<story><title>Sharrows, the bicycle infrastructure that doesn’t work and nobody wants</title><url>https://macwright.com/2020/12/04/sharrows.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>0xB31B1B</author><text>I am a cyclist and a driver. Unfortunately, I think the only way forward for cyclists is intense litigation against both cities and drivers around car collisions. The city will not prosecute cars for dangerous driving or violations, even if they hit drivers. Its crazy to me how getting caught going 15 miles over the speed limit will double your car insurance rates, but hitting a cyclists won&amp;#x27;t do anything because as a driver you can say &amp;quot;they darted into the lane&amp;quot; to any cop and won&amp;#x27;t be cited for anything. I was hit by a car once, had my bike totaled, and got a small settlement from the driver&amp;#x27;s insurance company. If I was hit again, I would immediately go to a lawyer and take the insurance company to the cleaners an donate all of the money to a bicycle advocacy org, and I advise everyone I know who gets hit to do the same thing. It sucks but it seems like personal injury law is the only avenue to make change here and introduce some form of penalty and feedback to hitting a cyclist with a car. There is no infrastructure to stop this because drivers don&amp;#x27;t care, they can hit cyclists without consequence.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>godelski</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve been hit twice. Both times I was at a stop sign. The second time the guy just said &amp;quot;oh sorry, the sun was in my eyes.&amp;quot; Meanwhile I thought I was going to be pushed into moving traffic and die by someone who in no way could have avoided me. Took me a full minute to catch my breath and gain enough composure to lay into the guy who hit me. He never got out of his car, never said sorry (real sorry), nothing. I&amp;#x27;ve had cars chase me because they don&amp;#x27;t think I should be riding in the right most lane (no bike lane or construction).&lt;p&gt;One time a Pizza Hut driver almost killed me. I called his boss, they didn&amp;#x27;t care.&lt;p&gt;One time an &lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;UBER DRIVER&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt; almost hit me and then proceeded to chase me because I yelled and flipped him off. I sent a photo of the license place to Uber and the local PD, nothing. Not even an acknowledgement.&lt;p&gt;The fact is that people don&amp;#x27;t care. You go on HN or Reddit and people will complain and actively encourage hitting riders. It is always the rider&amp;#x27;s fault, even if the driver broke the law. And I&amp;#x27;m tired of it. I don&amp;#x27;t care if the rider was in the wrong, you&amp;#x27;re a lot more squishy on a bike than in a plastic housing with a motor. There&amp;#x27;s this weird dichotomy of not caring about the life or safety of someone.</text></comment>
<story><title>Sharrows, the bicycle infrastructure that doesn’t work and nobody wants</title><url>https://macwright.com/2020/12/04/sharrows.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>0xB31B1B</author><text>I am a cyclist and a driver. Unfortunately, I think the only way forward for cyclists is intense litigation against both cities and drivers around car collisions. The city will not prosecute cars for dangerous driving or violations, even if they hit drivers. Its crazy to me how getting caught going 15 miles over the speed limit will double your car insurance rates, but hitting a cyclists won&amp;#x27;t do anything because as a driver you can say &amp;quot;they darted into the lane&amp;quot; to any cop and won&amp;#x27;t be cited for anything. I was hit by a car once, had my bike totaled, and got a small settlement from the driver&amp;#x27;s insurance company. If I was hit again, I would immediately go to a lawyer and take the insurance company to the cleaners an donate all of the money to a bicycle advocacy org, and I advise everyone I know who gets hit to do the same thing. It sucks but it seems like personal injury law is the only avenue to make change here and introduce some form of penalty and feedback to hitting a cyclist with a car. There is no infrastructure to stop this because drivers don&amp;#x27;t care, they can hit cyclists without consequence.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dr_dshiv</author><text>You might be interested in the history of the &amp;quot;Stop Murdering Our Children&amp;quot; campaign. It had a massive impact on the development of the Netherlands. In the 60s, automobile-pedestrian deaths were higher per capita than in the usa. It wasn&amp;#x27;t always a bike mecca.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.dutchreach.org&amp;#x2F;car-child-murder-protests-safer-nl-roads&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.dutchreach.org&amp;#x2F;car-child-murder-protests-safer-n...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>