I occasionally visit new York, and this was long overdue I understand eco friendiness and it’s nice that it’s not cars but, it’s insane there.
for those who have never been. The sidewalks and roads are absolutely littered with food delivery drivers. There are walking areas that as a pedestrian you can’t walk because you risk getting run over by delivery drivers on bikes who only care about delivering as fast as possible to maximize their money. In a city with as heavy pedestrian traffic as NY that’s a bad combination.
I fully agree with mandated court hearings for traffic violations on them, it forces the delivery driver to lose a day’s income instead of just accounting it as a cost of the job. the previous penalties wern’t doing jack.
It sucks that non-commercial might get hit, but most bike traffic is commercial and something has to give.
This is the subheading on the article (emphasis added):
Some worry that New York City’s crackdown on unsafe cyclists leaves them facing greater consequences than drivers, even though cars cause more fatalities.
So why let drivers off the hook? You seem to care about safety, but then support enforcement that disproportionately affects those who are doing less harm? There’s no logic, it’s just vibes.
Culturally, we accept drivers causing a significant amount of death and destruction, but get so mad about anyone else. It’s not rational.
I’m not saying let the drivers off the hook, I’m just saying that bikers, from what I’ve seen there usually get ignored or just continue after fines, it’s clear the punishment wasn’t high enough. Hell I was just there in March and saw 3 people get hit and a bunch bikers just ignore the lights. (and ofc a crap ton of pedestrians as well but yea)
I’m glad when someone confirms they read the post ahead of time. Makes commenting easier. It’s a tad ironic you are doing the same as you are complaining about though
Well, I can easily identify two. The standards applied to cyclists versus motorists, as well as the fact that commercial vehicles vs civilian makes no difference. At least from your description.
Separate from that is the general problem that couriers are essentially coerced into behaving so irresponsibly by corporate greed, but that’s a whole other can of worms of course.
ah that makes sense thank you, I’ll clarify it some. I didn’t specifically say so but, I don’t personally agree that it should be biker vs car enforcement based, I’m just glad they are doing /something/ about the bikers whom seem to had been just ignored previously.
As for commercial vs personal, I do think it would be better to impose stricter penalty for commercial though, as like you said there is higher incentive to cut corners/break laws, which means the same penalty doesn’t weigh as much when it’s getting you more money or making you look better for a larger company.
Thank you for the additional clarification. And naturally, potentially mitigating solutions such as bike lanes are so often demonized in our society, not because it actually causes disruptions to traffic, though; I figure it really is all about drivers getting jealous because they see people on bicycles not getting stuck in traffic (in my not so humble opinion). Not to mention how many violations of basic road safety and laws get handwaved because “they need their car”.
But I do agree that endangering pedestrians is no solution. I guess it infuriates me that real solutions are ignored/refused for such ridiculous reasons.
I occasionally visit new York, and this was long overdue I understand eco friendiness and it’s nice that it’s not cars but, it’s insane there.
for those who have never been. The sidewalks and roads are absolutely littered with food delivery drivers. There are walking areas that as a pedestrian you can’t walk because you risk getting run over by delivery drivers on bikes who only care about delivering as fast as possible to maximize their money. In a city with as heavy pedestrian traffic as NY that’s a bad combination.
I fully agree with mandated court hearings for traffic violations on them, it forces the delivery driver to lose a day’s income instead of just accounting it as a cost of the job. the previous penalties wern’t doing jack.
It sucks that non-commercial might get hit, but most bike traffic is commercial and something has to give.
This is the subheading on the article (emphasis added):
So why let drivers off the hook? You seem to care about safety, but then support enforcement that disproportionately affects those who are doing less harm? There’s no logic, it’s just vibes.
Culturally, we accept drivers causing a significant amount of death and destruction, but get so mad about anyone else. It’s not rational.
I’m not saying let the drivers off the hook, I’m just saying that bikers, from what I’ve seen there usually get ignored or just continue after fines, it’s clear the punishment wasn’t high enough. Hell I was just there in March and saw 3 people get hit and a bunch bikers just ignore the lights. (and ofc a crap ton of pedestrians as well but yea)
Ngl I stopped reading there. But I had to go back just to make sure your opinion didn’t matter
I’m glad when someone confirms they read the post ahead of time. Makes commenting easier. It’s a tad ironic you are doing the same as you are complaining about though
then give that shit to those driving the motorized vehicles that weigh a fet tons
Cars don’t drive on sidewalks. Well… at least not usually. Though I guess I have to admit that I’ve seen it.
I mean no reason both couldn’t be done I agree
<-- A tourist.
That’s the to to lamest excuse I’ve heard for such an egregious double standard.
I’m curious what’s the double standard here?
Well, I can easily identify two. The standards applied to cyclists versus motorists, as well as the fact that commercial vehicles vs civilian makes no difference. At least from your description.
Separate from that is the general problem that couriers are essentially coerced into behaving so irresponsibly by corporate greed, but that’s a whole other can of worms of course.
ah that makes sense thank you, I’ll clarify it some. I didn’t specifically say so but, I don’t personally agree that it should be biker vs car enforcement based, I’m just glad they are doing /something/ about the bikers whom seem to had been just ignored previously.
As for commercial vs personal, I do think it would be better to impose stricter penalty for commercial though, as like you said there is higher incentive to cut corners/break laws, which means the same penalty doesn’t weigh as much when it’s getting you more money or making you look better for a larger company.
Thank you for the additional clarification. And naturally, potentially mitigating solutions such as bike lanes are so often demonized in our society, not because it actually causes disruptions to traffic, though; I figure it really is all about drivers getting jealous because they see people on bicycles not getting stuck in traffic (in my not so humble opinion). Not to mention how many violations of basic road safety and laws get handwaved because “they need their car”.
But I do agree that endangering pedestrians is no solution. I guess it infuriates me that real solutions are ignored/refused for such ridiculous reasons.