convert it like they did some of the other similar sized ones, bike lanes, middle turn lane.
If someone’s willing to stay behind you that long, they’re not the car to worry about. They have patience and caution.
This might be me. We have a lot of narrow and winding roads where it’s really not safe for me to give the clearance you deserve. But waiting another 30 seconds really doesn’t impact me. Most drivers are more aggressive about passing cyclists
People will always drive at the speed that feels safe, it’s not just Americans. Gradually here this is being recognized, and roads narrowed, speed bumps added, etc. in places where we need to go slowly. At my work complex the stated limit is 10 mph and even on my bike I am speeding, and cars are passing me, but it doesn’t feel unsafe at all.
Right, this is one of those things where I seemed to have a very different experience than many Americans …. But we have older roads that are narrow and winding. The towns were all built out before cars and never really got to the “stroad” stage of dystopia. All those “design elements” come for free
Behavioral engineering is way more effective than posted speed limits that often didn’t seem to correlate with reality.
If you give me a five lane stroad with wide lanes and lights only every 1/4-1/2 mile, I don’t care what the speed limit is, I’m doing 60+ because it feels right, and if someone does the speed limit in front of me I’ll probably be annoyed.
But if I was going down the same street, doing the same thing, with the same amount of time available, but the lanes were narrowed to add protected bike lanes, the center lane was replaced with a median with trees and occasional left turn/u-turn spots, and crosswalks were added between the lights, I’m going to do around 35 because that feels right, and I won’t even be mad about it. I’ll just cruise down the street chilling.
Give people a street where it seems like you should be going fast and people will go fast, and get aggressive/angry when they can’t. Give people a nice street to roll down and chill and that’s what they’ll do. It looks nicer and is more walkable/rideable too.
This. My city keeps putting in more and more traffic cameras, but it doesn’t slow cars down; it just generates revenue. If they actually wanted people to slow down, they’d reconsider having the main road look like a pin-straight four-lane highway.
I mean, if you’re on a bike or power walking or something I’m certain nobody’s going to get too disagreeable about your speed.
Just to troll …… when I used to cycle regularly, they did care. All the cars were too damn slow and wouldn’t get out of the way. I hated some sections of towns where I had to slow down
My closest call was an elderly woman who misjudged my speed. She passed me but then immediately slowed for a turn without realizing I was there and couldn’t brake as sharply. Worked out though: I was able to brake enough to turn inside her and avoid the accident, and my brakes shrieked like a banshee so she knew what she did
Lol how wrong can you be, if you are fraction slower than the person behind you (type of vehicle doesn’t matter) you get cussed out in America. I literally was going 20 mph up a hill with an ebike and some gobsmacked asshole has the nerve to tell me to yield to cars behind me because according to him I don’t have a “real” ebike 😤🥱. This happens everywhere in my city, jokes on them I don’t need to go 60 mph to get to my job in less than 10 min, sounds like poor planning on drivers end to live so far away and have the audacity to tell locals not to use our roads.
Oof that’s rough. I do pull over to the side & let cars pass when I ride in the 35mph road on the way to work (there is a sidewalk I can use, it’s allowed but sometimes there are pedestrians using it or work trucks parked over the entire sidewalk -fuck those guys in particular, then I use the road) but once on a different 35 with no good sidewalk I had a Prius follow slowly and at a safe distance for so so far even though there was plenty of room to pass. Honestly I can get to 35 on the electric bike but don’t want the cops to know, and it wouldn’t help because as the whole point of this thread is - on the road to work it’s smooth and easy so people do 45.
Yeah, technically I have the same right to be in the car road, there is no bike lane or path, but it’s not something I’m willing to die for, I am slower traffic and keep right. There are lights so if I walk it across an intersection and wait I can get a very light traffic situation for a couple of blocks.
Wrote the city to complain about the road though, to ask them to convert it like they did some of the other similar sized ones, bike lanes, middle turn lane.
If someone’s willing to stay behind you that long, they’re not the car to worry about. They have patience and caution.
This might be me. We have a lot of narrow and winding roads where it’s really not safe for me to give the clearance you deserve. But waiting another 30 seconds really doesn’t impact me. Most drivers are more aggressive about passing cyclists