Will Wilkinson - Latest Comments in Bikes vs. Cars

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

kenneth — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:01:52 -0000

It's a good idea to get a bike for the simple pleasure of riding a motorcycle. Insurance is ridiculously cheap (unfortunately when it comes to 'car vs. bike' in a wreck, cars usually win - so be VERY careful).

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

autoking91 — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:13:58 -0000

I like biking but I will still use car. I usually use my bike going to mall half an hour ride but I always use a car going to work 2hrs ride. But I always play safe when I use a bike or a car. Always do read traffic rules.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

mitzusedcar — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:48:22 -0000

In Japan, there are very high tolls just for driving on the freeway. So though I am a car dealer, I often ride bikes when I go long distance. However, riding bikes is considered dangerous in Japan as the motorists don't care a fig about them, so one has to be extra cautious.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

wheelywheel — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:09:18 -0000

Another note on bikers. If you use bike you are already putting you right foot over your grave. I see many bikers don't know how to follow traffic rules. I don't say cars are all good but if you handle you car with care you will be better than riding a bike.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Porsche Blog — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:44:35 -0000

I can't imagine anyone writing a letter to the editor or standing up in a public meeting and essentially saying "I'll violate traffic laws

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Motorcycle Insurance — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:53:00 -0000

bikes. People complain about bikers breaking traffic laws. Well, I’m guilty, and I’m damn well going to keep doing it. A lot of traffic regulations make sense for cars, but just don’t for bikes

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Sally — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:48:33 -0000

you know you want a bike to run him over with.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Sally — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:46:16 -0000

Can't these motorists remember riding bikes when they were kids? How could you possibly get angry at a cyclist when as a proud car owner, you assume responsibility for road safety. Defensive driving, much? *Gah* Haters.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Get Paid To Drive — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 11:40:13 -0000

People complain about bikers breaking traffic laws. Well, I’m guilty, and I’m damn well going to keep doing it

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

John Temple — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:58:06 -0000

Perfectly understandable that you think that you should not abide by the same laws, however by that same token since you aren't following laws I expect you will be understanding that I will not treat your bike like a real vehicle unless you do so. Many a time I've seen smug bikers who choose to ignore all the traffic laws, so hav come to the conclusion that unless I see them obeying traffic laws I will ignore them. True they have more manuverability (I butchered that word i think) this does not give them the right to blaze through the center of traffic lanes, run lights or ride wherever they please. Last time I saw a biker doing that I simply opened my door, and the biker was outraged. Apparently its my fault he may have been injured because he was riding between two rows of cars locked in a traffic jam.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Sherm — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:30:05 -0000

I lost all sympathy I ever had for bicyclists when one ran over my foot on the (fairly crowed) sidewalk while going at moderate speeds and made no attempt to stop, forcing me to body check him or else jump into traffic to keep him from doing it again with his rear wheel. He then had the audacity to call the police, and scream and curse at the cop when he was ticketed for riding on the sidewalk. To say nothing of the other times it almost happened, but I was able to jump out of the way. You cyclists want sympathy, try doing some self-policing. Otherwise, expect pedestrians like me to keep secretly cheering when a smug cyclist gets paid for their carelessness.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:18:28 -0000

Why so smug about breeding? And, anyway, shouldn't ecofootprints be per capita anyway, so what exactly gets you off the hook simply for not breeding?

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Henry13 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:00:46 -0000

Jeezum! Such hostility. I wonder if those of you busting wills chops never, ever exceed the speed limit. Do you come to a complete stop before making a right on red? Do you yield to pedestrians at the crosswalk? Do you come to a full stop at stop signs. Ask yourselves. Hypocrites.

The answers are simple. Everybody: slow down, pay attention, and show the other guy just a little consideration.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Adam — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:49:38 -0000

I bike to work every day (don't own a car), but after a collision with a pedestrian (in which I think I was hurt worse than the pedestrian) who unexpectedly turned on the sidewalk, I've been much more careful to ride on roads, and I've changed my route slightly (going a little bit out of the way) to go the right way on one-way streets, etc.

What I *really* *really* hate is smug motorists who honk at me and tell me I'm an idiot when I'm *right* in the middle of traffic on the street, going as fast as any car there at that time, and obeying *every single traffic rule*. It makes me want to scratch their car.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

dfmcilroy — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 16:05:18 -0000

As a lifelong cyclist, I will only say that I think there's a Darwin Award in Will's future. Even if he has already removed himself from the gene pool.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

theomobiud — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:15:48 -0000

You're totally right. I, for one, would not stop to call him childish because I've never been one to add insult to injury.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Evan — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:32:51 -0000

I really like the people who think because Will is a smug asshole that it's okay to run him down with a car, and then call him childish.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

sutton — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:44:36 -0000

Some states -- well, Idaho definitely, and probably Montana in 2009, not sure if there are others -- require bikes only to yield at stop signs and red lights, rather than stop. Seems to work pretty well, though obviously there are less people out here.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Erin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:43:43 -0000

Out of curiousity, what wrong way street do you bike down? I have seen cyclists hit going the wrong way both down T and Q by cars who turned right onto a different street or turned ONTO the street, not anticipating a bike. And yes, this has made me hate bikers with a heated intensity, which, as a non-car owning pedestrian who thinks anyone who takes the metro to chinatown from dupont is lazy, you'd think is surprising.

Also adding to this hatred is watching the bicyclists speed down 18th street zooming through the T street stop sign even though that is a busy intersection and at the speeds you gather on that hill, there is no way to stop if a cab comes into the street, which I've also seen happen, and it was the bicyclist who screamed at the cabbie about not being careful. Oh, but wait, you're more "mobile". Well, my legs are pretty mobile, too, but that doesn't give me the right to walk in front of moving vehicles.

Also, get the hell off my sidewalk. If you can ignore stop signs and walk signs, then don't get huffy about my jaywalking ass. And if you injure me, will your insurance pay my hospital bill--- oh yeah, you don't assume responsibility for others, unlike motorists.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Tim — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:46:24 -0000

After reading the comments here I can only conclude that Will's post on biking is a very subtle, wry satire on deregulation and public policy: a "modest proposal" of his own to reduce urban traffic congestion. Will clearly recognizes that traffic laws by design regulate all vehicles, not just cars, and that they serve a necessary public good by reducing costly accidents and providing a framework for assigning blame in the event of a collision. Really, the frightening thing here is how many of Will's readers actually take these silly proposals seriously.

Bravo, Will! Well done indeed!

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

davido — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:46:41 -0000

As a biker,a pedestrian and a driver, I'll admit to being a bit ticked about Will's attitude. I have no real desire to hit anyone. BUT, I had a number of near misses as a pedestrian in NYC (and had no car, so didn't drive) when I stepped off the curb and was almost hit by bikes going the wrong way or blowing through stop lights. I've had some recent near misses in Minneapolis where I live now for the same reason and have just missed a couple of bikers with my car.

Some bikers don't seem to have thought through the safety reasons behind traffic laws, apparently thinking that they're just about regulating traffic flow. They're about safety as well. And while I know that bikers who break them think that they're in control of their risk, raising your level of risk on a daily basis simply makes it more likely that someday you're going to lose that bet.

My first two vehicles were motorcycles. One of the things I learned passing on the right and lane splitting was that I was assuming that no one I was passing was going to make a mistake that I would have to pay for with my health if not my life. I stopped riding all together when finally figured out that I had given up far too much control over my safety to total strangers. I ride my bike these days with those lessons in mind.

Everyone who bikes would be wise to do the same. After all, the driver who kills you is likely to go uninjured, and the question of who was at fault will be moot for one of you.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

DanteD — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:45:06 -0000

At the risk of joining a pile-on: I completely agree that certain laws would be better applied if they differentiated in some ways between cyclists and vehicles. But you know what? They don't. And following the laws that are there is 100% better than just disregarding the ones that make your commute a little longer.

I'm fine with bikes treating Stop signs like Yields. I bike a lot, I do it to. I get it. You've got momentum, you're still looking, whatever. It's fine. But if you blow through a sign without looking, sporting iPod buds in your ears (or, a cell phone, which seems to be the big thing now) and the car that has the right of way hits you, that's it. You're dead, or maimed, or whatever, and the driver of the car has to live with something that isn't his/her fault.

Same thing with One Way streets. It's easier? Congratulations, we're all proud that you've found a secret short cut. But when the driver pulling out of his parking space and looking over his shoulder for traffic coming from the proper direction has you go flying over his hood, it's the same deal: he's fine, you're not, but he's got to live with it. This is all leaving out the very real threat to pedestrians that careless bikers cause.

Honestly, I can't fathom the tantrum-like hand crossing of "The laws don't work for me, so I don't follow them. Hmph!" You want change, change the law. And obey the ones that are there in the meantime, because bragging about how flagrantly you violate them sure isn't helping the cause.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

Stee — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:40:50 -0000

I've never read this guy before, but geez, what a smug, fart sniffing a-hole. I mean, it doesn't make sense for my car to stop at a red light at 3am when I can see a mile in every direction, but I do it anyway. Put on your grownup pants and follow the rules. You're not special.

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

MBunge — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:33:54 -0000

One of the greatest things about blogging is that it occasionally gives evidence of just how stupid, self-centered and oblivious we human beings can be.

I can't imagine anyone writing a letter to the editor or standing up in a public meeting and essentially saying "I'll violate traffic laws any damn time I want and fuck everyone else".

Mike

Re: Bikes vs. Cars

davido — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:24:05 -0000

So Will; can I assume that you won't mind when I'm in my car, stop at the intersection of two one way streets, check for traffic in the "right" direction, and hit you coming the wrong way because I assumed that no one would approach from there?