Bike Lanes are Death Traps (day 44)

[seanp471]

the driver of the car should be charged with involuntary manslaughter and the truck driver should just receive a fine. The driver should have looked first to at least see if anything was coming... like a car that could take his door off. Then he might have seen the bike.

[RsDhavy]

Look i'm 17 years old and don't drive a car yet but to the people who do drive, please respect the bikers? Everyone is caring about the global shit but if you drive ur car gj be happpy there are people who drive there bikes ... and some of you guys with cars are idiots and think they are the boss if they drive a car no you are not you are just a normal human like anybody else...put urself on a bike drive true down and see i will take you 1 min to almost get hitted by a car. Thanks - Dhavy

[belfast479]

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[fiofodiveia]

Big cities around the world in general are sick. However you guys are a lot behind cities like Amsterdam and Paris where there's still some humanistic feeling floating around.

[corpeedo]

@fiofodiveia agreed. i live in beautifull Amsterdam, and cyclists rule. cycle lanes everywhere. we even have traffic lights for the cycle lanes. its brilliant. never a worry for doors opening on us! peace!

[labyonnette]

Saw a sign in the back of a car today, said "Give blood" kill a cyclist. Right on mate.

[Nomasain]

To all motorists; if you have to swerve for another motorist who opens the door without looking, DON'T SWERVE, BUT KNOCK THE DOOR OFF. No one gets hurt, your car will sustain little to no damage, and the bad motorist has learned a lesson.

Or plan B (bicycles as well), brake and block the door opening. The idiot cannot get out and has no other choice then to close the door again and give right of way.

[FatRakoon]

@Nomasain I agree with you to a point. I always say to myself that when a door flies open, I wont swerve, but its happenbed a few times and I have ALWAYS swerved because its a reaction... Plus I wonder how I would feel if I did it one day and I killed a child?

Its easier said than done.

[Nomasain]

@FatRakoon So true, we're not programmed to crash on purpose. This said, in 2 occasions I automatically swerved into oncoming traffic (nothing happened). If possible I like to change this response in braking & pushing the horn...

[loammo2bl]

Come to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan and see our "dooring" potential and Central Michigan University students potential student bicycle traps: all ready for engineering graduates to compare to road bike lanes to death traps; but I was doored right on Main Street and Mosher St. so who needs a bike lane to get killed on Mission Street Isabella county; try our circle rounds for alternate killing lanes; how is that Manhattan N. Y. - you don't have it all after all Peter Anthony Reale, Ed.S

[davelukic]

Wearing a helmet isn't going to save you when you're being crushed by a vehicle. Helmets are designed to prevent damage in slow impact falls, not to stop the weight of a large vehicle from crushing your head. The person who opened the door should obviously have checked, but if we're going to partake in some victim blaming we should focus on the cyclist riding in the door zone which was what partly caused the accident.

[maskofsan1ty]

All of my accidents involving cars have been as a result of me using the cycle lane. I don't use them any more!

[steve030671]

get a bus pass if you can't drive

[promotionincar]

great to see this! we supply helmet cams, promotioncamsDOTcom

[CyclistLorax]

Riding in the door zone is worse than playing Russian Roulette, because someone else is holding the gun with all chamnbers loaded, and will shoot when you least expect it.

[tweaked83]

Well my most recent encounter with bike lanes was a blind corner on a hill near a school almost stuffed my bike into the back of an SUV parked right in the middle of the lane while doing 42 mph. Needless to say I was not happy with the driver or with the cops ability to deal these idiot drivers. After calling the police daily for about a month since people always park illegally in the lanes I finally gave up. Idiots 1 - Justice 0 Welcome to america...

[reveleoc]

that looks like NYC... what the hell do you expect?? i ride bmx and i know this would be a deathtrap

[cee4our]

DEAL WIT IT HO

[scorpietta]

I am not a cyclist, but I drive in Cambridge and Somerville, Mass all day long. How anyone could do something so careless and get away with it is beyond me! I made the mistake one time of not paying attention and took a right turn. It intersected with a bike lane and I failed to watch out. I could have killed the man! It's a city folks!!! Ya know! Pedestrians, cars, cyclists are all over the place!!

Thank you for givbing me a place to rant about this. I worry constantly that I again won't be p

[RedneckResponder]

I walked my dog at the gun range and I got shot.

I was canoeing in the shipping lane and got hit by a oil tanker.

I rode my bike on the street and was hit by a truck.

Maybe it's my fault...

[DwDollalover]

All that sidewalk in the road like a car GET ON THE SIDEWALK

[ccaptainmorgann]

god i hate hippies.

[antiaverage1]

@ccaptainmorgann This isn't just about hippies...

[fodera6]

Just a little something to add: I never feel comfortable in the lane, always hugging the outside but when there's traffic, don't be afraid to take the lane! Be assertive! Adding a few seconds to their trip is a minor inconvenience compared to your life. Apparently 'Yac' the messenger claims to have perfected a counter-technique to close doors after they open but I really wonder how often that works out for him.

[robzbuzz]

Amsterdam: real bike lanes as wide as car lanes, if you walk in them (tourists) you get yelled at or worse hit. Maybe when our gas prices hit $10 a gallon we will see more bikes and bike lanes and more essential, RESPECT!

[robzbuzz]

I love the one @ 0:26 parked in the bike lane even though theres a spot! typical!

[antipike]

There are no bike lanes they are merely a 1 meter rubbish collecting site , i will never us bike lanes for that reason

[le238man]

We taxpayers are forced to pay for these bike lanes so Politicians can appease the rich people and their faggot trust fund loser kids ,who as adults feel the need to play on their bikes at 30. So i see no problem wity "anyone" useing the bike lanes for whatever.

[deathtoaccounts]

The same can be said for ANY road if I use your argument. I can just run a yellow tape across the road, bring traffic to a stand still, set up a couple of goal posts and invite some friends for some street football and some beers and BBQ! why not? I'm a tax payer, right?

[antiaverage1]

@le238man Seriously, you need to re-assess the demographics of bicyclists on the road. You're way off base and off target.

[shiftnizzle]

i feel ya on the idiots who *insert senseless action here* in bike lanes. i'm very lucky to have recently moved to an area where there are bike lanes, as before i had to either ride in 55mph traffic or in a muddy rock-filled ditch.

at least people are becoming intelligent enough to realize we need these lanes. hopefully soon we'll progress enough to have safe ones, and people who respect them.

[nigglenoo]

You are joking "moviesunrated", there are some dreadfully dangerous cycle lanes in the UK, including many that run along side parked vehicles. Google "Cycle Facility of the Month" and search Youtube for LWJBEObSRjo to see an example.

[moviesunrated]

In England, we have cycle lanes, and they arnt as dangerous, theres alot of cycle lanes, and some go on the pavement/sidewalk, they are painted green so people know that it's there, and it's best you get cycle training, not like learning how to ride a bike, but learning stuff like hand signals, you should check out some of the cycle lanes somehow, maybe on Google maps.

[kerethan]

People are idiots..

[downfader2]

TBH I find it hard to blame the truck driver - unless he was in the cycle lane. The guy that flipped the door open is to blame and should have received some kind of charge.

There are a lot of people that think "dooring" is funny. Just tell them that its the same force as being hit with a baseball bat and ask them if thats funny

[citizenbybike]

I agree, though I find it hard to blame either party more than the city planning committee that engineered the road system. A baseball bat to the rib has happened to me, so I know what you're saying.

[tmpttt1]

about the video description: the shithead who opened the car door should be jailed for murder!!!

[JanzenProductions]

true dat.

I myself had an accident a week ago...some douche opened up his door before he looked and I flipped over the bike...into traffic. Luckily, the SUV that was heading for me, stopped just in time. Scary shit man.

[TheBalloonProject]

i really love the pictures you took kierie!

when i first saw this i didn't believe it was possible to find so many cars parked in bike lanes but now i understand. -stand

[lathom111]

Dreadlocks are nasty. Good point though about the bike lanes.

[BEACHSURF]

You mean the car driver carelessly pushed his door into the innocent cyclist and then the careless corrupt cop failed to arrest the car driver for causing the death of the cyclist ! And then the policeman was carelesslly undisciplined for failing to arrest and charge the car driver and the truck driver !

[citizenbybike]

exactly.

[Sibadd]

Brilliant. Let's have more of this evidence so that when arguing the case for cyclsist and cycle friendly legislation we've got films like this to show on the WiFi in the room where we are making our presentation. Do you do a blog with this material. It'd be good!

[BataviaMonaco]

Bravo, you're right, even USA didn't sign the Kyoto protocol !

[citizenstand]

this video is very important!