Bloody hell people here present driving motorcycle or even bicycle as a big survival thingy. Wtf.
Never once feared for my life on bicycle. On the road never heard or saw about motorcycle crashes other than these where the motorcyclist lost control or did something stupid. Hell, people recommend getting motorcycle.
Now, this may be regional thing but in this case, how the hell is, let's assume, USA so bad with driving if most ya all spend most of your life driving?
If everyone is allowed to drive, you also have the incapable ones. The people able to drive properly aren't important and you don't notice them, only those that are dangerous. In other countries they are forced to walk or use public transport. This starts with harder to acquire license and ends with infrastructure.
To add, we lack almost any kind of graduated licensing, both for two and four wheeled vehicles. You can get a motorcycle license (even a learners permit) and go out and buy a literbike built from the factory to go directly on the track. Likewise, you can buy a gigantic truck on a basic license and have no clue how to park it. These facts are both insane.
"Motorcycle" licensing needs to start with a basic set that covers class III e-bikes and scooters/motorcylces up to 300cc or so (appox 40hp, or 3kW), and then you can work your way up.
Where I live, there are different licences for different powered bikes. Up to 250w and max 25 km/h are classified as e-bikes and don't need any license, anything over that but under 50cc is a moped and needs a license (that people 14+ can get), then there's up to 125cc and 11kw (which is 16+), then theres up to 35 kw (18+) and anything over it requires that you have had a driver's license for at least 2 years and are 24 years old (and take classes and pass a test).
I pedal bike to work and have close calls weekly with cars. Couple months ago I was in the bike path and a car came next to me and matched my speed and then came into the bike lane and drove me into the grass. I thought they were doing it on purpose but they were just confused following their GPS and drifted... Similar stories on my motorcycle. Lane splitting is legal where I live but people still yell at me saying I can't "cut in line" and I had one lady drive on the sidewalk and around me onto the crosswalk (at a red light) saying "if you can cut then so can I." It was kinda terrifying.
Where I live, everyone drives and everyone hates driving and hates other drivers, but they hate bikes and motorcycles more because out grouping or something. Only way to stay alive is to pretend you're invisible and not piss car drivers off.
Midwest USA if curious
Gimmie a sec to grab my jaw from the floor. Yeah if I ever end in the USA I'm gonna make sure to avoid getting on two wheels. Where I live there is some hatred between bikers and drivers (two way), but not that point.
I'm gonna assume you're actually in the GTA in Canada because there are no states in the Midwest USA where lane splitting is legal.
Montana. It's not actually the Midwest I suppose, but we frequently say it is
So what? Illegal things happen all the time.
It's definitely an issue of distracted driving rather than a lack of skills to drive adequately. Because of our lack of public transportation options compared to where I'm assuming you live, most folks have to drive to do most things. They also have to do this at the same time as everyone else, which makes driving a shitty necessity and overall poor experience. Now we have computers in our hands and can do something more enjoyable than pay attention to the road while you're on your Thursday evening 1.5 hour commute home from work.
Personally I think that distracted driving violations should be treated the same way a DUI is.
Fits with what the u/UnPassive wrote. Still terrible. And yeah, where I live we have quite good public transport, even if folk here tend to think it's not good enough. But overall where I live people seem to be more focused, maybe because a lot of them likes to speed a little bit too much, and that requires focus. Our traffic isn't that congested.
I've been hit 4 times in the past 2 years, all while I did everything absolutely correct. It's utterly amazing that I'm not dead.
Bloody hell people here present driving motorcycle or even bicycle as a big survival thingy. Wtf.
Never once feared for my life on bicycle. On the road never heard or saw about motorcycle crashes other than these where the motorcyclist lost control or did something stupid. Hell, people recommend getting motorcycle.
Now, this may be regional thing but in this case, how the hell is, let's assume, USA so bad with driving if most ya all spend most of your life driving?
If everyone is allowed to drive, you also have the incapable ones. The people able to drive properly aren't important and you don't notice them, only those that are dangerous. In other countries they are forced to walk or use public transport. This starts with harder to acquire license and ends with infrastructure.
To add, we lack almost any kind of graduated licensing, both for two and four wheeled vehicles. You can get a motorcycle license (even a learners permit) and go out and buy a literbike built from the factory to go directly on the track. Likewise, you can buy a gigantic truck on a basic license and have no clue how to park it. These facts are both insane.
"Motorcycle" licensing needs to start with a basic set that covers class III e-bikes and scooters/motorcylces up to 300cc or so (appox 40hp, or 3kW), and then you can work your way up.
Where I live, there are different licences for different powered bikes. Up to 250w and max 25 km/h are classified as e-bikes and don't need any license, anything over that but under 50cc is a moped and needs a license (that people 14+ can get), then there's up to 125cc and 11kw (which is 16+), then theres up to 35 kw (18+) and anything over it requires that you have had a driver's license for at least 2 years and are 24 years old (and take classes and pass a test).
i don't think this will solve anything. where i live licenses are stupid hard and expensive to acquire. i'm talking 6mo long process and 3k bucks.
still plenty of idiots on the roads, and a lot of people driving without a license, especially motorcycles.
when we are made to depend so heavily on cars, people just gotta use it despite everything. i think the solution involves better public transport.
I pedal bike to work and have close calls weekly with cars. Couple months ago I was in the bike path and a car came next to me and matched my speed and then came into the bike lane and drove me into the grass. I thought they were doing it on purpose but they were just confused following their GPS and drifted... Similar stories on my motorcycle. Lane splitting is legal where I live but people still yell at me saying I can't "cut in line" and I had one lady drive on the sidewalk and around me onto the crosswalk (at a red light) saying "if you can cut then so can I." It was kinda terrifying.
Where I live, everyone drives and everyone hates driving and hates other drivers, but they hate bikes and motorcycles more because out grouping or something. Only way to stay alive is to pretend you're invisible and not piss car drivers off.
Midwest USA if curious
Gimmie a sec to grab my jaw from the floor. Yeah if I ever end in the USA I'm gonna make sure to avoid getting on two wheels. Where I live there is some hatred between bikers and drivers (two way), but not that point.
I'm gonna assume you're actually in the GTA in Canada because there are no states in the Midwest USA where lane splitting is legal.
Montana. It's not actually the Midwest I suppose, but we frequently say it is
So what? Illegal things happen all the time.
It's definitely an issue of distracted driving rather than a lack of skills to drive adequately. Because of our lack of public transportation options compared to where I'm assuming you live, most folks have to drive to do most things. They also have to do this at the same time as everyone else, which makes driving a shitty necessity and overall poor experience. Now we have computers in our hands and can do something more enjoyable than pay attention to the road while you're on your Thursday evening 1.5 hour commute home from work.
Personally I think that distracted driving violations should be treated the same way a DUI is.
Fits with what the u/UnPassive wrote. Still terrible. And yeah, where I live we have quite good public transport, even if folk here tend to think it's not good enough. But overall where I live people seem to be more focused, maybe because a lot of them likes to speed a little bit too much, and that requires focus. Our traffic isn't that congested.
I've been hit 4 times in the past 2 years, all while I did everything absolutely correct. It's utterly amazing that I'm not dead.