Just spent two weeks cycling in the US and found the car traffic very scary

Not all of the US is bad. I live in the mountains in Colorado and have not had any negative encounters with drivers.

Granted, there’s less traffic vs a big city, and the smaller population means people don’t feel anonymous and like they can get away with being a d-bag.

That said, most of my riding is on snow, MTB or gravel - so away from traffic. Mainly because I enjoy that kind of riding. Partly to stay away from cars.

I cycled in Vermont last year and loved it. A lot safer than the UK at times!

Two kids were shot at while riding their bikes in a town near me. Looking for articles, but t was on the teevee news at least once. Apparently people are so bored with the shootings, it doesn’t make the ‘print’ news. We are so hosed…

From the UK again:

Woman shames rider into the road and the cyclist is hit and killed, and people think her sentence is ‘too harsh’. SOMEONE DIED! The cyclist’s sentence seems a heck of a lot harsher to me… Okay, so the woman is ‘special needs’, but her actions caused a death. Maybe my feeling isn’t popular, but she should serve SOME jail time for contributing to the death of another, regardless of her condition. :man_shrugging:t2:

One of his boldest videos to date

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I’ve been sick of SUV (stupid user vehicle) for over 30+ years. I was appalled when I went to Italy back in the late 90s and started to see people driving Toyota Fourrunners. Also Range Rovers. Those roads were not built for those types of vehicles.
I would love to see a ban, but alas, in the US it’s too far gone, as was noted in the video.

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I’ve been riding on the road for around 15 years now without any real issues. That changed this weekend. I was riding a rural loop with minimal cars. I was riding in the right tire path when the wind (it was windy, 20-25 mph) gusted and pushed me about a foot farther right (in the US so closer to the ditch/shoulder than the opposite/passing lane). Maybe 2 seconds later a U-haul van blew by me without slowing down or moving over at all. They were at most a foot from me. I’m not sure how the mirror didn’t hit me. I don’t think they ever even saw me. Even with perfect weather in the middle of the day while wearing a bright orange (think neon/hunter safety orange) jersey. If I hadn’t been moved over by the wind I’d be in the hospital. Or, if the wind were reversed and pushed me further into the lane I could be dead.

It’s really making me doubt riding on the road. I’m just so frustrated because I should be able to do the thing I love without being worried someone is going to kill me.

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I rode through South Switzerland on a bike trip, and in a mere two days, we had drivers hurl abuse at us in a way not seen in France, Italy, Slovenia or Spain. Quite shocking really, we got two drivers say stupid stuff to us in a single day. Funny how Switzerland is one of the top rated countries for drivers in that list.

I also saw the most frightening near miss in France, descending the Tourmalet. A lunatic overtook us in a way that could have easily killed my friend , who was riding some meters in front of me.

Spain is pretty good in general. While riding around Denia (where pros like Remco and Pogacar train), I’ve had cars with UK license plates pass me a bit too close for comfort. What’s wrong with the drivers there?

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Without wanting to make excuses, I’d hazard a guess that driving a left hand drive car on the “wrong” side of the road might have contributed to the close passes by UK licensed cars?

Ugh. A cyclist just died in an area I train and pass by numerous times a week. It’s literally my outside training ground.

No mention of being charged but might not have seen the cyclist. I don’t understand how they haven’t charged the driver with a crime yet.

Heck, I live in Alberta Canada and it is the exact same thing here.

The absolute worse are Dodge Ram Diesel Drivers… Total aholes… And yes I have a Dodge Ram Diesel as well… But I just bought a yamaha scooter if that helps :wink:

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Yeah brother, I drive a truck too but I do my best to be a polite driver to others!

I may have to eat my words though… the other day some punks in a POS honda accord threw a pringles can at me and hit me in the elbow. WHILE I WAS ON A CLIMB!!! Who does this? Especially when someone is climbing???

I begged and pleaded for them to return. I called them the worst names trying to convince them to come back but they wouldnt.

Like Vincent Vega says in pulp fiction: “Boy, I wish I could’ve caught him doing it. I’d have given anything to catch that a**hole doing it. It’d been worth him doing it just so I could’ve caught him doing it.”

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Broad daylight, pickup truck, from behind. Sound familiar?
Any more details released?

:grimacing:, nothing further.

Because cycling usually takes place in rural areas. Go ride around in the burbs outside big cities which trend left leaning and see how often you get buzzed

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Inattentive drivers putting other road users at risk has full bipartisan support. I think my favorite is when someone does something that puts me at risk and they have a bike rack on their car.

I’m in NC and the area I’m in tends to lean right but honestly I’ve never had someone be overly aggressive with me in any way that was noticeably different than them just not paying attention to what’s going on in front of their car. On a regular basis someone will pass me on a two lane road and the car coming in the other direction will have to come to a complete stop to avoid the head on collision that the person passing me is desperate to cause.

Side question - Has anyone else found themselves wanting to reach out to the police in hopes that you might have some impact on the almost complete lack of traffic enforcement in your area and have you had any success?

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LOL my experience in the far left CA it is the other way around. In the super liberal cities you get buzzed, but out in the conservative rural agriculture areas the trucks give me at least 5 feet. :man_shrugging:

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The more I think about it, it really does have less to do with political leaning and more to do with being a jerk. Looking back I should not have said anything about political parties, as everyone is capable of being awesome AND a jerk.

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yea it probably won’t have any help. Showing up to town/county planning meetings could help but its a long hard uphill battle

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