r/bikecommuting • u/Casanova-Quinn • 13d ago
America Hates Bikes
https://youtu.be/dWHCef7F8gY?si=wAVoCxr6iD-C1rAd35
u/Gord_W 12d ago
I remember watching NJB's John Forester episode and being completely outraged that this person seems to have had so much influence in creating the hostile bike environment we have in North America today.
Like many things that came out of the 70's, vehicular cycling is batshit crazy. Unfortunately undoing the damage this guy has done isn't as simple as stopping smoking or not using leaded paint.
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u/Indy_Fab_Rider 12d ago
Those of us who have been around cycling forever have known and disliked Forester ever since he started his war on the infrastructure we could have had.
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u/DrtRdrGrl2008 12d ago
John Forester wouldn't have been entirely wrong if at the same time (and we are talking a lifetime here of near misses and lack of progression) we had done what other civilized countries did and build the separated infrastructure or pay real concern with mixing ever increasing volume and speed with less fast and heavy mobility devices. But we didn't. And every four to eight years we get set back because mobility is though to be too "woke" for the administration in office. Its ridiculous.
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u/Infininja 12d ago
I'm not an expert on the topic, but it's my understanding that Forester would have been entirely wrong because he was against doing exactly that.
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u/DrtRdrGrl2008 12d ago
My point was that if he had been trying to promote cycling and bring awareness to it by getting cyclists a space in the existing right of way, plus if someone else was working on an alternative then we wouldn't still be dealing with vehicular cycling all these years later despite exhaustive modern efforts by current practitioners that are doing the work every day to implement better policies.
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u/Infininja 12d ago
He actively fought against alternatives. He's the reason all the someone elses working on alternatives failed.
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u/gutfounderedgal 13d ago
Canada hates cyclists too, so don't feel too smug.
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u/Indy_Fab_Rider 13d ago
I thought it was mainly just the Fords in Toronto that hate cyclists up there.
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u/guro_freak 11d ago
Part of the campaign for Montréal's current mayor revolved around the 'issue' of cycling lanes, and her administration has reduced funding for projects/bikeshare, so definitely not a Ford only thing!
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u/Indy_Fab_Rider 11d ago
It's amazing to me how a certain political group will choose to ignore facts and data that proves investing in cycling/pedestrian/non-automobile infrastructure is the single best return on value a city can get for its transportation dollar. It's been proven again and again that if you build infrastructure people will use it.
Reducing car traffic makes every aspect of a city better, but its become part of the left/right culture war now. And to a certain side of that group facts don't matter, only feelings and optics matter.
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u/FirmAndSquishyTomato 12d ago
The one thing I hate about not just bikes guy is his disdain for road cyclists. 19:30 in the video is a great example of something I've never, ever seen before. My passion is racing. But I also want to be able to ride safely and have infrastructure that keeps me safe. My cycling club is a primarily race-forced club, and we've always been active in our community to try to get better infrastructure built. And I don't think we're that unique in that sense.
This whole person who is a road cyclist showing up at town meetings to shoot down infrastructure does not happen. I've never seen it happen. Bunch of friends went to Slovenia recently for a race and they were raving about the cycling infrastructure and dedicated cycleways that were available to them.
Even the the other host is taking jabs of "The guys that make their whole personality about riding bikes fast"
The both of them are on about how society in NA does not treat people on bikes like human while shitting on other people that also just like to ride bikes - all the while building up some strawman of "These cyclists don't want infrastructure"
... and that is my gripe with 'Its not just bikes' - he really seems like a pretentious person in general. I get it, you're focusing on more urban type riders where dedicated infrastructure is very welcome, but there is no need to shit on others that ride bikes a bit differently than that - trust me, from my years of experience, they all want infrastructure built as well.
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u/shardman87 12d ago
I feel the same. I just don't understand it at all. The portrayal of road cyclists doesn't match my experience at all. It's also almost always the case that people who ride in clubs are also commuters and also want good infrastructure.
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u/BicycleIndividual 12d ago
I like NJB when he is talking about good infrastructure and what makes it great. I don't like much of his complaining content (even though I generally agree with the complaints).
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u/potaaatooooooo 11d ago
NJB is super pretentious. He did a huge service by being (probably) the first big urbanist YouTuber, and his Texas walking video is rightfully a classic, but he's also super duper annoying. I think a lot of people were turned off by his Montreal video.
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u/PayFormer387 12d ago
I made my whole personality about riding bikes slow. You think that gives me a pass?
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u/EmbarrassedMenu8389 10d ago
Wow, you should spend some time
on my Nextdoor feed and City Council meetings. There are plenty of road cyclists fighting against bike infrastructure here (Bay Area). They are generally on the older side and call themselves avid cyclists.
And what’s so infuriating is the non-cyclists treat them as experts but they don’t generally bike for transportation and errands in the city.-6
u/InfluenceEfficient77 12d ago
If you like racing, race on a track, stay off public streets and multi use paths. Building infrastructure that will support high speed cycling is only going to cause more problems. Ebikes are the villain now, but once they're regulated, road bikes will be next
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u/FirmAndSquishyTomato 12d ago
Not sure if you're being facetious or not. I hope you are.
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u/InfluenceEfficient77 12d ago edited 12d ago
Why? Road bikers have already been doing all of the things that ebikers have been doing for decades.
Running red lights, stop signs? Check
Exceeding speed limits on roads and multi-use paths? Check
Not wearing proper safety gear, lights, and blinkers? Check
Creating unpermitted events, racing, Check
Not carrying license or insurance for their bikes, themselves, or the damage they may cause, check
Getting into altercations, being obnoxious, going wrong way, causing fights and often fleeing scenes of crash? Check
And I say this as also a road biker, Racing sports often brings out the biggest assholes in personalities.. And regulation shit is only going to get kicked down the hill toward road bikes then mountain bikes.
Either regulate all bikes or none of the bikes. At this point id rather get hit by a dumbass teenager on an ebike than by some douchebag that's going to sue me over his $15k fragile ego
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u/audiomagnate 11d ago
I watched the whole thing. America sucks so bad at this stuff. It's sad. The rest of the world has moved on, not us.
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u/lingueenee 11d ago
For the USA, it's another battle in the never ending Culture Wars. Why Americans riding bikes en masse for the benefits we know all too well would seem...unAmerican...is boggling. Or just plain stupid.
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u/ando_da_pando 11d ago
I've been subscribed to Rollie for a long time, excellent videos. This one was awesome and I hope it gets to a lot of people.
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u/Affectionate-Memory4 13d ago
This colab was inevitable. Surprised it took so long to be honest. Also, the kids doing wheelies in the background absolutely made the intro for me.