Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

I don't like any of it.
 
Are bicyclists assholes to drivers everywhere, or is it just Toronto?

Are you kidding? These assholes are a separate breed and exist everywhere unfortunately.

There's probably a few decent ones, but the majority of cyclists over here are the most self-righteous idiots ever. They want all this special treatment on the roads, and their nagging never ends. Vancouver got a greeny hippy mayor a few years ago, and he's on this bike lane building path of destruction. Several of the major roads in and leading into downtown Vancouver are having in some cases 1/3 of the traffic lanes taken away for bikers.

Why? Because apparently Copenhagen and Amsterdam are big on bikes, so we should be too! Heck, even Portland in Oregon has us beat and they are in North America... no way we can sit back and fall behind on building bike lanes that nobody uses in a city which sees rainy skies over 300 days per year.

And I don't even care that they are getting their own lanes, makes it safer for car drivers as well. It's just that they are never satisfied. They still come out and block traffic in what lanes remain open to cars on some Friday afternoons as part of Critical Mess. They will smack your car if you ever cut them off, yet they are constantly riding clear through red lights, weaving on and off pedestrian sidewalks and generally not following any of the rules of the road.

Ugh, cyclists are the worst. Well not cyclists in general... only the self-righteous ones. But they are nearly almost all self-righteous in my experience; they think they are single-handedly saving the environment and therefore they deserve all this special treatment without having to buy insurance or pay licensing fees like the rest of the people who use the roads.
 
That actually looks scary...for them :D A man in a old red suv, lurking slowly behind you while gently pressing the throttle from time to time :D

Anyways, I also despise cyclists. I wanted to kill one a couple of months ago. I was walking with a friend of mine on the sidewalk, and this idiot (long hair, rainbow-dyed shirt, sandals...hippie) went right by me at what I could only assume to be at least 20mph. If I had made just half a step to the right, he would have hit me.

In other, unrelated news, I was at Walmart today and parked next to a brand new Volvo XC70. That thing is ginormous!!! It's not so much a station wagon anymore, as it is an SUV. My car looked tiny and low like a Lambo next to it.
 
Are you kidding? These assholes are a separate breed and exist everywhere unfortunately.

There's probably a few decent ones, but the majority of cyclists over here are the most self-righteous idiots ever. They want all this special treatment on the roads, and their nagging never ends. Vancouver got a greeny hippy mayor a few years ago, and he's on this bike lane building path of destruction. Several of the major roads in and leading into downtown Vancouver are having in some cases 1/3 of the traffic lanes taken away for bikers.

Why? Because apparently Copenhagen and Amsterdam are big on bikes, so we should be too! Heck, even Portland in Oregon has us beat and they are in North America... no way we can sit back and fall behind on building bike lanes that nobody uses in a city which sees rainy skies over 300 days per year.

And I don't even care that they are getting their own lanes, makes it safer for car drivers as well. It's just that they are never satisfied. They still come out and block traffic in what lanes remain open to cars on some Friday afternoons as part of Critical Mess. They will smack your car if you ever cut them off, yet they are constantly riding clear through red lights, weaving on and off pedestrian sidewalks and generally not following any of the rules of the road.

Ugh, cyclists are the worst. Well not cyclists in general... only the self-righteous ones. But they are nearly almost all self-righteous in my experience; they think they are single-handedly saving the environment and therefore they deserve all this special treatment without having to buy insurance or pay licensing fees like the rest of the people who use the roads.

Everywhere.

Yeah, that's the sort of idiocy I have to bear in downtown Toronto all the time. Bicyclists running red lights, slithering through traffic, cutting off cars, etc.
 
Yeah, that's the sort of idiocy I have to bear in downtown Toronto all the time. Bicyclists running red lights, slithering through traffic, cutting off cars, etc.

Yeah, it sucks.

Now add to that immeasurable amounts of self-righteousness and a civic government who is actually bending over backwards for the cyclists and you get my situation.

The worst part is, if you ever confront one of them about not following any rules, they will fully acknowledge that this is the case. Their excuse is that they need to act like that in order to protect themselves against cars and buses and other road hazards. Then why aren't the bike lanes doing anything to improve their attitude? They just want more, that's why.


Evel, I assume you heard about the Michael Bryant case? Don't think all the facts are out, but it seems like he got into a scuffle with a bike messenger and the messenger was so angry that he grabbed onto Bryant's Saab and was eventually pulled under and killed when he wouldn't let go after a few blocks. I've seen more than my fair share of idiot car drivers, but the cockiness that permeates almost entirely the cyclist bunch is just stupefying and probably puts more people in more danger than a dangerous car driver.
 
Yeah, it sucks.

Now add to that immeasurable amounts of self-righteousness and a civic government who is actually bending over backwards for the cyclists and you get my situation.

The worst part is, if you ever confront one of them about not following any rules, they will fully acknowledge that this is the case. Their excuse is that they need to act like that in order to protect themselves against cars and buses and other road hazards. Then why aren't the bike lanes doing anything to improve their attitude? They just want more, that's why.


Evel, I assume you heard about the Michael Bryant case? Don't think all the facts are out, but it seems like he got into a scuffle with a bike messenger and the messenger was so angry that he grabbed onto Bryant's Saab and was eventually pulled under and killed when he wouldn't let go after a few blocks. I've seen more than my fair share of idiot car drivers, but the cockiness that permeates almost entirely the cyclist bunch is just stupefying and probably puts more people in more danger than a dangerous car driver.

Yeah, I hate that the government does nothing about them, and it's all because they're being "eco-friendly".

I've heard the Michael Bryant case, and I agree with you on that.
 
Here is a typical Vancouver cyclist... I didn't want to embed his video, he'd probably come here and start spewing his propaganda.

Edit: Here's an even better one. Guy's riding against heavy traffic in downtown, "just for fun" he says.
 
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Edit: Here's an even better one. Guy's riding against heavy traffic in downtown, "just for fun" he says.

I would have flung my door open and let him eat the pavement, and I would've been completely innocent for two reasons:
1. I am stationary, he is the one that is moving.
2. He is going the wrong way on a one way street.
 
It would have damaged your door though.
 
Pro tip: Cyclists do not carry insurance. Whether you are found to be at fault for causing the accident or not, they have no insurance coverage to pay for your car.

You either have to pay to fix your car yourself, or have your own insurance pay and then jack up your premiums. I guess you could sue him in civil court if you had adequate evidence, but that's too much of a hassle.

This does prove the stupidty of the current system though. If cyclists are on the same roads as cars they need to carry insurance. Not merely to make things fair and appease car drivers, which it would, but also because they can just cause accidents and unless they are hurt they can go about their merry way.
 
Nope. He would have hit my SIPS zone - a door reinforced with steel bars.

In any case - I don't think he would have done a lot of damage to my door.
 
It would have damaged your door though.

Volvo, chances are the bike disintegrates and _HighVoltage_ will go "Did i got him?"
 
You guys are missing the point... it's not the Volvo that is bulletproof, the bike messenger himself is bulletproof! :lol:

Check out his YouTube username, bulletproofcourier... this guy is like the prime example of everything that's wrong with these militant cyclists. Pretty sure he'd just be more anti-car and more self-righteous if someone had actually hit him with their door. People who are this stupid never learn, they can only get worse.
 
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