Oh I see. Most of Australian cities are actually suburban and have had wider footpaths than necessary, as well as parking buffers. It’s trivially easy to just convert one side into a protected bike lane.

I still argue that in a lot of urban areas where the road has swelled to its natural limit, depending on the road, it can be good to reduce the road by one lane and add a protected bike lane. But this is situational. Not every road needs a bike lane. But there should be bike lanes every so often, so people can safely get close to their destination without bothering motorists.

It’s too much of a mental simulation to imagine how reducing car lanes becomes a benefit to those that must drive because of a reduction of traffic and potential improvement to overall flow.

Fair enough. I agree that reducing a road by a lane can improve congestion, it isn’t always the case, and isn’t a simple sell.

They think of it as a zero-sum game

But it’s not.

The reason you need more lanes is because of a growing population using a fixed set of roadways. As you add protected bike lanes, more and more people opt for using a bicycle. This means fewer people on the road, negating the need for the extra roadway.

If you spend limited tax dollars on bike infrastructure, driving infrastructure will not receive necessary maintenance.

I’m not sure what you personally believe, but this is not true at all.

I’m Australian, so maybe my experience with cyclists and cycling infrastructure is different. We usually extend our roads and have a green lane for cyclists, or even dedicated cycling ways alongside the footpath (sidewalk).

People here whinge that these protected cycle ways get built. And I’m just baffled.

When car drivers are stupid they get in a small prang and have to pay the excess on someone else’s insurance.

When cyclist are stupid, they end up in a hospital or the morgue.

I’m Aussie, so unfortunately it’s targeted at Australians driving huge American pickup trucks. :(

I don’t see why not!

Yeah I’m Aussie, and as soon as I learned about the Philly police firebombing a black neighbourhood, I knew you guys were supremely fucked.

And yeah Native Americans called it. I’ve learned that how a government and society treats a minority, is how they can eventually treat everyone. Or put another way, any rights you think you have over the member of society with the least rights is illusory.

You guys haven’t really had rights for a while, by the sounds of it.

You’ve been living the dream, my friend.

What clients exist for Firefox on a computer? Because I blocked Lemmy on my phone for a good reason (I was browsing it too often).

Amen

I primarily browse through All, that’s why. Otherwise that would be a pretty good suggestion.

Oh I see the disconnect. I primarily browse Lemmy through the all page, because I wanted my subscribe community list to be a small selection of communities I really like. I also want to stay up to date on new communities when they appear.

That’s unfair. I read The Guardian and the Australian Broadcasting Channel every day, and routinely check the Wikipedia Current Events page. I am up to date with the news. But I don’t come to Lemmy to get even more news about the fascist US, and their effects on the world.

Being surrounded by it all day affects my headspace, and I’m aware of that. It’s not weakness that I protect myself.

Now kindly fuck off.

Be the change you want to see ✨

Thank you to /u/zkfcfbzr@lemmy.world for the original post and filter and /u/Free_Opinions@feddit.uk for the comment filter.