• BorgDrone@feddit.nl
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    6 days ago

    As long as there’s no immediate traffic, I’ve found it safer and faster to just cross through the median, rather than try to mingle through an intersection with vehicles.

    I’m Dutch. We don’t generally mingle cyclists and car traffic outside very low traffic / low speed areas. There will be a separate bicycle path with its own traffic lights. Or even better: you can just take the bicycle highway and not encounter any traffic lights or level crossings with cars at all. Straight shot into the city center.

    Also, you can’t drive your car into the city center at all, it’s a car-free zone. You have to park your car at the edge of the city center, in a parking garage or other paid spot (€3,80/hour), then you’d have to walk from there. On Saturdays it’s basically a traffic jam all the way from the ring-road to the parking garage. Meanwhile I can ride my (e-)bike straight to where I need to go and park it basically anywhere.

    Oh, and I ride brakeless. My shoes are my brakes.

    You’d be pulled off the road so quick if you did that here. Your bike is required to be roadworthy, which means working brakes, lights, reflectors, etc.

    • over_clox@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Sounds like actual good proper bicycle friendly infrastructure, awesome!

      Honestly, I’m more of a BMX flatland rider, so my bike ain’t gonna pass any of those checks, no brakes (flatlander’s choice, my shoes are my brakes), no reflectors, no lights, no kickstand, no chainguard…

      In BMX flatland, all that stuff is just extra weight and more parts to break. But also, flatland bikes aren’t exactly intended for everyday road transportation.

      Bikes meant for regular road use really should have all those parts, plus even a mirror for an extra point or two of safety.