Like, imagine getting into this stuff and you merrily contact local politicians and talk about how bike lanes would help cyclists and help the city, if that goes through you might think you’re going to see massive improvements and then you’re given a slap to the face when you see that they just… draw a line of paint on the roads…
And in the US, it’s even more malicious than that in reality. That painted line on the side of the road with a picture of a bike that the city says is for bicyclists? Yeah, people will still park their cars on it. And also now that you have a “bike lane” that you’re supposed to use, the city makes it a crime to ride bikes in pedestrian spaces.
So you, as a bicyclist, are riding along the road and see that someone parked their truck in the bike lane. You have two options: ride into the same lane as motor vehicle traffic and pray you don’t become one of the roughly 120 bicyclists injured or 3 bicyclists killed by cars in the US each and every day, or you switch to the sidewalk and live another day. You play it safe, choose the sidewalk (since there aren’t many pedestrians anyways either) but oh no! There’s a cop, they stop you and issue a fine. And if you ask why they haven’t ticketed the pickup truck for parking in the bike lane, they say it’s a matter of police discretion.
And in the US, it’s even more malicious than that in reality. That painted line on the side of the road with a picture of a bike that the city says is for bicyclists? Yeah, people will still park their cars on it. And also now that you have a “bike lane” that you’re supposed to use, the city makes it a crime to ride bikes in pedestrian spaces.
So you, as a bicyclist, are riding along the road and see that someone parked their truck in the bike lane. You have two options: ride into the same lane as motor vehicle traffic and pray you don’t become one of the roughly 120 bicyclists injured or 3 bicyclists killed by cars in the US each and every day, or you switch to the sidewalk and live another day. You play it safe, choose the sidewalk (since there aren’t many pedestrians anyways either) but oh no! There’s a cop, they stop you and issue a fine. And if you ask why they haven’t ticketed the pickup truck for parking in the bike lane, they say it’s a matter of police discretion.