Cyclists don’t break traffic laws any more than drivers, says new study | Cycling Today
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A new research found that motorists and dangerous street design — not cyclist behavior — are the primary factors that put cyclists at risk. According to the study done by University of South Florida, cyclists were in compliance with traffic laws 88 percent of the time during the day and 87 percent of the time […]
  • AbnormalHumanBeing@lemmy.abnormalbeings.space
    13·
    5 days ago

    EDIT: look at the comment answer to this one for a link to the study!

    So, just out of interest, because the article here is rather short and lacking in sources, I wanted to see some details of the study. I found another article, quoting a few additional things, as well as linking to the study PDF. Well, the PDF link is broken - and trying to search for it yields no useful results. I tried by topic, I tried by number derived from the link (BDV25-977-13). I tried on the Florida Department of Transportation site, as well as the University of South Florida site. Either I am stupid in my approach, or for some weird reason, the study has been retracted from public publishing? I don’t want to put on too much of a tinfoil hat here, but with Florida’s administration being what it is, I would not be too surprised if that tinfoil hat is actually appropriate here, and it was retracted for not fitting the narrative.

    As an anecdotal point: I’d actually expect there to be a slightly higher “recklessnes” score for cyclist - but only because cycling does not require a license, and cyclists can be kids and teenagers, with sometimes a lacking understanding of traffic rules. (I know I regularly and unwittingly broke some traffic laws here in Germany as a student cycling to school, which I only realised later in life).

  • huppakee@feddit.nlEnglish
    212·
    5 days ago

    I don’t car how well that stuy is done, it’s still just a stuy.

  • Dale@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1124·
    5 days ago

    I call bullshit. None of the cyclists I see have ever even heard of a stop sign.

    • 7eter@feddit.org
      17·
      5 days ago

      I get close passed way more often than running a stop sign. I have the feeling that close passing is kind of accepted while running a stop sign is not.

    • teolan@lemmy.world
      122·
      5 days ago

      Yes cyclist often break the law, but you seriously underestimate how often cars refuse priority to pedestrians, park illegally, overtake cyclist too near, or over speed…

    • bear@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      143·
      5 days ago

      I believe it. Cyclists here are not required to stop for stop signs. Also, most cars just slow down when the intersection is empty.

      • Dale@lemmy.worldEnglish
        66·
        5 days ago

        Not where I live. Also how would that make sense? It’s a four-way intersection of car traffic if you blow through it at the wrong time you die.

        • django@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          71·
          5 days ago

          You may be confusing “stopping” and “slowing down”. You can do the second without the first.

        • MajorasMaskForever@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          4 days ago

          Several states in the US have laws on the books allowing bikers to conditionally ignore stop signs, but typically to “downgrade” a stop sign to a yield sign. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_stop

          The basic premise is that because a bike is slow enough, and the stopping distance of a bike at speed is short enough, a bike can approach an intersection, make a judgment call on if they need to stop, and if they don’t expect to get hit, they can cross without coming to a full stop first like a car does.

        • Wahots@pawb.social
          1·
          4 days ago

          It’s generally treated as a yield in states where bikes don’t have to stop at stop signs. If there’s no cars or other bikes, they go. Obviously you still stop if other cars/bikes are approaching a four way or are in the intersection.