Living car free

[Forlorn Drifter]

One example is that many car drivers are aggressively against measures that make e.g. cycling more accessible (which is IMO nonsense, as there would be less traffic and more parking for the remaining drivers if several car drivers converted to cyclists).

Except we have to share the road with cyclists, and when they're going 1/5th of the speed you are it leads to more traffic problems as you have to dodge around them.

In my area, the problem with cyclists is that they don't ride places that make sense, and do not ride within the rules of the road. When I'm ten miles from town trying to pull a 35 foot trailer, riding up behind someone on a bike at night pisses me off. Sure, he has blinkers and all, but I don't get it.

I personally couldn't even live now without a car. Its 6 miles to the closest gas station, 10 either way to the closest town with an actual store. And as far spread as everything is here, its mind boggling that anybody could make it without a car.

Also, I love cars. The fastest, the sleekest, the most powerful, the most beautiful. I get pulled into the car culture and everything with it. Though, I fall in with older preferences. Not much new stuff catches my eye, 30's to mid 70's is my stocking point for cars, going later on trucks though. Just so much good stuff. And rat rods... oh.

[ZeroAX]

I'm starting to think that it's a better idea to try to get Americans back into horse riding to work rather than cycling

[ninjainspandex]

I'm starting to think that it's a better idea to try to get Americans back into horse riding to work rather than cycling

I would totally ride a horse to work like John Wayne. I think alot of people still do in Texas haha

[Jmustang1968]

No they dont lol. They may ride them around if they own a ranch or something. Ive lived in Texas all my life and have been on a horse once.

I work 22 miles from my house. I am not biking 22 miles to work. Even a few miles away, it is so hot and humid. I dont want to go to work sweaty.

[Ivo]

You don't want people mass horse riding to work. Horses poop on the road.
Cycling is the way to go. But it really needs to be thought through, I'm not entirely sure places in the U.S. can be retro fitted to make mass cycling work without it being a rather long-term plan.

But if it is implemented properly, it really works really well - in Europe there are multiple examples, and it isn't just in Denmark and Netherlands, where they really took it to an extreme and have bicycle highways and everything, which is great but not feasible in many places.

Just a bit of infrastructure like cycle lanes and bicycle parking, and possibly also laws that really protect the cyclist so that even drivers that don't like them are careful because they know they are in serious trouble if they mess a cyclist up.

Then of course cyclists should eventually learn to be careful themselves, but the myth that all cyclists are careless is just a myth - there are a few crazy riders that jump red lights and cause accidents, but even if it was just by sheer "unnatural selection" those are really a minority.

[Forlorn Drifter]

God, the Texans riding horse thing. Ugh.

Cycling might be viable in cities, but even then its really not that great of an idea the way things are set up currently. I can't imagine having to ride a bike everywhere. Hell, I didn't even learn to ride a bike till I was around 13...

[Hobie-wan]

I think alot of people still do in Texas haha

I hitch mine to the oil rig out back when I'm inside.

[Hobie-wan]

Hell, I didn't even learn to ride a bike till I was around 13...

Bah. That sort of thing is understandable if you live in a city in an apartment, but for suburbs and rural places that's just unacceptable. Bike riding is the first real taste of freedom you get as a kid. I was ecstatic when I got my first bike when I was 6 or 7.

[MrPopo]

and possibly also laws that really protect the cyclist so that even drivers that don't like them are careful because they know they are in serious trouble if they mess a cyclist up.

We already have those. That's why it's such a clusterfuck when cyclists are on a road that doesn't have enough room for even an unofficial bike lane; everyone slows down and gets over three feet so there's no chance the cyclist even knows there's a car passing them.

Then of course cyclists should eventually learn to be careful themselves, but the myth that all cyclists are careless is just a myth - there are a few crazy riders that jump red lights and cause accidents, but even if it was just by sheer "unnatural selection" those are really a minority.

You have CLEARLY never been out to Seattle. The cyclists are the most aggressive people on the road. There's so much red light/stop sign running they do and everyone who drives in Seattle is such a goddamn pussy that they allow it to happen rather than clocking the cyclist like they should. My coworker's brother got run down by a cyclist last Friday; he ended up with a dislocated shoulder and a concussion and the cyclist just kept going.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Hell, I didn't even learn to ride a bike till I was around 13...

Bah. That sort of thing is understandable if you live in a city in an apartment, but for suburbs and rural places that's just unacceptable. Bike riding is the first real taste of freedom you get as a kid. I was ecstatic when I got my first bike when I was 6 or 7.

Where the hell was I going to go? There was nowhere to go, and a small grouping of houses very near to me (called Little Mexico for obvious reasons) was really bad up until I was around 12. Its going downhill again, the guy on the corner right across from ours is running dope now.

And, I always had access to a horse and rode that, honestly. I could ride before I could walk or talk. Most of my time as a youngster was spent walking around a nearby ditch that was used as a dump by the old man who lived there, or being kept in the yard by my mom when she was home, because she was very careful about me being out and about when my Dad was still working odd hours. In fact, I never really saw my Dad more than a couple hours a day until I was about 10. Its different.