Carmera.
“unholy merging of flesh and metal” got me. Oh that’s good.
I guess the holy merging would be human and bicycle.
You’ve never had a cyclist on the sidewalk yell that you’re walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk as they blast past you at road speeds?
Assholes are assholes, regardless of what flavor unholy chimera they’ve merged into. They’re just less deadly when they’re non-charmeras.
That’s true, I have had cyclists yell at me as a pedestrian and driver (no I didn’t do anything wrong as the driver).
My favorite is when someone has some minor road dispute that cost them maybe a couple of seconds in drive time, and they follow you to catch up with you and scream at you about it…almost as if they weren’t actually on their way to go fucking do anything.
I hate driving, it feels like it got way worse after covid, like people forgot how to drive properly
I think people all just hate each other more now. Generally stress makes little aggressions feel more extreme and the world is in fact falling apart at the seams.
Plus scientific studies have shown people with more bumper stickers were more violent and more likely to commit road rage seeing the car as an extension of themselves and interactions with the car as attacks on personal self and people are much more aware of “personal space” than before covid probably upping the sense of the car being an extension for more people.
In all seriousness, what the hell is up with the psychology of drivers? So much road rage, nastiness, and utter contempt for everything around their metal box of death on wheels.
Not excusing the behaviour but I’d bet it’s the amount of traffic people often sit through everyday along with the overall pace of life feeling faster.
I’m lucky to work weird hours where traffic is almost zero, but personally, sitting in hours of traffic everyday to and from work would make me want to pull my hair out.
Just one more lane bro it’ll fix traffic
In the US at least, Trump has validated half the country to express naked contempt for anyone they deem “other.” This includes: any person of color, any woman, anyone younger than them, anyone that “looks” educated, anyone walking, anyone on a bicycle, and anyone in an electric car, among others.
I love that you worked a Trump reference into this but I’ve seen this sort of terrible behaviour from drivers since I was a kid (I’m 40). It’s also not unique to North America, nor even the West (seen the same thing in China).
No, it’s something about cars that creates a disconnect between us and other people. It’s like people outside the car’s windows are TV characters, not real people.
Its a mech suit that the more you consider it a freeing source of maneuvering the world the more attached to it you become and safer you feel from the rest of the world. No matter it makes people have all kinds of emotional responses that are unpleasant for the rest of us.
Ok but it does seem like people drive way worse now than just a few years ago. I have theories though.
Theory 1: Existential dread. People are so beat down by climate, endless war, failing economy, and more that they’ve gone completely insane.
Theory 2: Long covid brain.
Theory 3: Trump and other authoritarian world leaders/parties/orgs has validated unmitigated rage and contempt towards almost anyone for almost any reason.
San Francisco is taking an interesting approach to this problem: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/sf-police-wear-flashy-costumes-to-catch-drivers-19769362.php
This is barely hyperbole lmao I love it
Go to any Instagram comment section about something to do with bikes, and every other comment is some blood thirsty version of “I get hard when I run over bikers”.
It’s revolting.
That’s why it is important to never cross the road without your safety brick.
Gonna start cycling with two propane tanks on the sides of my bike.
I have a friend who is super car focused. Where she lives, there is a bridge where people often cross the road, and they painted the road with some blue waves, to showcase that. I often drive whe. She’s with me, because she drives like a maniac. Anyway, people were crossing the road and i waited. She told me that cars have the right of way here and i could just go. I just gave her a look and then drove off when people were done, like 5 seconds later. The next time a few weeks later, she said the same thing and i told her: I don’t care how often you tell me that, i’m not gonna run over people to save 5 seconds. She told me that she would usually just honk or rev up her engine, or “pretend to run people over” it’s so weird to me what they get out of that behaviour
it’s the IMPLICATION
“Pretending to run people over” is a crime lol. At least in the States. That’s textbook assault (making someone fear bodily harm), and arguably reckless driving or endangerment.
What is it about cars that make people into psychopaths? Or does it just bring out these things in already bad people?
That kind of behavior should be considered attempted assault with a deadly weapon.
What do the blue waves signify?
Your friend is crazy and probably going to lose a mirror at some point.
A mirror? How about a licence
In North America, the best that can be done is a license suspension, between a few months or maybe a year or two in extreme cases. Even that doesn’t stop people from driving though.
Lol wtf
How is there not the concept of someone being too dangerous to ever drive again
Hell, that frankly applies to a good chunk of everyone over the age of about 80
But she only threatens to murder pedestrians so that makes it okay. She wouldn’t actually murder them (as long they scurry out of her way
If a street is to be shared with pedestrians, they should get the ultimate right of way, followed by push bikes then motor vehicles.
Put this in the sidebar (it can hold images just like comments and posts)
The cyclist in the last panel was probably running a red light.
Or the car turned right and didn’t care/look. =)
So. Many times I’ve had drivers pull up, look left, then almost drive into my bicycle…
Or they overtake in a risky and hazardous way only to stop at a red light, which was already red before they did this 30 meters ahead.
Why are you beside them at an intersection? That’s pretty dangerous. You should either be directly in front of them or directly behind them. No one cares about where you “can be” as a cyclist when you’re pinned under the wheel of a car bleeding out.
From one cyclist to another, don’t pull up beside a car at an intersection. If it’s a stop sign, take the lane and get directly behind the vehicle and act like a car. If it’s a light and you have time, pull directly in front of the lead car. Your acceleration off a green light will far surpass a car.
![[meme] THE CHIMERA](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/452937e5-62b3-4663-9795-14adc523c5bd.jpeg){kind=link}
