This is from a regularly scheduled Everglades Bike Club weekend ride in Key Biscayne, USA, on a 10km stretch of road, and all the drivers know to expect it will be there in the mornings.
Wouldn’t the road be closed for cars? At least no one died
That’s exactly what I was thinking how the fuck a car got in there the roads should be closed or marked. It seems to be a Highway to boot so there shouldn’t be a lot of options left. The guy in the car was dumb yes but the organization incompetent.
Yes I don’t know if this is a governmental issue or an issue with the event organizers.
Like obviously don’t drive in the median and break traffic laws, but this kind of event not being appropriately managed is going to increase the likelihood of accidents. Mostly from assholes driving poorly
Based on other comments in here, this isn’t an organized event. It’s just a group of bikers that do this every single weekend.
So… An organized event.
Looking at their own rules:Edit: the rules they suggest: https://www.active.com/cycling/articles/10-rules-to-group-ride-like-a-pro The second one makes sense when it’s not a planned event. This video shows the complete opposite, the cyclists take up the entire road, five in width. Which looks a lot like an event, when cars wouldn’t be allowed
Why? Bikes are completely legal for road use. Even when there’s more than one of them. Just like cars!
What I’m reading is that this isn’t a formally organized event, and taking up the whole road (when it isn’t blocked for that many riders) would not be legal there.
This driver is am idiot, but so is the club for not formally organizing and working with the city.
Am cyclist, want people to be smart and safe.
That driver is obviously an idiot that needs his license revoked.
That said, as a fellow cyclist, you all need to do better as well. For this large an event, there should either be a road closure, or break it up into flights. If those aren’t feasible, restrict yourselves to one lane instead of taking up both. Not excusing the drivers carelessness at all, but judging from your reaction to other comments here, your ride group’s sense of entitlement is a problem as well.
It’s not my ride group. I’m not even in the same hemisphere, let alone the same ride group
Never seen so much “As a cyclist” in one thread. Almost everyone is a cyclist at some point even if you don’t like them, they’re ubiquitous and useful, but most people never seem to speak “As a cyclist” until they need to throw an anti-cyclist opinion at a group ride. It’s like saying “As a pedestrian”. It doesn’t give your uncritical social grudges any further weight. One second, maybe I can find an honorary cyclist medal to pin on you or something to make it official.
I’m guessing that’s because, like me, they’ve given up on anything in “Fuck Cars” being a reasonable discussion. I commented to provide a balanced perspective on the situation, rather than just shake my fist at the stupid driver. Guess I should have known not to bother here. I don’t bother arguing with folks on the internet, so this’ll likely be my last post here. Enjoy your echo chamber.
Nah
No idea why that’s necessary. This is quite common in my country.
Allowed by law here, if you take certain precautions. Judging from the motorcycle, it seems this group also took precautions to keep the group safe.
It’s funny how you complain about entitlement.
Seeing how wide the road is, there’s no reason to block the whole road in one direction. This doesn’t seem to be a competition, just a casual ride. Block a single lane then.
This is on the immediate approach to a short but narrow causeway where it would be in the group’s safety interest to not get broken up or pushed onto the gutter on the bridge.
Heaven forbid; not the whole road?!
I mean. They are using an entire thing when they don’t need to and other people also want to use the thing.
Oh no, you’re getting to your destination marginally later. The tragedy.
I don’t have a dog in this race, so not really complaining about anything. I’m just pointing out that regardless of what’s legal, this is a failure of both safety and courtesy. Slower traffic stay to one side, let others go by.
The WHOLE conflict here is caused by entitlement. The cyclists think they are entitled to the whole road, through force of numbers, herd mentality, or whatever. The car feels entitled to drive how ever fast he wants and safety be damned. The car is obviously MORE in the wrong, but the whole situation could have been avoided.
At first I thought it’s a good idea. Now I think that maybe cars flying past may be a problem if something happens and someone falls or just swings out of lane, then it would require a bigger space, but cars will likely just think that this space could also be used and fill it.
On the other hand, I know nothing about how to organise these safely, and I’m always afraid of cars, so prefer to be on separate bike lanes whenever possible
You don’t know the driver’s life. His wife could be in labor, he could be trying to visit a dying loved one, or rush home because he left the stove on.
Besides, it’s the law that slow moving traffic stay on the right side.
And stfu about safety. Do you how many alligators are in this video literally just off screen? At least 50.
Not sure what your point is. A traffic jam is way more common and then the driver would be completely stuck.
Clearly there’s also no legal issue, as OP said this is a weekly event. Since Americans are masters at complaining, it would have long been stopped.
You don’t know the driver’s life. His wife could be in labor, he could be trying to visit a dying loved one
And then risks their own life pulling this stunt?
It’s actually sad to see how many people are on the side of a beligerant driver going offload because of their road rage. Comments blaming the cyclists for being unpredictable, unsafe, or unfair to other drivers couldn’t be further from the truth.
Cycling safety courses teach that you should stay together when riding as a group. Those saying they should’ve closed the road down are basically saying drivers can’t be trusted to handle having cyclists on the road, hence why the group is so clustered for protection.
BS. I’m a cyclists and a driver. Cyclists 100% can be unpredictable, not follow rules, while demanding rule following from others. They are developing a bad reputation for a reason.
It’s not an absolute. But generally once someone starts dressing in lycra, they stop being a reasonable person. I will always cycle in street clothes. I don’t care how many miles I do. I will never become a MAMIL (middle aged male in lycra). Because I like cycling, but cycling culture is getting wack.
But generally once someone starts dressing in lycra, they stop being a reasonable person. I will always cycle in street clothes.
Do you wear a suit to the gym as well?
They don’t even realize they partake in car brained virtue signalling.
Internalized oppression all up in this thread.
I’d be cooler if you saw middle aged dudes in lycra as fellow cyclists who just do it a bit differently than you, rather than an outgroup to hate on behalf of someone else’s entitled interests.
Modern US society makes it so difficult to have a community. This video is just another example of how “personal liberty” can be used as a cudgel to force conformity.
I think we are interpreting the driver’s actions differently. He is giving them a ton of space, not honking and bullying his way through the bicyclists. IDK about you, but I feel like a hero when there’s an obstruction justifying adv tires.
“Ope, construction ahead, guess I have no choice but to detour across a mile of beautiful rolling hills. Good thing I prepared for this exact moment”
There was not an “obstruction,” there was traffic. Would you be equally charitable if the road ahead had been congested with cars moving at the same speed? Somehow, I doubt it.
Going offload to get around a road obstruction in a controlled manner is fine by me. The video that OP uploaded was not this though. They were trying to get around a large group of people legally using the road by running through several pedestrian crossings, using the median to pass, and honking as they did (turn on the audio in the video).
This is just straight up road rage.
This is a divided highway with a speed limit of 45mph, those aren’t pedestrian crossings.
The beeping was “hey I’m here” beeping, not sustained “fuck you” honking.
I have learned to give a quick “hey I’m over here” beep when passing in the countryside after a motorbike pulled to the right and slowed down to let me pass, then suddenly swerved across the entire road, no indicator, directly in front of my bike.
There’s definitely pedestrian crossings involved here.
Regardless, this driver is obviously breaking dozens of traffic laws just to pass a group of people that are maybe going below the speed limit. If you don’t see the issue with that then I don’t think we really need to continue this conversation.
I break a dozen traffic laws every time I get on my bike, lets not pretend law is some arbitror of morality to avoid confronting the fact that what he did was harmless.
…If what they did was ‘harmless’ I want to see you cross that pedestrian crossing with your loved ones during the driver’s rampage.
ALSO breaking traffic laws in a laughably weak bicycle is NOTHING compared to the damage that a person could do when breaking traffic laws in a over 2 tonne metal death machine. Bruh a persom could easily kill like 40 people in 20 minutes if they broke every traffic law while driving inside it… OK now lets see how many people thst same person would kill if they broke every traffic law while riding on a bicycle … 🍿🤭
Don’t you think you’re being a bit hyperbolic?
“Share the road” goes both ways. It’s a two way street so to say.
Never see this much complaining when the drivers don’t move out of my way in traffic.
Know what solves this. Protected bike infrastructure that segregates car and cycling traffic. You all are making good points on both sides. But if the two types of traffic never interact this becomes a non-issue.
Look how many are biking, a bike lane wouldn’t help here, they are taking over the whole road like they own it
Even with segregated bike lanes these people will still drive on the road. There have been many times people drove their cars into groups of them where I live because of frustration. (I live in Western Europe where there’s great bicycle infrastructure). So yeah, as long as they drive where they are supposed to drive it’s fine, but it doesn’t magically solves it.
because of frustration.
yeah that’s actually called poor impulse control, it happens everywhere and we don’t blame the victims.
Ok but why not block the road or have at least one lane open? No one’s using the right lane it seems.
I see the highest throughput of people that road had all week now that it isn’t blocked by cars for once.
How dare people be on the road for a scheduled event?! I need to forget where I’m going while scrolling on my phone on that road!
Where are the cops? There should be at least two cop cars/bikes securing the front and the rear.
…well… are they wrong?
What does florida’s laws say about this if anyone knows please about their officially sanctiined events?
I live in toronto and if you go to a public , officially sanctiined event if you do not see at least two officers there? Well then it probably isnt an officially sanctioned event. (and YES one officer in the front , another in the rear)
Yeah lol they’re wrong, this is just a lot of cyclists using the roads they pay for and are fully entitled to, they don’t need specific state approval or a cop escort.
…well…
We do live in a shitty monotonous capitalistic society
A sad truth about this shitty society is that for most events that involve you potentially clogging up publicly accessible areas you actually do need a piggies escort whether you like it or not. I have never been to an event where the hosts are getting paid that didnt involve at least one offiicer. MAybe laws are different in florida but Id doubt that THIS law in particularr is different down there.
Maybe they have to shit really bad.
Based on most of the comments here so far, you all hate cyclists more than cars.
I’m a cyclist and when I’m on a bike I try to use the road responsibly. If I’m no a long climb going 10km/h with cars behind me I try to stop when possible and let them pass safely. I don’t ride next to someone else chatting and blocking the entire lane. I don’t ride on roads with speed limits over 60km/h. I would never do what they are doing in the video. It’s just disrespectful and causing unnecessary tension between drivers and cyclists.
So basically, you aren’t a self centered asshole is what you are saying?
If I’m no a long climb going 10km/h with cars behind me I try to stop
Imma stop you right there. That’s not “being respectful”, it’s being a fucking pushover. The last thing you want to do while on a climb steep enough to drop you to 10 km/h is pull over and stop. Pull across to the side of there’s enough room for them to pass, sure, but keep that momentum at all costs.
That said, if this ride is on open roads, then road rules should be followed. Where I live that means two abreast (plus more if overtaking), but a blob that’s at least 5 wide in parts.
keep that momentum at all costs.
Who am I racing? It changes absolutely nothing for me. I’m not stopping in places that are bad for it but if there’s a road where I can get of the road for 5 seconds and then start again it costs me absolutely nothing to do it.
Who said anything about racing? It costs a huge amount. Starting on a 10% grade hill is an enormous amount of energy compared to just keeping going as you were, and it puts you in significant danger as you do it.
I already explained that “being able to stop” also means “being able to start later”. I have no idea why you’re so worried about my energy expenditure. Don’t worry, I will get back home even if my mountain times will be terrible.
What I really seem to hate is just people with zero situational awareness operating any sort of vehicle.
I feel like this thread made it to some frontpages. Never good when that happens.
there’s a lot of vroom vroom apologists who spend their days on these threads. it’s wild.
Its like those people who go to the childfree forums and act like a ‘genocide’ is being committed against parenrs and wanna-be-parents …
jfc forreal? that’s a thing?
how do these fucks have so much free time?
bro hit up childfree lemmy or even r/childfree on reddit iif you can stand the new reddit and see for yourself.
Survey after survey shows that most people are currently parents or want to be parennts in the future… WHAT GENOCIDE?!
fucking hell…
8 billion aren’t enough people in the world, nah, it’s genocide to not add to the problem… wow.
lol @ https://lemmy.world/u/blarh downvoting these… he wants bebbies
Personally speaking because I am both. Cyclists don’t obey the rules of the road to the same rigor as a car. Both parties are open to hate.
Now that said, only one of them is in a 2 tonne death machine.
Most cars don’t obey the rules of the road for shit. Case in point above
Yeah and case in point a cyclist is rarely going to kill someone in a head on collision but a car will.
Indeed, why should they? The rules of the road where made expressly for cars, not bikes, and there are several states which sensibly make carve outs for bicycles and motorcycles.
But, as you point out, the risk for breaking the rules–real or perceived–fall entirely on the cyclist, so I absolutely see no equivalence.
Ya don’t break a rule; the car runs you over because distracted driver.
Ya break a rule to avoid distracted driver; you get ran over because your rule breaking in your tiny and light bicycle triggered the road rage of someone in a SUV whose control was entirely based on spite and the fact everyone else should follow rules without exception (that the state legislature carved for cyclists to try to minimize their deaths).
Being a cyclist commuter is fun, much recommended.
The problem with cars is that they immediately make every other form of transportation incredibly shitty.
Pedestrians and cyclists get killed. Buses get stuck in traffic.
I hate cars, but what am I supposed to do? Getting out of my car is just an invitation to get killed by one. And if I wanted to live entirely without a car, I’d have to move to a city, where I would never be more than 12-feet away from cars and have to cross a road every block, risking my life because of shitty fucking cars.
When we say, “We’re not saying get rid of cars, we’re just saying we need options”, to not scare the carbrains, well, the only way to have real options (ie safe roads) is to have roads entirely without cars.
I would love for my city center to become car free. There is like a square mile that would make so much sense.
“Cyclists don’t obey the rules of the road to the same rigor as a car.”
Because you don’t need a license for a bike, the rules are there because cars and motorbikes are incredibly dangerous compared to walking or biking (for everyone involved). A large part of people who bike don’t know the rules because they don’t need to, just the basic stuff and having situational awareness is enough. The issue is that many in all above mentioned kinds don’t have that, they’re either too dumb, thinking about something else or using their phones etc. But it’s way more important for the people who are in control of the most dangerous vehicles to be the ones who know and follow the rules.
maybe its my metro area but I feel motorists are more likely to not follow the rules. There is cyclists but its a pretty low percentage. The ones that do though really do and make themselves a nuisance. There was a guy that would just ignore the red light on a major intersection. like two four lanes. during rush hour because I guess he felt since everything is slowed up he can just fuck right through.
Nah, you’re correct. Any time a study is done on this it finds that either drivers and cyclists break the law at similar rates, or drivers break it more.
There’s also the difference in why they do it. Drivers break the law out of convenience. Because it’s easier to do, or because it gets them where they’re going faster. Cyclists sometimes do that, but far more than drivers, they’re likely to do it because it’s safer. Because laws are often made for car drivers in ways that aren’t appropriate to cyclists, and so breaking the law is often safer. The classic example is treating stop signs as give way signs in places that haven’t implemented an Idaho Stop rule.
Sources:
Cyclists don’t obey the rules of the road to the same rigor as a car
Bullshit
Spend a few years downtown in any metropolitan area and see if you change your tune. The amount of cyclists (myself included) who drive through lights or advances, don’t indicate directions, wrong way on a one way street, cutting through parking lots or alleys the list goes on and on.
No, it’s objectively bullshit. It’s been studied many times and the result always proves that carbrained nonsense to be bullshit.
Drivers break the law all the time. They run blatant reds. They fail to stop when safe to do so at a yellow. They speed. They ignore stop signs. They fail to give way to pedestrians. The pass cyclists too close. They fail to indicate correctly at roundabouts more often than they do it correctly.
The only difference is people are too carbrained to even notice these. Oh, and the reasons for it (cyclists tend to break the law for their own safety unlike car drivers who do it for convenience) and the consequences when they do (cyclists endanger nobody except occasionally themselves, drivers endanger everyone around them).
Was anyone else hoping he would have hit a hidden ditch and wrecked his car?
They would much rather want to see 100 cars in a single line blocking the road it seems
Devils advocate theres a pregnant woman in the backseat but also a hijacker has planted a bomb in the car and if they go under 50mph the car blows up
Every weekend?
From what I’ve found, yes, these larger group rides are held every weekend, in addition to much smaller ones practically every day
It is key to remember that if it was one person or a handful of people the cars would still be beeping as they passed, driving way too close, and endangering the cyclists. Safety in numbers is real and in this situation anyone sane stays behind the group of cyclists or finds another route. It really is an effective strategy.
Also, if each of those people was in a car it would be absolute gridlock. That car would not have been getting where they were going faster in that case.
Oh wow that would totally piss me off and I don’t even have a drivers license and bike everywhere, everyday.
All the LOCAL drivers know to expect it. If someone is from out of town they would have no way of knowing that happens on that road unless there are signs posted or something. The dude is still a dipshit though.
Yeah, indeed, the argument of “everyone knows it” makes no sense, best case most locals know about it indeed (but even locals that usually aren’t there at that time of the week probably never heard of it either).
