Slashdot Mirror
Electric Bicycles Surging In Popularity
gollum123 writes "An accidental transportation upheaval began in China, where an estimated 120 million electric bicycles now hum along the roads, up from a few thousand in the 1990s. They are replacing traditional bikes and motorcycles at a rapid clip and, in many cases, allowing people to put off the switch to cars. The booming Chinese electric-bike industry is spurring worldwide interest and impressive sales in India, Europe, and the US. China is exporting many bikes, and Western manufacturers are also copying the Chinese trend to produce models of their own. From virtually nothing a decade ago, electric bikes have become an $11 billion global industry. In the Netherlands, a third of the money spent on bicycles last year went to electric-powered models. Industry experts predict similar growth elsewhere in Europe, especially in Germany, France, and Italy, as rising interest in cycling coincides with an aging population. India had virtually no sales until two years ago, but its nascent market is fast expanding and could eclipse Europe's in the next year. In China, electric bicycles have evolved into bigger machines that resemble Vespa scooters. These larger models are causing headaches for global transportation planners. They cannot decide whether to embrace them as a green form of transportation, or ban them as a safety hazard. Some cities are studying the halfway measure of banning them from bicycle lanes while permitting them on streets."
And here in central florida they put it on the road which resulted in an even greater amount of chaos and injury.
I've got a lot of foreign friends, the one thing they have in common is that they consider us delusional for believing that bicycles are not pedestrians.
A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
How about: stop being a pussy.
Look, you condescending fuckhead, I know "the road is not a playground".
In one case I was hit from behind while making a legal left turn from a left-turn only lane, by a guy who went straight, illegally. In the second case, I was doored. The driver flung open her door while I was going about 10-12 MPH, right in front of me. I had just enough time to notice the door opening before I found myself flying through the air upside-down, looking at the cars behind me, and thinking "oh please, may I not get run over."
I had a cabbie make an oncoming left turn straight at me at an intersection, and then scream at me to get the fuck out of his way.
I had a valet parking attendant cut me off coming out of a parking lot- in the process of avoiding him, I went over the handlebars and landed in the road. He laughed.
I know people on a student cycling team who have been out on group training rides and had drivers on side-streets (or making oncoming left turns) drive right into the middle of the pack (with the cyclist hitting the side of the car, usually at +15 mph.) This happens about twice a year, and usually puts the cyclist in the hospital and completely destroys their bike.
Or how about that doctor who was convicted of slamming on his brakes to "scare" cyclists? Two of them couldn't stop in time, and they smashed into his back window. It came out in court that he had a long history of such road rage against cyclists.
It is the job of the more at-risk to protect themselves!
And then, by extension, the victims (let's not beat around the bush here- "the at-risk", my ass) if they don't protect themselves, deserve what they get? I suppose you tell rape victims that they shouldn't have dressed slutty? Or how about telling domestic violence victims that they shouldn't have made their partner angry? Society does not work by lecturing the victims- we punishing the criminals.
Please help metamoderate.
Or you could use those gosh darn useful things called side mirrors, that all cars have, to see if they have someone in them.
And in case you think I'm just an oblivious cager, I do cycle, but for fun and fitness, in places that do have parked cars and no cycle lanes.