Post Ar5FcFqCdUdbTQ0FSy by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
(DIR) More posts by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
(DIR) Post #Ar44LLYQqayncHSxYe by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T04:31:37Z
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Today I would have wrecked, if I'd been driving my car instead of riding my motorcycle.I was stuck in a lady's blind spot, so I watched her face in her mirror--which is how I know she didn't so much as glance left before SLAMMING her giant ass SUV into my lane, with me in it.SCARY! But... squeeze front brake to pre-load, nudge bar to countersteer left, and I've pirouetted out of her way without ever leaving my lane.Fuck yeah.
(DIR) Post #Ar44TxzrnqDbA0PPSS by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T04:33:11Z
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In the Tesla, that would've been an expensive, shitty wreck. No way to avoid her, with oncoming to the left and somebody riding my ass behind--and like I said, I was WATCHING her face in her own mirror. She didn't so much as glance. She wouldn't have seen a car any more than she saw me on the bike.Also: people's reaction to you death-staring them with head in a helmet cranked hard right is SO much more satisfying than their reaction if you look at them through a passenger window.
(DIR) Post #Ar44fmcTve33Lk6aH2 by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T04:35:19Z
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In a car, that lady would have either resolutlely refused to look at me if I managed to dodge her, or would have actively flipped ME off like *I* was the one who fucked up.On the bike? I hit the horn immediately after dodging her, and she panic-slammed her SUV right back into the right lane again.When I pulled up beside her and gave her The Look, she was hand to the mouth, face white as a ghost, her adrenaline was obviously SPIKED.
(DIR) Post #Ar44kG9i3aDS70mX1U by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T04:36:08Z
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I guess it's harder to pretend you didn't just fuck up mightily when you KNOW for a fact you damn near hospitalized somebody, and the only reason you didn't is that THEY were paying attention when you weren't.
(DIR) Post #Ar4BlBvvwJvCzBjIMy by nicemicro@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T05:54:43Z
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@jimsalter this is why I prefer to take the bus. It was the worst idea ever to build a society based on basically all working people still sleepy in the morning or tired after a day's work drive an hour in 2 ton vehicles.So glad to live in a place with great public transport and grade separated bicycle infrastructure.
(DIR) Post #Ar4WBdngx2XU1hlQpc by DodoTheDev@front-end.social
2025-02-13T09:43:32Z
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@jimsalter Glad you got out of it safely. People in cars are scary.
(DIR) Post #Ar52tVf1lyzC3YfokS by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T15:50:04Z
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@feoh @nicemicro I think about the endpoint of my physical capacity to ride quite a lot. At 53, that isn't tomorrow... But at 53, it's also impossible to pretend the day will never arrive.
(DIR) Post #Ar5F3CiyEQh5fiuI0O by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T18:06:15Z
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@feoh @nicemicro same. In the meantime, I cannot singlehandedly make a medium size city in South Carolina magically have robust public passenger transport infrastructure... And choosing to ride instead of drive minimizes my environmental impact, my potential to hurt others, and the amount of the existing transport infrastructure I personally displace.
(DIR) Post #Ar5FUlYmoz0PX2Hmts by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T18:11:18Z
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@feoh @nicemicro honestly, I think normalizing riding is probably one of the most effective tools I have to make public mass transport more likely to become popular. If young people start realizing they can ride vastly cheaper than driving and as a result don't buy into car culture, when they suddenly realize they need things that a cycle can't provide easily, they are more likely imo to wish for a public transpo alternative than to be happy about the UNEXPECTED expense of a car.
(DIR) Post #Ar5FcFqCdUdbTQ0FSy by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-13T18:12:39Z
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@feoh @nicemicro whereas I can tell you from personal experience, if you grow up in car culture and become accustomed to participating in it, it's quite difficult to get enthusiastic about losing that level of individual autonomy.
(DIR) Post #Ar5lAeNozZUS0yboyO by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-14T00:06:11Z
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@feoh @nicemicro seriously, imagine a SEA of 20 and 30 somethings who grew up with cycles that keep up with cars just fine, at a tiny fraction of the expense and a lot more fun, then they have their first kid / first broken leg / whatever that makes cycling impractical.I don't think they'll be as eager to shell out $10K for an iffy used or $30K for a mid-at-best new car, as the people who GREW UP with those expectations.They're going to be like "fuck that, why isn't this bus system better?!"
(DIR) Post #Ar5lFy6t4k1ae1DxOS by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-14T00:07:11Z
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@feoh @nicemicro I think the change is effectively going to have to be generational, and I think it's a LOT easier to sell young people on the idea that motorcycles are cool as well as cheap to buy and cheap to maintain, than it is to sell young people on the idea that riding the bus is cooler than owning your own transportation.
(DIR) Post #Ar5lN9KlkAXXTw8pJQ by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-14T00:08:15Z
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@michaelgalassi "I ride a motorcycle, when God wants me he'll have to leave a voice mail because I'm GOOD at dodging shit"
(DIR) Post #Ar5roBWuHsK9ps5r0K by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-14T01:20:35Z
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@shom @feoh @nicemicro that's why I'm specifying electric *motorcycling.* I have quite a lot of e-bike experience, and I agree: car drivers are very aggressive and do not tolerate them well AT ALL.I've ridden an electric MOTORCYCLE for the last two months and have experienced exactly ZERO deliberate aggression from car drivers. They respect motorcycles, they don't respect e-bikes. It's an enormous difference.
(DIR) Post #Ar60u9ssDa543ZI7k0 by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-14T03:02:30Z
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@shom @feoh @nicemicro I LOVE having separate lanes or even paths for "slow bikes", which includes e-bikes.Motorists IME aren't aggro towards motorcycles because motorcycles aren't traveling OR accelerating slower than they want to.I can and do ride my scooter EVERY bit as fast as traffic. So they don't perceive me as an obstruction that's slowing them down, so they don't aggro on me.It also helps that a real moto has car-grade turn sigs, brake lights, and horn. E-bikes... don't.
(DIR) Post #Ar60ywg2kTI2XmZZTc by jimsalter@fosstodon.org
2025-02-14T03:03:23Z
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@shom @feoh @nicemicro I really think the VAST majority of the aggro is about accel and top speed, but the signals do still matter some, and IME even the e-bikes that have them have them much smaller, dimmer, and weaker than cars or motorcycle-grade two-wheel vehicles.