this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2024
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Well. There are some really dumb bicyclists out there.
I have a real world example from just over an hour ago. I work overnights. I have to travel to different locations during my shift on certain nights. Tonight was one of those nights. I'm headed up to a location on a city street, 40mph speed limit, when I catch sight of a cyclist in my lane when I'm maybe 20ft from him. He's peddling for his life but only doing 12-15mph or so.
Why didn't I see him until he was that close to me? Was I playing on my phone? Tired because I work overnights? No. He is a black guy, wearing a black hoodie with black sweat pants, on a bike with no reflectors on it. Riding down a city street in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure this is the second time I've encountered this guy too (same ninja cosplay both times). The first time was at least half a year ago. Honestly I'm surprised he's still alive, or at least uncrippled to the point that he can bike.
That's why your car has lights. If someone could have spray painted a garbage can black, filled it with bricks, and put it in the street, would you have smashed into it and damaged your bumper? If the answer is yes, then you were going too fast. Drivers have a responsibility to drive to the conditions. You're the one operating the deadly machinery.
Could he have benefitted from putting on reflectors? Sure, yes he could have. But that is a decision for his own benefit, it doesn't affect you. If he's an idiot, then he's only being an idiot to himself. If a car driver is an idiot, then someone else could die. That's why idiots should all be on bicycles.
At what speed should a car travel at night in a 40mph zone?
I mean the answer obviously depends on what the road is like. Near me, for example, I have 2 different roads that I drive on most often at night, both with speed limits around 35-40. One of them is in town, and has streetlights, stoplights by the crosswalks, and is just generally way better lit. Even so at night visibility is worse, so I'll go like 10 below the speed limit (maybe only 5 bit depending on if I don'y see/think people are out walking or if I'm not as worried about visibility). The other road is basically a country road. It has trees and farm fields on either side, no lights, and is extremely hilly. Because of all that I go like max 20 or 25 pretty much, so I have enough time to brake for a biker I missed when I went over a hill, or for a deer or other animal that jumps out in front of me.
The dangerous thing in a crash between a bike and a car is definitely the car, so it should also fall more on the car to be safe. Not to say a bike has no responsibility for their own safety obviously, but a car should be traveling slowly enough that they have the ability to stop without hitting something if they have a sudden need to, and that means potentially going much slower than the speed limit at night.